Fat Chance

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

FOREWORD
Choose to Bet on You
by Jillian Michaels

PART ONE
Moment of Recognition: Something’s Got to Give

Chapter 1.
From “Why Me?” to “Why Not Me
?”

MY BEST ADVICE
Determine the Source of Your Strength

Chapter 2.
What Fat Stole from Me

MY BEST ADVICE
Surround Yourself with Positive Influences

Chapter 3.
Weight That We All Carry

MY BEST ADVICE
Move More and Eat Less

PART TWO
Jell-O Bones and a Bucket of Tears: My Surreal Existence on Reality TV

Chapter 4.
The Terrifying, Tumultuous Trip toward Thin

MY BEST ADVICE
Start Now
!

Chapter 5.
Psychology 101 and The Biggest Loser Campus

MY BEST ADVICE
Find an Inspiring Image and Focus on It Every Day

Chapter 6.
The Spiritual Side of My Weight-Loss Struggle

MY BEST ADVICE
Set Small, Achievable Goals, and When You Reach Them, Celebrate
!

PART THREE
At Home in My Own Skin: Returning to the Old Life I’d Somehow Never Lived

Chapter 7.
Eight Pounds I’m Glad I Gained

MY BEST ADVICE
Make Smart, Simple Choices

Chapter 8.
This Is Me Now

MY BEST ADVICE
Believe That You Are Worth It

Chapter 9.
Dwelling Place

MY BEST ADVICE
Don’t Look at the Big Picture

Chapter 10.
When I Pray, I Pray for You

AFTERWORD
Noah’s Favorite Villain of All

APPENDIXES

Sample Workouts

Foods to
Die
Live
For

FAQs

NOTES

CONTACTING JULIE

B
IRTH NEVER HAPPENS without pain. But whether it involved my children, my thinner self or this book, the pain has
always
proven itself worthwhile. Thank you, first and foremost, to my family and friends—two groups that now are hard for me to tell apart. I didn’t truly realize how important you were until I had to live for four months without you. Because of you, I officially have received more phone calls conveying words of encouragement, more hot meals on especially crazy days and more dinky articles cut out of the
Putnam
County Courier
with my name highlighted and clipped to notes bearing sentiments like, “We’re so proud of you!” than a girl could possibly know what to do with. Especially Mom, Gigi, Jenny, Great MaMa, Betty and Dad, thank you for standing in the gap for me—supporting me, encouraging me, praying for me and caring for my child—while I was away, chasing a dream. In a world where people so easily can become consumed with themselves, it’s refreshing to know that good souls like you have my back.

Noah and Jaxon, you remain my primary source of inspiration for sticking with the changes I started two years ago. I count it an honor to be your mom and pray that you enjoy the happy, healthy life I’ve discovered—for many years to come.

I could talk about Jillian Michaels for days on end, but when it comes to summing up her value to me in a small block of text, there simply are no words. How do you thank someone who believes in you when nobody else will, who invests in you when you aren’t even investing in yourself and who celebrates the most microscopic progress as though you’ve already met your goal? Thank you seems so inadequate, Jillian. But thank you is all I’ve got.

Rachelle Gardner saw my book proposal fly across her desk and was gracious enough to catch it midair. I still don’t know how that proposal made it to you, Rachelle, but I do know that God’s grace was involved. You are a terrific literary agent, creative champion and friend. Thank you for channeling your interest and energies my way.

There’s no greater gift for a first-time author than to be introduced to a collaborator who genuinely cares about the finished product as much as you do, and Ashley Wiersma was exactly that gift. Thanks, Ash, for persisting in this process with me, for loving me as you learned my story and for believing that this book really could help change a few lives. A girl couldn’t ask for a better alter ego than you.

To the NBC, Reveille and 3 Ball Productions families, thank you for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime on one of the greatest shows our generation knows. Mark Koops, J. D. Roth and Dave Broom—the inventiveness and approachability you three possess are a rare and beautiful combination. I count it pure joy to be in your orbit.

It has been a privilege to publish with the team at Guideposts. Linda Cunningham and Rebecca Maker, thank you for finding value in my story and for encouraging me to share it.

Season 4 black-team members, I owe you a debt of gratitude I will never be able to repay. Together we were cast and then outcast and then able to do what nobody thought could be done. Bill and Jim, the brothers I never had; Jez, my soul-twin, separated at birth; Isabeau, my bossy little sister; and Hollie, the one I
still
talk to until long into the night—you five friends are family whom I love with no holds barred.

Lastly, I feel grateful to my God. I was singing a praise song one day and realized that the lyrics perfectly capture what I want to say to him about this agonizingly wonderful book-writing debut.

I
’VE BEEN AN adrenaline junkie my entire adult life, and one of my favorite rush-inducing pleasures is racing motorcycles. I’m no pro, but I do follow the pros. And a guy who caught my attention more than a decade ago is Valentino Rossi, one of the most successful racers of all time.

Nearly one hundred race-wins before the age of thirty—the guy was incredible, but so was his bike. And after he claimed back-to-back Grand Prix championships a few years ago, skeptics began to wonder how much of Rossi’s success was due to sheer talent and how much was due to the ride. So, in a move that surprised fans and critics alike, he switched bikes. Rossi let his contract with Honda expire and signed with rival manufacturer Yamaha, maker of an undeniably inferior machine.

Talk about going all-in on a highly unlikely bet.

When Julie Hadden showed up on
The Biggest Loser
, I was unimpressed, to say the least. She was smaller than the other contestants. She cried all the time. And she lost a grand total of two pounds her first week on the show.
I’ll just give this poor girl a few helpful hints
, I thought,
and put her back on a plane headed home
.

But as if reading my mind, Julie did something that probably shocked us both: She actually began to prevail.

People often ask me what it takes to make it through an abrasive, aggressive, confrontational experience like
The Biggest Loser
, and my answer’s always the same: courage—and a lot of it. If you want to change your life, you have to first be brave enough to face the truth of who you are, brave enough to look deep inside, to take responsibility for what you find there, to stop behaving like the victim you believe yourself to be and to learn to use your faculties for something
other
than absolute self-destruction.