I was so excited to watch The Biggest Loser season finale last night. I had planned a small get together with friends at my apartment, and was psyched to be serving healthy snacks to boot: cut veggies, homemade hummus, and even some special cupcakes! I headed out of work around 5:30 and descended into the subway… but when I reached into my pocket for my wallet, it was not there. Thinking maybe I had put it in my bag instead of my coat pocket, I fished around (of course, it was the one day I had a big slouch bag instead of my usual boxy briefcase) but came up with nothing. I still didn’t panic – I knew I had it to go to work, and I thought I had even seen it on my desk, so the answer was obvious. I headed back up to the office, still totally unconcerned… until it wasn’t there. A thorough search (including the full communal break room trash can – ew!) yielded nothing, and I was reduced to tears as I realized my wallet was either lost or stolen. I logged back into my computer to cancel the party and my credit cards, and with the help of a generous manager, enough cash to get me home.
After stopping to check out an apartment for Boyfriend, and spending all my walking time on the phone with my bank and credit card company, I made it home with plenty of time before the Biggest Loser. I reconsidered calling off the party, but I didn’t have enough time to get things together. Plus, by then I just wanted to lie in bed and watch from that lazy position. No elliptical for this viewing!
I thought that Jerry and Estella looked about 20 years older than they did on the show… wow! Their bodies looked fantastic and I couldn’t believe how much weight they had lost, but I kind of thought they looked better with a few extra pounds. Unfortunately, it seemed like a lot of the contestants thought the same about themselves, because I was disappointed to find that many contestants were still overweight or obese. I know this was supposed to be the biggest season ever, but I thought the show lost a lot by showing people who went from morbidly obese to just obese, or obese to just overweight. Sure, some people got down to normal weights, but I want to see the dramatic transformations, dammit! I’ll settle for just plain overweight to healthy, thank you.
One of the contestants who did get down to an impressive body was Tara. She had been my pick since the beginning because of her determination and mind-over-matter approach to all the challenges (which is the same approach I use to get through marathons). HOwever, aAccording to an interview on Newsday,
“Before landing a spot on “Loser,” her diet was unbalanced and carbohydrate heavy. For breakfast she’d eat a bagel with cream cheese with a large French vanilla coffee. She’d have pretzels or trail mix for a snack, and then eat a wrap with grilled chicken or salami, plus fries on the side for lunch. For an afternoon snack she often ate cookies with a coffee. For dinner, she would order something quick near her office — a burger and fries or chicken Parmesan. She finished off almost every night with something sweet.”
That doesn’t sound right to me. She gained over 150 pounds in a year by eating that diet? When I was in consulting, I would eat one or two meals a day like that – and I only gained a few pounds. And Boyfriend eats exactly like that now! He works 12-14 hours a day (sitting on his butt in a cube) and does not go to the gym, and in fact, he keeps one of those giant barrels of pretzels at his desk to munch on all day. When I say all day, I mean he goes through an entire barrel every other day. Now, I freely admit that he has one of those annoying “I’m a guy and can eat anything I want” metabolisms… but unless something was really wrong with Tara’s metabolism, I can’t really believe that she got morbidly obese from a diet like that.
The big disappointment of the show for me was when they showed Blaine and Dane’s marathon, and sadly, there was no footage of my interview. You did get to see my (hot) butt running for a few seconds, but I would prefer for my ten seconds of fame to include my face rather than just my back. Oh well!
I heard from my old kindergarten teacher that she saw the actual interview with me though, which leads me to believe it’s in the extra not-on-television footage or something. I scoured the NBC website as best as I could but didn’t turn up anything – did anyone else see that? If so, please let me know how to find it!
Now, to prepare for the Brookings Marathon this weekend… and hopefully get a replacement driver’s license in time to rent a car in Sioux City.
I just happened to watch the finale on Hulu last night and I saw dat butt! Yeah, i was hoping to see a little more of you, but you know how it goes.
This is kinda funny: On TV, the finale was 3 hours. On Hulu, it was 2 hours and 7 minutes. Almost a full freakin hour of commercials. Give me a break!
“unless something was really wrong with Tara’s metabolism, I can’t really believe that she got morbidly obese from a diet like that.”
First, she was probably not being totally truthful about all she ate, but even if she was I can totally see it. Your perspective is probably skewed by someone who has a decent metabolism and a high level of fitness, and I assume you’ve never been morbidly obese. I have been on and off my whole life, and I can absolutely tell you that when you have a sluggish metabolism, it is SO EASY to gain weight. I could gain 5 pounds from just looking at ice cream, and I have friends who weight about 120 soaking wet who consume burgers and beer practically daily and have never seen the inside of the gym. It’s just the way some hoomans are built, sadly for those of us who are, haha.
I gotta say though, I hate the Biggest Loser. Because the vast majority of people who go on the show gain back at least soem of the weight. The show sets them up to fail by having them lose weight in the most unrealistic way. NO ONE in the real world has 6 hours a day to devote to working out. We’d all be skinny if we did.
I was SO EXCITED to see that part and so sad that all I got to see was your (hot) butt! All my friends do know it was your butt though, cuz I yelled it out! Woo hoo! And they went on to do an Ironman too? That’s awesome.
I was also sad a lot of them were still obese/overweight. They had a longer time to lose the weight than other seasons but obviously that didn’t help. They needed to like, not send anybody home till after a month or something.
Know who DID look great, besides Tara and Mike? Nicole (red team). She is going to be a smoking hot bride!
I paused the DVR when they showed you and made the husband come watch it. “WE KNOW HER! WE MET HER! SHE RODE IN MY CAAAAR!” :o)
Let us know if you find the interview.
I was also watching for you and disappointed that they didn’t show it. With all of the filler that was in that show, I would have much rather seen that interview!
The finale was 3 hours long, but I DVR’ed it and watched it in about 1 hour.
I will have to Hulu-it up to catch your ass!
Yay you’re doing a race in my state!! One of three that we have to offer I think. Haha. Good luck. Forecast is for showers. I’ll hope that it stays away and is nice!
Were you the one in the yellow shirt? I was hoping to see more of you too but at least you had the experience!
Oh no, Laura! I’m sorry to hear about your wallet! That really sucks!!
I didn’t watch the finale but that is cool they put at least some footage of you on there, even though you’d think they would have put more marathon footage in considering it was 3 hours!!
Good luck figuring out all your wallet stuff!!
If she was being truthful, I suspect that what Tara left out was portions. “Pretzels or trail mix for a snack” implies a handful. As does “something sweet”
If either one, or all, are more like; something sweet == pint of HaggenDasz then…
I agree- that doesn’t sound like a diet that would make someone morbidly obese.