May 2007 Featured Story
‘Biggest Loser’ finalist is winner of a lifetime
Smith says weight-loss reality TV show changed her life
Pam Smith, a dispatcher for South Central Indiana REMC in Martinsville, may have lost “The Biggest Loser” competition, the popular NBC-TV weight-loss reality show that ended in December.
But the finalist — who went from 247 pounds a year ago when the show began to a healthier 179 pounds when it ended, lowered her cholesterol and cut her percentage of body fat almost in half — hit a jackpot that would make any Las Vegas gambler green. She won back her life.
That was the message Smith delivered to a forum of electric co-op leaders and spouses attending their national association’s annual meeting in Las Vegas in March.
At the breakout session called “Boosting Your PERSONAL Power Supply,” she told the gathering of meeting goers that at the TV show’s first casting call, the casting director told her, “Pam, do you realize you will die by the time you’re 40 if you keep eating the way you’re eating?”
Smith said she blew him off and just wanted to be on the show to get skinny. “I didn’t put into perspective how dangerous my weight was for me, and my children and my husband. I just didn’t get it.”
Several weeks into the show, she said she had that “ah-ha” moment.
She was agonizing about missing her daughter’s first birthday while at the ranch outside Los Angeles where the participants lived and the show was filmed. She wanted to drop out. But then she realized the danger her fast food diet, lifestyle and weight presented. “That was the day I said goodbye to the old Pam.”
She realized unless she changed her entire lifestyle, she was going to miss much more. “I missed my daughter’s first birthday while I was gone. My daughter started walking while I was gone … but I’m not going to beat myself up for it … because now I know that I’m going to see my daughter get married. I’m going to see my daughter have kids. I’m going to see my son get married … I’m going to play with my grandkids.”
Smith was at the ranch from April until late June 2006, when she was voted out by five remaining contestants. There were 14 originally. The show then aired from September until December. She returned to California for its live December finale.
She said the show’s message rubbed off on her husband, Mike, even before she came home. He ended up losing 60 pounds total, and her young son and daughter are learning healthy eating habits.
“I don’t think about losing weight anymore. I do it. I put the effort into making myself healthy,” she told the co-op crowd. “When I was heavy, the first thing I thought about in the morning was losing weight. And the last thing I thought of before I went to bed was losing weight. And you know what I did between those hours of getting up and going to sleep? I ate.”
She said she’d stop by Starbucks and McDonald’s every morning before work and consume more calories than she now has the entire day. But she said she doesn’t believe in depriving oneself or “dieting.” It’s more than that, she said. It’s a lifestyle.
She said maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly an hour a day are hard work. But she said it’s all worth it. “What keeps me motivated is the fact that I’m going to be around for 20 years longer than I would have before.”
She added, “Every single choice you make throughout the day is going to decide whether you’re living a healthy lifestyle, or you’re not living a healthy lifestyle. And a healthy lifestyle is going to give more back to you than you can ever imagine.
“We get one body. One life. We’ve got to make the best of it.”
Story by Richard G. Biever, Electric Consumer senior editor
Pam Smith, a dispatcher with South Central Indiana REMC in Martinsville, represented Indiana on the NBC-TV reality weight-loss show, “The Biggest Loser.” She spoke at the National Rural Electric Cooperative’s annual meeting in March. She’s also teamed up with Gov. Mitch Daniels and Indiana athletes and celebrities to promote a 10-week/10-pound weight loss program called INShape Indiana to help Hoosiers shed some weight and improve their fitness and health. Check out www.in.gov/inshape/ for details.
Written By: eceditor
Date Posted: 4/30/2007
Number of Views: 645
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