Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/48724
" Look at each morning the person you want to be... as an opportunity to be to start from square one " everybody has an opportunity every day. Each week, contestants voted one of their peers to go home, most often the participant who lost the least amount of weight. After surviving four cuts, Amy stepped on the scale for the on-camera weigh-in that punctuates each episode and saw that in total, she had lost 41 pounds. Feeling confident with her progress, Amy set- tled in for another week. But to her surprise, on episode five, she was voted off. For contestants on "The Biggest Loser," being sent home is more than just losing the chance to win a prize, it can be an emotional bombshell. The consolation is that those sent home aren't com- pletely out of the competition—they then compete to see who can lose the most at home. Only they have to do it without the personal trainers the show is famous for. "I went back to a different job, one that was less demanding be- cause I knew that until the finale my No. 1 purpose was to lose the most weight," Amy says. Marty, meanwhile, departed the show on episode nine after los- ing 91 pounds. While his life took him from Missouri to Chicago, the two stayed in touch, supporting each other from afar until the season finale, in which all contestants returned for a final weigh-in on live TV. The results were dramatic: Marty weighed in at 219 pounds and Amy at 154 pounds at the finale—losing 146 and 106 pounds re- 56 BRAVA Magazine November 2011 spectively. Neither was named "The Biggest Loser," but they had accomplished impressive goals. Now the challenge was to keep it up. This September, "The Biggest Loser" kicked off its 12th season, promising to once again reveal the emotional highs and lows of extreme exercising and diet overhauls that has made the show popular. But it's this formula of isolation from the outside world and en- tire days spent exercising that has also made the show a target of criticism from dieticians and personal trainers. Their beef? They say the "reality" show creates unrealistic expectations for rapid weight loss that the average person—who can't devote entire days to shed- ding pounds—can't meet. And for former contestants on the show, those challenges arise while adjusting to life in the real world. Not long after their season concluded, Marty moved to Balti- more to be with Amy. A year later, they became engaged when Marty proposed on "The Biggest Loser" reunion show. The pair married, relocated to Omaha, Neb., and continued to work out aggressively. While trying to balance intense workouts with everyday life, some weight inevitably crept back. "We were allowing more 'cheat' days, but we were still overall