WHY DIDN’T YOU GAIN BACK THE WEIGHT YOU LOST?
10+ years post my final weigh-in on The Biggest Loser people I meet for the first time do “the scan…”
Subtly they think, they quickly scan me from head to toe and mentally calculate what they think I weigh and often they say…
“Wow! Jay you still look great! How have you been able to not gain back all the weight you lost on the show, and then some…”
What follows below is that answer.
it’s the transcript from my first ever TEDx Talk all the way from November 2011, 10+ years ago when I shared with an audience what I discovered before, during, and after The Biggest Loser that has sustained my weight loss maintenance all these years.
I’ve also added some additional insights so it may inspire you to consider “practicing” what I’ve been practicing all these years if you’ve been looking for way to create a more empowering and enjoyable way to live life well!
Why should you consider it… because it works…
What a difference a year can make in a person's life.
I started the show at 400 pounds…
Down 35lbs from my all-time highest weight of 435lbs.
At that point in my life, I was kind of a broken man, and certainly not proud of the fact that how I had been living helped get my daughter Jennifer very overweight and unhealthy too.
I mean, I'm the leader of our family and in many families the dad often sets an example for his kids, and the “weigh and ways” I was living my life wasn’t a great example.
Jennifer had always been a big fan of NBC’s hit reality weight loss show The Biggest Loser. She had watched almost every season. I had seen a few episodes, but I wasn’t a fan.
And like many others that watched The Biggest Loser, I was eating all the way thru every episode, and certainly nothing very healthy.
So, when Jennifer saw that The Biggest Loser was holding auditions for Season 9, she answered all their casting questions way ahead of time and filmed their requested 30-minute video of a typical day of her life. Then on the day of the audition she waited hours in line at Rockefeller Center for a quick one-minute interview with someone from the casting crew.
A couple weeks later she found out she didn’t make it.
A year later it was The Biggest Loser audition déjà vu time again for Season 10. Once again Jennifer completed all the same casting requests with an even better video this time (I know because I filmed that audition video too).
This time she got closer, and they were considering her, but she didn’t make it.
Not known for giving up, and more convinced than ever that she was perfect for the show, when she got an email to try out for Season 11, a couple’s season, she asked her mom if she would audition with her.
Right away her mom said “Noooo…”
“Sorry Jenny, that’s not me, I don’t do antics. I’d be sent home the first week. Ask your father, he’ll do it.”
Getting on The Biggest Loser was Jennifer’s dream, not mine, but I figured the third times the charm. So, if I could do something to help Jennifer get healthier since I was a big part of the reason she got there in the first place, I was a GREAT BIG FAT (literally) YES!
We filled out all the necessary casting paperwork and if I say so myself, we made a pretty good “day in our life” video together.
This casting call was in Boston, so after a five-hour drive, and a two-hour wait, we were ready for our interview.
Our one-minute interview must have gone well because within an hour after we were done, we were called to come back the next day to do a video interview that was going to be sent to the casting crew in LA.
Long story short… a few weeks later we got a letter telling us we were invited to come to LA out of over 250,000+ people who auditioned to get on Season 11 for medical testing and final interviews with the NBC executives.
LA Bound
50 people were flown to LA for a final casting round. It was such a surprise that we all got to stay at the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village for two weeks for free, except for the fact that we rarely left the room as they didn’t want any of us to see the other possible contestants. If we did leave the room, it was always with a production assistant.
Four Seasons Hotel, Westlake Village
During that time, we had lots of medical testing, psychological testing, executive interviews, and video interviews that would make great before footage if we got on the show.
and when the dust settled Jennifer and I were chosen as one the 11 couples to be the contestants on Season 11.
We became the Green Team… and the rest is history.
To say the least we were both super excited that we got the opportunity to become contestants. And even though we knew what the show was about… knowing and living thru the roller coaster ride of emotions and challenges for the eight months and 21 episodes, the longest season ever of The Biggest Loser, we honestly were clueless what was going to transpire for us together and especially individually.
People always say things happen for a reason, and they do. But you always should remember that whatever the “reason” comes to be, it still manifests based on what you do… or don’t do…
Years later, reflecting on that time in my life I really do think there was a “reason” I was chosen to make it onto The Biggest Loser against such insurmountable odds. Then to get eliminated early on and sent home. Then to get to come back on the show and make it all the way to the Final 4 as the last man standing.
Yes, losing -181lbs was certainly life-changing, but I’ve come to see that sharing with others my journey, and then helping thousands of others create a new view and mindset for how they too can live life well has become the “reason” for me.
Post The Biggest Loser my purpose and passion is to inform, inspire and support people all over the world who want to once and for all lose excess body fat, keep, or build their lean muscle mass, and then maintain that new body composition for life, with some reasonable available built-in wiggle room for their new wellbeing lifestyle.
Almost everyone knows how to lose weight (unfortunately mostly water weight) at least for a little bit, but almost no one understands how to eat, move, and exercise in ways that creates a healthier body composition. Not just some mysterious, fickle, and frustrating number that shows up on a bathroom scale.
That’s what I’ve come to learn and share with people every day and that’s the “reason” I’m here with you today.
To share with you an idea that not only helped me to lose body fat and maintain and build lean muscle mass. Most important, never gain back all that excess fat, and yes… even be able to have my cake, doughnut, pie, whatever, treat… and enjoy it too!
What I’m sharing with you today was an idea that helped me before I ever got on The Biggest Loser. It also helped me get on the show. It helped me during the show, and it’s become my daily go-to solution every day.
It's not a new diet. A new way to count calories or some new exercise plan. It’s much simpler and easier than that.
But before I tell you what it is… let me show the money shot from the results Jennifer and I got from spending eight months on The Biggest Loser.
Jennifer lost -114 pounds and I lost -181 pounds.
I wasn't The Biggest Loser having lost the largest % of weight, but I did lose the largest number of pounds.
Here’s a fun fact. Patrick House, the Biggest Loser from Season 10, and I both started our seasons at 400lbs, and we both ended the show at 219 lbs.
As Season 11 was coming to its finale it was me and three women making it to the coveted Final 4. The odds of me being the last man standing was very improbable, as most of the men on the show were much younger and fitter than me, and we even had an Olympic gold medalist on the show.
Alison Sweeney and the Final 4
I wasn't the youngest, the fastest, or the fittest, but I always hung in there, and yes… I think there's a “reason” for that too.
When people meet Jennifer and I, they always want to know what was the secret to our success?
Was it Jillian… was it Bob… was it what we ate… was it how many calories we ate each day?
It must have been how you exercised… there must have been a secret or something special you did that you could share!
My son Matthew said it best. He said we got a “fat pass.” And the reason he called it a “fat pass” was because every single day we lived and breathed eating healthy, drinking plenty of water, moving, exercising, getting great sleep. That was our job for eight months, and those eight months became a lifestyle and habit change worth its weight in wellbeing.
We had no distractions, no real stressors other than the once-a-week weigh-ins with our shirts off in front of millions of people. Truth be told each day of the weigh-ins were super stressful as we had to wait all day long wondering what was going to be “the tale of our scale” for that week. Would we have lost enough weight to stay another week or would we be whisked away from the Ranch that night and sent back home on a plane in the morning.
As contestants we had no contact with the outside world, no computer, no cell phone. To be fair I tell people that anyone that is sequestered away with all the cards stacked in their favor like I just described is almost guaranteed to have amazing weight loss success.
No surprise its easy to see how much your environment plays a major factor in your weight loss success.
Another major factor in losing weight and possibly keeping it off for life is getting real, getting honest with yourself, but not judgmental because that will only set you back. A better way to describe it and live it is becoming more conscious with the choices you’re making throughout the day, and then how over time you’re conditioning your mind and body to make more choices that serve you mentally and physically, than choices that slay you.
And let’s be honest… I didn’t get to be 435 pounds just because I had a slow metabolism, no one does. Ok, out of a hundred people that might be the case maybe for one or two people.
Jay and other Biggest Losers a year before he was on the show
Truth be told I was medicating my emotions with food. I not only ate too much, I was also eating so much and so often I was never hungry. I was eating morning, noon, and night, and every moment in between.
It’s not that I was never able to lose weight. I was always quite successful at losing usually a 100lbs at least a dozen times, and then like a rubber band it snapped right back on as I’d gain it all back again. I never understood that it required a mindset shift, a lifestyle change, not just another new weight loss attempt.
The bigger I got the less I moved… the bigger I got the more I asked any and all in my family for favors… “could you go get me…fill in the ___________”
I always thought, and said I tried everything, and as far as known accepted diets, I had.
I had a gym membership for years. I would go the gym feeling good about myself that I went, but I never really was working out, I was at the gym. Kinda like being “at” the library.
What I thought, ate, moved, and exercised was on an unconscious autopilot path making my scale climb higher and higher.
So… back to The Biggest Loser… it’s really easy to get real and honest with yourself when you know each week you’re going to stand in front of 15 million people.
When you know you can’t hide. When you start getting more conscious with all that you’re doing, when there’s a healthy dose of accountability always in the air, you start being more honest with yourself, you start letting go of your excuses.
Like it or not people notice, you notice. We can say no one should judge you, but be honest, no one judges any of us as much as we judge ourselves. And if people were being truthful, they’d tell you that even though they know they shouldn’t… they’re judging you.
Hey, we’re human, and humans are “meaning making machines” and we’re evaluating, judging, and commenting on things all day long whether its out loud or in silence.
One of the big things I learned from the Biggest Loser was honesty is the root of so many things when it comes to weight loss, because every plan works, be it an eating plan (yes, a diet) and pretty much any exercise plan… if you do it.
Most people who are successful at losing weight surround themselves with support, and that really was the “secret sauce” of being on The Biggest Loser.
We had world-class support.
We had a doctor, a sports medic, a psychologist, trainers, and a nutritionist from the beginning, throughout, and all the way to the end of our journey. All those people were critical to our success while we were on the show.
But before I got on The Biggest Loser, I had access to “something” that I was using that not only helped me get on the show, it also helped me make it to the Final 4, and most important its helping every day after the show keep the weight off.
And I’m pretty sure you have on you the very same “something” I have been using all along on you today.
It’s your smartphone…
Without a doubt, and it’s been documented for the world to see on my smartphonefitjay Instagram account, using my smartphone to be accountable to myself by visually journaling everyday what I’m thinking, eating, moving, exercising, and sleeping has been my “secret sauce” to keep the weight off post Biggest Loser.
Over the years using my smartphone I’ve shared thousands of pics of my scale, often daily, and at a minimum once a week. And eventually I shifted from sharing my scale to sharing my body composition which is really what’s most important.
After The Biggest Loser I started to become more of a student about what makes up our body weight and how best to measure and track it because a number on a bathroom scale is about as useful as a BMI number, not much.
BMI and a bathroom scale or even a doctor’s scale co-mingle all of your body composition into one number vs. using a medical grade body composition device that breaks out your lean muscle mass and body fat in percentages and pounds for each of your body parts.
That way you can see what you have, and where it’s moving based on your unique body, metabolism, and how you’re feeding, moving, and exercising, or not, your body
In fact, way before I got on The Biggest Loser, I started using my smartphone to be more conscious of what I was eating, how much I was moving, and to track if and what I was doing to exercise.
It all started with a little personal blog called the smartphone diet.
I created it to start to share what I was eating with my friends and family. Because I was a secret eater. And I'm still a recovering secret eater.
Secret eaters are people like me… friendly, nice often seemingly very happy, but truth be told they’re suffering in silence.
For me when I’d out to dinner with people I’d always eat the right kinds of food, and the right kinds of portions. I’d never overindulge in front of anyone.
But when I was driving home, or when I’d get home, it was often all bets off and the binging and secret eating out of sight from anyone was a full plate press!
In my car I would have a fast-food buffet often stopping at 5-6 drive thru’s, as one indulgence would always lead to another. Once I felt I blew it my mindset was to keep eating until I couldn’t eat another always thinking I’ll start… tomorrow, Monday, next week, after the holidays… some mythical better time into the future.
I would eat healthy occasionally, but more often than not I couldn't trust myself, and all bets were off.
But once I started using my smartphone to pause and visually journal what I was doing my thinking, my mindset and habits started to shift, slowly at first, but more consistently than anything I had ever experienced in my life before.
Talking pics started to interrupt my unconscious automatic pilot lifestyle of secret eating and binge fests. Using my smartphone didn’t make what I was doing perfect, you can never be perfect or should even try to be.
But what it did create was an eye opening “practice” that’s morphed into a very empowering habit by taking my head and habits out of an automatic pilot mode helped me create a whole new relationship with my emotions, eating, and exercise.
Back to the show…
Ok, as I shared in the beginning… getting on The Biggest Loser was Jennifer’s dream. I was horrified at the idea of having to take off my shirt in front of millions of people every week. But I wanted to do whatever I could to support Jennifer.
As I mentioned earlier, I was the only contestant that got back on the show, because I got eliminated in week seven because of game play.
And one of the reasons I know I got back on the show was because I was visually journaling with my smartphone all the while I was at home. I took pictures and videos whenever I was exercising, and I was taking pictures of everything I ate.
I wasn’t asked to but every day I was sending pictures and videos of everything I was doing to the producers. I was sending so much to them every day and for weeks that the producer’s asked The Biggest Loser psychologist if I was manic.
He said… “No, he’s just very passionate.”
And you know what… that passion helped get me back on the show!
So here are some of the big things and simple take-a-ways I’ve learned using my smartphone every day to live “smartphonefit.”
When you start to practice visually journaling using your smartphone you start to realize day is a blank slate to “practice” making more conscious and heathier choices.
In fact, there are at least a dozen different ways you can use your smartphone to visually journal your wellbeing journey. Everything from just tracking how much water you’re drinking, how much you’re moving, or documenting exercising, all the way up to a full-blown, detailed, approach capturing everything you’re doing or not doing morning, noon, night, and everything in between.
And the great thing is it’s your choice, it’s all up to you, it’s flexible, it’s a “practice.”
I’ve found for myself and in helping others to navigate what they want to create having smartphonefit mean for them is to set the bar of success using the mantra…
WIN THE DAY!
What that means is that if you capture in photos at least 80% of the most important things you’ve determined you want to be more mindful and conscious of you’ve WON THE DAY!
That’s where you should start from, and that’s the mindset you want to keep “practicing” until it becomes a habit, a lifestyle.
If you want to lose weight by visually journaling, I remind you that no matter what you weigh, each morning you need to start with a blank slate mentality by thinking you’re starting that day on the scale at zero…
Tapping into that mindset you take pics of all the things you know are the highlights of your day that bring in calories and burn calories. And yes, you can use other quantified tracking devices and apps to keep track of the caloric details, but the most important thing to do is to “practice” being more conscious and tracking all the of the things you’re doing or not doing.
As I said there are at least a dozen ways you can use your smartphone to transform whatever living life well looks like for you, and I’d like to leave you with one more way and that is by sharing what you want to do with others…
Like on The Biggest Loser the awareness, the sharing, the accountability is a wellbeing game changer when you allow yourself to be open to it.
One day, I want to run the New York City Marathon. I did a lot of challenging things on The Biggest Loser but running the New York City Marathon is at the top of my bucket list.
And I’ve started to train for it. As I’ve started to train for it, I’m sharing that part of my journey using my smartphone too.
This is the treadmill I ran on with some of my Jillian paraphernalia when I ran my first indoor ½ Marathon because the outdoor race got cancelled because of inclement weather.
And I’ve shared this picture with the people who follow me on my smartphonefitjay Instagram account because when you share a big goal with people, they get really excited and they keep you accountable to keep going especially when the going gets tough!
There are thousands of health and fitness apps that can help you. But if you just start using your smartphone in the simplest of ways and just taking pictures of what you’re thinking, eating, moving, exercising, and sleeping with people it’s a powerful game-changer.
You’re … SMART.
Your phone is … SMART.
Simple is … SMART.
And practicing living smartphonefit is … SMART.
I told you someday I wanted to be able to run the New York City Marathon.
And as it turns out. I'm running it tomorrow. And I’m running it with my daughter Jennifer, and my son Matthew.
And the coolest thing is, that if you take your smartphone, and you download the free New York City Marathon run app, you can track Jennifer, Matthew, and I as we run it for the first time.
Using your smartphone has been for us, and we know it can be for you, one of the most accessible, easiest, powerful, tools you have literally at your fingertips 24/7 to change, transform, and sustain whatever wellbeing looks like for you.
What a difference a year can make…