It can’t be easy making it all the way to the Biggest Loser ranch and then seven days later becoming the game’s first casualty, but James Crutchfield has embraced it. As the first eliminated contestant of the new Biggest Loser season nine, James weighed in as the second-heaviest player at an astonishing 485 pounds. It’s a weight he says shocked him, but he wasn’t surprised by it.

Voluntarily separating from his twin brother, John Crutchfield, due to the limitations of a knee injury, James went home and has done remarkably well for only having been at the ranch a few days. Down more than 75 pounds (since the September elimination), he’s proving that it’s entirely possible to lose this kind of weight on your own at home. “All I really needed was a jump start,” he says, continuing that “You don’t have to have surgery or take drastic measures” to lose the weight.

We spoke with James and asked about the concerns he had for himself and other contestants at the ranch do to their sizes, and he explained more about the swimming workouts that have allowed him to regain strength and mobility.

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Moderate-to-high intensity exercise like jogging, swimming, or tennis may help reduce stroke risk in older men. But sorry ladies, for some reason the results don’t translate for women.

A study included almost 3,300 men and women in Manhattan, with an average age of 69. The men who did moderate-to-high intensity exercise were 63 percent less likely to have a stroke than people who didn’t exercise. Over a five year period, the baseline risk of ischemic stroke (the leading type of stroke) for all participants was 4.3 percent; 2.7 percent for those who did moderate-to-high intensity exercise and 4.6 percent for those who didn’t exercise.
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This guest blog comes from Rebecca Scritchfield, MA, RD, ACSM HFS, a Washington, D.C. based dietitian and weight management expert. Together with Bernie Salazar, at-home winner of The Biggest Loser, she co-created “The Nurture Principles” – Five mantras to help people change their lives and find wellness within.

I have a new client – a very lovely 40-year-old female who regularly appears on national TV. She has so many great qualities she can’t see because right now she is overpowered by her excessive weight, food choices, and lack of exercise. She was convinced I was going to give her a gym workout to follow and she dreaded the thought. Imagine her surprise when I asked her to tell me exercises she thought would be fun. She responded with “I never thought about fun.” Right there is the reason she is not active. Why would you move your body if it is not fun? How likely will you be to repeat it if you don’t get the feel-good benefit? Not likely. Is physical activity you despise nurturing? No way.
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When you go to the beach, odds are pretty good that you go to relax. Lay on a towel, get some sun, maybe have a snack or two – make sure it’s a healthy one! But while you are relaxing by the water, there’s nothing wrong with trying to get a little exercise in while still enjoying the sand, fresh air, and surf. I went to the beach with my kids this past week, and while we all know that there’s NOTHING relaxing about that in general, I tried to spend half of the time active. I was mostly successful, thanks to the following tricks:
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Kendra is a guest blogger for the DietsInReview.com special series on Healthy Summer Kids. Kendra is Headless Mom and writes about her life with her husband and three kids at The Adventures of The Headless Family. She is glad her head is attached because otherwise she might lose it!

We’ve all read the statistics on childhood obesity- according to the CDC over 16% of children age 6-19 years old are overweight, that number having tripled since 1980. Summer is the perfect time to change our children’s eating and exercise habits for the better. We have 3 months to do it.
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