The real "Biggest Loser" is back!

I was so excited to watch the season premiere of "The Biggest Loser" last night. While I know this is always an emotional journey, I don't think I was prepared for this season's contestants. Everything started out fine, with the theme this season being "second chances". We even have a contestant from last year, Dan, who already lost 142 lbs. on the show in season 7 (he was a fan favorite).

Each contestant has gone through something that has lead to their obesity. Abby lost her entire family in a car accident when her youngest was only 2 weeks old. She believes that she was not in the car for a reason, and feels her fate is sealed in that she can have this second chance at being healthy and moving on with her life. Julio and his wife (not a contestant) decided that at age 40, they would make healthy changes - they promised their daughters as much. Shay, the largest contestant in all 8 seasons, was raised by a heroin-addict mother who chose living on the streets over providing shelter for her daughter. As a result, she ended up in foster care, where she was able to get some love and a great education (she is a social worker), but at the start of the season, weighs a staggering 476 lbs. I don't even know how you can get there. Even at my heaviest weight, I was aware of how big I was getting and made several attempts to lose the weight. She seems to have had no clue and is now embarrassed at how big she has gotten. It was great to see her lose a substantial amount of weight in the first week. I hope she really sticks with it, because 30 is too young to die.

I'm looking forward to next week's episode, where hopefully, as in episode one, no one ends up in the hospital for just exercising. Two contestants suffered this fate, and as of the end of the episode, only one was back at the ranch.

This show is so inspiring. Watch it if you have a chance. Even if you are at a healthy weight, you can learn something!