Article written for InShapeNews. See the original article here.

Some love it, others hate it. It inspires many to take action, for others it’s just reality TV. But for me “The Biggest Loser” changed my life.

I was at my lowest point, my highest weight ever, and I was seriously contemplating gastric bypass surgery. Anything for a quick fix, right? But in 2004 something kind of new hit our TV screens. It was the first season of America’s Biggest Loser.

For the first time I was exposed to people my size, groaning, moaning and making all the excuses I had made. But at the end of the first week the results were in. I’d seen people just like me shift huge amounts of weight. Impossible amounts of weight. It was the first time I’d even fathomed that losing an extreme amount of weight was even possible for me. It was the first time I saw a glimmer of hope that I could finally become ‘normal’.

That was almost 10 years ago and a lot of water, and more than 70kg of fat, has passed under my metaphorical bridge. Not being in the “Biggest Loser” house meant that I had to take my journey alone, without the pressure of public humiliation at the weekly weigh-in. And believe me, that pressure is the single biggest motivator to contestants staying on track (oh, yeah, and the cash). But that pressure cooker is also the reason that so many of the contestants put much of the weight back on after the show has ended.

In my journey I had to learn and embrace the three core aspects of Mind, Body and Spirit that combine these become a powerful life-changing catalyst. It also led me to study nutrition and personal training, and more recently to write a book about my experience in the hope that I can inspire, and coach, others to make their own very personal weight loss journey.

Losing extreme amounts of weight is not all beer and Skittles though. In fact there’s no beer or Skittles. And the original program was not for feint-hearted contestants. Apart from the intense environment and potential of public ridicule the first series consisted of extreme exercise programs and a calorie intake that bordered on starvation. There was very little consideration of mental states, emotional support or developing the ‘spirit’. Things seem to have changed and moderated in the “Biggest Loser’s” approach. Eat 1,000 calories, burn 1,000 calories and reveal your inner demons. More a crockpot now than a pressure cooker, but still one that makes for entertaining watching after selective editing.

I do find moments on the show that are truly ‘inspirational’. Not just the amazing physical transformations, but the mental shifts that take place because I know first-hand that it’s the depth and volume of shifts that help make any change truly permanent, including weight loss. The key is knowing how to trigger those shifts and finding the right inspiration. Then it will work for just about any change you want to make in your life. I’m living proof.