Biggest Loser's Sherry Johnston
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Leigh14
Posts: 871 Member
I had the privilege of meeting Biggest Loser's Sherry Johnston yesterday! She came to my small town to give a speech at a local health and fitness center (that I didn't even know existed, omg!).
Sherry is from season 9. She competed with her daughter, Ashley. They're both amazing and beautiful inside and out.
Sherry explained her history. She was teeny in school, grew up, got married, had babies and was still around 100 pounds (she's 5'1"). She ate unhealthy food and it eventually caught up with her. When her husband passed away, she began eating more. And more. And more. As did her daughter.
She talked a lot about sleep apnea and the importance of quality sleep to weight loss and overall health. Ashley had severe sleep apnea when she was little. Because of that, her growth literally stopped for a year and a half! When they removed her tonsils and adenoids, her sleep apnea improved - and she grew 5 sizes in one year! How important is sleep? THAT important.
She told us about lots of behind-the-scenes stuff at Biggest Loser. First, I knew they were monitored ... but I didn't know how much. Their first competition on the show was a stationary bike marathon. She said that what we didn't see was the show's doctor monitoring their stats and letting staff know what needed to be done to insure they did not overdo it.
Without entering lawsuit territory, she did let us know that some of the Biggest Loser TV weeks aren't the same amount of time as real life weeks - especially that first week. So when they step on the scale and they've lost 20 pounds, it wasn't necessarily in the span of 7 days.
She also revealed their calorie intake vs. their calorie burn. They ate 1200 calories and kept exercising until they burned 4000 calories. Every.single.day. They also had to make all of their own food. Twenty out of 22 contestants in their season were found to have sleep disorders and most had to sleep with oxygen masks. How disturbing. And scary. She also said that they could get massages on the ranch, but they had to pay for them! Booooo.
Also, speaking of the ranch ... you know the mansion they show in the show previews? She said it's empty! They're in a secluded "dorm" wing and the rest of the mansion is sometimes used for events and weddings. Who knew!
She also said that Bob and Jillian were not their trainers all the time. Sometimes they were trained by Bob and Jillian's trainers! And ... Bob is the harder trainer because he doesn't let up until you do what he wants, lol.
So, needless to say, I was pretty excited to hear her speak. She lost 99 pounds on the show and has gained some back (she didn't say how much, but did say she had fallen behind because she couldn't workout much this summer due to travel).
She still looks amazing, though!
A lot of time was spent telling us about her time on the ranch, but her overall message transcended that. She said her biggest excuse for not wanting to go to the ranch (it was Ashley's idea) was that she didn't think she could do it. She recalled after the first workout at the ranch, Ashley said she didn't think SHE could do it ... and Sherry looked at her and said, "But, what if you can?"
And that was the important question yesterday. She looked around the room and told us to ask ourselves that every time there was something we thought there was something we couldn't do. I think that question is something everyone can benefit from asking themselves! :flowerforyou:
On a side note, they had door prizes and I won one! A shaker cup, some protein, a T-shirt from the health & fitness center, a couple other small items anddddddd a gift certificate for a free consultation and two free personal training sessions. Eeek! I think I'm gonna do it. I've never worked one-on-one with someone (er, well, someone who knew what they were doing) before! Scary! :blushing:
Sherry is from season 9. She competed with her daughter, Ashley. They're both amazing and beautiful inside and out.
Sherry explained her history. She was teeny in school, grew up, got married, had babies and was still around 100 pounds (she's 5'1"). She ate unhealthy food and it eventually caught up with her. When her husband passed away, she began eating more. And more. And more. As did her daughter.
She talked a lot about sleep apnea and the importance of quality sleep to weight loss and overall health. Ashley had severe sleep apnea when she was little. Because of that, her growth literally stopped for a year and a half! When they removed her tonsils and adenoids, her sleep apnea improved - and she grew 5 sizes in one year! How important is sleep? THAT important.
She told us about lots of behind-the-scenes stuff at Biggest Loser. First, I knew they were monitored ... but I didn't know how much. Their first competition on the show was a stationary bike marathon. She said that what we didn't see was the show's doctor monitoring their stats and letting staff know what needed to be done to insure they did not overdo it.
Without entering lawsuit territory, she did let us know that some of the Biggest Loser TV weeks aren't the same amount of time as real life weeks - especially that first week. So when they step on the scale and they've lost 20 pounds, it wasn't necessarily in the span of 7 days.
She also revealed their calorie intake vs. their calorie burn. They ate 1200 calories and kept exercising until they burned 4000 calories. Every.single.day. They also had to make all of their own food. Twenty out of 22 contestants in their season were found to have sleep disorders and most had to sleep with oxygen masks. How disturbing. And scary. She also said that they could get massages on the ranch, but they had to pay for them! Booooo.
Also, speaking of the ranch ... you know the mansion they show in the show previews? She said it's empty! They're in a secluded "dorm" wing and the rest of the mansion is sometimes used for events and weddings. Who knew!
She also said that Bob and Jillian were not their trainers all the time. Sometimes they were trained by Bob and Jillian's trainers! And ... Bob is the harder trainer because he doesn't let up until you do what he wants, lol.
So, needless to say, I was pretty excited to hear her speak. She lost 99 pounds on the show and has gained some back (she didn't say how much, but did say she had fallen behind because she couldn't workout much this summer due to travel).
She still looks amazing, though!
A lot of time was spent telling us about her time on the ranch, but her overall message transcended that. She said her biggest excuse for not wanting to go to the ranch (it was Ashley's idea) was that she didn't think she could do it. She recalled after the first workout at the ranch, Ashley said she didn't think SHE could do it ... and Sherry looked at her and said, "But, what if you can?"
And that was the important question yesterday. She looked around the room and told us to ask ourselves that every time there was something we thought there was something we couldn't do. I think that question is something everyone can benefit from asking themselves! :flowerforyou:
On a side note, they had door prizes and I won one! A shaker cup, some protein, a T-shirt from the health & fitness center, a couple other small items anddddddd a gift certificate for a free consultation and two free personal training sessions. Eeek! I think I'm gonna do it. I've never worked one-on-one with someone (er, well, someone who knew what they were doing) before! Scary! :blushing:
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Replies
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oNLY 1200 CALORIES? I can see why they were dropping such big numbers so quickly, and how some of the contestants gained back some after they left the show. I am not sure I can do that long term though!0
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A huge portion of the contestants gain almost all of the weight back because that lifestyle is not maintainable. TBL is one of the unhealthiest things you can do to your body and it's a shame the show is so popular.0
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Scroll down to the colorful chart. Note the GIANT DIFFERENCE between % of weight lost and fat % lost...That will tell you how awful that show is. I'm sure Sherry is a great person and she learned a lot from the show, but it is not the way to lose weight for sure! I learned a similar lesson being on a 1200 calorie a day weight loss study at a major university. Not maintainable, but heck I lost 23% of my body weight and 5% of my body fat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Biggest_Loser_(season_1)0 -
I'd rather lose 0% body weight, and 20% BF.
(Yes, it's possible..) 0 -
I find it so sad that they only eat 1200 calories but have to burn 4000 calories!! It's no wonder they gain the weight back because WHO can do that in the real world!! Totally against the Eat More to Lose Weight theory I'm doing.
Very interesting about the behind the scenes stuff. I was wondering if they really work out with Jillian and Bob every time.0 -
Thanks for sharing! Enjoyable reading about your experience!
P.S. Have you ever heard the Fat2Fit guys talk about the Biggest Loser and some behind the scenes stuff that goes on? Even Jillian Michaels disses it!!!0 -
I guess we could go on for days about the Biggest Loser, couldn't we?
I just want to say how excited I am for YOU, Leigh, for winning that door prize!! You BETTER take those personal training sessions!!
Could be a "turning point" for you......0
