I watched most of The Biggest Loser last night. They revealed the two new trainers, but I missed that part. I'm sure you could find it on Google. What the internet and the office chit chat was buzzing about today was the twin police officers, Don and Dan, who each gained 9 pounds.
As trainer Bob Harper said, you don't go to the Biggest Loser ranch and gain 9 pounds. One of the brothers, Dan, had made it pretty clear earlier in the episode that he was missing his wife and daughter very much and he wouldn't be sad to be sent home to be with them again.
Most of the posts that I read and the people I talked to were furious. They agreed with Bob who pointed out that there are thousands of people who wanted to get on that show and have the opportunities TBL provides and this guy -- with added insurance from his brother's gain -- basically threw that opportunity away. I understand the point, but I don't agree.
It relates to last week's thoughts about motivation. Most people who lose a significant amount of weight have something that triggers their success. For some it's a health crisis. Sometimes it's an insult or a well-intended but still offensive comment. I think the success trigger is different than just being motivated by a class reunion six months away. In my mind, the trigger is something deeper and more intrinsic.
For Dan, the trigger was the realization that he did not want to be separated from his nine-year-old daughter. As Harry Burns in "When Harry Met Sally" said, "when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."
I think it took him leaving his daughter and being away from her for several weeks to wake him up to the fact that if he didn't do something about his weight, that separation would be permanent. And once he figured that out, he had what he needed most to succeed.
