Half The Battle

For the last two seasons, I've enjoyed watching "The Biggest Loser" on television. One of this season's contestants brought home the fact that you can make whatever changes you want to the outside, it's the inside where real, life-altering evolution takes place.

I know that "The Biggest Loser" has its detractors. Critics say it's exploitative (I don't agree), that the environment is artificial and not replicable in real life (I agree to an extent) and that it's packaged in a way to make it entertaining television, not a true guide to fitness (I completely agree). All of that said, it can't be denied that the contestants on the show start the process in horrible shape both physically and mentally, and end it far better off. Physically, at least. That brings me to one of my favourite competitors from this season, Daris.

If you haven't watched the show, Daris George is a 25-year-old salesman from Ardmore, Oklahoma. He started the show weighing 346 lbs, and ended it weighing 178, a loss over a six-month period of 168 lbs, more than 48% of his initial bodyweight. Along the way he became the star athlete of the group, finishing a 26.2-mile marathon in 4 hours, 2 minutes. While at the Biggest Loser ranch, where the show is filmed, he certainly seemed to have everything going his way.

Then, however, before the show's second-last weigh-in, he went home for thirty days. The cocoon he'd been in was gone, and in its place were all the temptations, stresses and - even worse - negative thoughts that had brought him to 346 lbs in the first place. At the prior weigh-in he'd lost 10 lbs in a week; after 30 days at home (while training for a marathon, don't forget) he'd gained 2 lbs. He looked surprised and disappointed, but the reasons behind his weight gain show just how difficult it can really be to lose weight and keep it off.

Losing weight initially, especially if you have a lot to lose, is easy. If you're 100 lbs overweight, dropping the first 10 or 15 is probably not going to be that hard. Your weight-loss program is new, you're focused, you're eager. As time goes on, though, old thoughts and habits start to creep back into your life. I can't do this. Who am I kidding? I'm ALWAYS going to look like this. This isn't going to work. Destructive thoughts spawn destructive behaviours: choosing the couch instead of exercise, choosing easy processed food over whole foods you have to prepare, eating late at night...these are all habits that don't and won't die easily.

Daris had defeated the obese body he once had. What he hadn't defeated is the mindset that got him that way. This is why I've called this post "Half The Battle". Physical changes are great. They are, in truth, the yardstick by which we usually measure success. I do it too: I step on the scale regularly, and check my bodyfat monthly. But at least as important, really more important, are the internal changes that we simply must make if we are to maintain our hard-earned physical success.

It starts with a shift in how we see ourselves. I wrote a post some time ago entitled "You're Worth It", and that is really what it comes down to. Things don't have to stay the same. You don't always have to look that way. Once you convince yourself that you truly are worth a lifetime of health and wellness, you will have started to win the other half of the battle. The old temptations may still be there, in the form of your old favourite restaurant, or alcohol and nacho-fuelled nights out, but if you see these temptations for what they really are (i.e. a chance to show the world that you value yourself above the immediate gratification of bad choices), they won't be tempting any more.

Daris realized the triggers in his life that led to self-sabotage. Once he figured out what they were, he was able to deal with them. By the show's finale, he'd lost another 19 lbs, and looked truly happy with himself. Will he be able to keep the positive mindset that got him to that point? I don't know. But I do know that if he hadn't concentrated on the other half of the battle, he would have found himself right back where he started 168 lbs ago.