Mom Works It Out by Angela Gillis

In the defense of the Biggest Loser Winner

Last night the winner of The Biggest Loser was chosen and people don’t seem to be happy.  I will admit, I don’t watch the show.  I really don’t like how the show doesn’t take it’s moment to educate the viewers on losing the weight, it strictly about the game.  In the end, it’s all about it being a reality show and game and there’s nothing wrong with that.  I know a lot of people look to show for a source of inspiration and motivation so I just wish there was just a little bit more education going on sometimes.

So back to the winner. Rachel Frederickson lost 155 pounds and now weighs 105 pounds.  People think she’s too thin. I think she looks like she has a swimmer’s body!

I’ve been there.  I got the stares.  I got the questions about my weight loss.  I got the comments “don’t you think you’ve lost enough weight?”  I committed to my weight loss and I was very strict about a lot of things.  I know that is what I needed to do succeed.

From what I’ve read she was pretty athletic before she gained the weight too! In her defense, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the situation. Ironically, Willie and I were featured on ABC 13 News in Houston on Monday evening which is a great way for me to really express my thoughts on the Biggest Loser situation!

We shot all of this stuff last summer and my body is drastically different from then! At my lowest weight I was 131 pounds. I was a stick and people often looked at me like I was unhealthy. I wore a size 0 in most clothing company clothes. I was small! To lose the weight I put myself on a strict diet and we all know I LOVE to workout. I did what I needed to do to drop the weight. Now maintaining a weight is a different story. When I was done losing weight, I was still dropping weight. That’s the mode my body was in and it’s really hard to flip that mindset when you’ve reached your point. I wasn’t intentionally still losing weight but I was.

I’ve gained some weight back…in fact I’ve gained 22 pounds back. I was horrified when I stepped on the scale one day to see that because I thought I was hitting a backslide but it wasn’t that at all. My body couldn’t maintain that weight with all my physical activity. I was on a 1300 calorie diet plus working out and I dropped a lot of fat from my diet. (Dropping all that fat from my diet wasn’t the right thing to do at all. If I could go back and change that I would. But I learned from it!) Plus, with all my cycling and running, my body began to change in ways that I don’t always like, but I know it’s adapting to my activities.

One thing we must always remember is everyone’s body is different! There is no cookie cutter way to look! There is no look that defines healthy!

She put herself in a weight loss mode to achieve her goal. When she acclimates back into a normal daily routine she will gain some of that weight back. That’s just a natural thing, but everyone giving her a hard time over this I think is wrong. Remember, The Biggest Loser is a game to win money! She wanted to win, she stuck to a diet and workout regime and won!

I asked about this on the FB page and people said she’s not healthy. Too much weight loss too fast and that’s not healthy. I lost 155 pounds in 13 months, people said the same about me. The show puts these people in these situations to lose weight quickly for your viewing pleasure. It has to happen quickly for the show to show results. Why should she be blamed for this? That doesn’t mean she’s not healthy, that just means she played the game…and she won!

I am interested in your thoughts on the finale, so please join the Facebook discussion!

So do you hate on the player or hate on the game?

The deal with changes

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