Ask Renee Wilson what her tip is for working out and she has one word for you, “cardio, cardio, cardio!” She says it’s what works for her and that you must keep your body moving and stay active. Like many of us, since returning home she works a job eight to ten hours a day and has to fit in time to hit the gym. She reminds herself of the goal constantly to stay motivated to workout two to four hours every day.
Renee came on to Biggest Loser: Families with daughter Michelle, who she’d been estranged from for five years prior to being chosen for the show. Renee says she’d just given up on her self and kept gaining weight little-by-little after her divorce from Michelle’s dad. She also used “getting older” as an excuse until one day she realized she’d gained 50 pounds and couldn’t figure out how she’d gotten there. She was seriously considering gastric bypass surgery and had made the decision to do so, when the phone rang. It was Michelle, inviting her to be her teammate on Biggest Loser.
She said it was time to “put action to my words. Wishing wouldn’t get me anywhere.”
Each of the Biggest Loser contestants undergoes dramatic changes, and they each make some serious changes once the return home. Amy Cremen seems to have made a number of major changes and was generous enough to share them with us. One that seemed the most surprising, she’s now a vegetarian. “It just stopped tasting good,” she explains simply. She says there is no possibility she’ll ever go vegan because she is obsessed with eating sushi, an indulgence she’s given up until after the finale. Amy says she no longer eats fast food, a three-meals-a-day habit prior to the show (her calculation is about 8,000 calories/day). The other major change is that she doesn’t smoke any more and will “never ever touch them again.”
We had a chance to visit with Bob Harper, the Biggest Loser blue team trainer, today just moments after his afternoon workout. It’s proof that he’s practicing what he preaches to the contestants of the show, now in its sixth season. “I love my job,” says Bob, who is as vocally passionate about the role he plays in helping these people regain their health as you see on the show. He says his mantra is “get healthy, get healthy, get healthy.”
Prior to his role on Biggest Loser, Bob was a celebrity trainer, where he explained he’d help already-fit people “turn their six packs into eight packs and get from a size four to a size two.” Biggest Loser very much changed the way he trains because he’s working with “everyday people,” and it is his responsibility to show them how to not only lose weight, but to do so in a healthy, well-rounded way.
This season, one of the people Bob is transforming is Vicky Vilcan. We brought her up specifically because she’s the only player we’ve ever seen cause such a ripple amongst Biggest Loser fans, who are a pretty devout group. Bob himself has called her “Shakespearean” and a “puppet-master,” but he explains that who you see on the show is exactly who the producers want you to see. “Vicky is the biggest fan of this show and loves reality TV, she played the game tough,” he remarks.
UPDATED: Watch now - DietsInReview.com interview with Coleen Skeabeck at the Biggset Loser Season 6 Finale.
Coleen is easily one of the most down-to-Earth, genuine individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking with. Not only do I follow Biggest Loser to keep all of you fans updated, but I’m an avid fan of the show and each week get even more emotionally involved than is healthy for one to have with a TV program. So last night as Coleen’s name was revealed on Amy C.’s tray, I cried like a big baby. Coleen is still at home working hard and says she has not stepped on the scale in a couple of weeks. Down from a size 22 and XXXL shirts that she wore at the start of Biggest Loser: Families, Coleen is ecstatic to share that she’s now wearing size medium tops and size 10 pants and dresses.
The biggest change in her daily routine has been that she’s very active. She used to just lounge around, but now she hits the ground running everyday. Part of that busy schedule is a lot of gym time, and she concentrates pretty heavily on cardio. She’s even staying on top of dad, Jerry, to make sure he’s active at the gym as well.
First it was the missus, now it’s the mister. One of the most beloved couples on Biggest Loser this season has finally left the ranch, with Phil’s elimination last night. He really seemed to struggle the week following Amy’s elimination- and that’s both an observation and a fact quoted by him. He arrived home in South Carolina on their 25th wedding anniversary. So his mind was obviously in a different place, being separated from her.
Last night, Biggest Loser said goodbye to its little Southern belle. Husband Phil is likely to miss that sweet drawl more than any other player, and as such, they’re going to have to deal with him now. Amy Parham’s parting words were that her teammates made a mistake by assuming her husband would be weaker with her out of the house, it would only make him stronger.
Phil and Amy are college sweethearts, they met at their freshman orientation and she says after the second date she was in love. Their devotion for one another was quite clear on the show, and the love pours over into their three boys. Upon arriving home, Amy says her kids have embraced the new lifestyle. Her middle son is 11 years old, and the only one she says has had trouble with his weight, even saying kids at school have made fun of him. Since she has returned home he’s lost 10 pounds, two pant sizes and even goes to the gym with Amy and Phil.
Her exit might have been a surprise to all of us, and her daughter Amy C., but Shellay says she could feel all week that she was the one to go. Shellay Cremen made it through five weeks at Biggest Loser, dropping a total of 27 pounds while on the ranch, and currently fitting comfortably into a size 8. She said she doesn’t know where she’ll stop, but her goal is to be a size 6 at the December finale, and that she wants to get as low as she can. “I’m out to really prove I can really do it.”
If there were ever a love story viewers would want to follow on Biggest Loser, this was it. The great love of Heba and Ed, season 6’s orange team! Ed Brantley’s elimination during Week 4 was hard to watch for the viewers and not an “easy thing to do” according to Ed. He says he didn’t get any updates on Heba’s progress after he left, and hoped he wouldn’t see her for at least two months, meaning that she just kept pushing through. When he and Heba did finally reunite (since all the current contestants have all gone home), he says “you would not even believe it!” When all of us finally get the chance to watch, Ed said “you’ll be up in a chair screaming, doing back flips!”
Since leaving the ranch in mid-May, Ed has lost 90 pounds, and currently weighs 245 pounds (down from his starting weight of 335). He had set a goal for a 32″ pant size, and he is currently wearing a 34″ in shorts. Speaking with Ed, there is no doubt that he’s as dedicated to his weight loss as much as he was during his time on Biggest Loser, if not more so. “I had to bring the ranch home,” Ed explained about instilling the mindsite of complete discipline at home that he had at the ranch. He often remembers “what would Bob think,” or that Heba would remind him not to stop.
Ask Renee Wilson what her tip is for working out and she has one word for you, “cardio, cardio, cardio!” She says it’s what works for her and that you must keep your body moving and stay active. Like many of us, since returning home she works a job eight to ten hours a day and has to fit in time to hit the gym. She reminds herself of the goal constantly to stay motivated to workout two to four hours every day.
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