Sculpting Bodies And Minds

By Marc D. Allan
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, November 16, 2008

These are the times that try our scales. Halloween's gorge-fest is over, the typical 3,000-calorie Thanksgiving dinner is next week, and then there's a solid month of family feasts, holiday get-togethers and New Year's bingeing.

"There is so much gluttony around the holidays," said Ali Vincent, last season's winner of NBC's weight-loss competition show "The Biggest Loser." "The more, the merrier," she added with a laugh.

Vincent, 33, wasn't laughing for much of her life as she watched herself balloon to 234 pounds. But on the show, she lost 112 of those pounds from her 5-5 frame. Now she can find clothes that fit. She doesn't have to wear long sleeves to cover flabby arms. She feels good about herself.

This holiday season, she plans to keep the weight off with the combination of diet and exercise she started as a contestant. (For tips, see the box above.) The show -- which crowns the winner of its sixth season, the "Families" edition, on Dec. 16 -- motivated her to maintain a healthy weight and an active lifestyle.

And that, said executive producer Dave Broome, is what "The Biggest Loser" is all about. For contestants, it's facing their fears, improving their eating habits and becoming healthy. For viewers, it's a reminder of how easy it is to become sedentary and unhealthy.

Viewers "look at the television set and they go, 'I know I'm bad, but I'm not that bad,'" he said. "Seeing someone in a worse situation than you are becomes inspiring."

Broome said he came up with the idea for the show when he saw a sign for someone looking for a trainer. "It was a really desperate calling-out," he said. "I realized how desperate and how dire people are to try to get their lives changed."

Bob Harper didn't necessarily need his life changed, but "The Biggest Loser" had that effect for him, too. Harper is one of the show's two trainers, and his job is to push the contestants to work out harder and longer than they believed possible.

Harper has been a personal trainer for 20 years. "But it wasn't until I started working on 'Biggest Loser' that I realized why I was put here on Earth," he said. "I was put here to be a messenger, to help people as much as I possibly could every single day in the fight with obesity. This is my true calling. Life makes sense for me."

The problem for most "Biggest Loser" participants is that life doesn't make sense. Alison Sweeney, host of the show (and Sami Brady on "Days of Our Lives"), said what she sees during months of taping each season is desperation

that often goes much deeper than their extra pounds.

"You learn so much about who people are, where they come from and the struggle that they're going through that led to the unhappiness or the emotional turmoil and the way they're living their life," she said. "This is people working out their emotional scars and proving that anything can be overcome when you set your mind to it."

In an ideal world, Broome said, contestants wouldn't need to work out their issues in public, and viewers wouldn't need to watch them for motivation.

"You shouldn't need a reality television show to change your life," Broome said. "You can use it to inspire you, but you have to change it on your own. It's not easy; it's going to be really, crazily difficult. But it can be done."

"The Biggest Loser" airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on NBC.

'Biggest Loser' Bulge-Battling Tips

Set aside 30 to 60 minutes three to five times a week for exercise. A walk can do wonders.

Chew gum to reduce cravings for sweets.

Eat a healthy meal before you go to a party so you're less tempted to overindulge.

Use serving spoons that are the size of an individual serving.

If you're bringing a dish to a party, make something healthful, such as a fruit platter or vegetables with hummus.

Start a food journal to track what you're eating.

Use a smaller plate. Even if you fill it up, that's less food than you can fit on a big plate.

If you feel hungry and just ate, have a glass of water.

Even if you stray, that doesn't mean you should give up.