That elimination didn’t keep Rebecca down. She is positively thriving at home. With a current weight of 157 pounds, and a new love in her life, Rebecca has become the person she always wanted to be.

Listen now as she tells about her romance with fellow contestant Daniel Wright, a person she says is her best friend. She’ll also talk about who the new Rebecca really is.

While Rebecca’s weight loss story is remarkable, the thing everyone is buzzing about is this relationship with Daniel. She admits she didn’t really like Daniel in the beginning, but by week three the two were building a friendship. Rebecca is a night owl, so she and Daniel would take long walks on the ranch at night to burn extra calories and talk. She says the real turning point came on the Biggest Loser’s Washington, D.C. trip.

But sooner after Daniel was sent home. Once Rebecca returned home, she says they started having five or six hour phone calls, and it was in those calls that Daniel admitted his feelings for her. Since then, “I fell in love with my best friend,” coos Rebecca. The two have been dating for a while and she says they are key parts of each other’s journey.

Today, the couple is making a long distance relationship work, with Rebecca in Iowa and Daniel in North Carolina. She says she gets “gaga” for Daniel, and uses him as a sounding board for food issues or when she just doesn’t want to go to the gym.

You can’t very well tell Rebecca’s at-home story without Daniel, she says the relationship is “pivotal, the most important thing for me.” The two enjoy trying new recipes together, with Rebecca typically manning the kitchen. One of her favorite recipes that she created on the ranch is a vegetable stir-fry. She includes asparagus, broccoli, onions, mushrooms, fresh herbs, garlic and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, and serves that with baked fish topped with herbs and lemon zest.

The two also enjoy pushing one another in the gym. One activity they enjoy is a treadmill interval challenge. They’ll run at an incline of 15 for one minute, then take it all the way down and walk for a minute, then back up to 15 for a minute, and keep doing that until they can’t any more.

It’s this transition to home life that Rebecca says has been the most difficult of the journey. She spent three and a half months away, came home an entirely new person, yet found everything to be exactly the same. She said she re-evaluated the relationships and friendships in her life and makes sure that everything she does fits her new lifestyle.

That new lifestyle also includes completing a half-marathon. “Becky Meyer would never do this,” she says of her old self. Of the new self, “That girl is Rebecca. This person who can achieve what I set my mind to, will be afraid, will possibly fail, and will set out to do things and finish them.” She ran the 13.1 miles in 2:16, and in those two hours evolved into what she calls the girl she always wanted to be.

Rebecca’s got three weeks left to prepare for finale, and make her television debut with beau Daniel. Given that her “ultimate focus is on changing [her] life forever,” Rebecca will no doubt dazzle us all at that final weigh-in.

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Rebecca Meyer – Biggest Loser Elimination Interview

Just in time for the holidays, DietsInReview.com had a chance to talk with Lisa as she shared with us some of her tips for making the season fun, festive and healthy. She also gave us the scoop on her soon-to-be-released, Chew the Right Thing, a perfect guilt-free gift for the holidays.

Listen now to the audio of my conversation with Lisa, or continue reading the transcipt below.

1. The holidays are upon us. What do you recommend for how we can walk the tightrope of eating our favorite holiday foods but not gain weight?

During the holidays, we don’t want to hear that we can’t indulge or that certain foods are off-limits. You have to find a happy medium, and indulge in things you really love and swap out those high calorie foods for healthy alternatives.

I’m a big believer in planning what you are going to eat before you go to an event.  If you know you’re going to a big party, have a snack ahead of time so you’re not starving and eat everything once you get there. Pay attention to the food that is there before you start eating. That way, you can make a healthy decision.

Plus, it is important to drink a lot of water throughout the day. It fills you up and keeps you hydrated.

2. What are some of your favorite pre-party snacks?

Whether I’m at home or the office, I always keep things around to help curb cravings. During the holidays, I love candy canes; They are low calorie, they taste festive, and peppermint has been shown help to reduce cravings. I also love fat-free yogurt, particularly, Fiber One Yoplait yogurt, which has only 50 calories plus five grams of fiber and three grams of protein. You get a lot of bang for that snack. And it is Hungry Girl-approved. Portion control snacks, like 100-calorie packs of almonds, are also a favorite go-to healthy snack of mine.

3. Not all holiday food is bad. Many ingredients used are made with healthy, low-cal foods like pumpkin, butternut squash and lean turkey breast. Can you give a few tips for how to use these naturally, low-cal ingredients in our favorite holiday dishes and still keep them somewhat low calorie?

Many of the foods in holiday dishes are healthy. You can do things like use chicken stock in place butter to keep dishes moist. I do this in a stuffing I make called Save-the-Day Stuffing, which is made with light bread and apples. I have the recipe for it in my first cookbook. I make my Too Good To-Deny Pumpkin Pie with Fiber One breakfast cereal for the crust and pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix, for the filling.

Green bean casserole is another great example. You don’t have to use high fat, crispy-fried onions as a topping. I use garlic and onion-flavored soy crisps as a topping and 98 percent fat-free cream of celery soup rather than the full-fat versions. It keeps calories and fat grams down but it tastes just as good.

It’s about dissecting the recipe and replacing some of the ingredients with smarter ingredients.

4. Your latest creation, Chew the Right Thing, releases on December 8, 2009. This isn’t a book but rather, it is a set of 50 recipe cards. Can you tell us a bit more about these cards and how to use them?

I’m so excited about this. Chew the Right Thing is so cute and it’s a great holiday gift. Each of the 50 recipe swaps are Hungry Girl favorites like Lord of the Onion Rings and De-Pudged Pigs in a Blanket. Instead of a cookbook, they are  colorful and fun recipe cards that are easy to keep around the kitchen or on the counter. Plus, you can purchase the recipe cards for ten dollars or less, which makes it a fantastic and inexpensive holiday gift.

5. What is one of your favorite Hungry Girl holiday recipes?

That is a tough question. I love I Can’t Believe It’s Not Sweet Potato Pie, Too Good To Deny Pumpkin Pie, and Pumpkin-licicous Nog. I’m not usually a fan of eggnog but I love this recipe. It’s amazing. Sorry, I guess I listed a few more than just one.

Thanks Lisa!

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Hungry Girl’s Healthy Holiday Tips

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.

While Shay set a record in week nine by reaching a 100 pound weight loss faster than any other female in the show’s history, she conceded that “the ranch is not the reality.” In nine weeks she lost 100 pounds, and at home it’s taken her three times as long to lose 54. It’s extremely difficult at home she admits, balancing her weight loss with two jobs, family and kids. For Shay, it’s all about making the sometimes difficult choices to move forward and continuing to lose the additional hundred-plus pounds in front of her. They go to the park instead of a movie, and she swapped her ice cream habit for frozen yogurt or peanut butter and jelly Lara Bars.

Daniel said it was at finale when he was approached by producers to come back to the ranch to be a part of season eight. They told him filming would start in three days, and he said “absolutely!”. His struggle this time around was different though; this time he was able to run and and he could work harder, but he had to dig deep into the emotional issues that had brought him here in the first place so that he could keep this weight off for life. Daniel says during season seven he was fighting for a chance to stay alive, and in season eight he had to decide how deep he could really go to stay healthy.

As Daniel and Shay move forward with their tremendous weight loss (Shay down to 322 and Daniel down to 224), they each share one other important thing: being role models. Daniel says the experience is both weird and amazing, and calls it “an absolutely incredible feeling” that people have taken their victories and applied them to their own lives. Shay recalls that Daniel was her role model while watching season seven, and that she never thought her story would impact others. But she says they’re showing other 500-pound people that it’s not hopeless or impossible, when it is entirely possible to do this without taking drastic measures.

Shay reminded that half a million people applied for Biggest Loser 8, and 16 were chosen. She says “Don’t wait for next season. What if there is no next season?” That’s why Shay has started the “100 Pound Down Club” on Facebook, and she’s telling everyone “It’s possible, whether it takes nine weeks or nine years!”

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Shay Sorrells and Daniel Wright – Biggest Loser Elimination Interview

But don’t think that Tracey’s feeling down on herself. Quite the opposite. She’s doing really well at home, and proud of this new Tracey.

Listen now as she tells us about the strained relationship she had with Bob and Jillian, and what it’s like today; as well as why she’s so grateful she got to take on that one-mile run once again.

As Tracey told us she has a wonderful relationship with Bob and Jillian today, she says the strained-on-TV relationships she had with the contestants has also changed, and that she has “amazing, great” relationships with them.

When asked if she played the game too hard, and remembering Alison Sweeney’s comment that her choices came back to bite her, Tracey adamantly confirms she has no regrets. Due to the choices she made in the beginning of the game, she says she’s not at all surprised how people have reacted to her. In her own defense, she says she did what she had to do to stay in the game.

“This was my time to do things my way instead of trying to please everyone else,” Tracey says of her strategy on the show.

Knowing how she came across on the show, and the reaction from fans, she was DVRed each episode and watched before letting her children. She said her kids, like any others, look up to her, their mom, as a superhero, and she didn’t want the show to skew their feelings about their mom.

It’s that role as a mom that not only helped land Tracey on the Biggest Loser ranch, but also helped her thrive back at home. She’s including herself on the list of to-dos these days, and making her needs as important as everyone else’s. She’s not revealing her current weight given that finale is five weeks away, but it was clear on her Where Are They Now that the Tracey at home is fit, strong and healthy.

How does this busy wife and mom of four do it? She has a strict, concise schedule for herself, one that she says works for her and her family. She’s up by 4:00 a.m. each day, and spends three hours in the gym doing her extreme workouts while her family sleeps. She’s then home in time to make lunches and get the kids out the door for school. And then it’s back to her daily routine of running the household and shuffling kids to dance and sports. She says she’s not the best homemaker these days, but she doesn’t freak about chores not being done. She knows it’s OK for now.

In addition to learning that it’s OK to let the little things go to care for herself, she learned a few other things from Jillian.

For one, she learned that it’s OK to ask for help. Everyone needs it, and it doesn’t make her weak to ask for it.

She also learned that’s it’s OK for people not to like you. And she’s OK with that. Jillian encouraged Tracey to know that as long as she likes herself and knows where she stands, then nothing else matters.

Tracey remains upbeat, motivated and encouraged to continue her journey and says “for the first time I’m starting something, then I’m going to finish it.” She says you won’t find a “coulda-woulda-shoulda-Tracey” anymore.

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Tracey Yukich – Biggest Loser Elimination Interview

Two years ago Abby’s husband, who she calls her “favorite person on the planet,” her young daughter and newborn son were tragically killed in a car accident. In our interview she explains how prior to going to the Biggest Loser ranch her heart wasn’t in life and felt as though she didn’t have anything left to give. She also tells us how she no longer lets one person fulfill her the way her husband did, and feels blessed to have a wide range of supporters.

Today, Abby’s finding joy in the small things. And in our interview with her she laughed, a lot! She says going to the Biggest Loser ranch served as a catalyst for finding the light in her eyes again.

Part of that is learning what it is she really wants out of life. She’s seeking a new career. As a teacher, she’s now looking forward to transitioning to become a speaker, what she says is truly what she wants to do now. Abby will travel the country sharing her story and offering motivation and inspiration to others seeking that.

She’s also busy finishing this journey that she’s started – regaining her health. Abby’s currently lost about 82 pounds. She’s taking off the weight, and working on the 15-20 pounds remaining, eating cleanly, counting calories, working out, getting plenty of rest and drinking plenty of water. She enjoys a variety of different fitness classes in her gym, and says she feels strong having “put on a ton of muscle.”

For her diet, she says these days her fast food is from the grocery store. When she’s on the go, she’ll run in and grab carrots and hummus, low-sodium turkey, or Greek yogurt and blueberries. She says these changes are all about choices, and it’s just as easy to run in to the store as it is to hit a drive-thru.

Abby continues to live her life in a ways that makes her feel good, and she’s focused on living presently in the moment. “I’m showing the world I’m still here, I’m still a part of life,” she says.

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Abby Rike – Biggest Loser Elimination Interview

Motivated to accomplish her goal of losing 50 pounds, Mary dished with us about her reasons for joining the weight loss reality show and how she will keep up the momentum of her newly-discovered healthy habits once the show wraps up.

What led you to being on DietTribe?

The idea was brought to me by my dear friend, LaNessa, another DietTribe member. I, fortunately or unfortunately, fell into that category of someone who needed to lose weight. I never had an issue with food or my weight until I had my second child and the pregnancy weight never came off.

I also never envisioned that I would be on a weight loss reality show. I always thought that having a show where people just needed to lose 3o, 40, or 50 pounds was a great idea rather than having to lose 100 pounds.

What is it like working as a team to lose weight?

Working as a team definitely makes a difference. Knowing that I had someone to workout with at 3:30 pm is great motivation. You can’t have as many slip-ups when you’re accountable to others. If it’s just you, you can make excuses to yourself, but with your friends, you can’t make those excuses.

Plus, having that supportive bond is so important. I can call up any of the others when I’m having an off day and they can know what exactly I am going through. They can relate and say, “Yep, that burger was staring me in the face, too.”

What have you learned about nutrition since being on the show?

Our eating plan is very clean. Much cleaner that what we are used to. I was hungry for a few days, then my body got used to it. I realized that I don’t need to eat fast food every day. I can eat veggies and be satisfied and I have more energy now. At first, I was just making small changes and then before I realized, my entire plate had been overhauled and my healthy habits have started to trickle down to my family.

I have three daughters and cooking for all of us has been pretty easy. If I make whole-wheat pasta and steamed vegetables for them, I will maybe have a small portion of the pasta or my husband and I will just eat the veggies and a piece of grilled chicken breast.

How do you plan on maintaining your weight once DietTribe Season Two is over?

I plan on taking all that I have learned from Jessie and Stacy and incorporating into my life. I need to be realistic and understand that every day is not going to be a breeze, but I have to learn how to be strong and make wise decisions. I am constantly reminding myself that this is a lifestyle change, not a diet. And sometimes, I have to take it one meal at a time. In fact, just taking it one moment at a time is what gets me through.

Stay tuned as DietsInReview.com continues to bring you more interviews and recaps from DietTribe Season Two.

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Mary Lasnier Interview – DietTribe Season 2

Listen now as Dina tells us how she overcomes food temptations, as well as what the experience was like to complete two marathons since leaving the ranch, something she says was the “greatest feeling in the world.”

Dina’s two half-marathons, a running race of 13.1 miles, would not have been possible when she started Biggest Loser at 253 pounds. Currently weighing 178 pounds, she was able to take on the endurance races with ease.

She also conquered her greatest hurdle from the ranch – the stool. Jillian Michaels continually pushed her to jump from the floor to the platform, but she wasn’t able. Fear stood in the way. At home, she shook that fear and now takes on the stool effortlessly.

Part of it is that she says she’s now stronger mentally, spiritually and emotionally than she was when she began this process. “I’m not going to lie, this process is not easy,” she says. But she’s learned to count on herself and enjoys encouragement from her family. Especially her nine-year-old son.

He’s become her consummate gym buddy and Dina says he’s become a good replacement for Bob and Jillian, as “he’s just like them.” He wears a shirt that reads “trainer in training,” and he pushes Dina through all of her workouts. Sometimes he even yells at Dina and she says she has to remind him that he’s the son! The mother-son duo also spend a lot more time outside together, roller blading and working out on the beach. She loves that she no longer has to just watch, but can get involved with his activities.

Dina stays on track with her weight loss by adhering to a strict schedule for working out and eating, and it’s only when she varies from the schedule that she finds difficulty. She avoid tempting places, and keeps healthy snacks like carrots, almonds or her favorite, popcorn, at all times. Not only has she enjoyed significant weight loss, and a more active life with her son, but says she’s seen benefits in her marriage, too.

See more of Dina’s Biggest Loser Journey.

Dina Mercado’s Biggest Loser Journey Slideshow

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Dina Mercado – Biggest Loser Elimination Interview

Listen now as Mo discusses what it was like to be Tracey’s teammate, and what it’s like to finally be leading by example. Then continue reading to learn more about Mo’s journey on and off the ranch.

Coach Mo returned home to find that he had not only pushed himself to lose 43 pounds, but to see his family and community also working hard to lose weight. His wife has lost 35 pounds, his daughter 40 and his son 30, and no doubt the group will continue to lose together.

Mo continues to count his calories and carefully manage what he eats, while remaining extremely active by working out four times a day and walking six miles each day. All of this has contributed to his total weight loss of 80 pounds, half of which he’s lost on his own at home.

In speaking with Coach Mo it is perfectly clear what he is most proud of in this experience, and that’s the affect it’s had on his youth mentoring program, The Village. It’s a non-profit organization he runs to help children and teens live healthy, active, positive lives. He says he used to teach from the sidelines, but now we see him running right along side them. Not only can he now encourage the children to eat fruits and vegetables and less sugar, but he shows them that he does it, too. Plus, the parents are also more interested in implementing these healthy habits for themselves. This, he says, “Is the most pleasing thing that’s happened to me.”

It’s likely that coach mentality that helped Mo’s relationship with Tracey. He says he told himself and the other contestants to “reach down and get a little more” anytime they were struggling. And Tracey’s game-controlling antics seemed to put everyone in that position often. But as her teammate, and only ally in the house, Mo said he knew the real Tracey, knew her heart and that all of her struggles caused her to fight even harder to stay there. He said the control Tracey wielded over the game left a bad taste in the mouth of her competitors, but defends that she was in a bad place and thinks that she acted appropriately.

Coach Mo continues to practice the skills he learned at the ranch: mental toughness, structure and discipline. And says to anyone, including his daughter, who wants to call him a hero, “I’m not. I’m just a man who tried to lose some weight. That doesn’t make me a hero, just a man trying to accomplish something.”

See more of Coach Mo’s journey in this slideshow.

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Coach Mo – Biggest Loser Elimination Interview

Listen now as Julio tells us how he wished the kitchen lock-down had never happened, and why he thinks the child of Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels would make the perfect trainer. Plus, he’s pretty fond of Mike Morelli’s recaps!

Then continue reading to learn how he’s doing at home.

Julio can attribute some of that at-home success to giving up his previous fast-food drive-thru habit, which he has “completely eliminated from [his] life,” as well as indulging in his favorite activity of cooking at home. He calls it freelance cooking – he rarely uses a menu and each meal is based off of what he has fresh and available from the market or in his refrigerator. It often involves fish or chicken with vegetables, but he always finds a way to mix it up and make meals that are delicious and interesting. On the ranch he was called “The Grillmaster,” and he continues that love of grilling at home because it is a low-fat method of cooking. One of his favorite meals is to grill a lightly seasoned chicken breast and top with a homemade pico de gallo. (Try this Grilled Chicken with Mango Salsa recipe created by Chef Rocco for Biggest Loser.)

Julio’s weight loss is also helped by the fact that he’s no longer a “sideline dad.” He’s always been an attendee of his two daughters’ sports activities, but he always watched, fearing he’d either embarrass himself or his girls. Now, he joins the team and the coaches, offering his spirit and humor along with his new-found athleticism. The family of four, based in Chicago, also enjoys going to the gym together, biking or walking whenever they can, and playing sports with his kids.

“We used to gear plans around my physical limitations. Now, quite frankly, we’re like anyone else,” remarks Julio, calling this change a big leap forward.

He says the hardest part of being at home is having to inject real life with normal distractions, whereas at the ranch he was only responsible for working out, eating and sleeping. He’s clearly making it work though, and might even be relying on those relationships he created at the ranch. He says he’s kept in touch with everyone, even those who made promises not to eliminate him. He says you could see they sincerely agonized over having to let him go and that he does not feel betrayed. What we saw, Julio says, “was truly the relationship I had with those people.” And that they are all “real people, with real issues, who want to change their lives.”

Julio clearly has!

See Mike Morelli’s Week 4 Recap

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Interview with Julio Gomez – Biggest Loser Elimination Interview

Stephanie and Tiffany are two of the five women that make up Lifetime’s DietTribe in season 2, which premieres this Friday, October 2.

Just like the first season, the weight loss reality show will follow the lives of five women for 120 days under the motivating fitness training instruction of Jessie Pavelka and the mental health support of psychotherapist Stacy Kaiser.

DietsInReview had a chance to talk to Tiffany (Stephanie got caught in traffic and was only able to catch the tail-end of the interview) just a few days before the premiere of their hit series. Here’s a recap of our conversation:

Reality Weight Loss shows are tough. Why did you decide to be on DietTribe?

(Tiffany) My whole life, I have always been a part of a tribe and I’ve always had a weight issue. A lot of people would like to be a part of a weight loss reality show and for me, DietTribe is so positive, and considering the direction my life was in, I was ready. I wanted to lose weight but I did not want to lose weight without my sister Stephanie losing weight also. We were supposed to do this journey together and we did.

What did you learn about yourself over the 120 days of the series?

I learned to take time out for myself as a mother, as a wife and as a working woman. I learned to do away with any guilt around this because making time to focus on myself and my health makes me better at everything I do. I also learned what it is like to take a challenge, accomplish a goal and feel your body burn, really burn, during a workout. Before I may have stopped once I felt that burn, but I learned that you can keep going and  get passed it.

This season’s series has a new twist: You have to compete in a triathlon in addition to losing 50 pounds. What was that like?

My first thought about competing in a triathlon was that I’m not getting into a bathing suit! No way! But that changed once I started to really physically prepare and train. What was challenging was that we were also trying to lose weight. Most people when they are training for an event like this can eat carbohydrates. Since we were trying to shed pounds, we had to limit our carbs. But we learned so much about nutrition from doing both.

You and your sister had gastric bypass surgery and gained some or most of the weight back. How does the experience of being on DietTribe differ from weight loss surgery?

Gastric bypass surgery is a great tool for someone who is out of control and needs help. DietTribe taught us that healthy living is a lifestyle, not a diet. I know now how to eat clean and what it feels like to eat clean. I no longer want to eat until I’m stuffed. My skin feels more vibrant, my body looks completely different than from what it looked like after I had lost weight after surgery. And that is because of the lifestyle factors of eating right and exercising.

Tune in to DietTribe on Lifetime, this Friday, at 9 pm ET/PT to meet the entire tribe. DietsInReview will also recap each episode once it airs in case you miss one.

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Interview with DietTribe Season 2’s Tiffany Young