A "Biggest Loser" Wake-Up Call

I'm a HUGE fan of "The Biggest Loser" on NBC. I remember the first time I ever watched it, and how I kept thinking to myself "wow, I'll never let myself get to be like that!" Oh how I wish that were true.

This season, they have their biggest cast ever, not to mention their biggest contestant ever, weighing in at 526 pounds. In the first week, he lost 32 pounds! I was so inspired by all of the contestants, that it made me want to work that much harder.

This last week, however, was a wake-up call... not only for the contestants, but for me as well.

I record the show on Tuesday nights, and watch it when I get a chance later in the week. My chance this time was this morning. And oh how horribly shocking and sad.

They performed medical tests on each of the contestants, and the Doctor for the show came to give them all their results. One contestant learned that at 27, she was now a diabetic. Another, that they were at a 98% chance of having heart failure and dying in the next 10 years. The largest contestant, found out that he's carrying around 303 extra pounds of nothing but fat, and that it's slowly overworking his organs, which will cause them to eventually shut down and kill him.

They also gave contestants a look at how old their body REALLY is. The 27 year old had a body that was 57. 57! That's 30 years of life she's throwing away by being overweight.

Sitting there, watching the results of their health tests, I had to ask myself... is that really how I want to end up? Do I want to sit face to face with my own mortality? Absolutely not. After watching that episode, I can honestly tell you that there is no way in hell I'm staying the way that I am now.

Honestly, I'm afraid to know what my test results would be. I'm afraid to know how old my body really is. My knees don't work well, my back and hips are constantly in pain. I know my heart and lungs work at least twice as hard as they should.

The bottom line here... by living the way that I'm living now, I'm basically, slowly, committing suicide.

What an even greater reason to keep working hard. Thank you, Biggest Loser, for yet another inspirational episode that has hit VERY close to home.