Looking beautifully sassy in a little gold dress (size 10!) that was picked out for trainer Michelle Bridges, Alison looks truly amazing and completely transformed from the shy, self-conscious and size-26 mother of three she was just a few months ago. Since winning second place at the Season 3 finale, (“the youngster, Sam, just pipped me!”), Alison hasn’t quite come back down to earth. Yet, she remembers precisely what prompted her to apply for The Biggest Loser and change her life almost beyond recognition.
Speaking about her ‘make’ or ‘break’ decision, the mother of three from Western Australia says, “It happens quite slowly; you have your lovely babies and neglect yourself a little bit and then a little bit more. You gain weight, just a little bit more with every pregnancy. I tackled this by just buying bigger clothes. And when you are big and you put on another five or 10 kilos, people notice but they don’t necessarily remark about it. And so it goes on until you think ‘OK, I really have had enough of this’.”
She continues, “I watched each series of The Biggest Loser and thought ‘I will lose weight with the contestants and weigh in each week like they do. But somehow, not only did I not manage to do this, but I would munch on chocolate while I watched the show! I thought it would be too hard to do what the contestants were doing, what with all those extreme challenges. In the end, I realised something; ‘those people are just like me, they probably have the same fears but they are doing it.’ That’s when I applied for the show.
“It took me three hours to complete the application form because I really thought hard about the answer to every question. I spoke to my husband, Robert, and we talked about the fact that I could be away for some months. He was very supportive. After I sent in my application, I had a really good feeling. I went and bought an audition outfit to wear – when my girlfriend, Emma, dropped by I said to her ‘I have just applied for The Biggest Loser and I’m pretty sure I’m going!’“
The rest is television history. Viewers were intrigued from the start as the contestants struggled just to get a spot in the White House.
Alison says, “I was so sore from the first training session, my head was thinking ‘I just can’t do this’ but my body went on. Even when I was in the White House, I used to get worked up before every training session but once I had done it, I just got stronger and stronger both mentally and physically.”
While training and fitness were essential in Alison’s transformation, diet and nutrition were central to her success. Describing herself as an emotional eater, Alison learned about tasty nutritious food choices in the right quantities for her petite frame. All of the contestants learned about The Biggest Loser Club’s online weight-loss tools, and were given hints and tips on getting the most from the website’s world-class features.
Alison says, “The Club was a really great tool – I just typed in absolutely everything I ate and the website calculated everything for me. Being honest and keeping my food diary truthfully kept me focussed. In fact, after we’d left the White House and I had returned home, my computer was out of action for a few days and went over my calorie target every single day for a week! And, I know all too well that over time, little slip-ups like this will take me right back to where I was in the first place. And, I’m not going back there!”
Alison still loves her food, but her menu is very different today compared to what she would eat a few months ago. The afternoons were always the worst time for me, but I am a lot stricter now. I love my vegies – salads and steamed vegies, lean meat and fish and lots of homemade soups. They help to keep me satisfied and interested in my food.”
Apart from The Biggest Loser Club diary, Ali has a few other features to recommend to others who want to find better health. She says, “I really wish I had typed in my measurements right from the start at the White House; it would have been absolutely great to have seen my hips and waist measurements (and other areas) shrinking. I also loved the blobs – those horrible yellow blobs that represent a kilo of weight lost; seeing each one of those horrible things made me feel really good; it was great to know that that nasty, yellow fat was going, week by week from my body – never to return!” Alison is unsure about what the future holds, but she is confident that it will be good.
She says, “Losing all that weight (and fat) and getting in shape has been fantastic. But, in a way, it is almost like an added bonus – I have so much mental strength now I know I can do anything. I never knew how disciplined and determined I was. Another huge bonus is my soaring energy levels. Recently I ran with my 17-yer-old son – he got tired before me! We do so much more together; I am no longer an onlooker. We have done more fun things as a family in the last few weeks than we have done in the last five years.”
Alison urges anyone, especially mums to make the change now, today. She says, “Make the decision to do something to have a happier, healthier life then join The Biggest Loser Club. You can take things slowly but just do it. You are important, just as important as every other member of your family and you deserve something special and some time for yourself. I promise, it will make you feel so good and so strong and you will be able to give so much more and get so much more out of your life. I’m so glad I did!”