"Paying it Forward: Biggest Loser Style"

Hi everybody. The following article hit the newspaper in Jacksonville today so I guess it's ok to share the info with you.

You know "The Black Team" loyalty runs deep. We really are like a family with "Momma Jillian" looking after all her "kids."

As the following article explains better than I can - after the Final Four this year were determined (in "real time" not what you saw on TV last week) I had a phone conversation with KELLY. She is - in fact - absolutely as sweet and sincere as she appears on TV. She was struggling to get in "the groove" in prepping for her upcoming Finale. So it seemed like a no brainer to invite her to come to Jacksonville - and move in with me and my family for six weeks - and work together. And that's exactly what happened.

We've had a great time and she has worked so hard. My local trainer Margie has very similar leanings in her training style as Jillian. So there was no mercy shown. The end result to all of Kelly's hard work from the past several months on the Show leading up to now - as you will on April 15 - is amazing.

I am so very proud of her. And in the process I've developed a friend for life. I don't want to sound cheesey, but I've got to say that I believe that God allows us to go through extraordinary experiences in this life not to keep it all to ourselves but to share those blessings with others. My "Biggest Loser" experience was life-changing. So I had to "pay it forward" with Kelly. It really was a privilege to be able to do that.

Hope you enjoy the following article. Thank you to writer Mark Woods and the Florida Times Union.

'Losers' team up to tone up, slim down for NBC finale

By MARK WOODS, The Times-Union

While eating lunch with two participants in NBC's The Biggest Loser, one past and one present, I asked if strangers ever recognize them.

As if on cue, when Kelly Fields got up from the table, a woman approached her.
"Thank you," the woman said excitedly. "You're such an inspiration. I hope you win."
If the woman had glanced back at the table, she would have seen - and probably recognized - the reason that Fields, a 38-year-old nurse from Titusville, was in Jacksonville.
Julie Hadden was the runner-up on The Biggest Loser's fourth season. She lost 97 pounds, going from 218 to 121. And she has been where Fields is now: beginning the jarring transition from reality TV to reality.

"You learn so much from being there [on the show]," Hadden said. "You have to pay it forward."
So when the fifth season headed to its final phase - with the four remaining contestants leaving a rigidly controlled environment and heading home for several weeks before the season finale - Hadden offered to help.

She invited Fields to come live with her family and to work out with her trainer, Margie Marshall.

The short-term result: Despite being limited by a herniated disc in her back, Fields has continued to drop weight and jean sizes.

"Stairs, stairs and more stairs," Fields said with a laugh last week. "I came here between a size 10-12. In three weeks, I'm down to a six."

The long-term result: By spending time with Hadden, Fields has an idea what is ahead. Life after the finale.

The term "reality TV," of course, is a misnomer. Most of the genre involves more fantasy than reality. And when shows end, with the exception of a few big winners, the reality is that little changes. The bachelors and bachelorettes don't get married and live happily ever after.
But that's part of the appeal of The Biggest Loser. Many of the participants - not just the eventual winner of a $250,000 prize - say the experience is life-changing. And that has touched a nerve with viewers.

So an obvious question is what happened when Hadden returned to Jacksonville last December.
To start with, she no longer could run a "quick" errand.

She'd go into Wal-Mart and inevitably someone would recognize her and start pouring out their own story, often through tears.

America loves a good makeover. And The Biggest Loser produces the most dramatic ones on television today. The most viewed video on jacksonville.com this year used to be a song about Jack Del Rio. Now it's "Julie Hadden's Amazing Transformation."

She was scheduled to go to Washington to talk to Congress about the importance of nutrition. But in January, something bigger came up. She and her husband, Mike, adopted a baby boy, Jaxon.
So she has gone from life on The Biggest Loser ranch to life at home. Changing diapers, waking up for 4 a.m. feedings, doing activities with 7-year-old Noah, church, shopping, bills, meals and ... OK, here's the answer to the question you want to know: No, she hasn't turned into The Biggest Gainer.

She is about 10 pounds heavier. But that's compared to the unrealistic bar set by the season finale. She's still nearly 90 pounds below her old weight and determined to stay there. She has changed her lifestyle and eating habits for the long term. And for the short term, she has some familiar motivation. She wants to look good for another season finale.

She will be on national TV again on Tuesday, this time as Fields' mentor.

"I saw myself in her at the beginning of the show," Hadden said. "I could just tell that her self-esteem, her persona was almost sad. Some people are like, 'I'm going to win this thing.' She was like me, saying, 'I just hope I make it until tomorrow.' "

Fields kept making it to tomorrow. She went from 271 pounds at the start to 178 in the show that aired this week. And in the process, she has developed loyal fans, which is both flattering and strange. A co-worker asked her for an autograph. Strangers call out her name. After she ordered a meal recently, another diner asked the waitress what she had. And when the show's ardent fans see "Kelly from Season 5" together with "Julie from Season 4," it's like they've hit The Biggest Loser jackpot.

Hadden was getting her hair done recently. Fields and Marshall, their trainer, stopped in to chat. While they were talking, a girl and her mother burst through the door.

"I'm sorry, but we've walked by here 15 times," the mother said. "Are you Kelly from The Biggest Loser?"

When Fields said she was, the two strangers let out yells.

"What are you doing here?" one of them asked.

"I'm visiting my friend," Fields said.

The hairdresser spun around the chair, turning Hadden toward them.

More screams.