Firstly, I want to apologise to everyone for missing yesterday’s blog – it was my birthday last week and I celebrated interstate this past weekend with friends. I was flying back home while Sunday night’s weigh-in was on and although I got to watch the episode on catch-up TV (which happens to be the best invention since the internet I reckon!) it was a tad too late to be blogging.
But never mind… I am back at my desk, and it looks like survival is back on the menu in The Biggest Loser house!
As a former member of Shannan’s team, I was thrilled to see the Blues win the challenge and romp home in the first team weigh-in. That said, I was a little shocked to witness the Reds sending Amanda, the first female Biggest Loser of the series, home so soon.
But it just goes to show how desperately all of the other contestants want to stay in the game. Meaghan put it very well: “It’s a fight for survival,” and every player will do whatever he or she can to avoid going home.
When Amanda was eliminated for the first time, I really worried for her and how she would cope on the outside, but this time I am not as concerned – I truly think she’ll be OK. In fact, I think she’s now in a better place mentally to make it through this journey than people such as Sammy or Cameron.
It broke my heart to see Sammy on the scales on Sunday night. To have lost 23.8kg and to stand in front of that giant photo of herself taken at the start of the show and not see the difference is hard to comprehend. But as Shannan said, Sammy is struggling with a perception issue and I suspect several of the other contestants are too.
It’s a side effect of life on Loser – things happen so fast that your mind just doesn’t have time to catch up with the changes that are occurring in your body. If I had my time again I would have taken 10 minutes after every weigh-in to stand in front of the mirror and acknowledge the changes in my body; to acknowledge everything I’d achieved.
That might sound crazy but for 18 years, every time I looked in the mirror an obese person stared back at me. I was so used to seeing the ‘obese women’ that even now after maintaining my weight for a year, I still sometimes get a shock to realise that that slim, healthy looking person in the reflection is me, Alison Braun.
As the beautiful Bob reminded Sammy after the weigh-in, “’Two men looked out of the self same bars, one saw mud the other saw stars.’ I see stars when I see you Sammy.” I just hope that the other contestants and all of you following your own Biggest Loser journeys at home reflect on your progress and see stars too...
It looks like the Reds will be seeing stars of a different kind tonight when Emazon is back flogging their butts in her boxing ring! Be sure to tune in at 7PM on TEN and then check your inbox in the morning for my daily update.
If you missed last night's show, you can watch the full episode at The Biggest Loser TV show website.
Be sure to check out Amanda's parting words at elimination – she has come an impressively long way from the "helpless" person with a "death sentence" (her words) that she was at the start of this journey. You go girl!
Register for The Biggest Loser Club newsletter and get weekly diet and exercise tips, free recipes, inspiring success stories, special offers, and much, much more!
Alison Braun is one of the most-loved contestants in Biggest Loser history. Since losing over 55kg during Series 3, she has kept the weight off with the help of The Biggest Loser Club and, more recently, The Biggest Loser Club Meal Replacement Program.