Category Archives: Weightloss Articles

What happens at a Biggest Loser Audition?

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Sione and Me

To be honest, it is a bit anti-climactic.  I mean after spending four or more hours in line (my first time I was in line for 8 hours), you are hoping to sit down with Bob or Jillian for a 30 min hows it going session – and that just ain’t going to happen.  After all that time in line,  you sit down at a table with 10 to 15 people that all want to get on the show and one casting director.  And the casting director asks everyone to state their name, what they do, how old they are, and how much they weight want to lose.  After introductions, the director asks one question – for both times I’ve tried out it was the same question – “why are we so fat in America?”

The five or six minutes that follow are crazy – everyone at the table has little time to say anything that will impress the director and a few personalities at your table will take every second of that time if you let them.  You have to find a way to pipe in, say something interesting, and get noticed.  Before you know it – the director cuts off the conversation and say something like -

Ok guys, I’m sorry I have to cut this short – we could spend all day talking about this, you know?  We will have some time while we are in town to talk to a few people for filmed interviews, but if you don’t get called back – it doesn’t mean I didn’t like you or think you could be right for the show; This isn’t the end of the road for you!  Go to nbc.com/casting and there are instructions there to submit a video.

Please leave your paperwork in front of you.

a blury Dane and Blaine

a blury Dane and Blaine

That’s it! Its over – you either did or you did not make the cut.  Like I said, a bit anti-climatic.  But there is so much more you can walk away with than those 10 mins!  Remember, you are in line for hours!  And you are in line with a bunch of Type-A personalities.  These are some of the coolest people to hang out with.  Of course, in a group this size (HA – pun intended!) you will have a few very obnoxious people – but you can choose to enjoy those people too.

Like the trainer that was auditioning to be on the biggest loser today (yeah, NBC is auditioning trainers – hmmm, wonder ’bout that) – she stepped out of line – went out to the middle of the courtyard where everyone could see her and started doing jump, sqaut, pushup jumping jack things!  Very obnoxious – I enjoyed watching her make a fool of herself.

There was a line nazis beside me in line that spent no less than an hour yelling things like HEY – you can’t skip in line to people ahead of us that can’t even hear her.  Someone told her karma would get anyone skipping in line – to which she replied “By the time Karma works, those guys will have already had their interview and gone home today – Karma’s a bitch BECAUSE she takes too long!”  I laughed at that one.

My favorite was all those around me that didn’t want to be filmed by the local news crew that came out to cover the event.  They would duck behind others in line when the camera came by – think about that for a second… they are trying out for the Biggest Loser TV show, but don’t want to be seen on TV.

The event didn’t begin until 10am and they said on the website – don’t line up more than 3 hours early but I knew others wouldn’t follow that and I was right.  When I got there at 6am, close to 200 people had already lined up.  This was the pre-line because we weren’t allowed to line up at the door across the street – so we lined up on the sidewalk.  At about 7, we were given the ok to cross the street and line up at the door – and at first it seemed like our line was going to cross over in an orderly fashion – until some people from across the other corner were seen running to the door… then suddenly – STAMPEDE!  I’ve never seen so many fat people running at the same time.  Yes, I ran.  Otherwise I would have gone from about 200 to maybe 3 or 400th in line.  I ended up at 122nd in line.

I’m sure I was one of the obnoxious in the group, saying things like “Wow the competition this year is HEAVY” and “this is the longest line of fat people I have ever been in that doesn’t end in a buffet”  Cheesy, I know… but it got a laugh from those around me.  I also enjoyed getting to know people in line with me.  I met Richard, a deaf person in line with me whose friend I met on twitter before the audition – @luxechandelier.  I hope he makes it.  I also met a mother/son team, she was in her sixties and they drove all night from another state to come to the audition.  I hope they got a call too.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, I enjoyed going.  I didn’t get called back.  But I still talk to the people I met in line last year and I hope to keep in touch with some of the interesting people I met in line this time too.  And as you can see from the pictures, I got to met a few Biggest Loser celebs as well.

Did you audition?  I’d love to hear your story too – leave me a comment.

The Jerusalem Diet

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jerusalemdiet

By Ted Haggard

I know this book isn’t on the current ‘best selling’ list, but it was given to me and my budget is tight so instead of picking up the hot-off-the-press “Flat Belly Diet” – I decided to read cold-off-the-shelf “The Jerusalem Diet” by Ted Haggard; the same Ted Haggard that made the news for being in an inappropriate relationship while pastoring a very large church.  But momma always said, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” – so I approached the book with optimism.

The Point

The concept from the book is a good one: On the Jerusalem Diet, you weigh in everyday.  If you are at or below your weight goal for that week, then you can eat whatever you want.  If you are over, that day is called a Fat Day and you eat only fruits, nuts, vegetables, and seeds, drink only water, and work out for an hour.  Take it one day at a time and lose the weight slowly.

The Pace

How slow is slowly?  One pound a week.  That’s a difficult idea to accept after watching your favorite contestant on the “Biggest Loser” drop 24 lbs in a single week!  Despite the sensationalism we get from our televisions, one pound a week is an extremely fast pace.  Think about it – you most likely didn’t put on 52 lbs this year; in fact, if you are a 100 lbs overweight like me, you more likely gained 10 lbs a year for the last 10 years.

My wife was discouraged at the idea that I would set a one pound a week goal because she would love for me to get health more quickly.  I don’t blame her – I started this blog with the idea of 3 pounds a week, but to be honest if I can loose 50 lbs this year – I am going to be very happy.  I’m actually considering lowering the pace to 20 pounds a year.  Sure it will take me five or six years to drop the weight, but it took me 10 years to put it on and being at my ideal weight at 36 doesn’t sound bad at all.

The Problems

Let’s start with the name, The Jerusalem Diet.  Sounds spiritual, right?  Its not.  Its not Bible based; there is no Jewish tradition; no kosher diet information.  So why the name?  Because the author made up the diet in a hotel room in Jerusalem.  It could have just as well be called the Boston Diet.  I’m not quite sure why that bothers me, but it annoyed me greatly.

In addition to the name, the first two chapters Mr Haggard explains that he has no medical background, no health or fitness training, and spends most of the text explaining how much he loves Mt Dew and Skittles.  Actually, almost all of the first chapter was about how much he loves all the wrong kinds of foods AND how on this diet he is ALLOWED to eat them (as long as he is at or below his target weight for the week).  I almost put the book down completely because of how much time he invested in the task of talking about the diet as though every day is a feast of junk foods.

Lets talk about the diet itself; Fruits, Nuts, Vegetables, and Seeds.  The one hour work out is great and the water too, but there are no rules around how much you eat, just what kinds of foods you can eat.  I’m a food addict!  I can easily put away 3k, 4k, or even 5k calories in fruits and nuts in a single day.  Nuts are a high calorie food.

In addition to the name and the author’s bad eating habits, we have the author himself.  Ted Haggard isn’t a doctor, he has no fitness training, and despite his best efforts to make the reads feel he knows what its like to be heavy, at his heaviest, he was a massive 23 lbs over his ideal weight.  I am not belittling his weight loss, just pointing out that most of us have a great deal more to loose than 20lbs.

On a sidenote, this is a minister that (to put it nicely) ‘fell from grace’.  I believe we all have issues to overcome in our lives and I don’t particularly expect more from a man just because he is a preacher.  I understand that many people do believe we should hold preachers to a ‘higher standard’.  I will agree, it is difficult to read an entire chapter dedicated to breaking addiction off your life knowing the author never broke his own addiction to sexual misconduct.  I pushed through the chapter knowing a minister is anointed to preach it, not to live it – they have to face similar struggles as us ‘regular folk’.

The Pros

The book does have some highlights – first, I really believe that we should all consider the pace of one pound a week (or even slower).  Gradual weight loss is sustained weight loss.  You can go lose 30 lbs in 30 days if you like – but I’ll bet you put on 45 lbs in the 30 days that follow.

Haggard also introduced the concept of a “secret diet”.  I love the idea.  This  diet allows you to diet without telling anyone.  You eat whatever you want on days you are at or below target, and fruits, nuts, vegetables, and seeds on days you aren’t.  Think about it – what diet have you ever been on where you didn’t have to make an announcement to your friends, family, and co-workers?  Before you answer that question – consider how many times you answered a co-worker about where to go for lunch with “I can’t go there, they don’t have [pick your diet food]“.  Most every place you can go out to eat has a dish that meets this diets criteria when you are on a Fat Day, but if you can’t find something on the menu or if ordering the salad would expose your diet to your lunch buddies – then order something NOT on the diet.  The point of the Jerusalem Diet is to change the direction of your life gradually – so if you end up eating the burger on a fat day when you shouldn’t have, its OK as long as you continue down the path of changing your life one day at a time.

Haggard calls this a “shame free” diet.  I have felt the shame of explaining why I ordered the salad at my favorite burger join, but I never thought about the shame I expose others too because of my diet.  The example he gives in the book is going to eat at a friends house that is more overweight than you are and refusing the eat the bread that they already had two pieces of because carbs are bad and you are trying to lose weight.  I never considered how my diet choices could make others feel.  To some, I’m sure this sounds ridiculous but I get it and I’m glad I have a new vantage point.

My Position

Don’t buy the book.  While there are a few good concepts here, overall I did not enjoy the book and don’t consider the author to be a subject matter expert on the material.  Like the funny preview to a b-flick movie, all the best parts are right here in this post…  If you are going to buy the book – click the book image in this post and buy it from Amazon… Maybe I can make a buck or two.

* This is my first book review.  I’ve considered reviewing those hot-off-the-press books you see at Walmart but I’m not sure if people would find it worth reading.  If you liked this review and want to see more – please leave me a comment and let me know.

Debt and Weight, a similar enemy

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Jason Fisher

By Jason Fisher

Winning the war on Debt is not unlike winning the war on your weight; the sources of trouble may be similar, we don’t get in trouble overnight, we don’t get out of trouble quickly, and it is going to take a serious change in lifestyle to really make a difference.

Whether it is being in debt or being overweight, in many cases (although, I freely acknowledge, not all), our trouble comes from a troubled lifestyle or lack of discipline.  Additionally, in a majority of cases this trouble does not arise over night but over a longer period of time and more subtly than we would like.  Exceptional cases not withstanding most of us don’t suddenly go from zero debt to tens of thousands of dollars over night and similarly we do not go instantly from being a healthy weight to being obese, however it may look that way in retrospect.  How often have we asked ourselves “How did I get here?”

In neither case will we be able to find our way out of our mess overnight.

Although you will hear many commercials that will try to sell you on the quick fix, they are simply selling snake oil.  We didn’t get here quickly and we won’t get out quickly, it will be hard, it will be slow going, often you will feel it isn’t worth it but when you have arrived at your destination, it will be all the more worth it.

It is going to take a change in lifestyle to accomplish both goals, as the cliché goes if you do what you have always done you will always get what you have always got.  We simply have to find ways to change the way we live.  Stop drinking soda when water is healthier and cheaper.  Don’t go out to eat as much, we find it just as fun to try to recreate our favorite restaurant dinners together.  These are all low hanging fruit but they make a huge difference and are great momentum builders when you are first getting started.

Where these two goals can be diametrically opposed is that the cost of quality food is high.  It used to be that being over weight was a sign of the rich, only they could afford to eat enough to get over weight.  Now we have mounds of choices for cheap calories.  McDonalds has had 85% growth in the past quarter because people are looking for cheap food.  While we may be full we continue to eat because our body knows we are missing essential nutrients and still craves the nutrients we need.  So we eat more, and spend more money.

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Jason Fisher writes at improvethequality.com, a blog devoted to simplifying life and improving the quality of our finances.