“The Biggest Loser” contestant Rachel Frederickson, who weighed 260 pounds when the show began, shed 60 percent of her body weight during the show and ended at 105 pounds. Since she’s only 5’4”, that puts her body mass index at 18 — below what the National Institute of Health considers a healthy minimum. The first image is when she began the show, the second was the weight she was before she left the show to continue to train and shed weigh on her own at home. But did she take things too far?
Now here is what the trainers said…after the backlash:
Dolvett Quince Rachel’s trainer and show cast member took to his Facebook page”
“Last night’s ‘Biggest Loser’ Finale has sparked a huge reaction and I do not want the day to end without addressing it,” her trainer and show star Dolvett Quince wrote late on Wednesday. “‘Biggest Loser’ is a journey which has its ups and downs. Please try not to look at one slice of Rachel’s journey and come to broad conclusions. Rachel’s health is and always has been my main concern and her journey to good health has not yet ended!!”
Fellow “Biggest Loser” trainer Jillian Michaels said on her own Facebook page that she and co-star Bob Harper did not feel “comfortable commenting on Rachel’s journey” because they did not work with her directly on the series.
Frederickson was given a 1,600-calorie-a-day eating plan on “The Biggest Loser” and said she continued to follow it after taping the series.
“I am extremely proud of the way I lost the weight,” she said. “I did everything so naturally and the athlete in me came back. To just work extremely hard and eat healthy, I’m definitely going to continue on this path with the support of everyone at The Biggest Loser and make them proud while I’m in this maintenance mode of life now and finding balance with exercise and putting in work and eating. So absolutely I’m going to continue being healthy.”
The T’ruth of the Matter:
Personally I think she might have gone too far. It’s that thing that happens when you start to see improvement, and you are not yet used to your new self, you just want more, and more, and it can (if not checked) move into addiction , and in this case a disorder be it eating or exercise addiction. I think that she does look a bit too thin, and she technically is underweight, however we don’t know HOW she got there. We know what she says she did, in terms of following the prescribed diet and fitness plan but did she add to those workouts or eat just a bit less? Who knows. It could have been that she wanted to win the $250,000 and went to far. I have a feeling that when we check back with her in 3 months she will have leveled out. I think the larger issue is the idea of making weight loss a competition, it could inspire people to so things that are unhealthy and have long term adverse effects in order to win. Health is not competitive!