Episode 3 spotlights Dana Baker. Dana is described as an aspiring Gospel singer. I think the folks at ABC have never heard Gospel music before. Dana gave several performances during the show and what I saw was a classically trained singer singing Opera and Christian standards :-). Dana, at the age of 44 has ballooned up to 498lbs. Because of his weight gain Dana has chosen to alienate himself from his seven siblings for fear of judgement.
After 1 week of boot camp and a complete kitchen remodel, Dana is given a 3 month weight loss goal of 110lbs. Dana is slowly but surely losing weight but Chris is suspicious. Chris checks Dana’s fridge and finds ginger ale and canned fruit packed in syrup. Chris then checks Dana’s car and find fast food wrappers. Dana initially denies any knowledge of the fast food and then tries to blame passengers for the contraband. But wait a minute… I thought Chris lived with the participants? How did he not know Dana was drinking ginger ale and eating fruit cocktail if he lived with him? BUSTED ABC and Chris Powell! Dana finally admits to self sabotage as a way to medicate his pain from childhood sexual abuse. Dana and Chris hug it out and agree to start anew.
During a fitness challenge Dana gets heckled by a homeless person and Chris goes off! Dana reveals that no one has ever stood for him when being made fun of over his weight. At his 90 day weigh- in Dana meets and surpasses his 110lb goal by 1lb. His prize is professional vocal coaching. He gets an additional gift of a trip to California to perform with one of his brothers in a church.
After experiencing knee pain it is discovered Dana needs knee replacement surgery. Chris vows to help him thru this and revamps his fitness program so as to not aggravate his injury. It is now time for the 6 month weigh-in. Dan has to lose 70 lbs. He comes up short with only a 29lb loss. Since he was shown chowing down on 2 large pizzas at one point, I’m not surprised. Chris gives Dana a final challenge of 108lbs to qualify for skin reduction surgery. At the 90 day mark Dana once again falls short by only losing 40lbs. While this is great, it’s not in line with the program. Chris confronts Dana with grocery receipts submitted to the show. Pizza, chocolate bars, and ice cream are amongst items Dana regularly ate while attempting to lose weight. Chris barely rips him a new one and I wanted to reach thru the screen and smack the both of them. Dana reveals that he is a closeted homosexual and comes out to Chris. So now we get to see that carrying the shame and guilt of childhood molestation and hiding his sexuality has caused him to self medicate with food. I’m happy that Dana is on the path to healing by revealing these things but I almost feel like its an excuse. Maybe I’m just too jaded from watching a lot of reality TV.
At the final weigh-in Dana looks very slim and it appears he is no longer hiding from his family since they are all in attendance. His final weight is 295lbs. Dana nearly feints at being under 300lbs. A loss of 203lbs is fantastic. Way to go 🙂
Next up on episode 4 is James, 26yrs old and living in his grandparents basement. James’s weight is so out of control he causes floor tiles to crack in his grandparents house. His heaviest weight was over 700lbs. James admits to frequently eating two lunches, two dinners, etc. His wake up call was watching a documentary of a super morbidly obese man who had to be cut out of his home and realizing he weighed more than him. James does work out some but a very nasty looking hernia prevents him from doing too much.
His initial weigh-in has to be conducted on a freight scale. His starting weight is 651 lbs. Chris takes him thru a grueling 1 week boot camp and then gives him a 90 day goal of 150lbs. His prize will be a custom made bike. James hasn’t ridden a bike since childhood so he is very excited and motivated to win the challenge. James loses 154lbs and takes his new bike for a spin. It was kinda cute to see him with his helmet tilted sideways (on accident, I’m sure) as he rode off into the distance :-).
Phase 2, 6 month goal for James is 80lbs. James spends a lot of time on camera bitching about working out. Things are looking shaky. Then a bout with pneumonia sets James WAY back. At his 6 month weigh-in he only losses 11 lbs. His hernia is horrible looking. He isn’t eligible for surgery to fix it unless he losses weight. That alone should be motivation but it’s not. Chris brings in football great Michael Irvin who himself has battled weight and lost over 100lbs. A full day of drills and practice commences with James realizing at the end of the day that he “coulda been a contenda”
James gives himself the 9 month challenge of 90lbs, effectively bringing his weight under 400lbs. At the weigh-in he comes in at 394lbs, achieving his goal. 😉 His next goal is to have lost a total of 300 lbs at the finale.
The final weigh-in arrives and James shows up wearing a jacket several sizes too small looking pretty dapper. He steps on the scale and his final weight is 338lbs for a total of 313lbs lost! Chris presents him with Super Bowl tickets, which seems a bit anti-climatic at this point to me. Closing credits reveal James moved out of his grandparent house and working on getting under 300lbs to qualify for hernia surgery.
I decided to do some research and found literally next to nothing on our Life Coach Chris Powell. I did find the casting call for the show and a few short bios on Chris that all said the same thing. I’m gonna give this show 2 more episodes to catch my interest and if not, forget it. My cousin, who commented on here twice, is raving about this show on Twitter. Maybe I should ask her to do a recap or two? Are there any weight loss shows on that you all would like me to recap? Other than a few 5k/10k runs coming up, I’m open to suggestions. Are there any workout DVD’s anyone would like to review? Diets to blog about? Let me know your thoughts. Until next time, Peace and Blessings 😀
P.S.
Took pictures last week and wanted to post one but the website won’t let me order any JPEG’s, etc. So below is a bootleg copy until the actual pics arrive and I can scan them onto my PC 😛
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Hope everyone is having a great weekend 😉
Happy Monday!! I couldn’t help but laugh… it sounds like you are as skeptical about this show as I am now. I have to say that when he talked about his being gay caused his eating issues my “excuse” alarm went off as well. I too must be getting jaded or hell maybe I have always been that way. I find it hard to excuse behavior in adults because of things that happened during childhood. When should personal responsibility kick in and the blame/excuses end? It seems like as a society we continue to blame/excuse behaviors in others… “It is not her fault she is such a bitch… her mother was (fill in the blank a) didn’t show affection b) smothered her with affection, a) was too controlling b) gave her too much freedom and not enough rules, or my favorite her parents got divorced and she has abandonment issues. Give me a break… maybe she is just a bitch!
LOVE the picture! OMG you gorgeous thing you! I need you to come to the East Coast to be my personal stylist, shopper and over all beauty guru for the day.
Send me a ticket and I’m at your beck and call! 😀
TLD you look wonderful! I need to send in a picture of myself but I get kinda nervous silly I know. Anyway, I have not been able to find anything about Chris other then the show blog which was nothing. I thought he lived with them too so I don’t know how they are managing to have cheat foods in the fridge hmmmmm. I am glad that he is healing by being able to come out and tell everyone that he is gay but like you guys I have a hard time with adults making excuses for why they cant workout or eat the way they do because you know what it’s an excuse period.
You asked about blogging on different diets and I have been looking into intermittent fasting or IF and I wonder what you think of it if you have the time to check it out great if not no biggie.
I have finally decided on a goal weight with my doctor so I need to loose 15 more pounds and my it’s getting harder and harder I have to keep pushing and pushing myself but its been great to see my body get stronger and more defined. I would like to reach my goal by next fall so any tips from you guys would be great have a wonderful Monday guys! 🙂
The thing about the show is they make a big deal about Chris living with the client. They’ve shown him waking the client up to work out, nagging, etc. And then there is always the sad goodbye on the door step with Chris and his backpack… I mention on the last recap comments that I thought maybe Chris has an assistant/associate helping out during this phase. The refridgerater scene proved it to me. JMO 😉
Submit your pic, please! 😛
I.F., hmmmm……
With my schedule I am thinking of trying Power 90 with the goal of P90X… I know I know… fitness stuff from an infomercial but in looking on-line (amazon) these really seem to get good reviews. What are you thoughts on these two?
I think you need to check your email :-).
I think you should order the Power 90 DVD’s and preview them for two weeks. Write a review of 800-1,000 words and then do a 1 month follow up review. 😀
I know I have been negecting some things… I was looking to edit the blog name as a surprise but I haven’t been able to find yet how/where to do it!
I have several friends who have done this program and moved onto p90x and they look amazing! The only thing is you need to stick with the formula and it really works. I like having my alcohol 2 times a week or else I would do it. Let me know how it works 🙂
It was actually the P90X commerical that got me interested. When reading the reviews of that system many said they were not ready yet and didn’t pass the fitness test associated with the program. While I would love to jump right in and try it, I think I am better off starting with P90. Here’s the thing… if I post here that I will do it and blog about it, then in my mind there is no turning back… I could not give up at any point. To me that is a good thing and a bad thing… I am going to ponder it and announce my decision shortly.
Thanks for the feedback about it… that is definately helping me push to make that commitment.
I subscribe to Bob Harper on YouTube. Here is a video of him making oatmeal. That mess looks bland as hell. What do you guys think?
I like Bob and I know he knows nutrition but I think that food should be nutritious for your body as well as enjoyable and his oatmeal I’m sorry I would not eat that lol. I bet it would stick to my ribs though. You need to try one of the quinoa recipes I posted they are so good and flavorful and have a lot of nutrition in it. When I have a bowl of one in the mornings I have to remind myself to eat lunch because I’m not hungry.
I am leaving town this weekend but I will post some more recipes before I go.
I like Bob too… I saw on Fit Bottom Girls though that he is now selling suppliments and I have to say that disapoints me a little (not 100% sure why)… He did get me and Tiffany eating the Quaker Oat Squares and I love them! They are my standby meal when I can’t figure what else I am in the mood for or really don’t feel like cooking anything.
Fun plans for the weekend?