Inspiration TV!

When NBC's The Biggest Loser became all the rage a few years ago, I made a point not to tune in.

After all, when the numbers on the scale are going up (as they had been for me while the show was on), the last thing you want to do is watch a television show where people twice your size lose tons and tons of weight.

I knew if I watched The Biggest Loser I'd have to face up to the fact I wasn't taking care of myself, I wasn't healthy and that it was up to me to change things.

Two years ago, even one year ago, that wasn't something I was ready to do. So when everyone around me started chattering about this great, inspirational, oh-so-motivating television show, I'd change the subject.

Or roll my eyes and say things like "Well, if I lived on a ranch for three months straight and had nothing to do but workout with a personal trainer, I'd lose weight too..."

But as if to prove that divine intervention exists, the morning after I re-joined Weight Watchers, I was flipping channels and guess what happened to be on Style Network? The Biggest Loser.

Instead of rolling my eyes and flipping past, I stopped. Before I knew it, I was sucked in. Over on the other end of the couch, my husband gasped every time they'd show the before and after shots.

Style Network loves to do marathons of their shows and for three hours we were mesmerized, watching as these people exercised, ate, cried, laughed and lost weight. I finally understood why so many people I knew had been so into the show when it premiered a few years ago.

It was inspiring. It proved that if you were willing to work at it, you could make changes in your life...if you were willing to sacrifice, you could lose weight.

Since that Sunday morning, I became addicted. And yesterday, true to Style Network form, they had a Biggest Loser marathon. And Mr. CCC and I watched just about every episode.

Wanna know why we skipped two of them?

We went to work out together! On Memorial Day. How's that for dedication? (Both in terms of television viewing and exercise.)

That marathon of Biggest Loser couldn't have come at a better time for me. I was still incredibly upset over my Saturday weigh-in. I'd whined about it to Mr. CCC, I'd pored over every page of my journal looking for snacks or points I could cut out; I'd decried being a woman and all that entailed (including that whole bloating thing.)

I was beating myself up mentally and on the verge of doing so physically when I sat down to watch hour upon hour of The Biggest Loser.

And as I watched the contestants challenge themselves and occasionally come up short on the scale it hit me--there are going to be bumps in the road.

There are going to be weeks where I will work hard and I will push myself and I will pass up goodies and the scale won't budge. Just like there are going to be weeks I slide a little and don't gain.

Here were people whose sole responsibility was to lose weight and on occasion, they failed. But they picked themselves up, kept going and realized one week, one weigh-in, does not a failure make.

That's why as we watched hours of Biggest Loser, I grabbed Mr. CCC and said, "Let's go exercise! I know the gym is open!" and it was. And we went.

And I felt good afterwards--like I had accomplished something. (Or, if you want to get really cheesy and listen to The Biggest Loser theme song, that I'd done something to make myself feel proud.)

But more than getting on the StairMaster (and the treadmill...and the elliptical trainer...), my hours of television watching on Monday helped me push through my mental roadblock and keep going.

I've been eating my veggies, drinking my water, staying on program because I know if I do all those things, if I continue to work, I will get over my disappointing weigh-in.

So maybe I'll cue up some Biggest Loser re-runs to watch when things get tough again. I'll tap right into that inspiration, but next time, I won't watch it right before working out.

Because let's just say running from the treadmill to the bathroom to lose my lunch was not the kind of exercise I wanted. I guess that's the result of a little too much inspiration!