The Few, The Proud

Well, I voted and nothing was more important than that, yesterday-but by last night I was really disappointed that election results were cutting into Biggest Loser AND the show was only and hour.  This particular episode, training with the Marines, was one I was especially looking forward to.  Watching on the DVR, a one-hour show becomes about 41 minutes, and then with the cutting in of the results, maybe there was a half-hour of actual BL footage last night, but what there was, was good!

Last night marked the half-way point of the BL season.  Wisked away to Camp Pendelteon, the contestants temporarily become part of “the few and the proud,” and are set to train with Marine Sergeants.  We witness the mess hall and breakfast and knowing they had a tough day ahead of them, they must have needed to fuel up on what they could, high calorie, high fat foods, probably loaded with sodium.  Kind of reminded me of eating a Grand Slam at Dennys.  Why can’t the Marines have some healthy choices along with these traditional foods?  I understand they are training for discipline and NOT to lose weight but isn’t EVERYONE entitled to choices?  Especially those that we should honor for serving our county?!?!?!  Why is it OK for them to eat unhealthy foods?  Couldn’t they have some fruit and grains and….well, you get the message.

Personally, I loved the 3 part challenge and felt it was physically challenging without being crazy!  I loved the way they started out having to make a team decision about how they wanted to distribute the weight plates.  I thought black team was smart to take 10 pounds from each of the “girls” and let them carry 20 pounds, while the “boys” carried 40.  The blue team decided they would each pull their own weight, and while I didn’t think that was the smartest decision, it worked for them.  Crawling under the net always looks challenging in the safest of ways and watching it made me want to be there doing the whole challenge with them.  That’s a workout I would like to try.  The blue team continues to work well together, and in the end they would prevail and get to make phone calls home.  (If they showed the phone calls home, I didn’t see them or don’t remember them…in fact, cut down to an hour, there was really very little EMOTION shown, which was kindof nice for a change.)

Back at the ranch, we manage to see a Fiber One commercial as the contestants eat breakfast.  But with no time left, it’s right to the scale for the big weigh in.  This was not pretty.  Most of the numbers were low and several people gained weight, including Frado who knew before he weighed in.  He felt swollen.  Swearing it was NOT game play ( I don’t think it was, I am very empathetic about sodium bloat) he gained 4 pounds.  I felt terribly that these contestants worked as hard as they did and 3 of them gained weight.  Not fair.  In the end, Ada lost 7 pounds and got immunity.  Anna was sent packing.  I think since she was a latecomer to the ranch, she was at a “bonding with the team” disadvantage.  Good news was seeing her at home, down to 250 pounds, running, preparing all her own food and working out with her co-workers.  She has wrapped her arms around the fact that she has to work full-time and STILL can eat well and find time to exercise.  It’s obviously paying off!

I don’t know what to say about Brenden shaving his head.  I get the whole Marine mentality, but…well, just not a great look for him.  All the “girls” are looking great.  I can’t wait to see what Lisa and Jessica look like at the finale.  They are both beautiful woman, and I think Lisa is going to be drop-dead gorgeous.  She already is!

Thanks for some great feedback this week.  Yesterday I got one of the nicest, most rewarding emails from one of my beautiful nieces in New York.  You all give me wonderful support and I love that we are ALL connected!