The Biggest Loser: The Weight Loss Program to Transform Your Body, Health, and Life--Adapted from NBC's Hit Show! - Softcover

Greenwood-Robinson, Maggie; Forberg, Cheryl; Dansinger MD, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1594863849 ISBN 13: 9781594863844

Publisher: Rodale Books, 2005

Synopsis

The book fans have been clamoring for—the diet and exercise plan that enabled contestants to transform their bodies and their lives on TV's new smash hit reality show

The Biggest Loser was NBC's surprise hit of the Fall 2004 television season, drawing a passionate audience and prompting people nationwide to start their own Biggest Loser competitions. This unscripted weight-loss drama was based on overweight contestants competing to lose weight and win a quarter of a million dollars with the help of a team of doctors, dietitians, and trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels.

On the evening that the first season's finale aired, legions of fans went to the NBC Web site to look for the diet and fitness plan that the contestants used. It wasn't available to the public—until now. With this book, people looking for change can accomplish the same type of radical makeover of their bodies, their health, and their lives that they saw on The Biggest Loser.

The book features the food and fitness plans from Maggie Greenwood-Robinson, Cheryl Forberg, Michael Dansinger, and Biggest Loser Experts and Cast Staff, and motivational tips from the contestants themselves. The contestants' compelling stories and reasons for losing weight, dramatic before-and-after photos, and real-life advice provide the inspiration and upbeat attitude that made this show a smash hit.

About this title

About the Author:

BOB HARPER, trainer on The Biggest Loser, is known as the go-to trainer for Hollywood's elite and counts Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Ellen DeGeneres, Melissa Etheridge, and Laura Dern among his past and present clients. He lives in Los Angeles.

MAGGIE GREENWOOD-ROBINSON, PhD, is a leading health and medical writer. She has authored or coauthored more than 30 books, including Good Carbs versus Bad Carbs and The Bikini Diet. She has a doctorate in nutritional counseling.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

1 You Can Be

A BIG LOSER

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have the body you want--slender, toned, fit, and healthy--and have it for life?

Of course it would. That's a dream shared by millions of overweight Americans, but a dream that seems elusive and impossible. Dieting works, but it doesn't usually keep weight off for good. After all, who wants to feel deprived all the time and give up enjoyable foods? Exercise isn't always fun, either; sometimes it feels like downright punishment. Sure, there's plenty of weight-loss advice out there from diet gurus and so- called fitness experts. But who's right, really? And who has the solution that will work for you?

Rather than figure out the answers, try the latest diet fad, or sort out the advice from the experts, maybe the right path for you is to get down in the trenches with real people just like you who have been there, done that, and now have the bodies to prove that losing weight--and keeping it off-- can become reality.

Yes, reality. Now you can drop those all-too-visible extra £ds by following the examples, the strategies, and the tips and tricks of real- life people who had hundreds of £ds to lose--and did it, really did it.

Who are these people who succeeded where most never do? They're the cast members of NBC's hit unscripted show, The Biggest Loser.

In this inspirational series, now in its second season, overweight people from all walks of life compete to lose weight through diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes. They are sequestered on a posh California ranch, where they must endure daily workout regimens, food temptations that involve overstuffed platters of high-calorie comfort foods and candy-filled dishes located at every corner--and each other.

Divided into two teams, everyone publicly weighs in on a scale at the week's end to determine which team has collectively shed the most weight. The team that loses the least weight must vote off one of its members, who is then sent packing. The dismissed cast members are charged with going back to their lives to lose more weight with the many tools and techniques they learned on the ranch. The last contestant remaining is crowned the Biggest Loser and walks away with not only a trimmer, healthier body but also prize money of $250,000.

Remember the last time you saw a friend or relative who had slimmed down so beautifully that you just had to stop and say, "What happened? How did you lose so much weight?"

Weren't you inspired by their success? And didn't you want their "secret" so you could do it, too?

The book you're holding in your hands is not the story of one successfully slender person, but of 26! These 26 people worked with the country's top fitness trainers, doctors, and nutritionists on a program that not only will slim you down, but will help you lower your cholesterol, decrease your blood pressure, strengthen your body, make you feel and look more youthful, give you more energy, and help you take control of your life. No matter how many times you've tried to lose weight in the past, no matter how many diet failures you've undergone, this book is your guide to doing it right, doing it well, and doing it permanently.

Before you get started on your new body, let's get acquainted with the people who will guide you on your journey--the 26 cast members of The Biggest Loser.

Season One

In season one, cast members were divided into the Red Team and the Blue Team. During production, the cast lived on a Malibu ranch stocked with food temptations--not to be cruel, but to make it more like the real world.

The Red Team

The Red Team was shepherded by celebrity fitness trainer Jillian Michaels, who brought a work-harder, lose-more style to eating and exercising.

Lisa Andreone

Overweight since childhood, Lisa was so sickly that her parents had to take out special supplemental medical insurance because of her frequent illnesses. As an adult, she considered gastric bypass surgery as a last resort but couldn't bring herself to do it, especially since she knew some people who had had the procedure but had not lost an ounce of weight. Lisa realized surgery wasn't the answer for her. Her main motivation to lose weight wasn't to be able to prance around in a thong bikini, although that was an incentive. Her motivation was fear. "I was afraid of dying of heart disease, the number-one killer of women. I didn't want to die young."

Ryan Benson

Ryan, who grew up overweight, was a closet eater. Anytime he'd be in the car by himself, he would at stop a convenience store or fast food joint and stock up on food--chili cheese dogs, hamburgers, shakes, snack pies, or doughnuts. When no one was looking, he would indulge. His wife started wondering why Ryan was gaining so much weight. After all, he didn't seem to eat that much. "I had to come clean," he said. "I actually went to therapy for a little bit, but other than that I didn't really talk about it with anyone."

Food was a negative force in his life, and he viewed exercise as a demon. By the time he was 36, Ryan had reached 330 £ds. He knew he had to change his life, or else.

Lizzeth Davalos

For Lizzeth, her turning point came after witnessing the side effects her sister endured after having gastric bypass surgery. "She started losing hair and gaining back her weight. It was bad. I didn't want to go down that path."

What needed surgery in Lizzeth's own life were her eating habits. She was a self-confessed fatty foods junkie. "I couldn't stay on healthy foods very long. After 3 days of eating healthy foods, I'd start craving pizza or other bad stuff, so I'd give in and eat it. Afterward, I'd feel so guilty. It became a vicious cycle of overeating and feeling guilty." When she reached 167 £ds on her 5 foot, 1 inch frame, her dream of looking good in a two-piece bathing suit began to evaporate.

David Fioravanti

Cheeseburgers for lunch, pizza for dinner, beer or Jack Daniels to drink, and long nights of entertaining clients helped Dave, 40, put on what felt like a ton of weight. One day he glanced in the mirror and didn't like the looks of the guy staring back.

"I was fat, and I felt like crap. I just didn't feel good about myself. I didn't want to go to the gym. I didn't even want to get dressed and go out because I didn't feel good in my clothes. I couldn't tie my shoes without losing my breath or turning purple. It was a terrible situation I had gotten myself into."

The hard-drinking, hard-partying real estate developer knew he had to make a hard change.

Matt Kamont

One of Matt's earliest childhood memories was being called "fat Matt." "I was so hurt," he recalled. "It got to the point to where I wanted to change my name. I was so sad that I told my mother, 'Please let me be named anything other than Matt. Make it Ryan, Richard, Sam--anything that doesn't rhyme with fat.'"

By high school, Matt endured more taunting and was bingeing because he felt so unpopular and unliked. "As a result, my self-esteem has never been great."

He tried several diets, but when they didn't work, he went back to his usual eating habits, gorging on comfort foods like macaroni and cheese. "When I reached 310 £ds in my mid-20s, it was the heaviest I'd ever been. I convinced myself that I'd always be heavy. I just didn't know what it was like to be thin."

Kelly Minner

More than anything, Kelly wanted to have a boyfriend, but she felt her weight was standing between her and true love. "Men judge you by your weight. If you're fat, they don't ask you out. It definitely hurts, especially if your weight is something you've struggled with all your life."

At 242 £ds, the Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, school-teacher described her dream: "To walk into a room, feel good about myself, and have men look at me and think, 'Oh my God, she's a knockout.'"

But first it would take knocking out some bad eating habits to make that dream come true.

The Blue Team

The Blue Team was led by celebrity fitness trainer Bob Harper, who focused on cast members' minds as well as their bodies, often leading his team members in meditations at the end of long hikes.

Andrea ("Drea") Baptiste

As an athlete in high school and college and a later personal trainer, Drea had to stay in top form. With her personal training profession, exercise was built into the schedule, so she stayed in shape.

But later Drea got busy with her new career as a pharmaceutical sales rep, and neither exercising nor healthy meals was a priority. She indulged in junk food and fast food and pushed exercise to the bottom of the priority list, making up every excuse in the book not to go to the gym. Before long, she was popping out of size 16 clothes. When she finally stepped on the scale, the needle stuck at 215 £ds. She knew she couldn't sit back and do nothing.

Gary Deckman

About 20 years ago, Gary, now 40, quit smoking cigarettes and gained a quick 25 £ds. Year after year, his weight crept up more and more, reaching its highest at 226 £ds. Gary was known to wolf down an entire large pizza all by himself two or three times a week and eat loads of Japanese noodles. "I basically ate anything I wanted and got no exercise."

As a result of his poor health habits, other things started creeping up on him, too: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, acid reflux disease, and bad medical reports. He had neither the energy nor the stamina to keep up with his children.

Finally, he was fed up--and scared. The family man and semiconductor salesman knew he had to lose weight, not for his looks but for his health. "When you're my age, your focus shifts from looking good in clothes to whether you want to stay alive. After all, who wants to be a good-looking heart attack victim?"

Gary knew he had to change his lifestyle. "I looked at my wife and kids and thought, 'Life is too short.'"

Dana DeSilvio

A bad relationship with a former boyfriend helped Dana pack on 20 £ds. More £ds followed--the result of poor self-esteem. "He didn't make me feel good about myself."

Finally, Dana dumped the boyfriend and got a better, more positive guy in her life, but she was left with the extra weight. Wanting to be healthy and to have kids someday helped inspire the Nashville receptionist to slim down. "I was sick of the way I looked," said Dana, 22. "I thought, 'If I don't get this under control now, then when?'"

Kelly MacFarland

Kelly has lots of roles in life: an account manager at an insurance company by day, a stand-up comedian at night, and a food addict all the time. "My friends and I would always go out to dinner, always have drinks, and always indulge in everything."

As a child, she dreamed of being a dancer on Broadway. Those dreams were dashed as she started filling out all over and got bigger than other girls her age. "I started feeling self-conscious about my body. I would get small, then I would get big again, and then small again and big. This last time, I just got big and stayed that way."

At 223 £ds, the 31-year-old comedian had become so heavy that her stand- up act turned into a fat joke. Yet all of that weight on her 5-foot frame was no laughing matter.

Aaron Semmel

Like most fat people, Aaron knew how to lose weight. After all, he had lost the same 100 £ds over and over again by dieting and exercising. At one point, he was in such great shape that he competed in triathlons. In 2000, the skinny Los Angeles writer took some time off to travel for a year. When he returned home, so did the weight. "Starting in 2001, I gained about 20 £ds a year," he recalled. From the looks of him, Aaron had plenty of food and enjoyed it all. His weight snuck up to 261 £ds, and except for the time in high school when he weighed 300 £ds, he was in the worst shape of his adult life. Aaron wanted to run and do triathlons again, but how?

Maurice ("Mo") Walker

Raised on dishes like Southern fried chicken made by his beloved mother, Mo eventually ate his way up to 436 £ds. The Nashville-based accountant felt that his size made him unattractive to women and unattractive to employers. "Being so heavy has stopped me from getting job promotions," he said. "A lot of supervisors and managers think that because you're overweight, you're lazy and you won't work hard. It's a stereotype that won't go away."

But Mo's greatest fear wasn't losing a lady or a job promotion; it was losing his life. "My father was overweight, and he died of a stroke when I was 18. I knew I had to do something, and now was the time."

One day, Mo was standing in line at McDonald's when his cell phone rang. It was a producer telling him that he had been selected to appear on The Biggest Loser. He knew it was the chance of a lifetime.

Season Two

In season two, the battle of the bulge changed to become the battle of the sexes. The cast members were divided into two seven-member teams with Jillian training the men and Bob training the women. You might think such a division gives the men an unfair edge; men tend to lose weight faster than women do because most male bodies have more lean muscle mass, the driving force for metabolism. The show, however, leveled the playing field. The contestants' percentages, rather than £ds, were compared. Here's how it worked: Let's say the men's team starts at 2,000 £ds collectively, and the women's team starts at 1,500 £ds. For the men to lose 10 percent of their body weight, they'd have to lose 200 £ds. For the women to lose the same 10 percent, they'd have to lose only 150 £ds.

These cast members lived on a sprawling Simi Valley ranch, well stocked with tempting taste treats in every room.

The Red Team

In season two, Jillian applied her hard-work approach to this group of seven men.

Nick Gaza

As a stand-up comedian, Nick is a very funny guy. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much fun. Why? "Because I'm fat. There are just certain things you can't do. You can't go horseback riding. You can't go on certain rides. You can't dance as much as you want to dance."

Being a comic is only one of his talents. Nick, who began the show weighing 346 £ds, is trained as a chef and did a lot of the cooking for his team. He'd make a low-fat jambalaya that was only 382 calories a bowl. Some of his team-mates almost cheated by going back for seconds.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rodale Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1594863849
• ISBN 13: 9781594863844
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208