Fat Chance (39 page)

23. As the smallest contestant, do you find it amazing that you ended up achieving one of the largest percentages of weight loss?

Yeah
, I do! Like Jillian said, my success proved that the question is not, “Why me?,” but rather, “Why
not
me?”

24. Do you believe that the at-home contestants truly can compete with those who stay on
The Biggest Loser
campus and make it into the finals?

Hello
, did you see Jim’s success? He was a contestant on my season who got booted in week five and then came back to the finale with an incredible weight-loss percentage. He is a husband, a dad and a cop who coaches lacrosse and yet still found time to work out for four hours a day. He
can’t
be human. But he is proof that you can do whatever you determine to do, if you remain committed to your own cause.

25. How much of the show is “the game” and how much is people really wanting to lose weight and change their lives?

I would say that the first 80 percent of the show revolves around people wanting to change their lives, and the last 20 percent revolves around gamesmanship. Nobody gets to campus thinking, “I’m gonna win this thing!” I know people say that for the cameras, but they don’t truly believe that it can happen. They’re not even sure they’ll live through week one, so the thought of actually
winning
? It just doesn’t cross their minds. (Ask me how I know.) It’s not until later in the game, when you’re left standing, that you think, “Holy cow! I could seriously take home the title!”

26. What was your true motivation for wanting to be on
The Biggest Loser
?

There are so many reasons, but if I were to sum it up I’d say my motivation was to live in a body that I had dreamed about but had never truly seen.

27.
How many people auditioned for your season of the show?

You’d have to Google it, but from what I heard, more than 250,000 people submitted videos for casting-staff consideration. I think now it’s up to half a million or more each season, which wouldn’t surprise me, given the show’s popularity.

28. What do you mean when you say that, “Jillian Michaels changed your life forever”?

Just meeting Jillian provided proof that a woman can be anything she chooses to be. Without even saying a word, Jillian represented everything that I wanted in life but did not have—health, confidence, strength and resilience. There are a
million
ways she has changed my life, and I’ll be forever grateful for that.

29. Many women suffer from the condition of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) like you do. How much did that condition affect your ability to lose weight? Can it be overcome?

Weight-loss is harder and slower for those with PCOS, but it’s still possible. Because of that condition, I am insulin resistant, so literally my body was fighting against me while I worked to lose my weight. But I am living proof that even with a condition like PCOS, a woman can reach her goals.

30. What does your daily diet look like now?

I actually eat breakfast now, so that’s a start. Typically for breakfast I have turkey bacon or egg whites with cilantro, a slice of Ezekiel bread and a cup of coffee, which I never used to drink before
The Biggest Loser
. For lunch I’ll have a salad or a pita sandwich, and dinner usually consists of a grilled chicken breast and veggies. A handful of almonds or a piece of fruit make a great midday snack. It ain’t rocket science…

31. Did you have trouble acclimating to “real life” after the show?

Yes—that’s the short answer. For more detail, see
chapter 8
,
This Is Me Now
.

32.
How much did your participation in
The Biggest Loser
affect your ability to adopt a child so quickly?

The only effect from being on the show was that Mike and I had the discretionary funds to adopt in the first place—a huge, huge blessing for us.

33. How is your parenting approach different now from how you parented before the show?

I no longer sweat the small stuff. As I type this, it’s two o’clock in the afternoon, and empty milk cartons from breakfast still litter the kitchen counter; four loads of clean laundry still sit, unfolded, at my feet; and in the last ten minutes my son Jaxon has pulled out every single Tupperware container from the pantry and every plastic utensil from underneath the sink. If this were an audio book you’d hear him banging the doorstop that he somehow unscrewed from the baseboard against the lid to a stainless-steel pan, which is making the loveliest
clang-clang-clang
sound. It’s a combined effect that would have sent me over the edge before
The Biggest Loser
. But it’s interesting what a few months away from your family can do. I now appreciate every single moment for what it is—another place in time when I can be with the ones I love most.

34. In what ways has your relationship with God changed?

Before the show I knew a lot
about
God. Now I sense that I know
him
.

35. One of the promos identified you as “A wife who wants to make her husband proud…” Do you think you make your husband proud now? Was he not proud of you when you were obese?

Mike has always been proud of me, but now I’m actually proud of me too. And a woman who has healthy self-esteem makes for a man who can barely contain his pride.

36. What was it like the first time you walked into Mike’s office after hiding from there for five years?

If I had to choose one adjective to describe how I felt when I finally stepped back into Mike’s office, it would be this:
EMBARRASSED
.
I had projected onto those people my own insecurities, and when I reentered their lives I felt ashamed. They were so gracious and lovely. “We’re so sorry that you thought we wouldn’t welcome you!” they said. How embarrassing. I had outed them on national TV and had been proven patently wrong.

37. Did your weight loss influence your husband’s weight?

Yes. Once he remembered that during
every
season of the show producers let contestants come home to see their families, he had a genuine “Oh no!” moment. He dropped nearly thirty pounds before my home visit, but he did it in all the wrong ways and for all the wrong reasons. These days he’s not quite as obsessive about healthful eating as am I, but he’s come around pretty well. (He still detests Ezekiel bread, saying “it tastes like cardboard,” while I, on the other hand, would eat dehydrated bugs if Jillian called and told me I should.)

38. What do you do for recreation now?

Sleep. No, I’m just kidding. While I hated being outside before the show, I can’t get through a day
without
being outside now. It represents to me a world I’d never known. My boys and I play in the park, we race, we jump rope—whatever it takes to enjoy fresh air and sunshine.

39. You seem so natural speaking about this life-changing experience. Do you love talking about it?

I do. In fact, although my family members will roll their eyes every time, I can tell the same stories over and over again. The other night Mike and I were at dinner at his mom’s house. She had invited some friends over, who happened to be big-time
The Biggest Loser
fans. The husband pelted me with questions until his wife said, “Honey, leave her alone! She’s probably exhausted from all these questions,” but I loved every minute of it!

40. Do people recognize you when you go out in public?

Yes. It’s fun. And annoying. And yet still somehow fun.

41.
Did you enjoy your time living in LA?

I did! I was always the kid who wanted summer camp to last just one more week. I didn’t go away for college or anything, so there is a spirit of adventure in me that has never really been satisfied. Out of all of the Season 4 contestants I’m probably the one who feels most strongly about having a monthly reunion. “Come on, guys!” I cheer, “don’tcha miss me yet?”

42. What are you the most thankful for?

I’m most thankful for second chances.

43. Who, or what, inspires you?

(I know I’m supposed to be concentrating intently on this meaningful, in-depth question, but it’s more than a little difficult with my own miniature Ringo Starr playing his pots and pans in the background!) Okay. Who or what inspires me. Let’s see…

Actually, the people who inspire me most are the ones who are able to do what I myself never seemed able to do—namely, lose weight and live their best life without the help of a four-month getaway, a personal trainer, a nutritional education and a group of people surrounding them who would hold them accountable to their goals.
Those
people make me proud. They make me want to work even harder to keep walking this road that I’m on.

44. What is your favorite exercise?

I don’t know that I can answer that with any credibility whatsoever. I’m devoted to this lifestyle, but to use the term “favorite” and the term “exercise” in the same sentence? Fishy.

Now, if someone could come up with a way to make the atrocious “mountain climbers” (see page 199) somehow involve a piece of chocolate cake at the end,
that
would be a good exercise.

45. Who is your favorite
The Biggest Loser
contestant and why?

No shocker here: Season 2’s Suzy Preston. I actually know her now, and she is
still
my favorite.

46.
Did you think you’d win your season?

Heck, yeah! Well, okay, to be fair, I didn’t think I’d win at the beginning. But after I survived the first few beatings from my beloved Jillian, yes, even I believed I could win.

47. What are the foods you’re still tempted to eat?

I’m from the South, where things like hush puppies and corn muffins abound. And man, are they good. My biggest food temptations are still pizza and chocolate cake—well,
anything
chocolate, as it turns out.

48. What can you do now that you used to not be able to do?

You name it! I can outrun an eight-year-old. I can hula-hoop. I can carry in the groceries without stopping to take a break. I can exercise for ninety minutes without needing a four-hour nap afterward. I can do everything I need to do in a day without utterly falling apart. Wow. That last one could bring me to tears.

I can sleep
soundly
at night. What a gift.

49. Would you ever consider writing a book?

Hmm … I guess the answer’s yes.

  1.
Proverbs 31:30–31, MSG.

  2.
Genesis 1:26, John 10:10 and John 15:11.

  3.
www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3503.Maya_Angelou?page
.

  4.
www.quotesdaddy.com/quote/263494/william-shakespeare/to-climb-steep-hills-requires-slow-pace-at-first
.

  5.
Esther 4:16.

  6.
One of the coolest aspects of being on
The Biggest Loser
was that we were given great resources to help us achieve our goals. In addition to Jillian’s books, I remember being given a copy of Devin Alexander’s
The Biggest Loser Cookbook
, as well as a small-form
The Biggest Loser
Complete Calorie Counter
. Helpful reads still to this day.

  7.
Matthew 17:20.

  8.
Ephesians 3:20.

  9.
Casting Crowns, “Stained Glass Masquerade” from
Lifesong
album. Reunion Records, 2005.

10.
Luke 19:40.

11.
“Gloria” by Watermark. © Rocketown Music, Sweater Weather Music, Word Music LLC.

12.
Ibid.

13.
Julia Indichova,
Inconceivable
. Broadway Books, 1997, page 57.

14.
“On the Right Path.” As printed in
Living Choices
magazine, a publication of Women’s Resource Center of Jacksonville, Volume 1, Issue 1, January 2009, page 8.

15.
Ibid.

16.
Ibid.

17.
Julie Hadden, “All I Needed to Know about Life I Learned from My One-Year-Old.” Originally published at
www.guideposts.com
, 14 January 2009.

18.
“The Real Me,” written by Something Distant; produced by Lu Rubino.

19.
Max Lucado,
You Are Special
. Crossway Books, 1997, page 19.

20.
Ibid, page 23.

21.
Ibid, page 25.

22.
Julie Hadden, “Worth the Weight.”
Guideposts
magazine, January 2009, page 45.

23.
Beijing 2008 Humanity Archives,
http://en.beijing2008.cn/29/16/article212011629.shtml
. Home > Road to 2008 > Education > Humanity > John Stephen Akhwari.

24. Marianne Williamson, from
A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles
. HarperCollins, 1992.

25.
Ephesians 1:11–12, MSG. Emphasis added.

26.
Luke 15:24.

27.
For more information on how you can help abolish human trafficking, visit
www.thea21campaign.org
.

28.
See
http://americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4735.

29.
Nutritional values that are provided with each recipe are estimates and can vary depending on brands you choose. All information provided by Calorie King (
calorieking.com
).

30.
Instead of using cooking spray in recipes that call for it, fill an ordinary plastic spray-bottle with extra-virgin olive oil and spritz that instead.

31.
Taken from information found at
www.foodreference.com/html/artokra.html
.

For more information on Julie Hadden or to contact her directly, please visit her at
juliehadden.com
.