Alex, Episode 2, Photo Courtesy of ABC

Season 1 | Episode 2 | Aired 06/6/11

Meet Alex
Growing up on fast food Alex grew up as a fat kid. Chris faced a sad misfortune when he lost his mother to cancer. Now this 23 year old has more motivation to fulfill his mothers dream of him adapting a healthy lifestyle. Alex has a strong love for baseball, and he hopes to play when he loses the weight. Alex hopes that personal trainer Chris will help him reach this goal.

Alex weighs in at 459 pounds. Seeing his weight Alex realizes that it’s time to change, for good. He goes through a nutrition course and medical exam before his first workout. With his mom in mind Alex fights through his workouts!

His 90 day goal was to lose 100 pounds, he only fell 3 pounds short. But was still rewarded with a chance to meet the Atlanta Braves.

Phase 2: Lose 60 pounds.

Alex seems pretty optimistic about meeting his goal but grows a little annoyed with the process. At his 6 month goal Alex falls far from his 60 pound goal. So Personal Trainer Chris Powell handles that situation by enlisting Alex into 24 hours of Army Boot Camp.

ALEX IS OFFICIALLY IN BEAST MODE.

Phase 3: Weight loss of 77 pounds and reaching his goal! Now off to the Skin Surgeon!

During the final weigh in Alex enters in all his glory with a 216 pound weight loss and a whole lot of bling. He fulfills his goal, his mothers dreams, and starts playing baseball.

In My Opinion
I really liked Alex. He really pushed hard going into phase 3 and I really admired it. I thought he had a huge transformation and was a kind soul. I think this should’ve been the first episode of the series. He looked really great walking into that final weighing in his purple shirt and vest, what a cutie pie.

What did you think of Alex’s episode?

To watch Alex’s episode visit ABC: http://abc.go.com/watch/extreme-makeover-weight-loss-edition/SH55124938/VD55129863/alex

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, Episode 2, Alex

Rachel, Episode 1, Photo Courtesy of ABC

Season 1 | Episode 1 | Aired 05/30/2011

Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition introduces us to a new morbidly obese person every week that is selected to endure a 365 day challenge to lose half their weight.

Meet Rachel
In the premiere episode we meet Rachel, a 21 year old Elementary School PE Teacher. Rachel has struggled with her weight her whole life, and is the only overweight person in her family. She’s surprised by Chris (Personal Trainer on the show) when she was chosen, and eager to begin her weight loss. Weighing in at 369 lbs, she is ready to go.

She’s given a 3 Month Goal to loose 80 lbs. If she reaches the goal Chris is sending her to Greece! She can really use that motivation because her family is not giving her the full support she needs.

At Rachel’s 90 day weigh in she reaches her goal! 80 pounds in 90 days. Before her next goal Chris sits down with the family about adopting a healthy lifestyle and then continues to raid their kitchen, throwing everything away.

Her Phase 2 goal was to lose 55 more pounds, she doesn’t make it by 5 pounds, but stays positive. Chris takes Rachel for a hike and just a little bungee jumping. She jumps right into Phase 3.

At 9 months Rachel weighs in at 239 pounds. Rachel decides to get surgery to get rid of some excess skin gained during the weight loss. She continues hard on her diet and when her one year weigh in came around people were shocked when they saw her. Her final weigh in was at 208 with a 161 pound weight loss. She thanks Chris for changing her life and giving her a while new outlook.

In My Opinion
Rachel was great and I thought she made excellent progress. I think that if her family would have supported her more she would have been able to meet her total weight loss goal. She got that surgery and that really improved her overall body image. I thought it was a great way to start off, but they didn’t show her right after surgery. She just went from flabby skin to happy flat stomach, they don’t mention all the pain and agony that surgery actually involves! But good for her. I look forward to watching the next episode.

What did you think of Rachel’s episode?

To watch Rachel’s episode visit ABC: http://abc.go.com/watch/extreme-makeover-weight-loss-edition/SH55124938/VD55128922/rachel

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, Episode 1, Rachel

Episode 1: Tom/Jodi in Texas:

Tom’s Story
Tom is a big man, and a big eater. I mean, this a man who eats six junior bacon cheese burgers and three orders of nuggets for lunch. Because of how extremely heavy he is, it’s hard for him to handle his weight. So at dinner time he would lay on his bed with a grill at the edge, he would watch TV as he cooked his steaks, and then he’d eat while lying on his gigantic belly. You could tell just by looking at the screen that he had to be killing himself, his organs must have been squeezing into nothing. In his own words he says, “I’m Lucky to still even be alive, because of all this weight. Life is more than eating. I feel like I wasted my life.”

Tom had a growth on his leg due to the excessive fat on his body. He wasn’t allowed to swim because of the leaking from his leg. He was promised surgery to remove the growth only if he lost enough weight. That became one of his positive reinforcements to lose weight along with the fact that he was on the brink of death. Tom’s starting weight was 638 pounds and by the end of 6 months he lost 155 pounds, bringing him to a weight of 483 pounds. That is truly amazing.

Jodi’s Story
Jodi is a beautiful woman who is a former singer that has lost her drive because of her weight. She is a mother of two and has marital issues due to her athletic husband who is no longer willing to accept her after the weight gain. Jodi has already had a minor stroke at her young age. After hearing the bad news of how terrible her health has become she says “I don’t have a choice, it’s either do it or die, change or die. I want to fix it. I just want to just fix it.”

At the camp Jodi started off mentally weak and unprepared. As time went on she faced the chance of losing her husband which would destroy her family. She used that as her motivation to get in gear and lose the weight. Jodi’s starting weight was 367 pounds and by the end of 6 months she lost 77 pounds, bringing her to a weight of 290 pounds. That amount of weight loss has improved her health all around and she says she is ready to continue on her journey.

My Opinion
In my opinion this is starting out to be a great show for weight loss. The characters are very real people and it is easy to see that none of the show is scripted. The trainers are very compassionate and they seem to know what they’re doing. With that said, I still feel that they do not show enough detail on the food and nutritional aspect of weight loss. It seems that Heavy (like many other weight loss TV show) has downplayed the importance of healthy eating. I believe it would be a much better show if they spent more time focusing on the food. Other than that, I love the show and I look forward to writing a review for the next episode.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Heavy on A&E, Episode 1, Tom/Jodi (Texas)

This won’t be the first time Adam Sandler plays a fat man. In the movie Click, his character wakes up one day to realize he is extremely overweight.

I’ll definitely watch this movie. I happen to enjoy watching Sandler on the big screen.

“The script has dramatic overtones as the portly protag undergoes an emotional metamorphosis to rival the obvious physical changes. He’s a bright but bitter and bed-ridden guy whose infatuation with the nurse prompts him to drop weight. As he sheds the pounds, the man faces a king-sized dilemma: What if she doesn’t fall in love with him?”

The potential director for Fat Man is Miguel Arteta, director of Cedar Rapids. During an interview at the Sundance Film Festival he showed interest in the project that supposedly Adam Sandler is circling as well.

Artera said “I’d love to do a movie with Adam Sandler that… someone said he was flirting with? It’s called Fat Man. One of the main writers of The Simpsons wrote the script and it’s amazing.”

“He would play an 800lb guy who has a love affair between him and his nurse. And he’s naked for the first half of the film… and it’s very touching… and it’s very funny.”

“So, I hope he gets the gumption to do it, and maybe I get a crack at that, that would be amazing. Certainly, it would be not a movie you would forget anytime soon… and [it's] beautifully written.”

The Simpsons’ Mike Reiss is who Artera is referring to.

The script for Fat Man is believed to have first circulated in 2003, when it was picked up by Sandler’s production company Happy Madison.

Would you guys go see this? Do you think it will turn out to be a comedy or drama piece?

Sources: First Showing, Variety

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Adam Sandler to Play 800 lb Character in ‘Fat Man’ Movie

This episode, I have to admit, got on my nerves. Marci came across as a very spoiled cry baby whose sole purpose of weight loss was to look “hot”. The show also lacked any examples of proper nutrition, and even showed Marci and her Mom, cooking a meatloaf. While it was served with healthy spinach, meatloaf is still not exactly a great choice as far as dieting is concerned.

I think they should have specified what exactly they were doing to make it low calorie, or fat free. Was it lean beef? Did they boil the beef first to drain the fat? Why didn’t they use ground turkey? Also, what about portion size?

Marci’s goal was to lose 90 pounds, her trainer Justin’s boot camp style training seemed tough, however when Marci didn’t want to do something she threw a tantrum. I honestly wasn’t inspired by this episode at all, in the end Marci lost the weight, felt great, and was able to go shopping at a non-plus sized boutique.

Of course she deserves credit for making it through Justin’s vigorous workout routines. However, I’m not convinced that her Mom will stop taking her to fast food places, or that Marci has the will and determination to continue on her own without Justin’s constant supervision. Will she become victim of the “Yo-Yo Life”? Only time will tell. That is all I have for now until the next show.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

MTV’S I Used To Be Fat, Episode 2, Marci

The first episode features Gabriella who seems to be very outgoing and was even nominated as her high school homecoming queen. But despite her popularity she still feels uncomfortable in her own skin due to her weight. She first realized she was overweight when some boys started teasing her in the first grade. Surveillance of Gabriella’s struggle with her self-esteem, and seeing her push through a lifetime of doubt was inspiring.

In 111 days, Gabriella lost 90 pounds. That’s nearly a full person, in 4 months! She was 253, and in 4 months got down to 163. She surpassed the physical pain and mental battles. By the end of the episode you could see that her confidence and positivity poured into the way she spoke, the way she walked, and the way she thought about herself.

My only issue with this episode is the lack of focus on nutrition. While dieting, was mentioned the show seemed to focus more on the physical aspects of weight loss rather than the proper dieting and nutrition which is crucial to proper weight loss. The most inspiring part of the show (at least for me) was when Gabriella’s trainer said to her “It is hard. Keep saying it’s hard. What does hard mean to you? This is where you find it in yourself, the deep, deep place in your soul and you push through.”

To me this applies to everything in life. Why should “hard” equate to giving up and not achieving the goal. This episode helped me to realize that no matter what, you should do what it takes to reach your goals. We all have to find the determination and drive to succeed. Maybe then we’ll start to realize the concept of willpower and limitless boundaries. That is all I have for now until the next show.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

MTV’S I Used To Be Fat, Episode 1, Gabriella

The show starts with a look back to all the players where they each repeat the word “can’t” on why they got to the size they did. The next part was the reveal of how the final four players did and to see America’s choice between Ron and Mike. It was sort of anticlimactic because Mike was picked as the overwhelming choice. It looked like Ron got everything in the game he wanted, even the final vote.

At this final they showed two contestants for the next upcoming season. One will get to be on the show, the other just goes home as America votes for this too. While the weigh-in show is going on, Bob and Jillian get them involved in a training session to start their weight loss. I’m sure they are just thrilled about this.

This is the ironic part of this whole season where the winner of the players that were eliminate turns out to be the player that was sent home first. Jerry ended up losing 47.97 % of his body weight to take home the $100,000 prize.

The final was tight with all three looking athletic and healthy. Mike dropped over 200 pounds and now is at 181 Lbs dropping 53.35% of his heaviest weight. Helen lost 54.47% of her starting weight and is now a tiny 117 Lbs. Tara needed to lose more than 160 pounds to win this season and finally fell short by losing 155 Lbs. She still dropped 52.72% of her starting weight, but Helen is the season 7 Biggest Loser.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 19 Grand Finale

Video Recap of Week 18 Part 2

Down to Four
When the show left off last week Filipe had just left and they followed him home to show how things were going. Tonight they pick up where Filipe had just left and Allison announces to them that they are now to go home and come back in thirty days for a final weigh-in before the grand finale. They all have cameras follow them home and when they arrive they are greeted by a huge crowd. It seems that many people have been following this group during their weight loss journey. As each gets their turn to talk to the people they explain the twist that they must go back for a weigh-in before the live weigh-in.

There’s a montage on each one from where they were to where they are today and it’s quite dramatic on how their physical shape has changed. The next scene has them explaining how they used to live before. Mike talks about sneaking fast food on a five minute drive home. He never did any exercise and kept bouncing from one fast food place to another. He even worked at one while in high school. Helen goes over the clothes she has in her closet and is in tears of how bad things had gotten. She even holds up a pair of quite large pants and asks her husband if these are his. It must have made him feel great too. No he tells her, those are the pants she used to ware. She explains that she used to stay in her home or if she did go out, would hide behind people. Ron looks back at his size and tells of how he was always overweight, but takes the blame for what he did to his two boys. He never wants to go back again and vows to help Max his son lose weight too. Tara is just fraught with fear that she’ll go back to her old ways. She wonders if she can rely on her friends for help.

Present from The Biggest Loser
There is another mini-commercial within the show when Tara reveals that the entire kitchen makeover from Jennie-O she won for dangling on some lines over a ravine in a previous challenge.

Four days into this time at home, each one of them get a circular box dropped off at their doorstep. Inside there is a DVD video from Allison telling them about the physical challenge that each will have to run a full marathon after arriving back at the ranch. Ron, Mike and Helen all kind of get nuts about this, but Tara didn’t seem fazed at all.

Trainers Make Surprise Visit
Jillian gets the honor of visiting Michigan to see Mike as well as Helen and then New York for Tara. When she stops off with Mike she finds him in the gym working out with his brother Max. She’s there to get Mike up to speed on where his is at home and then sits down to have a talk with him. He tries to explain about training his brother while keeping his eye on the prize, but Jillian talks to him about coming to grips that his father did this to the boys, but he needed to fix it.
When Jillian visits Tara, she goes to her room and it looks like a hurricane has hit it. She has clothes and junk all around and is telling Jillian about coming to grips with her life and is scared about going back to her old self. She is almost manic in the way she approaches things and Jillian tells her to reach a balance with eating, exercise and everyday living.

Next she visits Helen in another part of Michigan and meets her in a diner. Later they go home and Helen is freaking out about her food preparation as well as her workouts. Jillian tells her just like Tara that she needs to find a balance in their lives.

Bob drops in on his only player Ron and wants to workout with him. He convinces Max to come along and gets him in such a workout he ends up puking. After Bob’s beating on Max they check out a regular meal that he usually eats. Bob talks to him about nutrition and it looks like it’s sinking in with him.

Physical Challenge
They show the group back at the ranch now with Allison ready to start them on their way to run the marathon. She tells them that if they finish, they win $10,000 for their favorite charity. We find out just before the break that Mike has hurt himself while training and can do nothing but walk. Every one of them has some doubt on their ability to run this, but off they go and initially Helen and Tara start out running together while Mike and Ron follow behind walking. At mile four each one is greeted by a friend or relative to go along with them awhile. Tara and Ron have a friend meet them and Mike has Max show up to support him while Helen has her husband. A few miles in and they need to drop off so they all continue to go on. As they continue, they are met by Ali, Michelle and Bernie from previous seasons to coax on each player. Ron falls behind and sits down to rest at mike five. His heart is racing and his blood pressure is elevated. It’s almost enough to take Ron to the hospital, but Dr. Huizenga shows up and asks Ron if he can go on. He does so they all continue. The end of the race now shows and Tara of course comes in first. Helen is about an hour behind and she finishes. Mike continues to walk and reaches the finish. Ron is now way back on the course, but slowly and steadily he continues into the dark and finishes the marathon too. Every one of them won the check for their charity.

Weigh-in
Tara says that this is the one weigh-in you want to be in. It’s the final one before the grand finale and only two of them are guaranteed a spot in the final. The other two that fall below the yellow line need a vote from America to see who else is included in the weigh-in.

Ron goes first and loses 10 pounds. This is good and he has now dropped over 150 pounds since this started. Mike follows his father and he too lost 10 pounds. He doesn’t feel that this is good enough for an entire month at home. Helen goes next and drops 7 pounds, but since she’s lost so much already, she has a bigger percent of weight loss. She’s automatically in the final. Tara needs to lose 7 pounds to make the finale and she drops 10. Both of the ladies are in with Ron and Mike sitting on the outside with their fate in America’s hands.

Video recap By Pete Thomas, winner of $100,000 on NBC’s ‘The Biggest Loser’, from Winning Man.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 18 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

It’s down to crunch time now with just five players left. Every person is now thinking about how they will align themselves for the final push. Ron and Mike control this game since they each have a vote to keep the other in the game. Make no mistake here; the game is now the only thing on the mind of anyone left. They have made dramatic weight loss transformations and now the cash is the real focus.

As with past weeks, the show starts with a review of the previous player voted off the show. Kristin was a very popular player among the group, but when she didn’t pull the numbers to keep her above the yellow line, she became the threat that Mike and Ron made sure to dispense with. There’s a moment at the start of the show that both Mike and Ron congratulate themselves for getting at least one into the finale. Filipe says he knows that he has a target on his back and he will try anything to stay in the game.

When Bob comes in the room with Filipe and Ron he asks what happened. Ron gives him a bull story about how Mike voted his own way and because of the tie, Kristin had to go home. Bob asks him if he conspired with Mike to eliminate Kristin and Ron lied to his face. I’m sure there was embarrassment to him and his family not knowing that the microphones caught both doing what he just denied. Kristin knew what was up too and the show will verify her feelings. Let’s just say that Bob thinks a little less of Ron for being so deceiving when he felt they were honest with each other throughout the game.

Last Week at the Ranch
The group walks into the gym to find Alison there with a big screen TV. She then shows each one the initial day when they first started to workout. Everyone one of them looks nothing like they did now. There’s the inability of each to do a single pushup, hoist a weight, or run on a treadmill. Now the group is at the level of a professional athlete and they have pushed themselves (with the help of trainers Bob and Jillian) to do much more than they thought they could do. At the end of the video Alison tells them this is their last week at the Ranch.

Hearing the news from Alison has Tara and Helen feeling the fear of trying to live at home without the helpful confines of the Biggest Loser ranch. There is doubt that they can continue to keep the weight off and eat right when home. There may be credence to this fear with a look back at the time they got their “week of luxury” and all they did was overeat and hang at the bar and drink.

While they were discussing their fears, the talk turned to clothes and Tara wanted to try on the goal dress that she brought with her. It was a size 10 and she was wearing size 22 before. Helen also tried on her goal outfit which was some jeans. They were a size 8 and she fit them quite well. They then went to show the men and this prompted Mike to put on his outfit and he fit them quite well too.

Medical Review
As part of the last week at the Ranch, Dr. Huizenga brought them back to the hospital to review where each is now as compared to what they walked in as. Helen went first and she presented as a68 year old women when she first arrived. The overweight condition as well as her physical ailments made her profile this old. At that moment she now appears younger than her actual age. Tara met with the good doctor next and she had a waist that was scared by stretch marks and the dreaded “dunlap disease” (this is when the belly dun laps over the belt). She is now toned and has reduced her waist to less than half of what it was. Filipe also showed the waist of a huge man and has pulled it from the high 50 inch level to the low 40s. Mike was in bad shape and his waist was measured at 56” and is now down in the 30s. Lastly Ron was by far the biggest person ever on the show and he could barley fit in the MRI when he was first tested. He was now off his blood pressure meds as well as reduced 3 different diabetes medications. The results were amazing to see and remembering that this was all done in three months was remarkable.

Physical Challenge
Each season the final weeks has the group do a challenge with taking the original weight the stated with and having to carry it with them as they perform a physical activity. This season is no different where each has to pull some bag loaded with the weight they already shed over sixteen different hills (the hills symbolized the weeks on the show) made of sand. At each hill they took out the weight that they lost during that particular week. The winner had to choose between taking $10,000 or a pound advantage at weigh-in. A twist to this was that the person that came in second received the item the winner did not opt for.
Mike had dropped the most weight so he had the biggest bag to haul. They all started out charging to the first hill and pulled the weight out they lost at week one. They then went on to the next hill and did the same. Mike and Filipe started out very quickly, but without much surprise Tara won the challenge and Mike finished second.

One little note here was that Ron who never completed a challenge without dropping out or with assistance had his son Mike come back to help him over each hill. Ron was at hill six when the whole group had completed the sixteen hills. This guy may have lost weight, but he definitely is not in great physical shape.

Workouts
The workouts were very intense this week where each was focused and they all left nothing in the gym. This week they also got a chance to train the trainer and each one beat the stuffing out of Bob and Jillian by working them out as hard as they had been doing to the contestants.

Weigh-in
The start of the weigh-in had Tara making the decision to take the one pound advantage which gave a quick $10,000 to Mike since he came in second. Ron got on the scale first and he dropped 9 pounds. That looked like a big number to beat until Filipe stepped up next and he lost 10 pounds. Helen was next and she lost 7 pounds. The immediately guaranteed her a spot in the final four. Mike need to lose more than 9 pounds to secure his spot and he stepped up and lost 11. Tara was last and she lost 8 pounds which put her in the final four and dropped Ron and Filipe below the yellow line. Just think about that where one lost 9 pounds and the other 10 pounds and they were at the bottom.

After the scale part, Ron gave some half hearted response about needing to be at the finale with his son. Filipe pleaded with the group to keep him, but the voting still showed that Ron runs this whole show. It should be interesting next week when they come back for a final weigh-in for the live weigh-in and only two go on and one has to be voted by the public.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 17 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

The ranch is starting to get to everyone now. Sixteen weeks huddled away from friends and family while dropping piles of weight makes their mind start to think crazy thoughts. All the players left in this game have done a tremendous job on shedding weight so whoever goes next loses the grand prize. That’s the game they’re all tuned into now. The weight loss will come, but it’s just surviving until the end that’s the most important.

The show starts by following the six that are left after the voting last week. Tara is crying and so distraught that Laura got voted off that she shuns everyone and runs to her room. Jillian comes back to see how Tara is doing and puts it to her that she’s not crying for Laura, she’s feeling sorry for herself because there’s no one to protect her if she falls below the yellow line. Jillian tells her that she needs to take this game and do her absolute best from here on out.

The Biggest Loser Fitness and Food Trivia Game
The whole group goes into a room that’s setup with podiums and a TV screen. Alison is there with the main person in charge of research for Good Housekeeping. They are about to play a trivia game with foods. The winner of this game gets a three day paid visit to New York Good Housekeeping headquarters. There are 4 questions about foods and calories and the one who answers the most correct questions wins. Kirstin and Mike end up in the lead after the four questions and have to do a tie breaker. Mike gets the answer closer than Kristin and wins the trip.

Physical Challenge
For this week’s challenge the players are put into what looks like cages suspended 45 feet above the ground. They have a rope that hold the cage upright and each has to hold their own weight to keep the cage from dropping. The one that holds the longest wins either $10,000 or a one pound reduction at weigh-in. Mike drops almost right away since he’s just not too fond of heights. Ron drops next and this is yet another challenge that he barely stayed with. Filipe after trying to psyche out the women also falls so the three men are done. Kristin holds on for over an hour and then she drops. Helen tries to bargain with Tara over the money, but Tara will have none of it. I don’t think she forgot the money she lost when Helen ate some cookies to keep her from winning the half-marathon. In the end Tara wins again for the 5th time in a row.

Last Chance Workout
The last chance is brutal now as each one is pushed harder than most professional athletes. Bob puts Kristin and Filipe on treadmills and pushes them to level 10 for two minutes. He also has them working on rowing machines and doing pull-ups. While this is going on Ron just works out a little on his own. I believe that he loses his weight because he was so large to start with. He’s still over 300 pounds where most are approaching 200.

Jillian pushes Tara, Helen and Mike and this week he gets mad because he feels that Jillian pushed him too hard. She however talks to him about the family and how they all were overweight and tries to make Mike see that his father held a lot of blame for that.

Family Issues
After Mike’s talk with Jillian he goes in to confront his father. He asks why the entire family got so large and why there was nothing to stop it. Ron tells his son that he absolutely has the right to be angry and has no good excuse on why this family disrespected food so much. Even Mike’s mother was big, but decided to do something about it over five years ago. They promised each other that they would work on Max when this show is over.

Weigh-in
At the start of the weigh-in Tara was asked if she was going to take the money or the one pound advantage. She opted for the money and this is the first time that a player took the cash when enticed with this offer.

Tara was then the first to weigh-in and she lost 5 pounds this week. Ron set his own milestone by losing 4 pounds and dropping below 300 for the first time in his life since he was a teenager. Mike goes next drops another big number, 8 pounds. This kid has lost over 150 pounds in fifteen weeks. Helen steps on the scale and dropped just a pound. She really doesn’t have a lot more to drop so it’s hard for her to do big numbers from here on out. Filipe has to lose more than 3 pounds to stay above the yellow line but he drops just 3. Kristin goes last and she really pushed herself this week, but actually gains a pound. So both she and Helen are up for elimination this week.

They both plead their case and Kristin even meets with Ron to see if he’ll keep his promise to Kristin’s mother and not vote to send her home. Now right after Kristin asks for him to talk to Mike about the same thing and Ron does his game master, god father thing by setting the voting. He knows that Tara will vote to send Kristin home and that Filipe will vote to keep Kristin there. So if he keeps his promise and votes to send Helen, all Mike has to do is vote to send Kristin and it becomes a tie. The tie breaker is the one that lost the least from the two up for elimination. It works out exactly how he wants it and Kristin is sent home.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 16 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

Since the number of players has dropped and the drama increased they’re starting each show right after the previous week’s player is sent home. This week starts the same and the camera is on Filipe and Kristin since they are part of Bob’s team and another player from that group went again. Last week was Sione and he left a note for Filipe telling him that he needed to continue to drop the weight since the entire nation of Tonga was tuned into what they had accomplished so far. Both Kristin and Filipe are tired that Bob’s team is taking the hit each week losing a player. They make a pact that it stops this week and someone from Jillian’s team is going home.

Physical Challenge
Everyone meets Alison in the mountains of greater Los Angeles. As they come in view of a canyon, they see cables strung from one side of the mountain to the other. The length stretches over 700 feet and the challenge this week is for each player to walk the cables from one side to the other. The player that crosses first wins a complete kitchen makeover along with a full stock of goods with a value of over $25000. The challenge starts and right away Ron drops off. He may have gone out about 40 feet, big whoop. If you notice Ron never attempts the challenge and immediately drops out, yet he’s the most vocal for who should stay and who should go. They’re also afraid of him that he has some god father image over them. I remember in past shows it didn’t matter if you won the challenge or not, you continued until you finished. The rest all went after this and Filipe and Tara battled to win. In the end, Tara won this for her 9th win of the physical challenges.

Makeover Week
When the group finished the challenge Alison told them that it was makeover week. This is where they get some new clothes and their hair styled to match their new bodies. The group walks in a Macy store and who is waiting for them but Tim Gunn from the Project Runway show. He then walks and talks with each one to get their personality and helps them select their outfit. Tim tells them that they have a special for them after their all dressed up and that’s they will attend a Hollywood movie premier. Tm went around and picked the clothes for each one and when they were standing there with the shopping bags he told them that each one got a gift card from Macys with a value of $1000. After leaving Macys, they went to get hair cut and styled from Tabatha Coffey who has a show on Bravo has called Tabatha’s Salon Takeover.

After the quaffing each comes out one at a time to meet a family member or friend to share their new look. One by one they come out and it’s emotional enough, but the tears really flow when Mike comes down the stairs to meet his mother and his brother Max. His brother cannot contain himself burst into tears. You feel bad for him because he’s a very big boy too, just like his father and Mike were when they started the show. Mike vows to help him get his weight under control just like he did when he returns.

The next scene is when they all head to the movies and find out the premier is about this year’s Biggest Loser. It shows where each one came from and how they looked when they started. This was another very emotional part of the show.

Last Chance Workout
The workout is very tough this week because they haven’t really been working out at all because of the makeover. Both trainers know that there is very little room for error especially when Sione went home last week losing four pounds. The scenes flip from Bob’s group to Jillian’s group and each one works their group out extremely hard.

Medical Issue
Jillian is with Laura and she’s been complaining about pain in her hip area. She’s been pushing really hard, but this is a little more just muscle pain. They meet with Dr. Huizenga where some x-rays were done that shows a stress fracture in her hip joint. Immediately she is shut down for 3 months which puts her in real jeopardy since the way they lose weight at the ranch is through physical exercise.

Weigh-in
Each player now has the yips about weighing in because there are only seven players left and it doesn’t take much to fall below the yellow line. One record this week came when Mike lost five pounds and now has lost the most weigh ever at the ranch. It was touch and go with Filipe, but Kristin only lost two pounds and Laura actually gained so they were the two that fell below the line. Very emotional talk from Tara to keep Laura, but without her ability to do some exercise the group decides to send her home.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 15 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

Game On
The show starts right where it left off the following week. Ron comes back and confronts Sione, Filipe and Helen on why they voted the way they did. Remember last week Nicole came back to the ranch after losing much weight at home. She received immunity for the weigh-in provided she didn’t fall below the yellow line. I don’t know what happened because when the cameras were on her she looked like she was pushing hard, but when she weighed-in she actually gained 5 pounds. Ron spent the week in the hospital and did no exercise at all and he also fell below the yellow line. So the choice should have been easy because Nicole hasn’t been with this group at all. Sione, Filipe and Helen each voted to send Ron packing and he was steamed. I guess he thought he would have been protected by his alliance with those three and it didn’t happen. Filipe had a right to be upset and vote to send Ron since Ron tried to kick off Filipe the previous week. Sione was just going along with his cousin and Helen had a bond with Nicole.

The game playing from here on out becomes critical as to who ends up in the final 3 spots with a chance to with the $250000.

Food Temptation
Next scene splits to Alison in the gym with about a hundred covered silver trays strewn about. The challenge for the group is that under one tray is a golden ticket (Willy Wonka reference) that allowed that person to have a single vote to send someone home that fell below the yellow line. The trays however all have edible items and if they pull the top on the tray they have to eat the calorie laden goodie underneath. The entire group attacks this challenge in a frenzy by flipping the top off and devouring the stuff. They actually almost get to the end before Laura comes up with the coveted prize.

This is a huge peak into the psyche of all involved and may give a clue as to how they will react to their new bodies once they get home and away from the supervision and scrutiny.

Once the temptation part of the night was getting done, in walked the trainers. When they saw what the group did they were furious. The reason for the anger was that they didn’t understand why they were there and when a simple temptation came along, they immediately grabbed at it. The whole game behind the temptation was to not get caught up in emotions but to learn to deal with things by thinking it all out. Both Jillian and Bob worked as a tag team on the entire group to beat them up in trainer mode for what they just did.

Physical Challenge
Everyone from the ranch was brought to the Rose Bowl and they were in awe. The challenge was that each one had to run the stairs of the stadium and the top two finishers had to do the same tasks again with the prize being a two week vacation for 4 at the Fitness Ridge resort in Utah. All of the group started out fine, but in the end of the first heat, the two playing for the prize was Sione and Tara. Doesn’t it always come down to these two? In the second heat, Tara did another slow and steady and won the event.

Walking and Talking
After the physical challenge, Sione, Filipe, Helen and Kristin were out walking at the ranch. Sometimes I think this is setup for the cameras. They all started to talk about Ron and how he is manipulating the players and he is the real one that controls the game. They asked Kristin if she could vote Ron off if he fell below the yellow line and she wouldn’t answer since she’s so afraid of him. Helen is trying to do her own game playing by having a private conversation with Laura and hedge her bets when it comes to the vote at weigh-in. Helen even went so far as to suggest Tara as the person the Laura sends home.

Last Chance Workout
The food temptation is still burning hot with Jillian. She decides to really push them as hard as she can in order to make them pay for the sins they committed. Tara looks to be taking this week off and it may have to do that she’s safe no matter how this all plays out. Jillian will be angry as all get out if Tara throws the weigh-in.

Sione is caught on everyone’s radar. He works out incredibly hard with Bob and actually sweats through two shirts during the last chance workout. Sione has some daemons to work through too since he’s still upset about another loss to Tara.

Weigh-in
The weigh-in is much different this week as no alliance is really going to help. This one vote by Laura is the decider on how all of it will end. Helen, who was talking to Laura earlier, and Sione fall below the yellow line. Laura tries to be dramatic, but really had no connection to Sione so she sent him packing. With the look where they are today, and remember this is getting near the end of the game, Sione looks great. He’s down to 235 and has decided to be a certified trainer. He may be the one that wins the second prize of $100000.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 14 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

You need to know how this show does their editing to understand what is going on later that night. The beginning of the show has Filipe, Sione and Kristin rehashing the eviction from last week. They were upset that Ron tried to say that Filipe needed to go home. All of them felt that there was an alliance with Ron and Mike and are baffled as to why Ron said what he said. Even though this is a weight loss show and a reality based show, it still is a game show. Ron I’m sure is trying to clear out the competition for his son.

Who’s back?
Ali Vincent is standing in the gym when the entire group enters. The reason she’s there is that Alison gave birth to a daughter the night before. That gives this show the date of Jan. 12. So you can see you’re watching what happened six weeks prior.

Ali told everyone that when she was on the show she had been sent home. After working out at home she got a second chance to return and in the end won it all. Last night there were three individuals that got that second chance as well. Estella, David and Nicole were players that got the boot early on since their teammate helped to eliminate them. One of them would stay by showing the largest amount of weight loss after being home. Estella and David got some nice remarks from the other contestants, but Nicole really got some attention. Each one of the three had to weigh-in with the winner coming back to be part of the show. The one player to come back received immunity for the next weigh-in. When they weighed in to start the night, Nicole by far beat out the other two and won a second chance to be on the show.

Much talk and shock by the other players since Nicole arrived because she is now just behind Tara for biggest percent of weight lost so far. Tara and the others bombard her with gossip as well as pressure about the show and her head is spinning at the end of their talk.

Ron’s Problem
Ron reported to Bob that he felt lightheaded and got chest pains while he walked around the track. They immediately took him to the hospital to find out what was going on. They ruled out a heart attack but found that he was losing blood. In order to get to the bottom of the problem they did an endoscopic procedure. Now Ron had a gastro bypass some years earlier and apparently there were some complications. They found 2 ulcers in his stomach and one was bleeding. They fixed the problem and needed to add fluids and blood to stabilize him. He was given the go ahead to return to the ranch.

Physical Challenge
Balance, balance and more balance is this night’s theme. Michelle Aguilar (last season’s winner) , subbing for Alison explained the challenge. Each player had to stand on a platform suspended above the pool with 40 ropes holding it in place. They got to hold a rope with one hand that was hanging down for support. At a certain time period, a rope under the platform was cut so it was no longer there for support. The winner who could hold their balance the longest without falling in got a one pound advantage for the night. There was no problem when it went to 39, then 38, then 37, but as each new rope was cut some of the players fell in. In the end Sione and Kristin were the last to stand and were down to 10 ropes supporting the platform. Kristin fell in when the 10th rope was cut so Sione won.

Last Chance Workout
Bob took his team to muscle beach for their last chance work out. They used rings, weights and other items available for their exercise. He pushed them very hard again and even jumped on Sione’s back while he did pushups.

Jillian had her team workout in the gym and again pushed them as hard as she could. She even had Mike doing some wrestling with her.

Weigh-in
The stunner for the weigh-in was right away when Nicole got on the scale with immunity in her back pocket and gained five pounds. Because of the gain she lost her immunity. I have no idea what happened and by the looks of things neither did she or Bob. Laura and Ron also gained this week with Ron stating that he did no workouts as all. He and Nicole fell below the yellow line.

When the time came for voting who to send home, Filipe and Sione each voted to send Ron which was payback for the previous weigh-in where Ron said Filipe should go. In the end Tara, Laura Mike and Kristin felt Nicole was too much of a threat that they voted to send her home.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 13 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

Tonight’s show starts with the group right after the elimination round. Kristin is still crying since her mother sacrificed herself so that she could stay. The black team members are lost as to why Aubrey wasn’t sent packing when she really had no alliance left. Now there are only three members of the blue team left and it things stay as they are, it doesn’t look good for their chances in the coming weeks.

Every Person for Themselves
No sooner did I write this last sentence when Alison got them all together to tell them that things are changing. This seems to be most prevalent theme this season since just when the players get used to the rules, NBC changes them.

The teams are completely gone now and each member competes as an individual. Shirts are brought out with the colors that each had when they started this season. Of the nine players left, there are still three teams intact, but this can only help for so long as they whittle down the players and eventually one teammate will have to turn on another.

Along with getting their shirt back, Alison tells them that they now have to choose the trainer that they will work out with until the end of the show. It’s much gnashing of teeth and crying but eventually they all sort it out and rationalize in their own mind who they want to work with. Tara, Mike, Helen and Laura picked Jillian. Kristin, Filipe, Sione, Ron and Aubrey chose Bob.

There was a moment when the shirts were given back when Alison brought out the original size for Mike and he has already lost 118 pounds at the ranch. The shirt now held him and Aubrey with room.

Physical Challenge: First Part
There are two parts to the challenge this week and it created some drama. Each person was assigned some blocks in front of them to signify the weight that they have already lost. They were to choose another person or persons to give their weight to be used for the second part of the challenge. The group was not told what the second part was, but that the winner would receive immunity for that weeks weigh-in.

There was a scale with each player’s name on it and one by one they got to stack the weight on someone else. Right before they started, Alison explained that if the game was over now, Tara would be declared the champion. Tara winced and had something to say about that. Kristin called it “let’s see how much everyone in the house hates you” game. Well they have a problem with Tara since she is a great player and they piled it up on her. She took this really personal, which I don’t blame her because of the way Helen cheated her out of $10,000 last week because of her cookie eating.

Tara started to cry and doubt why she was there as well as the stress she was taking on. Her teammate Laura went looking for her and just so happened to bring a camera and a sound crew. Laura convinced her that she was doing the right thing and that she just needed to continue on. Tara had threatened to walk off the show by throwing the weigh-in and sending herself home. In the end, Tara saw it Laura’s way and vowed to continue on.

Physical Challenge: Second Part
All of the contestants show up at the LA speedway. They introduce Clint Bowyer from NASCAR as he drives up in the Cheerios car (another Biggest Loser sponsor) and gives the group some motivation. The second part of the challenge had each person strapped to a car that was not running and they had to pull this car, loaded with the extra weight each dropped on them in the first part, down the speedway a half mile. First one to cross the finish line wins. Mike and Sione start out very quickly, maybe even a little too fast, and the rest fall in behind them. Slowly and steadily Tara keeps coming until in the end she passes them all and wins. She now has immunity for that night’s weigh-in again. I think this is the third time she’s won immunity. All those tears for naught.

Last Chance Workout
The last chance is not really different from any of the others and the show didn’t dwell on it much, but it was ironic that the players they talked to each wanted their trainer to kick their butt during it. I don’t think they would ask for that just a few months ago.

Weigh-In
Well the record that everyone thought would be broken last week finally fell this week. Tara tried and came up a pound short, but Kristin became the first woman to lose 100 pounds at the ranch. Now there are 5 players that have lost 100 pounds and Tara is just a pound short.

At the end of the weigh-in Filipe and Aubrey were below the yellow line. Each went back to plead their case and at the end of the voting Aubrey was sent home.

They always do a look at the player that got sent home at the end of the show. This time it was different as Aubrey has gained 9 pounds since returning. This show may not help her at all and I’m positive that she’ll put the weight back on once this is all over.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 12 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

This week was very different since the show opened with the room just after Mandi left. Before they could get up, Alison told them that there was some more to that nights actions. The black team was brought into the room as well and she announced that someone else was going home. They all stood there with nervous looks and she then said they are all going home for this week. Everyone was very happy but there were also some feelings of doubt. The temptations would be many and the group still had to come back to the ranch and weigh-in when the week was over. Could they exist among their friends and family and still lose weight?

Each contestant arrived back at home and their families are amazed at how much weight they lost. The best was when Mike and Ron arrived home. They family still has a boy Max at home where he too is obese and he broke down and started to cry when he saw his brother. Mike promised to help him lose the weight when he got home for good. It was a touching moment and one where it’s hard to see a guy realizing that he’s been doing foolish things to himself for years.

Physical Challenge
The welcome home groups had just left each area and the door bell rang. Outside at the door was a round tall tin with the Biggest Loser logo on it. Inside there was a DVD and 13 huge sugar cookies. When they played the video, Alison was there to say that this week’s challenge was to do a half marathon which was just over 13 miles. Understand that this is episode 11 and just 10 weeks ago they all were the large bodies that had just arrived at the ranch. The one who had the fastest time in the race would win $10000, but for anyone that ate a cookie, they could add on a 5 minute time to a player of their choice. So the times don’t really mean anything until the cookies are counted. Many in the group said that Tara was the biggest threat so each was considering adding time to her. Right away Ron and Mike said they wouldn’t eat the cookies, Sione and Cathy as well. You didn’t know about the other until the count. Everyone but Ron finished the race and some did it in very good times for just having huge amounts of weight on them two and a half months ago. Mandi also ran with her sister even though she just got kicked off the previous week.

Back Home
This week was quite a challenge for most as well since they were among family members and friends. There were choices to make with their workout schedules since they were thrown right back into home life routine. There wasn’t any set time now to go to the ranch gym and they needed to work this out on their own.
Food was also a big challenge where shopping in the familiar area and eating at the same restaurants meant temptations after temptations. Ron and Mike were at a pizza restaurant with a huge amount of family and friends. There were pies spaced about every 2 feet raised high almost in their face. They opted for a salad. Helen was shopping with her husband in a polish market where there were tons of baked good s and sausages. She went for the vegetable aisle instead. I don’t want to say that these players may be doomed when they get back home, but when they had the chance to be on their own during the “luxury” win the week before, they failed miserably.

One of the moments at home this week was to get a feeling of where some of these individuals started. You could see early that Ron’s other kid was quite large, but Aubrey’s father topped out over 500 pounds. She tried to speak to him about losing weight and he mostly joked about it. I don’t see anything helping those that don’t want to help themselves.

Oh Helen
After they all came back to the ranch, Alison gathered them together to explain who won the marathon. Since they all did it at their home, they didn’t have an opportunity to see each others time. She explained that Sione and Tara were by far way ahead of everyone else and that one of them would win. Tara beat Sione by just over a minute, but Helen was the only one that ate a cookie to add to Tara’s time. Sione then won the $10000 by the penalty that Helen gave Tara. Seemed like a nasty thing to do and I’m sure Tara will remember this.

Weigh-In
The numbers were surprising for some since there were still great numbers being pulled even after the group spent the week at home. Mike, Ron, Sione, Aubrey and Helen all lost over 5 pounds. The mother daughter team of Kristin and Cathy did not do as well as Cathy lost just a pound and Kristin gained a pound. In the end, the blue team lost the weigh-in again and was forced to send a player home.

Cathy did a similar thing as Mandi last week and offered up her position to keep her daughter there.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 11 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

The show picks up right where it left off last week with Mike waiting to be weighed in. Remember if he loses 9 pounds or more all players stay for another week, or a player from each team goes home. Well Mike is becoming the really big champion here as he lost 11 pounds and saved everyone.

Pop Challenge – Head to Head
They barely left the weigh-in and Alison was there with another pop challenge. This one had everyone but Kristin (there’s some medical issues here) and two of the black players (to even up the chances) take on a physical challenge. The remaining players had to do a wall sit and hold a ball in their lap without hands. This is a really uncomfortable exercise that challenges your leg muscles because you have to prop your back against the wall while in a seated position. The winner then chose members of each team to do head to head weigh-in for this week. Tara again won this challenge (she’s tough to beat) and after just a short time set up the match ups that won the week. There were 5 head to head matches and the team that lost the total matches had to send a player home.

Mike vs. Cathy
Filpie vs. Kristin
Laura vs. Aubrey
Helen vs. Ron
Sione vs. Mandi

These were the match-ups as selected by Tara.

Something Brewing
Now during the first workout Filipe started to get a little perturbed that Jillian wasn’t paying any attention to him during the workout. He still wanted to be part of Bob’s group and he doesn’t like it that he has a feeling of being slighted. He noticed that Jillian didn’t work with him on that particular day while she worked with all the others.

Physical Challenge
This was a relay challenge with the two teams doing some major physical stuff. One player started in the pool pulling medicine balls from one end to the other. How many? Why 24 since they’re at 24 hour fitness. Got to get those sponsors their time. After that a player had to pull the balls up a flight of stairs from near the pool. Next the balls were pulled over some obstacles made from weight benches. Last the balls were put on a rack, but not before they had to do 24 overhead touches with each set of two. Black team won again. Who do you think is missing Dane? Blue team won the benefit of what was called 24 hours of luxury.

Blue team was pissed that they continue to lose and went back to give a really solid effort in their workout.

The black team was picked up in a limo and headed off to a plush hotel for what can be described as decadent behavior. They didn’t work out and got tons of food to eat and even got drunk at the bar. Helen even did some smoking which I’m sure is banned at the ranch. The total eating from each player was over 15000 calories. The black team is showing that they think that they just show up and the weight drops. I think they forgot the first reason they were on this show. I also think it may be a glimpse into what will really happen once their short lived fame is gone. Sione even remarked that winning the 24 hours of luxury may not have been such a good idea.

Last Chance Workout
Jillian was pissed about how the black team reacted and yelled at the entire group. Filipe then became outraged at Jillian for what he perceived as a snub on his training. After he did his yelling he left the room with Sione in tow and went seeking out Bob to tell him about their woes. They ended up doing their workout with Bob which was really bush league to me.

Now I need to stop here and editorialize a bit. I just don’t get the mentality of Filipe yelling at Jillian and leaving her to go to Bob. I think they’ll be more about this next week. Here’s a guy that was sitting around slamming pizza into his face with a starting weight of 364 Lbs. He wants to take on a trainer that has gotten the most of her team and produces results. I think the ranch and cameras may be getting the best of him.

The Weigh-In
As I said above, they did the weigh-in by a face off, one on one challenge. You lose more than your counterpart on the other team, you win a point. Team that gets 3 points out of 5 wins. The blue thought this was finally theirs and from the first two groups to compete, it looked like they would. Tara didn’t lose a thing and Laura actually gained a pound. Looks like the party girls shouldn’t have been at the bar as long as they did. Mike won his challenge with another drop of 8 pounds. Man this kid is really doing well. Sione went first and lost 6 pounds and then Mandi had to weigh-in. Big surprise, she actually gained 2 pounds and the blue team lost again.

Back to the room where Aubrey begged for Mandi to stay after Ron just nonchalantly said she needed to go. You see there’s a big alliance between Ron, Kristin and Cathy. They were with Bob from the start. They tried to get Laura to use the vote she had from the previous show, but in the end Mandi woke up and agreed that she should go. Lots of tears as the blue team lost another member.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 10 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

After sending Dane home last week there are eleven players left. I want to reiterate last week’s stance that this was a huge mistake because they needed a strong player to get your team to the end. Without him the blue team will be picked off one by one. There are nine weeks to go after this episode and Sione looks like the one to beat now. I do think that Tara is a tough player too. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were among the last three standing for the final weigh-in.

Pop Challenge
Rocco Dispirito (also had a reality show on NBC “The Restaurant”) was there to show everyone how much foolish stuff there is in fast food. He looked at a typical cheeseburger, pizza and stuffed burrito and put up the staggering calorie count, sodium and grams of fat that really made you take notice. The challenge here was for the two teams to make a healthy cheeseburger, pizza and stuffed burrito with a lot less calories, sodium and fat, but it also had to taste good. The groups struggled with the time limit and the ovens, but ended up with their creations. The black team won with a better burger.

1st Hour Workouts
Bob took his team to a 24 hour fitness facility (one of the show’s sponsors) to do a workout away from the campus. When the group walked through the doors, Sugar Ray Leonard was there doing shadow boxing. Ray showed them a new workout and had them really sweating by doing some simple boxing technique.

Jillian worked out with her team and focused on Sione by really pouring on the exercise. She can get vicious with the way she pushes, but her teams get results and the last 3 winners were trained by her. During a particular exercise with his feet on a bench, Sione came down hard and rolled his ankle and got a level one sprain.

Food Bank Challenge
This year the show teamed up with the food back where NBC and General Mills are donating food for every pound lost. The two teams were brought to a food bank center where they had to assemble food kits and stack 150 of them in a semitrailer. The teams split up from the assembly line to the warehouse and moved the items from one area to the other. The challenge was the team to load their trailer first won a year’s worth of food from General Mills. Again, the black team won the challenge and they are starting to pour on the bravado. It’s getting under the skin of the blue team (I told you they would miss Dane) too. The real donation came after the winning where Mike gave his prize to Aubrey. He shows a great sense of balance in his world and should do well long after this show is over.

Last Chance Workout
Mandi can really bug me sometimes with her me attitude. She’s crying to bob about “what if I don’t lose the weight and I’ll get sent home”. He told her to worry about things that she can control and the rest will take care of itself.

Jillian was hounding Laura this week by humiliating her and asking the other members who the weakest part of the team was. One by one they answered Laura. I don’t know about her tactics sometimes, but she has trained the last 3 winners of this show. In the end they talked and agreed to try it again.

The Weigh-In
The theme of this week was sharing and the weigh-in was different because it wasn’t the team against team method, it was where all of them had to combine to lose 77 pounds (that’s 11 contestants losing a pound a day) and if they reached that goal, everyone was safe and no one was going home. Now if they didn’t lose 77 pounds, a player from each team would be sent packing. Everyone weighed in and there was 68 pounds lost with just Mike to weigh-in.

To be continued……

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 9 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

President Obama addressed Congress so the show was 2 one hour segments instead of the usual two hours.

Pop Challenge and Blue vs. Black
A major change on how the show will be game will be played happens right away. Alison announces that all the colors they have worn to this point are no longer OK, they will become 2 distinct teams from here on out. Now one of the caveats to this was that the teams would be decided by a flip of a coin. Half of the group would be on the black team (trained by Jillian) and the other half on the blue team (trained by Bob).

The challenge was doing up downs in the mud (laying down on their stomach and getting up to standing and hitting a paddle above their head). The first person to win got their choice of trainer. The person that came in last was guaranteed to be split up with their teammate. Each of the groups that made up the two person team had to device which member of their duo was to take on this challenge as only one member competed.

Tara, who’s becoming a real big threat to everyone, won the challenge and she got the right to choose who she trained with. She chose Jillian and become part of the black team. Jillian’s team picked up Tara, Laura, Sione, Filipe, Helen and Mike. Bob’s team picked up Mandi, Aubrey, Kristen, Cathy, Dane and Ron. So all the inside game playing doesn’t even matter now because the teams are split with even the father and son team going in separate directions.

There was major dram from this move as many players were upset. Filipe and Sione and Helen did not want to leave Bob and Mandi and Aubrey didn’t want to change from Jillian. I don’t think Mike really made this an issue at all. Bob even broke down and started to cry with the change in groups. They will survive though and each will continue to lose weight. There may be some problems in future episodes, but life goes on.

Physical Challenge
This week there was a grueling physical challenge which turned out to be the longest challenge in the shows history. Each team was to ride a stationary bike for 24 hours. The teams decided how long and which order to ride before giving way to the next rider. Winner was the team with the most miles at the end of the twenty four hours and their prize was a 3 pound advantage for their team at weigh-in. This season brings out some strange stuff where Mandi tried to get both groups to just give up with nine hours left in the challenge. Sione wouldn’t let her and said that he was here for everything and it was too easy to just give up. So they continued all the way to the end of the challenge.

Pop Quiz
This was a quiz on food products where each team had to answer questions from prevention magazine. The black team won and got a trip to a resort for 3 days. Of course it will be after the show is over.

Weigh-In
The teams are now blue vs. black and they are competing against each other for the right to get to the end and win the $250000.00 grand prize. At the end of the weight-in the team that lost the least percent of weight had to send one of their players home. Immunity was given to the one player that lost the biggest percent on the team and could not be sent home. Weights are listed below.

The first group decision was tough and the in-fight had started. Ron, having lost only 5 pounds said that Dane needed to go since he had a good partner system at home. He was upset and I could see why since he pulled the most weight and would keep the blue team in it. My feeling was that Aubrey has only lost 38 pounds total since the beginning of this game and doesn’t seem to pull her weight (no pun intended). In the end the team voted to send Dane. He was a threat, but not to that team. He was needed to keep them in it, and I think they will miss his numbers.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 8 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

Pop Challenge or Be Careful What Youu Win
Right at the start of the show, Alison met everyone on their way to the gym for their morning workout. She had another pop challenge for them. This is new this year and looks like it just started last week. When you looked, the gym was padlocked with two chains around the doors and one lock on each chain. The entire group working as teams would have to hike up a hill near the gym, select one key from a board with I’d say over 50 keys, come back down the hill and see if the key you selected worked. Now, if the key opened the padlock, that team would get full use of the gym for the week. Any team that did not find the key were locked out of the gym and had to work out outside instead of using the machines. After much up and down the hill eventually the pink team (made up of mother and daughter Helen and Shanon) and the brown team(made up of father and son Ron and Mike) found the keys to open the locks and won the right to work out in the gym.

After the pop challenge the two groups split up with their trainers and explained what just happened. However, just before the explanation Bob asked who was sent home from the black team last week where he pushed his group to send Dane. They told him that they sent Blaine instead since he asked to go. Bob was not happy since they didn’t take the game playing serious. I don’t think this group is in the cut throat mode like the teams from the 6th season.

Now after the disappointment from the groups blunder, they told Bob about the pop challenge and that they had to work outside this week. It didn’t seem to bother Bob and he went right into setting up things to do outdoors. Jillian didn’t take the news all that great. She hates working outside and had her group move the furniture around so that they could use the lobby as a mini gym, just with no machines.

There was a cut to the pink team where Helen and Shanon were working out in the gym, and I could say that I’m using that term loosely. They spent a good amount of time gloating about winning the gym use and even mocked the others by setting up a table and chairs for fruit and water breaks. They also hung signs such as “Members Only” on the door for the other to see. I don’t remember seeing the brown team do anything foolish during their gym time.

Physical Challenge
The groups were brought out to an area that had rowing machines attached to light poles. The challenge was that each team had to row and pull with enough momentum to keep the light poles lit green while rowing. If they slowed down it went into a warning time of yellow before it turned red. Once red, both members of the teams were out. The winner received immunity from elimination for that night’s weigh-in. This was a very hard challenge and in the end the two teams it came down to were green (Laura and Tara) and black (Dane). Dane ended up winning and Laura burst into tears by thinking she let Tara down.

The Weigh-In
Each team weighed in and it shows that they are really losing some weight now. After they got done, the pink team fell below the yellow line and one of them had to go home. When they got back to the area to talk about who was going home, Helen said that they discussed this between the both of them and that Shanon could do better at home. Wow, a little selfish on old Helen’s part. It’s always easier to lose at the ranch then at home and Helen has been there from the beginning. In the end they granted the wish of Helen and Shanon was sent home. Of course the irony is that one of the two teams that got to use the gym all week fell below the yellow line.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 7 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

100 Episodes and 15,000 Lbs
This night starts the 100th episode of The Biggest Loser, where over 15,000 pounds have been lost to date. This is just the 7th season and that’s some serious weight loss.

The episode started with the brown team taking a look at why their loss kinda slowed down and that busting 10,000 a day may have mixed their metabolism up. Later they were talking to Bob and found out that they needed to actually eat more to kick the metabolism in.

Pop Challenge
Right at the start of the show, Alison got everyone to follow her outside by the pool. The teams were told that they would compete in a “pop challenge” where they needed to balance on one foot on a brick and they had to stay that way until they put their other foot down. The one that stayed on the longest won the ability to have someone they love stay at the ranch for 24 hours.

It was much harder than the group originally thought and within 5 minutes it was down to just 4 contestants. Now it started a head game and Mandi asked the others to step off so she could see her husband. I still think this woman is a bit selfish to think she is the only one that is missing someone from home. I get the feeling that she’s a bit full of herself. When Mandi and the group sat around discussing the challenge and win with Jillian she thought it was a bad idea since her focus and Mandi’s husband wasn’t right for where she was at now and would be a distraction.

The food review for this week was where Bob took his group to Subway for lunch, but they had to walk there and it was 5 miles, one way. When they got to the restaurant he explained that a half sandwich, fruit and milk was only 550 calories vs. the 1,500 calories you consumed by eating a burger, fries and a shake.

Physical Challenge
In the evening the teams were to hold a bar over their head and they needed to rely on their teammate to work with them. If one of them dropped the bar too low it would touch a cross bar in the middle of them and light a light and they’d be out. The winning team would get immunity for this week’s weigh-in which is starting to become huge. All three of the mens teams went out first. The game went on over 4 and 1/2 hours and it was also very cold for those that remained. It ended up with the green team of Tara and Laura going against the purple team of Kristin and Cathy. Kristin and Cathy won and got immunity for this week’s weigh-in.

The last chance workout focused on the brown team for Bob this week. He thought if they fell below the yellow line again, they would be gone. He also felt that they wouldn’t work out the correct way and go right back to where they were.

Jillian’s team showed that they had to work from early morning until evening. She finally got to Aubrey and having her sister with her family was too much for her and she broke down.

Mandi didn’t work out with the rest of the team since she spent 24 hours with her husband and kids which she deemed more important. I still don’t understand why she’s on this show. The homesickness she’s feeling far outweighs (no pun intended) her ability to focus on the game.

One team fell below the yellow line and the rest of the teams voted to kick off one member of the team bellow the line. Oh and by the way it’s a good thing the Purple team won immunity. They would have been going home with their poor showing.

The black team was below the yellow line and one player was going to go home and split up the team. Well it finally happened that the game playing was going on and there was a split down the lines of those trained by Bob and those by Jillian. In the end Blaine was sent home.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 6 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

Home Comes Back to the Ranch
This week the group got much larger (16 contestants) since the players that were sent home to lose weight came back to the ranch after their 30 day banishment. Remember, even though they have 16 players now, they are still united by the team concept. You know, the title is The Biggest Loser Couples.

There were some that did wonderful, like Sione of the blue team and Carla of the Silver, and there were some that did not do well at home. They were weighed in right away to see how they did while working out at home and that was their starting weight for the team weigh-in at the end of a week’s stay. Sione won immunity since he lost the biggest percent of weight while working out at home.

This is part of some bonus video on NBC and it’s a little funny to see where people’s heads are at just a week earlier. Here’s a video of Carla and Joelle make a pledge to put things behind them and start fresh this week.

Physical Challenge
The group was brought to an area that looked like an aqueduct where the team members were tied together and had to go around a cylinder that was wrapped in rope and needed to get enough slack until they could cross the finish line some 300 yards away. The challenge had a twist that the winners were offered $5000 or a two pound advantage. We’ve seen in the past that the 2 pounds can make a huge difference. The yellow team of sisters, Mandi and Aubrey won. They took the pounds instead of the money, but when you look at the chart they didn’t need to.

Immediately right after the win there was the mini commercial with a quick bowl of Cheerios featuring Jillian and the black team. These things kill me.

Last chance started out with Jillian and she worked on the psyche of some of the members and talked about why they were there and how the player needed to go for it all.

Bob’s group was working out hard again except for Joelle. She was just walking around while the rest of the group were killing themselves on the treadmills, weights, bikes, etc.

The Weigh-In
The numbers were unbelievable this week where only 5 of the player lost less than 9 pounds and the largest loser was Laura where she dropped 13 pounds after only one week at the ranch. In all the seasons, I don’t remember everyone doing these very high numbers. Of course not everyone did so well, but it surely wasn’t a surprise. Joelle lost zero pounds and you can see that her lack of a workout effort with no intensity made the scale tell the truth.

There was hardly any discussion as every player had no use for Joelle and her air-head excuses any longer. The whole group voted to toss Joelle and it just worked out that her teammate Carla went with her. I feel bad for Carla since she knows that she lost out on a wonderful opportunity to do some serious weigh loss by staying.

Game player note: I think that this may be a mistake if you take the game and the final prize as the reason to send someone home. When it comes to winning the cash, you want to keep the weakest player right up to the end. The brown team will get it together and be a big player in the end. They should have sent them home and kept inept Joelle and Carla.

Joelle and Carla discuss their faults after being eliminated. I just get the sense that Joelle never really got the gist of this program.

After their discussion, there was a cut back to the players as they are today and Joelle and Carla haven’t spoken since they left the ranch. I doubt that Joelle will show up for the final weigh-in.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 5 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

This week was the season finale of Diet Tribe. We saw 5 friends not only change their bodies, but also their mental toughness. It was all done in 90 days! The season finale of Diet Tribe was packed with drama, and of course, a happy ending.

Day 81: This is the last workout for the girls with trainer Jessie Pavelka. They have all become pretty close to Jessie, spending the last 3 months with him. That makes the girls a little sad, but they also realize how well they can do the workouts with Jessie’s help.

Day 83: Most of the girls have already lost their 30 pounds, so they are having trouble making their clothes fit. Time to shop! The girls go around trying on different jeans all fitting as they had hoped, unlike previous shopping trips where they had trouble and frustration.

Lydia said she started the diet at size 18, but leaves the store with size 12 jeans! 6 sizes in 80 days in 3 months is great.

Day 84: Morgan goes to meet with therapist Stacey Kaiser for a session. Last time she was asked to write down things she feared hearing from her mother, as well as what she wanted to hear.

You can tell Morgan is a lot stronger mentally.As they break through the real feelings are that she tells herself these things. Symbolic of her transformation they burn the paper of the negative things, and move on.

Day 85: After Morgan and Anna went rollerskating the first time with all the girls, they decided to commit to it every week since they enjoyed it so much. Sometime during their skating session, Morgan fell pretty bad. She ended up breaking her wrist. It requires surgery as well as putting 6-8 pins and plates in her arm. Ouch!

Jesse visited her to make sure she was doing well. Surprisingly she wasn’t beating herself up over it and seems very positive. It’s just another example of how far these women have come.

Day 86: On day 1, the girls ran a timed quarter mile, and the results weren’t very good. Many of the girls took over 2 minutes. But this time the girls were prepared. Morgan couldn’t run, but the other girls all improved their times. Shawna ran 25 seconds faster, Lydia ran 20 seconds faster, and Anna ran 55 seconds faster. Shawna and Lydia both finishing under 2 minutes.

That left one other person, Megan. Midway through the run she suffered an asthma attack and really broke down. After making sure she was okay, the girls helped her complete the rest of the challenge, as a group.

How does Lifetime manage to get so much drama?

Day 90: It’s time for makeovers and the final weigh-in. First the girls go get cut, colored and changed. They all look really different as they reveal the changes. Lydia’s biggest change is definitely the straight hair. Anna finally gets a cut after not getting one for several years, and you can tell. Shawna’s biggest change is simply her confidence as she strolls right in ready for weigh-in.

Final Weigh-In
Anna started at: 228 final: 193 total lost: 35 pounds
Shawna started at: 232 final: 196 total lost: 36 pounds
Lydia started at: 210 final: 179 total lost: 31 pounds
Megan started at: 218 final: 188 total lost: 30 pounds

The worst part of Morgan’s injury (besides the pain) was that she wasn’t able to get the makeover, or attend the final weigh-in. Instead they brought the weigh-in to her, busted arm and all.

Morgan started at: 292 final: 255 total lost: 37 pounds

What was really great about Morgan was that even though she wasn’t able to workout with the girls, she still lost weight from sticking to her diet.

Day 91: The girls celebrated their goals at Anna’s wedding. It was really nice and simple wedding and all the girls were glowing.

Is it time for a Diet Tribe 2?

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

DietTribe from Lifetime, Episode 5: Season Finale

SuperBowl Week
Ok, last night the group was working on being reunited with the partner that went home. Looking back, the 1st week all the teams split up and one member went home while the other member stayed at the ranch. The group that was at the ranch had Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels as trainers to whip their bodies back in shape. All of those that went home had to work out with the same effort as those on the ranch.

The Challenge
The food challenge this week was tied into the SuperBowl (amazing that the big game is on NBC and so is this show)where the contestants had to guess how many calories were in some tailgate snacks. Dan won the challenge where it was a two pound pass bonus that his teammate David could use when they all weighed in again. David doesn’t seem to be doing so well, but celebrity chef Curtis Stone went to his home to help him prepare food. It wasn’t entirely said, but I would think that the young guys never did any cooking before. Curtis showed David how to prepare some chicken with a green salad.

A bit of a special moment was also on this show this week where Blaine was allowed to go back home for the birth of his son.
The physical challenge also had the NFL flavor with guest Curt Warner, and you know this was filmed early because there was no mention of the Arizona Cardinals with their quarterback (Mr. Warner) in the game this year. They had to run sprints and gather footballs and put them in a bin in order to eliminate one of the other players. Immunity was the option where anyone that got it was guaranteed that their teammate from home was definitely coming back next week. The drama still is there with Joelle as she is one of the last two left. The light just can’t be pulled back from this lady. In the end, Helen won the challenge and made it that Shanon her daughter would join her next week.

Product placement and mini commercials are the norm this season. Showing small groups how to eat by counting calories was the message.

The last chance workout was had a wonderful moment when Jillian pushed Dan to meat a goal she set when he kept trying to pull off from doing it. It was touching to see this kid get the message and achieve the 5 minute run on the treadmill.

The Weigh-In
All of the players were brought to the ranch for this week’s weigh-in, yep including the group that went home. Sione of the blue team looked like he did the best at home. Two teams (Orange and Brown) fell below the yellow line and it just so happened that the two youngest competitors were in the group where one was going home. Dan went home this week and Dave just showed up to go with him. There was always the eventuality that Dan would go home. They both are trying from home and Dan has lost 101 pounds so far.

Well, so many of you were stuck on Dan and he’s no longer there. Who now is the next one you’re routing for to win it all?

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 4 Video Recap with Pete Thomas

Day 70: Off to Las Vegas for Anna’s bachelorette party. The girls arrive at the Palazzo ready to let lose and take a few ‘cheat’ days or two. The room is a great suite, definitely a-list.

Day 71: After a gondola ride and a bit of gambling the girls have a night out. Getting dressed and ready to go out everyone notices Lydia’s confidence is way up. She even gets a call from her new friend Michael before they go out.

The diet tribe heads over to the Canyon Grill for some healthy meals. The chef brings out a tasting of about 6 appetizers, each range from 70 to 185 calories. The entree’s then range from 315 calories to 360. The girls get some delicious meals and not breaking their diet… until…

Chippendales! It wouldn’t be a bachelorette party without strippers. Anna gets her first experience of male strippers and even gets dragged up on stage. A night of drinking and dancing after that, except for Anna and Morgan who go back to the hotel early.

Day 72: At 7:30 AM Jessie Pavelka wakes up the girls. Most of them had just gone to bed 1-2 short hours before. Jessie woke up the girls for something special, not the workout they expected. He took them to climb a 40 ft rock wall.

Each of the girls had their own fears about climbing the wall. First up was Megan who we all know is afraid of heights. She climbs up the wall fairly easy, which inspires the rest of the girls. Anna who is also afraid of heights climbs the wall a bit shaky, but makes it. Lydia then does the 40 ft rock wall. Morgan, the heaviest girl in the tribe, nearly makes it to the top before calling it quits. Shawna’s fear of falling almost keeps her from completing this task, but she gets it together and makes it to the top.

Day 73: A therapy session with Stacey Kaiser brings up the previous day. I suppose they have to throw in the ‘therapy sessions’ to make it Lifetime quality, but it just seems kind of corny. However, you can tell the girls are maturing with the things they say. Morgan was able to put not climbing the wall behind her, saying “Just because I couldn’t do it this time, doesn’t mean I won’t be able to next time.”

Day 76: It’s time for the weigh-in already, with the girls nervous as ever.

Weigh-in results:

Lydia 7 pounds (23 pounds total)
Anna 6 pounds (20 pounds total)
Morgan 7 pounds (30 pounds total)
Anna 8 pounds total (29 pounds total)
Shawna 10 pounds (29 pounds total)

Since many of the girls have already reached their goals, or are one pound away, they’ve each set a personal goal. For the final 14 days Morgan, Anna, and Shawna each have a goal to lose an additional 7 pounds.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

DietTribe from Lifetime, Episode 4 Recap

Joelle Causing Drama
Tonight the drama got turned up from the previous two Biggest Loser shows. Joelle from the gray team is really getting on the other contestants last nerves. She has been at the bottom of the weigh-in each week and is demonstrating that she is a weak player.

The Temptation
The one thing that got most of the rest of the players was the temptation this week, where each person was offered pizza, fried chicken nuggets, tacos and cupcakes to consume. The players at home were given the same challenge and the team that devoured the most calories was offered a trip back home to workout with their partner trained by Bob Harper. Well, Mandi ate a piece of pizza to try to get home and see her kids. All the other teams at the ranch ate nothing. The game switches to the player at home and Sione of the blue team pounded down two pieces of pizza and a cupcake to take the lead. Now Joelle’s partner Carla ate over 2000 calories of junk food and they won the challenge. Bob went to Detroit and trained both of the gray team. While there Carla gave a ton of attitude and challenged Joelle that she just wasn’t doing her part. From my point, she doesn’t seem motivated enough for the show.

The Challenge
The challenge for this week was the ability to jump over a rotating movable bar without breaking it. The winner received immunity for the night’s weigh-in. Two girls Tara and Kristin went 2 hours and 19 minutes jumping the bar where Tara ended up winning. That was an incredible feat of strength and endurance.

The Weigh-In

The Vote-Off
The vote to send the player home was a bazaar one last night. Joelle is not a motivated player and based upon personality, you would think that they made an easy decision to send her home. However, that’s not what happened and those that train with Jillian voted to send Damian home which made it a tie and because he lost the least amount of weight by percentage last night, he went home. Now, I do think that the people forget that this is a game and by keeping the weaker player, the person who stays gets an easy road to the final prize of $250,000. Tonight they may have gotten it right, but who knows how this plays out next week. I won’t forget that they did this on fear and intimidation last season to keep Vicky hanging around until the final.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Biggest Loser Couples Season 7, Episode 3 Video Recap with Pete Thomas