By Dani Stone

Coach Yourself Thin: Five Steps to Retrain Your Mind, Reclaim Your Power, And Lose The Weight For Good is a weight management guide from authors Greg Hottinger, MPH, RD, and Michael Scholtz, MA, who created popular online weight loss programs like Biggest Loser Club and Prevention’s Flat Belly Diet. Their goal? To change your eating and exercise habits and help you avoid quick-fix mistakes by encouraging you to look at the root of your weight problem and diet challenges, then help you overcome your personal barriers. The book is part guide, part pep-talk and focuses on that inner voice inside all of us.

This may be their first collaboration on a book, but Hottinger, a registered dietitian and Scholtz, a professional weight loss coach, are not newcomers to the diet and fitness world. After meeting 15 years ago at Duke University Diet and Fitness Center, the two went on to create the health and wellness consulting firm NOVO Wellness, as well as the website.

In the opening chapters of Coach Yourself Thin, they explain, “We have observed that our most successful clients use a similar set of behavioral skills and strategies that empower them to make consistently healthy choices. We want to share these important and powerful tools with you so you can shift your thinking.”
Read Full Post >

We learned last month that former Biggest Loser contestant and Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner was going to try to make the Olympic trials and compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. While no controversy surrounds his two medals, one gold and one bronze in Greco Roman wrestling, it does surround his time on season 11, from which he voluntarily walked out. He was the first contestant in the show’s history to do so, although, rumors and questions surround his exit and NBC has never confirmed the real reason. In that night’s episode he said, “I ask to leave Biggest Loser for personal reasons.” Whatever the real reasons were, he left the show and went back to wrestling.

Rulon appeared on Brian Williams’ Rock Center tonight in a story highlighting the hard work it’s going to take for him to make it through the Olympic trials next month. At age 40, the once retired wrestler has to make weight like everyone else, but may find the challenge to be more daunting than it is for most of his competitors. He started season 11 at 474 pounds and in 16 weeks was able to lose 173 pounds. In the interview he said he averaged about 1.5 pounds lost per day while on the ranch, and with the right dedication, he can do the same in his wrestling gym and make weight on April 20. His coach said that Rulon is “working as hard as anyone else in the room.”
Read Full Post >

Fans and lovers of the hit TV show the Biggest Loser now have even more motivation to live a healthy lifestyle. The newly available Biggest Loser Visa Rewards card allows cardholders to earn rewards points for health expenses including insurance co-pays, prescriptions, prescription eyeglasses, gym memberships and sporting goods equipment.

This new Visa also offers triple rewards points at certain national retailers including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Whole Foods, 24 Hour Fitness, eDiets, The Vitamin Shoppe and many others.

There are numerous rewards available that you can claim once you’ve built up enough points on your card. Some of the rewards cardholders may enjoy include autographed Biggest Loser merchandise, customized healthy vacations with no blackout dates or you can take account credits and pay yourself.

Some other ways that points can be redeemed are for a visit to the Biggest Loser ranch where the show is filmed, a nutritional analysis from a Biggest Loser nutritionist, a personalized workout plan from a Biggest Loser resort trainer, front of the line tickets to a Biggest Loser casting session or a stay at a Biggest Loser Resort.

Read Full Post >

When it comes to a typical healthy and balanced meal, my Italian heritage often shines through! An ideal dinner plate could contain “Three Cheese Spinach Lasagna” from The Biggest Loser Flavors of the World Cookbook, New Favorite Meatballs from The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook with Main Event Marinara Sauce from The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook, and Lemon Arugula Salad from The Biggest Loser Quick and Easy Cookbook. And then I recommend eating the pictured blood orange for a snack a couple hours before or after dinner when hunger strikes. This whole plate (including the orange) contains less than 450 calories!
Read Full Post >

This week’s Biggest Loser is full of even more surprises. The game is going to singles and the first yellow line of the season will appear at the weigh-in to determine the next eliminated contestant. Amidst the drama, Jessica Simpson will surprise one challenge winner with a shopping spree.

As the contestants dissolve their teams, they will be sent to an ice rink for their first single challenge. Each player will be harnessed by a rope to a ring in the center of the rink and all players will be playing tug-of-war against each other in order to make their way to a buzzer. As each contestant pulls, the other contestants will be tugged further away from their own buzzer.

The challenge promises to be grueling, earning the winner and one contestant of their choice a chance to be swept away for a day of fashion with Jessica Simpson. The singer, actress and designer will style the winners in her Jessica Simpson Collection Los Angeles showroom. The winners will try on clothes and model their new slimmer bodies. In addition, the contestants will be allowed to keep any clothes, purses, shoes, or accessories so they will have a new wardrobe when they leave the ranch.
Read Full Post >