Hey guys, its Brendan from Season 10 of the Biggest Loser. I hope everyone had a happy holiday season.  Speaking of the holidays, did you gain a loop on your belt or a size in your jeans?  Well, if you did don’t worry about it because many people put on a few pounds during this time of year.  The key is to not let that get you down and work those pounds off of your body so you can be ready for summertime!

As you know, my finale was just a few weeks ago.  Now that the cameras are off and I don’t have to weigh-in in front of 1,000,000’s of people, I needed to find new motivation so I can maintain my weight.  I think it’s important to have short-term goals and long-term goals so that you can hold yourself accountable with your weight loss.  I am happy to announce that I am running two big races in April: The Boston Marathon and the Ragnar Relay race in Southern California.  Not only will I be running those races, but I am also going to enter a bodybuilding competition in August.  So, with all of my training you may wonder how I recuperate.  The number one way to get your muscles ready for your next workout is by eating and using proper supplements.  My favorite supplement is Designer Whey protein, especially right after a hard workout. Not only does it contain the protein necessary to rebuild muscle, but it also tastes great.  I think everyone should use Designer Whey after working out.  You can mix it up with milk or water and ice. Try new recipes until you figure out what tastes best.

So, you may be thinking, “I am not ready to run a marathon yet” or “I am just a beginner.”  Well, if you are a beginner and want to lose weight there isn’t a magical potion.  People ask me all the time if I have any tips for losing weight.  I do! I simply tell them to cut your calories and start moving more.  My first month on the Biggest Loser ranch I walked 20 miles a day, ten every morning and ten every night.  If you can’t walk due to injury hop in a pool or the ocean and tread water for an hour.  Again, there is no crazy secret. It is all discipline and hard work.  Wake up every morning and take it one day at a time and the weight will come off. Also, do not get frustrated if the weight comes off slowly.  Everybody has a different body and people lose and gain weight at different speeds. Remember, if you keep working and never give up you will reach your goal. It may take 6 months or 4 years, but you will get there.

Note: Brendan Donovan recieved free products in exchange for his blog.

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My name is Sophia. I was recently on Season 10 of The Biggest Loser. I got eliminated in week 3 by the red line so a large amount of my weight loss journey was done at home.  One thing viewers might not remember about me is that I was a spin instructor before I got on The Biggest Loser. In fact fitness has always been a large part of my life…my eating habits were just horrible!  I quickly learned that you can work out as much as you want but if you are not fueling your body with the proper nutrients you are not going to get the results you want.

Since finale I have begun teaching more spin classes. I also sub a lot for other instructors.  During the holiday season spin subs were in high demand and there were some days where I taught 3 classes in a row!  The first time I taught a triple class I was wiped out! But I got wise and started to carry snacks in my gym bag – things like nuts and protein 2Go packets.  Thank goodness for 2go packets – they are so convenient!  Things have started to clam down now that the holidays are over so I am back to teaching just 4 times a week.  However, spring is coming up quickly and I can’t wait to start training for my 10k’s and triathlons!! Follow my blog as I starting training for spring – it is going to be pretty intense, especially because one of the events I am doing is an obstacle 5k – training for fire pits and barbed wire is going to be interesting!

Note: Sophia Franklin received free products in exchange for her blog.

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Being on the Biggest Loser was a true blessing. I believe it made me a much more structured and determined person, I say that because I never thought in a million years that I would ever be preparing to do a half marathon. I have been training for this for awhile and it’s not easy but I know I can do it. I get up at 4:15 every morning, go to the gym and do my miles. I drink my lemonade protein and that gets me through my workout. The product is amazing and it taste awesome. Thank you Biggest Loser Protein for such a great product and wish me luck on my 1/2 marathon 1-30-11

Montina Cooper-Donnell
BL10Montina Cooper-Donnell

Note: Montina Cooper-Donnell received free products in exchange for her blog.

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I’m back on track with my early (5:00am) workout routine and I must say I love it and hate it. I love the feeling of  having accomplished so much by 7:00am; one hour of exercise, one healthy meal, 36oz water, one load of laundry and hopefully one blog. However, such early morning excellence comes with an annoying problem, being really chilled.

When I left Zumba I felt alive and invigorated, however as soon as I stepped outside I was hit with an arctic blast. Sweat and below freezing temperatures don’t mix!!

Then I had an epiphany…why not have my post workout protein hot instead of cold?? I think I just created healthy hot chocolate. Enjoy!

Recipe:
One scoop Chocolate Deluxe Biggest Loser Protein Powder
8oz 1% milk
Dash of Cinnamon
One drop almond extract

Note: Burgandy Keel received free products in exchange for her blog.

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Well now it seems like the confetti is finally starting to settle from the finale of Biggest Loser 10. What a whirlwind of emotions this year has brought! I have poured countless hours of blood, sweat, and tears into this competition with my goal in mind. It is over, or so it seems. Now what? I have actually gone BEYOND my goal, losing 213 pounds, 50.59% of my body weight to capture the at home title. I have changed my mind, body, and soul for the better. Here comes the hard part if you can believe it. Not losing the weight itself, but MAINTENANCE.

Going through the season I had that destination to strive for, that “end goal,” which was our finale. It was something I was able to focus and keep my mind on. It kept me fighting. When I left the ranch not being in the final four I have to admit I was devastated. I had worked extremely hard throughout my tenure on the ranch and now for what? I knew I could not be the “Biggest Loser.” But that thought was quickly shaken. I remember what I told myself at the beginning of the season. Win or lose I want to go out there and give it my hardest. I am a competitor till the end and not even this bump in the road can stray me from my path. So with this mindset, I was able to lose an additional 84 lbs. at home on top of the 129 that I had lost on the ranch for my grand total of 213 lbs!

I refined my workouts by increasing the intensity of them by incorporating things such as sprints and weighted packs while hiking. Diet wise, one of the things that kept me sane were the Biggest Loser protein bars. I found snacking was important to keeping my metabolism up and staving off hunger and at only about 110 calories each, those bars were a great option. One thing we learned was to take in a carb and a protein together at each meal, including snacks, which the bars provided as well. While it’s true I would have won the whole show if I were in the final four, I did win. I won my life back. But now, back again to that word that was creeping around the back of my head: maintenance.

I find that in order to successfully keep the weight off I would need to find a new goal, a new focus for myself, which is why I am deciding to stay in this field. I am extremely passionate about fitness and nutrition now and I love to talk to people, so why not talk to people about fitness and nutrition? I plan and getting out there to every corner of this country and educating the public about what it takes to care for yourself properly. I have been down that dark road before and do not want anyone else feeling how I felt any longer! With that being said as well, I can’t exactly be 400+ lbs. and talk about fitness and nutrition, can I?

Note: Mark Pinhasovich received free products in exchange for his blog.

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Hi! It’s Lisa Mosley from Season 10 of The Biggest Loser. As you know the journey to my 97 pound weight loss was a rocky one! There are so many emotional and mental challenges that I can’t even list them! We all experience the ups and downs during a major life change like this but there are several things that we can do to help make the changes a little easier.

One of the most important things I have figured out is to prepare! I can not say that enough! There is an amazing quote that I heard a long time ago; “Fail to plan, plan to fail.” This is integral to a successful plan of any kind. Some of the things I did to ensure I was prepared was to know what I was going to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks the day before. Of course there will always be situations you can not control and one of the things that I leaned on a lot was the Biggest Loser protein shakes. My favorite is the Chocolate Deluxe Protein Powder. It is delicious and it has a lot of of protein and fiber to help you not only repair your muscles after a workout but it helps you feel full because of all of the fiber. This was a life saver for me!!!

Another tip to help keep you sane during this trying time is to remember that moderation is key! I am not the type of person that can live the rest of my life, or even a week for that matter without a sweet. If you can go without that then awesome for you! I unfortunately can not so I have one day each week that I get to eat whatever I want. I still stay away from fast food and processed canned foods etc but I have sweets, Mexican food etc. It helps keep me on track the rest of the week and it helps to not feel like I am always missing out. This may set me back one or two pounds but with diligent workouts I am able to maintain my weight just fine.

I hope the best for each and every one of you! Please feel free to visit my site www.lisalostit.com for tips and my thoughts. Allie and I also have a site coming soon with our current ventures that will have even more additonal thoughts and tips www.theranchcamp.com.  God bless!

Note: Lisa Mosley received free products in exchange for her blog.

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A New Year, A New YOU! That is definitely the buzz phrase that everyone is shouting, however I’m not quite sure how I feel about it.

Hear me out.

Every year we get all geared up to change things once the clock strikes midnight (or for some of us until we actually wake on Jan. 1st ) It also seems that every year we hear everyone going strong for the 1st month or so and some, a little longer. And then things start going back to the way they were or even beyond how they started out that first day of the year. Every year I wonder why this same cycle seems to happen to so many year after year. This reminds of the definition of Insanity: doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result or outcome.

I believe that people as a whole want to continuously be more and do more towards their goals. I know I do, but does that mean that I have to be a NEW me? As if the OLD me can’t or isn’t good enough? BOGUS!!!!

Sure maybe I can work on my attitude towards things, but that is something I am continuously working on. It didn’t change with the ringing in of the New Year and it won’t change with next year. It’s the same ME, new GOALS!

I think that in the past I bought into the idea of “New Year, New ME”, and that is where it went wrong. Every year that I attempted to change who I was in order to attain a goal I really wanted to accomplish, it never seemed to actually happen. It has only been in these past few years that I have really started to attain the new goals I set for myself. I realized a few years back that I’d spent enough years feeling sorry for myself, looking for something or someone other than myself to create the life I wanted to live. When, in reality, I was always my own answer to attaining my goals, and I was not only enough but more than enough. I just needed to be willing to tell the truth, good or bad.

So here’s to honestly challenging ourselves through the New Year. Remember to set goals for all aspects of your life: Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual.

Physical- Is maybe the easiest goal to set and one of the hardest to follow through with because often we try to set a goal that has specific guidelines. An example could be “I’m going to wake up every morning at 5am and go to the gym” or “I’m going to cut out all sugar from my diet”. What works better for me is be specific and challenging, yet measurable and attainable. This year I have committed to doing the three Nautica Triathlons, so my goal is to improve my time with each event.

Mental- Is a goal that is usually related to either school or work or learning. I have the worst habit of starting a million books and finishing none of them. This year I am going to read 12 books and finish them all. I am also going to create and find a way to have an idea I have available for sale by the end of the year. I would tell you more but I can’t yet

Emotional- Is when you want to think of relationship goals. This year I want to work on the relationships in my life. I have written down a list of people that are very important to me and I want to make sure each one of them knows how much I value and love them.

Spiritual- This is where you can set goals that involve you being a part of something greater than yourself. This year I am going to get the Believe It, Be It Foundation set up, and enroll key people to be a part of the board. By the year end, we will have our board of directors in place and our first project under way.

When setting goals I think of a tool I learned years ago called SMART goal setting.

S – SPECIFIC…. PAINT THE PICTURE, WHAT ARE THE DETAILS?
M – MEASURABLE…. HOW WILL YOU KNOW WHEN YOU WIN?
A – ATTAINABLE…. HAS TO BE REALISTIC FOR TIME FRAME.
R – RISKY…. BE SCARED, CHALLENGE YOURSELF.
T – TIMELY…. WHEN WILL YOU HAVE IT DONE?

GOOD LUCK, you have all you need within you!

xo- Ali

Note: Ali Vincent is compensated for her blogs and product testimonials.

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After taking two weeks off for the holidays, I’m back in the saddle again with a public confession. After the BL Season 10 finale ended I felt amazing and ready to take on the world, but soon I started slipping back into old habits. I stopped making early morning exercise the key to starting my day, then came the holiday eating. After working so hard for such a long time I found it easy to endulge in many holiday treats and a huge Christmas dinner. Oh and I only ran once. Why oh why are cookies so delicious and 5 miles is so long to run?

Here’s the good news that was then, this is today. I need to learn and move on. I need to put back into place the keys I know work. Healthy eating and daily exercise. That’s it. That’s the secret to feeling amazing.

Here are five things I’m incorporating in starting fresh:

I’m not perfect, but I have the ability to be amazing and so do you. How about a joke?

A woman walked up to a little old man rocking in a chair on his porch.  “I couldn’t help noticing how happy you look,” she said. “What’s your secret for a long happy life?”
“I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day,” he said. “I also drink a case of whiskey a week, eat fatty foods, and never exercise.”
“That’s amazing,” the woman said. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-six,” he said.

Have a wonderful week!!

Burgandy

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 Patrick House – 181 lbs Lighter

After six months of grueling training, intense dieting and sheer willpower, Patrick House, 28, was crowned Season 10’s “Biggest Loser”.

With a daunting starting weight of 400 pounds, Patrick beat out 16 other contestants. His total weight loss of 181 pounds, was 45.25% of his starting body weight.  

28 Years Old and In Dire Straits

Before joining The Biggest Loser, Patrick was one sick dude. Pre-diabetic. Sleep apnea. High cholesterol. High blood pressure. On camera, Patrick said, “If I don’t make that change and the way that I am, I’m going to die young.”  

The 6’2″ former college lineman called his journey “an emotional, lifestyle change.” But on Tuesday night’s live finale, Patrick, brimming with confidence, was a vision of strength, vitality and health. His proud wife Bradley, herself losing 53 pounds, watched tearfully from the audience as the world witnessed her husband’s amazing 181 lb. lifesaving transformation.

Patrick, previously unemployed before the show, will be “paying it forward” at the MindStream Academy in South Carolina. There he’ll teach and mentor overweight teens with their own physical and emotional issues. Having walked in their shoes, Patrick is the perfect choice to help lead these teens toward health and survival.

And Then There Were Four

Patrick, Frado, Elizabeth and Ada the “Termin-Ada”. It came down to these four inspiring individuals, all champions in their own right. Each competitor unique in their own way. Each one determined to be the next Biggest Loser.

Frado: Insulin Free and 162 lbs Lighter

Alfredo “Frado” Dinten, the 43-year-old ex-Marine was the first runner-up. With a starting weight of 367 pounds, Frado lost 162 pounds, 44.14% of his body weight. Frado started the season a diabetic, taking eight pills daily and injecting himself with insulin. Today, he is healthy and completely off of his diabetes medication! Way to go Frado! 

Ada Wong – Who Could Forget Her Generosity?

28 year-old Ada Wong, a tech company consultant from San Jose, might not have won the $250,000 prize, but she certainly won America’s heart. Her selfless gesture to allow Patrick to win the Ford Edge will never be forgotten.

Ada’s determination to break the “The Biggest Loser” marathon record was another season highlight. However, what America really wanted to see most was if she could heal the emotional wounds brought on by years of family turmoil. Throughout her journey, she reconciled with her parents she felt had blamed her for her brother’s death and found herself for the first time.

Ada dropped 99 pounds, a 38.37% loss. She is a true champion and will inspire so many others to achieve their weight loss goals.

Elizabeth, the dark horse this season, started at 244 pounds, and dropped 71 pounds, for a 29.10% loss. Congratulations Elizabeth! Keep up the great work!

Perhaps the most shocking transformation was Mark. Barely recognizable from his starting photos, Mark went from 421 to 208, for a 213-pound loss — 50.59% of his starting weight! Mark surpassed Rick’s weight loss to become the $100,000 winner. Way to go, Mark! And congratulations to all of Season 10’s contestants for an amazing season!

Two Tons Lighter in Season 10:  17 Contestants Lost a Total of 2,101 lbs!

PATRICK: Lost 181 pounds (400 to 219);

FRADO: Lost 162 pounds (367 to 205);

ADA: Lost 99 pounds (258 to 159);

ELIZABETH: Lost 71 pounds (244 to 173);

MARK: Lost 213 pounds (421 to 208);

RICK: Lost 165 pounds (350 to 185);

ADAM: Lost 182 pounds (402 to 220);

AARON: Lost 172 pounds (468 to 296);

JESSE: Lost 166 pounds (369 to 203);

BRENDAN: Lost 117 pounds (362 to 245);

ANNA: Lost 109 pounds (330 to 221);

LISA: Lost 97 pounds (288 to 191);

JESSICA: Lost 92 pounds (282 to 190);

ALLIE: Lost 74 pounds (322 to 248);

TINA: Lost 72 pounds (263 to 191);

SOPHIA: Lost 65 pounds (272 to 207);

BURGANDY: Lost 64 pounds (231 to 167).

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