The Big Fat Truth: The Behind-the-scenes Secret to Weight Loss (27 page)

We get a fair amount of criticism for asking the people on our shows to test their limits in a big way. It’s true that we often ask them to do things they hate or are afraid of, things they think are impossible, but I firmly believe the payoff is worth it. And the feedback we get is priceless. “When we triumph, we have a victory, and all of the sudden our posture is higher and we’re smiling more,” says Jennifer, the
Extreme Weight Loss
cast member I told you about in Chapter 4. “I don’t slouch anymore, and I smile. That might seem like a minor thing, but I used to slump over and frown, and I never smiled. It’s because of those victories.”

The last time I spoke to Vanessa, a cast member on a show of ours called
Fat Chance,
she was getting ready to take off to Paris and Barcelona. Her career was taking off big time, too, and she believes completing the 7,000-calorie-burn challenge played a role in how things are going. “After I did the challenge, I thought to myself, ‘If I can do this, I can do anything,’ ” says Vanessa.

Vanessa came on the show weighing in at 235 and hoping to lose 100 pounds. Her problem was the age-old food-as-a-coping mechanism syndrome. Anytime things got rough, Vanessa ate—and ate and ate. But now, here she was on the show, losing weight at a good but not great pace and still needing to go further, when I challenged the
Fat Chance
group to do something spectacular, something bigger than they ever thought they could do. Vanessa immediately got fired up—only her trainer said she didn’t think Vanessa could do it. That was all she had to hear. Vanessa took care of the obligations she had that day, including her regular workout (which put her ahead of the game), then went straight to the gym armed with protein bars and other snacks to keep her going over what she knew was going to be a long haul. At 8:00 p.m., just as the summer sun was setting, she began her mission to prove that trainer wrong, and she didn’t stop until the sun came up. “I left the gym at 6:17 the next morning,” says Vanessa, who burned the calories by alternating sessions on different exercise machines with fuel breaks in between.

Vanessa:
Before

Vanessa:
After

Finding the Strength That Lives in You

Hi JD,

This challenge was one of the scariest, most seemingly impossible, and altering moments of my life. I really had to face myself in the final hours . . . and I realized I have someone to be proud of whispering in my ear to keep going, to fight, to overcome, and to finish strong. That person was me. And as crazy it sounds, that realization gave me a sense of respect for myself that I haven’t felt in a long time . . . or ever. Your challenge was a gift. Thank you JD!

—Vanessa,
Fat Chance
cast member, via email

I loved reading the notes she kept as she went along (see
here
) because it shows what a roller-coaster ride tackling a big challenge is, as well as how Vanessa toughed it out even when she thought she couldn’t take another step. At times she felt dismal; she even broke down and cried a few times. “Body starting to shut down. Mind wants to keep going. It’s too late to stop now,” Vanessa wrote with 3,018 calories to go. With 1,181 left: “I can’t seem to move—the edge I found for the big push seems to be fading. I think 2 hours left. Just don’t think about it.” And she kept going! Then, not only did she finish, she mastered something that will help her achieve every goal she sets. “Your mind can be your biggest ally or your biggest enemy,” says Vanessa. “I learned how to tell it to shut up.”

Think about taking on a big challenge this way: Your body absolutely has the ability to do it; it’s your mind-set you’ve got to contend with. But you can do that! You’re in control of your own brain!

Here is a good way to do a big calorie burn even if you don’t
have a way of calculating your calories: Find out what time the sun rises in your area, get up a few minutes before, get ready, pack water, a sandwich and some snacks, and start walking. And don’t stop until the sun sets. Figure out how long the day is going to be (just Google the sunrise and sunset times in your area for the day), then decide on a reasonable turnaround point. Bear in mind that you may start by walking at three miles per hour, but by the time you’re near the end, you may be moving closer to one mile per hour. There’s no exact science here; just calculate the best you can. Bring a phone so that if you get stuck far from home, you can call a friend to come get you.

Vanessa’s notes from her 7,000-calorie challenge

The whole purpose of this is to push yourself to a point you never thought possible. Do you have to train for it? Not really. Sure, people train for a whole year before they do a marathon, but our experience tells me that even people who have only been working out for a little while can do an immense challenge. The cast members on
The Revolution
who did the 7,000-calorie burn had only been working out for a month before they took on the challenge. It’s your head, not your body, that drives you to finish, so that’s what you really have to get in shape—your brain. Believe you can do it, and you will. Do people stop and take a break? Sure (mostly to cry!), but by the end of the burn, they’re so empowered that they feel like they could keep going for another 24 hours. Probably the hardest thing about doing a serious challenge is the angst leading up to it. So if you decide to do something extreme, don’t wait long—each day you wait is just another stomach-churning load of anxiety. When someone says, “Oh I have a headache, I don’t think I should do it today. I’ll do it tomorrow,” I always say, “Okay, but you’re just giving yourself another day of fear and worry. Just do it, and be done with it.”

As with anything, it can help to have company. On
The Revolution,
there were about 12 out of 15 people who said they were going to do the 7,000-calorie challenge. “Yeah, we’re going to text each other every hour and send pics, all at the same time.” Eventually, the other three caved. “Okay, we’ll do it, too.” It was a positive kind of peer pressure, and those last-minute joiners were the happiest of all when the whole thing was over. I’ve never heard someone finish and say, “I wish I hadn’t done that.” It’s always the greatest accomplishment of their lives! And it really cements change. Who’s going to cheat the next day after completing such a feat? Once you start stacking accomplishments on top of each other, and the stack gets higher and higher, it makes the wall that you’ve built up around you—the one that’s keeping you from making positive change—get lower and lower.

One of the odd things about doing a 7,000-calorie challenge is that it doesn’t really help you lose weight in the short term. It seems like you’d lose at least two pounds (remember 3,500 is about equal to a pound), and some people do; however, the stress of the effort also kicks the body into survival mode. “Oh my God, what are you doing to me?” your body will ask, then it will slow your metabolism for the next few days. This is nothing to worry about; your calorie burning will go back to normal. But this challenge is really about changing your mind, not your body. Once you do it, you’ll know you’re totally up to the task of eating healthfully and exercising regularly. That will be a piece of cake!

You know how it goes. You go to a party, drink too much, start dipping into the chips and guacamole, and the next thing you know, you’re on your way home having eaten the macaroni and cheese and a big hunk of birthday cake. The next day, instead of having your oatmeal or smoothie for breakfast, you say what the heck and stop at Bob’s Doughnuts on the way to work. From there, it’s just a slow slide into debauchery.

You’ve heard it a million times: Everyone makes mistakes. You’re going to screw up, eat too much, slack off on exercise. It’s inevitable. Occasional failure is part of the process. But the fact that you make mistakes is not what defines you.
What defines you is what you do after you make mistakes.
Do you beat yourself up, get emotional about it, then send yourself into a pizza-and-potato-chip-eating spiral? Most fat people do; that’s often why they’re fat.

Never hold a mistake against yourself. That’s pure self-sabotage. It turns into a self-defeating cycle. You cheat, get angry with yourself, then decide that you don’t deserve to be fit and healthy—you’re just a loser. What sets the people who lose weight and keep it off apart from those who don’t is that they don’t freak out and punish themselves every time they eat something they shouldn’t. They acknowledge that they’ve screwed up; then they
move on
. Moving on is key. Get back on the horse. Immediately. Nobody is perfect, and you shouldn’t expect yourself to be. Don’t think of mistakes as evidence that you have no willpower. After all, you’re only one meal away from getting back to healthy eating. One day of unhealthy eating never made anyone fat. But the emotional weight of thinking you can’t handle the challenge because you had one bad day
will
make you fat. Give yourself a break. If one bad choice is the end of your effort, what does that say about you? Do you quit everything as soon as one thing goes badly? Find the grit to stay with it. After making a bad choice, choose to consciously make two good ones. That will put you one choice ahead of the game.

Coping with Ups and Downs

Here are my biggest takeaways: Begin each day with the end (your goals) in mind! It’s okay to fail, but it’s not okay to be a failure! Continue to decide how much the rest of your life is worth, and move ahead accordingly! Inspiration starts within!

—Stacey, posted on
The Revolution
Facebook page

In my experience, you’ll be less likely to make mistakes in the first place if you recast your own image of yourself. Just like vegetarians don’t eat meat, people who want to exist at a healthy weight don’t eat lots of junky food. It’s against their self-imposed rules. During
Extreme Weight Loss
’s Boot Camp, there’s a tradition of giving cast members a fun day (also known as a cheat day). That’s a day where they’re allowed to cheat without us getting on their cases. I let it go because I believe so much in the ability of Chris Powell, the host and head trainer on
Extreme Weight Loss,
to get weight off people, but I don’t agree with him on this one. We have actually had many discussions over this issue, and it’s the one thing we can’t see eye-to-eye on. I think the ideal is to have small indulgences and work them into your regular routine. A cookie here. An ice-cream cone there. Maybe a small bag of chips once in a while. It’s just part of your lifestyle. Instead, the fun day implies that you deprive yourself for six days, then on the seventh think, “Oh man, am I going to open up and have whatever I want.” That’s just a bad habit to get into. Because, suddenly, your one fun day bleeds into a second fun day, then a third, and pretty soon, you’re back where you started. Or maybe you approach it by going hog-wild on your fun day and then cutting back severely the next day as penance. Then you’re essentially bingeing and purging, which is not at all healthy.