The Final Four

Last night was the 19th week of the season on BL.  19 weeks ago, severely obese contestants started this challenge and last night those contestants were looking pretty darn good, especially my girl Olivia who truly looks like an entirely new, healthy, athletic, glowing woman.  There were a lot of challenges of the mind, the body and the spirit and it is pretty clear that Olivia is strong in all of those categories. I loved the part where they each had to teach Bob how to spin.  Come on Jay, surely you didn’t really think taking the seat off the bike was a good idea??  Sometimes I wonder… I liked when Jillian role played with them, making them all “hear” themselves!  I think Hannah really got a lot out of that exercise.  Maybe we should ALL record ourselves for a week or so and learn what we really sound like to the rest of the world.  In my humble opinion, there is not a one of us who couldn’t gain some insight into ourselves doing that.  When deciding which exercise was anaerobic, the word heavy should have been included in the correct answer.  I always associate anaerobic with very short bouts of extremely high intensity, such as sprinting…something you cannot sustain for more than 30 seconds or so, but the other choices were all obviously s-l-o-w, leaving C as the answer.   Getting nose to nose with Cara in the boxing ring and not being able to laugh or smile didn’t really impress me.  Irene is just not the serious type and she could NOT keep a straight face, but she is clearly still a fighter!  Working out with the avatar on the video game was a fun product placement plug, and if you have ever worked out with a Wii machine, you know that it is not necessarily as easy as it looks.  In the end, it was Olivia who scored the most combined points and won $10,000, a nice little cash bonus.

The physical challenge had the contestants each move 25  sandbags from the floor up a “step” level, then themselves, then repeating until the first one got to the top.  Austin wins this and a coveted one pound advantage at the weigh in.

Off to Subway where they had to guess the calories in the 6 inch sub.  Hannah hits the nail on the head (I was so glad to see her win something!!) and wins a $500.00 Subway gift card.  She’ll be eating a lot of subs at home.  At 380 calories I guess it’s an OK meal for someone, definitely not me!

After last chance workout, its the big weigh in which will determine the final four.  Olivia is given the opportunity to trade her 10 grand for a one pound advantage.  Austin is given the chance to trade his one pound advantage in for $10 grand.  Interesting.  Neither trade.  I was surprised Austin didn’t trade since he was destined to have a big number, with still a bunch of weight to lose.  The fact that Olivia didn’t trade made me think she was just secure with whatever the outcome would be.  I get it.  Jay lost 9 pounds, which was huge, but he still has a good amount to lose.  The girls blew me away–Olivia and Irene each losing 5 pounds and Hannah 4.  Great job since they are all very close to their goal weights, I would imagine.  Hannah was first to weigh in and even with a 4 pound loss, she watched her name keep falling until it went below the yellow line.  Austin would surprise us all (and himself as well) with a one pound loss.  The one pound advantage certainly didn’t help and he would be eliminated.  Should have taken the $10 grand but what he does take home is 161 pounds LESS of himself.  161 pounds in 19 weeks!!!! That is insane.  He now weighs 230 pounds and looks fantastic.

So there we have our final four.  Jay, Olivia, Hannah and Irene.  Jay has so much more to lose than those girls, it makes me shiver a little for the finale.  Remember, O-love Olivia!!!  Next week they all go home and then…time for a finale party 🙂

Note to BL producers:  We know the difference between a trainer tip and an advertisement.   I didn’t think that telling the viewers about joining Biggest Loser online was a trainer tip, but, that’s just me.

To SilverSneakers students coming to today’s class.  Expect it to be crowded but lets make it work.  I will be getting to the gym just in time to come in and start class, so get the room ready as you always do.  Try to stagger the chairs like a checkerboard so we can get the most room out of the floor…we’ll figure this all out one class at at time!  If you haven’t come down to the gym yet, I look forward to seeing you soon.