I knew I had changed a lot when I was on the ranch.  It was easy to see the physical changes.  What I didn’t see is how much I had changed internally.  I arrived home to the fanfare of a small town 4th of July.  Many of my friends and family were there as well as my favorite local band The Cedar Island Band.  It was an exciting time.  Most people hadn’t seen me thin in years and some had never even know me as a thin person.

I was a pretty good mess in the head when I got home.  I was happy to see everyone but I was also scared.  Not scared of them, but scared of how they would react to the new me.  Almost everyone was really great.  Those who weren’t, I let go of.  Probably the toughest thing to readjust to was going out in public again.

Keep in mind, this was right after I had come home from the ranch so people didn’t know who I was yet.  The show hadn’t aired yet so people didn’t know that I was “that guy from that show”.  My problem was just being able to interact with others.  I hadn’t had a chance to talk to anyone but the other contestants on the ranch and it kind of turned me into an introvert.

It was easy on the ranch because that is just what I did.  I worked out.  When I got home I was still competing and the only thing I had on my brain was winning.  Even though nobody knew who I was I felt like people were always looking at me and talking about me.  It kind of drove me nuts.  Looking back I’m sure they weren’t.  To everybody else I looked like a normal guy out and about.

I had a few freak outs.  I knew that everything I did had potential repercussions on my outcome on the show.  I was crazy about how food was prepared and how much of it there was.  If vegetables looked to have any type of oil I would send them back.  If I ordered a burger and it came out with fries or a bun I would send it back.  Needless to say, I didn’t go out very much.

My routine was exactly that, a routine.  I did the same thing every day.  I got up in the morning and had a bowl of Kashi GoLean with yogurt instead of milk.  I rode my bicycle to work 17 miles each way.  At lunch I ate a bag of lettuce shreds with deli meat cut up into it and a couple tbs of Galileaos dressing.  After work I went to wrestling practice.  For supper I had 8 oz of some lean meat and then before bed I did an hour of cardio. 

On Sundays I went to Dairy Queen and had a Banana Cream Pie Blizzard with Reeces Peanut Butter Cups in it.  I think my Blizzard was the thing that kept me sane.  It gave me something to look forward to.  I think I was able to keep this routine because I was still playing the game and had a chance to win the money.

I had blinders on the entire time I was at home.  I didn’t do well with any deviation  from my routine.  I am glad that I was able to do that but it has also been one of my biggest struggles since.  I am an all or nothing person.  I am 100 % on track or I’m all the way off.  $250,000 is a pretty good incentive to stay on track.  It can also get just about anybody to do just about anything for a period of time.

The hardest part for me after the finale was finding that balance and finding a way to be motivated by something besides the game of The Biggest Loser.  I will get more into this on another day.

To put it plainly, my life during The Biggest Loser was pretty boring.  My life after was anything but boring!

See you tomorrow.

Biggest Loser, fitness, Matt Hoover, weight loss

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