Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

I really wanted to hate this show. I felt that it was an excuse to torture fat people. It seemed like an advertising tool for Diet Rite, 24 Hour Fitness and Prevention Magazine. It made me feel like boycotting my gym. I was pretty honest about my feelings when I first started reviewing this show.

The week Jillian poured the salt on Matt’s cheesecake, I sat up and took notice. I have been awed by the dedication that each of the participants have had. I gained even more respect for them the week Seth said,

“When you put in over 20 hours of exercise in a week, it’s hard for you to not look at [the small loss on] the scale and go, ‘Wow!’ But personally I feel that the scale isn’t a reflection of how I feel, and I feel healthier and I don’t need the scale to tell me that.”

This week, I was floored. (Spoiler Alert)

They eliminated Mark this week. Mark was the one contestant that I wanted to win most of all. When he arrived, he showed the world his inspiration clothes. All he had in his case was a bullet-proof vest. While the rest of the people wanted to inspire others, turn heads or get a boyfriend, his inspiration was to fit into his bullet-proof vest. His weight was literally a life or death issue in vivid and gory detail. He put on his vest and showed all the spots where he was vulnerable to a bullet. I wanted him to win so that one more police officer would be safe.

I thought they would eliminate his partner, Andrea. I thought they were just playing up the drama by allowing the vote to be one vote for her and one for Mark. Seeing Mark eliminated just made me sick. All I could think about was his bullet-proof vest in the inspiration room.

When a contestant is eliminated, they show them right now. So many of the contestants have continued losing weight and living healthy lives, but Mark’s has been the most inspiring of all. When he started the show, he weighed 358 pounds. When he was eliminated from the show, he weighed 271 pounds. Now, he weighs 228 pounds. That’s a total of a 130 pounds lost. When they showed him wearing his perfectly fitting bullet-proof vest, I burst into tears.

If you have never watched this show, you need to start watching now. I put the first season of The Biggest Loser in my Netflix Queue. I can’t believe how inspiring and enjoyable this show can be. My favorite thing to do is watch it while running on the treadmill. I get so pumped when I hear the theme song:

“What have you done today to make you feel proud?”

Update 11-03-05: I’ve added a low resolution slide show of how Mark looks now.