Are you or someone you know ready to take on the Biggest Loser lifestyle at home? As you hear Bob and Jillian say all the time, leave the excuses at the door. That’s right, Biggest Loser has made it that much easier for you to join, making your excuses moot.

The Biggest Loser Gift Card is an easier to way for you to either join the club, or offer this life changing program to someone you love. You’ll receive two $25 gift cards, each good for a one-month membership. Keep them both for yourself, or find a weight loss partner and you can join together.

Last night seemed like the worst possible scenario for a Biggest Loser elimination. Daniel Wright was sent home for losing the lowest percentage of weight for the week; Shay Sorrells fellow below the yellow line and was eliminated by her fellow contestants. Last season, he was the heaviest contestant to ever be on the show, and this season Shay took over that title. As the two heaviest contestants in history, Shay and Daniel formed the orange team and literally worked their butts off each week to lose on the scale, and to push and motivate one another.

Now, Shay tells us that no matter how many times she fell below, you’re still never prepared to leave the ranch. And Daniel explains in leaving the ranch for the second time he’s now more focused on the emotional barriers in front of him.

They were the likeliest team of two this season. When Daniel asked Shay to join him in forming the orange team, it was instantly a perfect match. Only a few months before was Daniel in Shay’s shoes, even though her 476 pound initial weight was only about 20 pounds more than Daniel’s season 7 initial weight of 454.

Big, new, exciting things on this episode of Biggest Loser. With two people going home, the addition of a red line, and some extreme overreacting, how could anyone pay close attention? Well, if you missed some things this week, I have a recap for you.

As I said before, this week is a double elimination week for the contestants. This put all of the contestants on edge and really brought out the best competitive nature in all of the them. We finally saw some game play by the two groups of alliances (young vs. old), and tensions really started to heat up. In the pop challenge, the human tank, Allen, won a one-pound advantage at the weigh-in. That reward is extremely important at this stage in the game. So many contestants have gone home on just one pound, it’s ridiculous.

While diet soda is a better choice than full-sugar drinks, they aren’t free of health risks. A new study has found that anything more than one diet soda a day may increase one’s risk of decreased kidney function.

The study was conducted by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. They examined the effects of sodium and artificial sweeteners on kidney function among 3,256 women with a median age of 67. The women filled out a questionnaire about their soda drinking habits.

When the researchers compared the women’s kidney function, they found that 372 had a decline of 30 percent or more in kidney function. Further analysis revealed that the decline was associated with drinking two or more artificially sweetened soft drinks a day.

Have you ever had that moment when you look at your to do list, schedule or inbox and feel entirely overwhelmed? Have you ever had a project that you put off because of how long it would take to complete? Fitness and weight loss goals can often feel overwhelming because they are complicated tasks that require an investment of time. If you are like me, you prefer tasks that can be completed quickly and easily (which is likely why diet pills are so popular despite the risks and lack of long-term effectiveness).

Losing 20 pounds, being able to complete 10 pull ups, running a marathon, eliminating trans fats, or being able to terminate certain medications can seem like overwhelming tasks. It is not surprising that so few people actually make changes recommended by their doctors if they believe it would be too difficult. If you can break these tasks into smaller steps, they can seem more manageable.