By Sarah Nitta for Biggest Loser Resort.
This week I received an email including an experience of a guest that spent three weeks at Biggest Loser Resort at Malibu and it brought tears to my eyes. I am grateful she shared her story and I believe that there are so many out there who can relate. With her permission I am sharing this with you today. 
My name is Karen Eaton, I’m a first grade teacher in Northern California. I joined my first weight loss group when I was 10-years old and in the 5th grade. Over the years I let my horrible choices destroy my self-esteem and my weight ballooned to 311.4 pounds. I was in my 20s and miserable. My mom convinced me to join Weight Watchers and I was motivated at first and about 90 pounds. This was about 8 years ago. I was so excited to have made that accomplishment. For some reason it didn’t stick and slowly I started going back to old habits and poor choices, the weight started creeping back on. Last year I was back to being miserable. I hated getting dressed in the morning and wasn’t motivated to do anything and really just cried a lot feeling like a failure. I was watching the Biggest Loser one day and saw an ad for Fitness Ridge. I thought “Wow, that sounds like something I could do!”
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By Sarah Nitta for Biggest Loser Resort.
I had an eye-opening experience this week during my weekly visit to Fitness Ridge. I got a chance to jump in on Sharon’s kickboxing class and was having a great workout! Toward the end of class we were instructed to hit our bag with all our might for a straight 90 seconds. I was ready! I started in on my bag, giving it everything I had until my energy was drained. Around 30 seconds into it I started getting tired and could feel my starting to slow down. Out of the blue, a guest came and joined me on my bag. She started punching on the opposite side and was yelling out “come on, Sarah! Pick it up! You can do this. Punch harder! I can’t feel you!” The most incredible thing happened. A surge of energy rushed through me and my punches started coming out faster and faster.
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Hi everyone! This is Sarah Nitta from The Biggest Loser season 11′s pink team. Just about a year ago I stepped foot onto the Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge in Malibu for the first time to train with the unknown trainers (Brett Hoebel and Cara Castronuova) and to change my life. I always thought that if I could make it on the Biggest Loser then I would finally be able to lose weight, and all of my dreams would come true.
What I didn’t realize was that while the the show provided me an opportunity to lose weight, I still had to do it! It was ME that still had to work, hurt, fight, and CHOOSE to do it every day.
I looked around at the guests at Fitness Ridge and saw that they were no different than I was. They may not have had a camera in their face or someone yelling at them as much, but they were doing it just like me. That’s when I realized that my belief about needing to make the show in order to lose weight was false. The show doesn’t lose weight for anyone, it is still up to that person.
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By Emily Fonnesbeck RD, CD, nutritionist for the Biggest Loser Resort.
The American Heart Association has released new recommendations for added sugar consumption. This is actually the first time a recommendation has been given, and just in time. Sugar intake in this country is at an all time high and the over consumption is being linked with increased risk for obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia (high cholesterol, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol and/or high LDL cholesterol).
This is interesting since in the past, fat has been the macronutrient that has been villainized. But looking at the data over the past few decades, intakes of protein and fat have either stayed the same or gone down. So all these extra calories are coming from carbohydrates; not whole grains unfortunately, but refined sugary foods.
The average American consumes about 300-350 extra calories per day in added sugars. This is equivalent to 79 grams or 22 tsp of sugar (1 tsp is equivalent to 4 grams of sugar). The new recommendations are 100 calories, 24 grams or 6 tsp for women and 150 calories, 36 grams or 9 tsp for men. To give you some perspective, one 12-oz can of soda has 33 grams of sugar.
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This guest post comes from Paige Corley, a Program Director at the Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge.
A co-worker of mine, Nancy, was telling me about her success with fitness and weight loss recently. She has lost 7 pounds in 15 weeks, improved her fitness, gained strength and lost inches. She looks great – not just in her body – but in her smile and eyes. She is more energetic, her clothes have become more fun, and she is excited about her new body and new healthy focus.
When Nancy posted her success on her Facebook page she was surprised to see responses like, “What is your secret?” or “What did you do differently?” Some of these responses were even from former guests at The Resort.
Nancy has no secret, and she has no magic pill: she simply increased her calorie burn and decreased her caloric intake. This is what we teach here at Fitness Ridge: calories in vs. calories out, healthy, balanced eating and drinking, and increased cardiovascular and strength training. This is what works.
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