In last night's episode, Coleen -- a youngish girl with long blond hair -- made a bet. She bet that she, and her father Jerry who was suffering from his own ailing health, would lose at least 2.4 percent of their weight -- or a total of more than 12 pounds -- that week.
If she won, in addition to the dent in the weight loss, she would have taken home $10,000. If she lost, the father-daughter team would fall below the dreaded yellow line, and be in danger of elimination.
This bet was extremely risky as it was the second week of the competition when the body tends to freak out and plateau from the massive drop in pounds from the first week. The average weight loss is 2 percent. Some people even gain.
Together, the father-daughter team lost 11 pounds. And so, yes, despite losing the equivilent of a human head, they lost.
Coleen's face, which had been glowing, looking beautiful and slimmer, showed such disappointment when she realized that she was just a little more than a pound away from $10,000. And yet, they had just lost 11 pounds.
This is the problem of getting stuck on the number on the scale, instead of the overall goal of getting healthier and moving forward in life.
Suddenly, all Coleen accomplished that week was forgotten. She worked her tail off with Jillian the kick-butt-and-take-names trainer who was not pleased that she had taken the bet in the first place. Coleen finished strong in this week's challenge which had her sliding down a hill on a giant slip-and-slide and sprinting back up. Most of all, both she and her father looked a million times healthier than when they stepped on the Biggest Loser campus.
Just remember, your weight loss journey moves far beyond the scale. If you get stuck on the numbers that's where you'll stay.
