Although I do not believe that the weight loss the contestants experience on "The Biggest Loser" is realistic in the real world or even the safest, healthiest way for the contestants to lose weight, I am a fan of the show.

Many of these people have been over 100 pounds or more overweight for years or even decades. It is inspirational and motivational for me to see the work they go through to lose the weight.

Unfortunately, this is a weight loss show and not a healthiest, fittest person show. This means, losing muscle and losing water is a weight loss.

I do not have any problem with the emotional aspect of the show, either. People cry at times and when things are at their most extreme, people may cry more often. People talk about detoxing the body, but I believe letting some of these emotions are the real detox. Once past that mental barrier, there is not much that cannot be done.

Hi Dwight,

Congrats on losing the pounds!

I have had the same issues in losing the weight and gaining it back, losing it and gaining it. I never really thought about becoming healthier before I listened to the fat2fit podcast but it has changed my perspective completely.

Now, I am living life like that thinner, fitter person and eventually I will get there. But what to do once I hit my goal? For me, it has to be about adding new goals I have not reached yet, goals that are far enough away to give me something to work on but so unattainable that I give up on myself.

I would suggest reviewing your goals and modifying them so that you can give yourself something to work toward even after you reach your goal weight.

As an example, I have a long term goal of becoming a certified personal fitness trainer. This is quite a change of career for me, since I am currently a computer system engineer.

I have short term goals that will lead me into my long term goal. First, I need to receive CPR certification. I will be taking a class this month that will enable to receive that certification.

Then, I have educational courses that I will be taking from the American College of Sports Medicine. I have time lines in which I would like to have these completed.

As I get closer to achieving a larger, long term goal, I reevaluate my goals. I say to myself that because I look lean and healthy (not that I am there yet ), I will succeed as a personal trainer. This is an affirmation that just keeps me going.

I wish you the best on your next 20 pounds.

@Chris,

Thank you. All the other times I have attempted to lose weight and get healthy, I think I really left the "healthy" part out.

Also, I did not have a set number of goals to reach. This time I have clear goals in mind and I am already visualizing them on a daily basis. I think this is what is going to get me there.

Hi Leo,

I know exactly what you mean. I have different temptations because we join my wife's family for Christmas and she is Vietnamese. I just happen to love Vietnamese food -- well, all the unhealthy stuff. I could gorge myself on it if I didn't think about it.

Luckily, there is always enough healthy food there as well that I can fill up on. I think that trick that I used for Thanksgiving may work for Christmas as well: plan each meal and stick to that plan. I gave myself room to have the pork dumplings, though. How could I go without that?

I think along with the planning, if you save some calories for some of the "treats", you'll be fine. I knocked 50 calories off of each meal on Thanksgiving, so I could have about 300 calories on some of the food I really like.

I also walked a little further that day but that was just because I got lost on my trek. Opps, accidental calories burned

Just wanted to let everyone in the Fat2Fit community know that I was inspired by the way some others have chronicled their journeys on blogs, so I created my own.

While I will be posting my "5 pound" loss pictures here, I will be telling the story behind each loss on the blog. I am also using this as an opportunity to learn more about fitness and nutrition as well -- should be fun

You can find me at: Fat Dad Fit Dad

Hi guys,

thank you very much for your responses. I actually did not realize the huge difference in calories with the whole orange being so much less.

I actually took an orange to work with me today and I think my real problem is that I do not like to do the work to get to the orange -- it actually tasted fine, and it kept me full much longer than the juice.

I think I will use a method to cut back on the juice by adding in the orange on a daily basis with having one cup or orange juice. I'll keep cutting this back until I only have the juice version once or twice a week. And I thought soda was going to be hard to limit

I have a weakness and it is orange juice. I suspect it could be worse (like orange candy bars) but I am not sure if this hampers me in my weight loss goals.

I do figure the calories into my daily calorie intake -- I usually have two glasses (16 ounces) a day which is only 220 calories. I really do not like whole oranges but love orange juice.

I do notice that these calories do not satisfy my hunger for long. I believe this might be because I do not get the full benefit of fiber that I would get from a whole orange.

Anyway, If anyone has any information about orange juice and the impact on a healthy diet, I would love to read about it.

Thanks!

@Robin

I actually just purchased the first 24 episodes of the podcast (the first ever podcast I have paid for) and it was well worth it. I have quite a few episodes to go to catch up but I am hooked

I listened to a couple episodes on Thanksgiving Day while on my walk. It was a nice break away from all the chaos, too!

@John,

thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my initial post. I have heard Jeff and Russ talk about your story on the fat2fit podcast, so seeing a message from you personally motivates me just that much more.

I am working hard to lose about 2 pounds a week and the most difficult part of this seems to be eating enough during the day to keep my muscle from being used as fuel. I never knew hard difficult it would be to eat over 2000 calories of good foods a day -- a problem I am very happy about

Hi, Everyone. My name is Chance Ervin and I have been struggling with weight for about a decade, now. I would take it off fast and put it back on faster.

I currently work as a computer systems engineer but am on a path to become a Certified Personal Trainer. Listening to the Fat2Fit podcast has inspired me to take on the thing I really love doing - working with people and I can think of no better way to do this than to become someone that motivates another person to live a healthier lifestyle.

I started this journey near 280lbs and I am 6'2" - this puts me in the obese category. My days of high school basketball are twenty years behind me but I have many goals that are in front of me, and I am extremely excited about them.

I am currently down to 263.5lbs and have a goal weight of 205lbs burned in my mind. I have been there before but put it back on quickly because I wasn't losing the weight at a healthy pace (starvation diet). I am now committed to eating the amounts of foods really needed to make this a life long accomplishment.

I have not posted any photos as of yet but will be taking my initial photo and my "5 poung loss" photo at every increment. I believe this will be a great motivation for me to continue on and see this through to my goal.