We recently spoke with Blake Benge, the last eliminated contestant from The Biggest Loser: The Glory Years about her experience on the show and what she learned.
In case you missed it, 18-year old Blake began the competition at 251 pounds and today is at 161 pounds (video) losing 90 pounds. She has learned to stop binge eating and flip-flop dieting to being a role model to other young kids who are overweight.
If you’re watching this season, it’s also the 10 year anniversary of the show’s premiere where 330 contestants have lost thousands of pounds while learning how to change their lifestyle to be healthier.
Watch this Digital Exclusive with Bob and Alison talking about their proudest moments from the past 16 seasons
See more of our coverage of the Biggest Loser’s 10 Year Celebration: #BL10Years http://bit.ly/8BLThursdays
Here’s our Interview and scroll down for a sneak peek video for the next show…
Question: Why did you decide to do this for you?
Question: Why did you decide to do this for you?Blake Benge told us… “…growing up I had been on like a bunch of diets… you name it I tried it. And, when I was younger…I didn’t want to be on those diets.
… when I was out with my friends I wanted to go eat pizza with them and eat popcorn at the movies. And when I’d come home I’d be back on a diet. And it was always just this flip-flop of dieting…
… And then not until I was around 18, I realized that nobody was going to lose the weight for me, that either I was going to gain all of this weight and I was going to keep it or something drastic was going to happen because nobody was going to be able to lose the weight but myself.
Nobody was going to lose the weight for me
…And none of that really clicked when I was younger. And then, I was about to get surgery and then we saw an ad for the casting call for Biggest Loser and mom looked at me with this mischievous look and she said, “You know, what if we tried out for the Biggest Loser?” And I said, “Okay.”
Not for my parents, for me
… I was still just going to lose the weight because my parents wanted me to lose the weight. But as soon as I got to that ranch I realized that I don’t want to be overweight the rest of my life, that I want to change things right now because my first year of college was awful. I just I locked myself into a room, I’d eat, I wouldn’t socialize, and I’d see everybody posting photos on social media and I was jealous. I was jealous that I wasn’t having fun and I wasn’t posting all of these photos for people to like.
And I realized that I want to the weight, and I want to keep it off, and I want to be a role model to other young kids who are overweight who have been – having struggled.
And I want to show them that all of this hard work and dedication that you can lose the weight and you can be the person you want to be when you grow up.”
Question: What was the hardest thing for you to overcome for while working out with your injury?
Blake Benge told us… “…so my hardest thing I had to overcome was just the mental [aspect] …growing up in my high school years I was a cross-country runner, ran track, I was a soccer player. I was really active my freshman and sophomore year of high school when I finally had gotten to the weight that I wanted to be at and my parents were satisfied with the weight that I was at.
…And so when I got to the ranch I played in my head that I was just going to be that freshman/sophomore year Blake, and I was going to just go at it, and I was going to go hard with athletics, and I was just going to crush it.
Stress Fracture
…And then at the end of Week 2 I ended up getting a stress fracture in my right foot on my second and third metatarsals. And as soon as I got a boot put on my foot it was a completely mental game where I was constantly like frustrated that I couldn’t go out on the treadmill and I couldn’t run. All I could do was swim and bike.
Mental Game
…I had to tell myself over and over that the key is in the kitchen, so conquer what I can do in the kitchen and then, when I’m working out I’m going to push myself as hard as I can where I’m swimming and biking because that’s all I could do.”
Watch this Video with an update on Blake’s Progress
Question: What tips do you have for others who want to lose weight but the mental aspect is holding them back?
Blake Benge told us “… I would say exercise is awful sometimes. Sometimes you do not want to exercise. So…go with a friend… don’t go to the gym if you really don’t want to go to the gym. Get a soccer ball; go play at a park; go dribble the ball around; go to the beach; go do a little jog on the stands; go rock climbing at one of those little rock climbing places; go to a trampoline park; do something fun, not something you’re dreading.
Do Something Fun
And that’s how you start to get into it. That’s how you start to enjoy the exercise.”
Question: Do you feel like you’re having the life you wanted before you lost the weight now?
Blake Benge told us… “… Not yet because I’m still in the process of the show. I think that I’m still in competition mode. But I definitely think that after this is all done that I’m definitely going to have the life that I’ve wanted where I’ll go back to college, and I’ll meet friends, and I’ll go out. And…my life will just be a regular 19 year old life, but healthy this time.”
