by Kevin Myrick
Ali Vincent thought she would never lose the hundred pounds she’d gained over the years. The fifth season winner of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” found herself again in the challenge to lose the most weight on the series by keeping to her personal mantra and book title “Believe It, Be It.”
Vincent, a Phoenix, Ariz., native, was at Berry College on Tuesday to speak about her experiences on the show and about her struggles throughout life to lose more than 100 pounds.
“It’s about making personal choices every day that will last you a lifetime,” she said. “I never thought my life would be what it is today.”
She also said to the hundreds of students in the audience that the first step to bettering yourself is to gather evidence to support a goal.
“For years I’ve collected evidence for why I didn’t deserve to be healthy and happy,” she said. “You have to go to the doctor and go online and really research and find reasons to do something.”
Vincent said her experiences on the reality TV series also taught her that even an ordinary person can make a big impact in the lives of many.
“I’ve gotten thousands of e-mails over the past couple of years of people asking me how I did what I did,” she said. “It has been fun and I try to embrace it as much as possible.”
Before being selected for the show, Vincent said her life was a series of setbacks, and that she gained 5 pounds at a time.
“Somehow in my mind I got OK with that 5 pounds,” she said. “But before I knew it, 5 was 50 and 50 was 100.”
After watching the third season’s two-hour finale with her mother, Vincent said she decided to put in an application for the show, and the rest is history.
Since becoming the first woman to win “The Biggest Loser,” Vincent has gone on to appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “The Ellen Degeneres Show” and now has her own book.
The Berry College Bookstore, in the Krannert Center, has copies of “Believe It, Be It” available for purchase. Call 706-236-5499 for details. The book can be found online at the NBC Universal store and at Amazon.com. Rome's Barnes & Noble store does not have the title in stock, but it is available to order.
Weight loss tips from 'Biggest Loser' winner
Ali Vincent tried diets, tried exercise and even considered surgery to help with her weight loss. What it took was research, hard work and will power to be “The Biggest Loser” on the hit NBC show’s fifth season. Here are some tips she said helped her go beyond the challenge:
First and foremost, Vincent said that collecting evidence for how weight loss can make you better makes the motivation for healthy eating and exercise work. She said diets, in her experience, don’t work.
“Counting calories and making sure you can burn off what you take in makes a big difference,” she said.
Vincent said personal trainers on the show had weight loss down to a science of sorts, doing everything from tracking caffeine intake to offset cortisol — a hormone released when the body or mind is stressed and retains fat in the body — to sodium intake.
Second, Vincent said to consult trainers, nutritionists and physicians about diets and exercise so each individual can find their own balance.
Finally, she said to not rely on workouts for pure weight loss.
“You don’t need to go to the gym,” she said. “You need to move.”
She suggests that people get involved with community or college-based wellness programs to help keep fit.
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