GET OUT OF YOUR WEIGH
WATCH IT
HEAR IT
READ IT
BACKSTORY…
Over 250,000 people auditioned to be a contestant on NBC’s hit reality show
The Biggest Loser Season 11
Even with those odds, pinching ourselves, my daughter Jennifer and I stepped onto the Biggest Loser ranch in the Fall of 2010 as 2 of 22 contestants for the shows longest season… 8 months and 21 episodes.
I plan to share what I discovered during those 8 life-changing months on the show and how I’ve been living all these years after our finale, but that’s a book that’s yet to be written, and as you might imagine, it’ll be a GREAT BIG book full of ways and weighs.
Until then I want to share what is probably one of the biggest mental paradigm shift I’ve taken away from the show that has become my life’s work; to have people get some freedom, a new view, about how they think about their body size, shape, and weight.
No, I’m not going to be sharing another diet, exercise plan or diet book. There certainly are plenty of them out there, and they all can work. Yes, they can work, but more often than not, they work for a while, but rarely as a lifestyle. And I know why that’s so, but that’s another story for another day.
What I’ve experienced first-hand, and what I’ve seen for hundreds, thousands, and millions of people of every size, shape, gender, and age is that there’s one part of the well-being puzzle thats missing, something that’s very misunderstood, that if it was understood would create an empowering mindset for people all over the world to create a more enjoyable, livable, and sustainable well-being lifestyle.
And it’s something that’s most secret, and it’s also most common…
To reveal this most common secret I shot the video below while visiting the Biggest Loser ranch 10 years later to the day after our finale to recount and retrace the gut punch we felt as contestants in the moment right before we stepped on that scale, and the gut punch that’s still right there for all of us each and every day.
Our gut punch had nothing to do at all with the money shot at the end of every Biggest Loser season, the $250,000 prize. The money we could win at the end of each season was never any of our ultimate motivations to lose weight each week.
And you know what, you may have not been on a reality show,
but what was most secret and most common for us as contestants,
is also most secret and most common for you too.
How do I know that for sure…
I am you…
We were all you …
And you’re like everyone else too…
No biggie… it’s why the “secret” is truly “most common”
Welcome to a life changing exploration and conversation called Going Beyond The Scale.
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May 2021
Well, today is my last day on the Biggest Loser ranch and it's been an amazing time to go back and reflect on what I learned over the past 10 years from the first time I stepped on this ranch.
And today is a new starting line for the next 10 years of my life
So, if you've been following what I've been doing, what I’m sharing here today has become my life's work for the future. It’s what I’m going to be focusing on for the next 10, 20 years, for however many years I have yet to live, hopefully many.
I’m passionate about inspiring people to think in a whole new way about their health and well-being with what I’m calling
Going Beyond The Scale.
As a former Biggest Loser contestant that title probably seems strange for me to say considering I lived and died by a number on a scale on The Biggest Loser every week. As contestants, we were 1000% hyper-focused on what that scale said every week. If we did well, we got to stay for another week, and if we didn’t, we were going home… Of course, that was a reality show and each of us knew what we were signing up for.
But unfortunately, most people are living and dying by what their scale says - be it every day, once a week, once a month, and whenever they’re faced with the dreaded first things first step on the scale doctor visit request, and the often-demeaning doctor reply… “you really need to lose weight.”
Let's face it, millions of us have ongoing challenges with how we think about our body size, shape, and weight (I hate to use the word weight but eliminating it as a measure is going to take time).
We all talk a good game about how we should love our bodies no matter what size we are. How we can be healthy at any size. But I have a feeling that if we could wave a magic wand and be some magical size, shape, or weight (sorry) that we have in mind, that didn’t require any effort to get to, and we could eat anything with wild abandon, I really doubt anyone would say “No, I’ll stay right where I’m at…” And you don't have to be morbidly obese like I was at a top weight of 435 pounds, or when I started The Biggest Loser at 400 pounds to be challenged by it. For you it could be a 5, 10, 25 pound and maybe more challenge, because whatever your number is that’s in your head its real, it’s frustrating, and if you’re like the 99%, it’s a reoccurring challenge.
I don’t care who you are, and how often you step on a scale, it’s always a mystery what’s gunna show up.
It’s like stepping on a slot machine… fingers crossed, the numbers shifting… you feel like you’re gunna be a winner for all you put in… or, right after you step on it you know you shouldn’t have because it’s going to be a disaster… truth be told no matter what number comes up, a bigger number, a smaller number, or no movement; you lost weight, a little, a lot; you gained weight, a little, a lot, you’re still clueless what the number is and what it represents! Numbers aren’t good or bad other than the meaning we give to them. It's good to measure things, to know your numbers, like your cholesterol, your blood pressure, and all of your most important medical markers.
And let’s clear up a number that might be an ongoing trauma for you, what you weigh (there it is again), if that’s a reoccurring theme for you.
If you get nothing else from this post, please get that a number on a traditional bathroom scale or even your doctors scale is quite frankly just a cumulative lump of your lean muscle mass, body fat, and water all rolled up into one.
And unless you separate all of that out so you can see your percentages of your lean muscle mass, body fat, and water using a body composition scale, whatever number shows up on a bathroom or doctors scale is of little value for you to work with, and the mystery of that all-in-one number will always burn into your brain sooner or later.
How do I know that about you for sure?
It has so far everytime… right?
Unless you’re in the 1%
Knowing what you weigh (it’s a 4-letter word, yes I know its 5, but you get the drift) was never a good measure because it’s not a helpful or accurate way to know what your bodies made of.
And don’t get me started on how outdated and useless knowing what your BMI is.
I’m saving that for a separate video, podcast and blog posting.
Knowing what you weigh, and even what your body composition is doesn’t tell you how healthy you are, it’s still just data, but it’s a very important part of the picture. As with your other medical markers, knowing your body composition is a very helpful way to begin seeing how your metabolism is working, or not, based on the ways you’re eating, moving, and exercising. And if you start understanding how your body evolves by tracking your body composition monthly and seasonally with what you eat, how much you move, how much you exercise, what exercise you choose to do and how you manage your stress levels, you’ll have a healthier view about your body size, shape, and (ugh…).
As contestants on The Biggest Loser, we each got a baseline body composition DEXA scan before we ever had our first on-air weigh-in in front of millions of people. I think for all of us it was the first time we got to see what our bodies were made of. (This becomes the caption to the picture
These are my Biggest Loser before and after body composition numbers.
The DEXA scans showed us our unique percentages of lean muscle mass, body fat, water and even bone density. And 8 months later right before our finale weigh-in, we had another DEXA scan to see how our body composition evolved. For me that final body composition analysis felt like earning a well-being diploma that I had done a lot to earn, and I was very proud of. I even had it laminated.
As proud as I was with my laminated before and after body composition numbers, I was clueless how knowing my numbers would become the seed of inspiration for what has been the foundation of years educating, navigating, and supporting people to learn what their body composition numbers are and what they can do to move their percentages in whatever direction they choose to with my very own portable medical-grade body composition scale.
To date I’ve done over 5,000 one-on-one body composition consultations.
On a personal note, I’d like to share what I learned yesterday during my visit with Dr. Huizenga after he did a post 10-years Biggest Loser DEXA scan of my body composition and what he saw for where I was with my overall well-being.
Dr H. was very pleased to see that 10 years later after our finale I was doing a very good job of keeping my well-being in a very strong maintenance mode. And even though I too was very pleased that I was able to do very well, I also shared with him that there are things that I’m still confused by and don't always understand.
Simply stated calories in, calories out …
it’s more than that …
its understanding how my metabolism really determines my overall health and well-being.
He was pleased to see how determined I am to continue to be a student of how nutrition, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome affect many of us, especially any of us who manage to become morbidly obese. As I shared with him, I don't need to be a subject matter expert on any of these subjects as there are plenty of scientists, doctors, nutritionists, and many other that are. I do need to be a catalyst for conversations with Going Beyond The Scale (Dr.H really liked the name) podcasts where interviewing subject matter experts who can share their expertise on how their part of their puzzle affects our metabolism, body composition, and overall well-being.
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What’s most secret is… is most common…
Your bathroom scale and your relationship to it is mentally torturing you… repeatedly.
It's not a reliable or good measure of anything.
Every time you step on it, it burns into your brain a “story” of your success, or not.
Bottomline it's not helping you.
IF YOU HAVE A BATHROOM SCALE, GET RID OF IT!
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And if you really want to understand how you can affect your body size, shape, and body composition (YAY!!! not we*ght) the first thing you want to do is get a good quality body composition scale. And then, most important, you need to understand what your body composition numbers mean, how they relate to each other (and they do) and how you can move those numbers and percentages in whatever direction you desire.
That’s why you’re going to want a Body Composition 101 blueprint to guide and support you with whatever body composition scale you decide to own.
Back to the Ranch…
I'm here on the footprint of where The Biggest Loser gym was, the place where hundreds of contestants first stood on the scale. As a contestant we would walk up the hill to the gym late into the evening with a pit in our stomachs because every time we stepped on that scale could be the night that we could get sent home. The Biggest Loser scale was like a traditional bathroom scale on steroids. It didn’t show a change in our body composition, just the pounds lost or gained and the percentage difference in weight (yes, just weight) between each contestant. The only thing we knew for sure was that we all were properly hydrated because they tested our urine before each weigh-in so that no one could cheat the scale by sweating out before a weigh-in. It’s no secret that we were all losing body fat because we were all so overweight, but we also never knew if or how much muscle we were losing at the same time.
Ideally for any of us the best strategy is to lose excess body fat and maintain and or gain lean muscle mass. Why… well to sustain a robust metabolism, maintaining and gaining lean muscle mass is the silver-bullet for long term metabolic health.
Obviously, we all knew that our journey on The Biggest Loser wasn’t forever but knowing how fortunate it was that any of us were chosen out of such a large field of people.
Once you got there, and you started losing we*ght and feeling great
You didn't want to go home.
You wanted to stay.
You wanted to keep learning.
You wanted to be with like minded people who were in the same boat.
We all hated the idea of getting eliminated and going home early.
Why?
Because we felt like we were going back to where we were before, back to the old environment of why or how we got where we were.
The Biggest Loser gym is gone.
The scale is gone, but the memory of this place is unforgettable.
Truly we lived and died by the scale every single week, it was very stressful.
So many lives were changed here.
I have some business to finish before I leave the ranch today. To officially kick off the spirit of what Going Beyond The Scale is all about.
To do that I’ve brought from New Jersey a traditional bathroom scale that my friend, partner, and producer, Gloria gave me to make this happen.
I brought this scale all the way across the country to the spot where energetically hundreds of contestants, and millions of people would be transfixed to their TV’s each week after they watched the contestants go thru all kinds of machinations in each episode all to a crescendo of stepping up on the massive scale as the numbers rolled and rolled landing on that week’s change in we*ght from the last weigh-in and seeing their percentage of we*ght loss vs. other contestants to stay safe for another week, or fall below to the least lost and they’re were either automatically going home that night, or they’d be possibly voted off. Now I realize when you step on your bathroom scale its not that dramatic and you’re not being sent somewhere if the number that appears on your scale is less than inspiring that for what you felt you put into it.
What’s most secret, and what’s most common
is… that … day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, you like millions of people all over the world have been dying a thousand little deaths of defeat stepping on a traditional bathroom scale feeling confused, frustrated, and resigned that you’ll never get to that ever-elusive number you’re after. It’s time for you to let go of the past we*gh you looked at your scale as being some determinant of your success for your well-being.
It's not.
Your bathroom scale sucks.
It doesn't help you.
It’s horrible.
Why?
Because a traditional bathroom scale doesn’t show you what you want and need to know. Because since all our bodies are made up of 50 to 60% water, within any given day due to hormones, stressors, menstruation, salty foods, inflammation, you name it, your body’s ability and need to hold or release water weight is always in flux and is never in alignment with the basic calories in, calories out formula. Yes, the calories in, calories out formula isn’t exact or the same for everybody and its impossible to account for and track that caloric algorithm 100%.
It’s the unpredictable flux in water weight that screws with your head every time you step on a traditional bathroom scale.
STOP STEPPING ON A BATHROOM SCALE.
GET RID OF IT!
To make any real and sustainable change in your size, shape and yes we*ght, knowing your body composition holds the key to the answer of these questions:
Are you growing lean muscle mass?
If you decided to burn some body fat, are you burning body?
Are you retaining water?
It’s so important to walk away from the short term high of starting, you name it, anything, and become excited that you lost 7 to 10 pounds that first week as measured on a bathroom scale only to find out you are clueless and most likely that was 7 to 10 pounds of water weight as you ate better and most likely stopped eating foods that inflamed you causing you to hold extra water.
SO
One last time...
GET RID OF YOUR BATHROOM SCALE!
NEVER STEP ON ONE EVER AGAIN!
I didn't bring a sledgehammer on the plane with me, but the Rangers here on the Biggest Loser ranch gave me one. I don't have a film crew today. I'm the film crew. And I’m not exactly sure how the hell this is going to work. But if you look over there in the grass I have placed a common bathroom scale where I’m pretty sure the Biggest Loser scale was that you saw on TV. As I get closer to the scale you can see it’s a classic bathroom scale. This one looks as if it only goes up to 280 pounds, but if you look close it says it goes to 350 pounds.
Yes, the dreaded thing that we all stand on with our fingers crossed, knowing one of three things will happen.
We lose we*ght.
We stay the same (rarely)
We gain we*ght.
But here’s the rub, here’s the reality if you’re being honest. We soooo hope we lost we*ght.
And sometimes we do! That’s great, right? Well, I don't know about you, but many times when I’d lose lost some we*ght, that little voice in my head would say… “ya done good, ya got a little wiggle room now, reward yourself!
Before tracking my body composition, that was the weird-ass mental dance I’d do with myself back and forth whenever I said I wanted to lose we*ght. When I got rid of my bathroom scale I never really knew if what I was losing was water-we*ght or body fat. And more importantly did I actually gain some muscle. Now if you can tell me that you love a bathroom scale, please let me know because I don't really know anybody that does.
I’m on a mission to keep inspiring people to get rid of their bathroom scale, and get doctors to get rid of their scales too. Not only get a body composition scale for their office, but have them understand the basics about body composition and once and for all stop talking about BMI!
Think about this for a minute…. If our bank accounts acted like our bathroom scale, we’d all go nuts!
Imagine every time you went to the ATM, and you thought you knew exactly how much money was in your account, the numbers never were right. You wouldn’t put up with it. You expect that every deposit, and withdrawal is exact, every time, with no wiggle room. Well, isn’t your body and well-being deserving of knowing what’s real, what’s so.
I hope I’ve gotten my point across!
Please join me (watch this clip if you want to see me do it) while I crush this bathroom scale as a gesture to start a wave of people all over the world getting their bathroom scale out of their lives once and for all!
That’s it, you get the point.
Love to hear your thoughts.
Love to hear what you feel about this by leaving a comment below.
If you like what you’ve heard and read, please share this with people in your life that you think would benefit from hearing what I’ve shared.
If you’d like to hear what Dr. Huizenga thought of my DEXA scan, and the 45 minutes he shared about how his insights about well-being have evolved over the past 10 years, here’s the link to my podcast with Dr. Huizenga Dr H Podcast