Former “Biggest Loser” Says Winner is Too Skinny

At least one former winner of “The Biggest Loser” thinks Rachel Frederickson looks too skinny and unhealthy.

“Way too skinny!!! Not healthy!!!” Deni Hill, Season 11’s at-home winner, commented on my Facebook post about last night’s season finale.

Hill has attended past finales, but didn’t attend last night because she is currently serving a Mormon mission in Mongolia.  But she saw enough from the photos to draw her own conclusions.

Weighing in at 105 pounds, Frederickson lost 58.62 percent of her 260-pound starting weight to win the $250,000 prize.  That’s skinny even by Hollywood or supermodel standards.

In comparison, Deni Hill went from from 256 pounds (almost the same as Rachel’s beginning weight) to 131 at the season finale, or 48.83 percent of her body weight. That year, the grand-prize winner, Olivia Ward, went from  261 pounds to 132, for a 49.2 percent weight loss.

“I was determined to lose in a healthy way when I came home,” said Hill, who worked out at my gym during the months before the finale.  “I never went under 1,200 calories and was usually eating about 1,300 to 1,400. I never lost more than 3 pounds a week. It was enough to win and be healthy!”

Some viewers assume that the players are monitored while they’re at home before the finale. But Deni dispelled that idea.

“When we go home we don’t have much contact with Bob and Jillian, so I think they were shocked!” she wrote. “We are told to NOT do anything crazy, Dr Huizenga says please, please, Please, don’t go under 1200 calories, and don’t do anything stupid, but they don’t have any control over us when we are home.”

Deni added: “When we came home the only contact we had with the show was a weekly phone call, where we had to tell the our weight and a weekly support call. We really are on our own. We are encouraged on the support call to not do anything crazy.”

Rachel, a former swimming champion, showed that she’s a fierce competitor who will do whatever it takes to win. She probably realized that she would need to lose at least 50-55 percent of her body weight in order to beat Bobby (who lost 52 percent) and David (who lost 54 percent). Perhaps she planned that going so low was only going to be temporary, and she will ease on 10-15 pounds now the show is over.

But she looked emaciated, and badly in need of a big juicy burger. With fries. And a shake. Or two. Her face was gaunt and her rib cage was sticking out.

It was a bizarre ending to one of the most enjoyable, contention-free “Biggest Loser” seasons.

As I’ve already mentioned in previous posts, Deni was in my Body Jam and Zumba classes while she was working her way toward the prize money, and she shared some of what goes on behind the scenes.

Deni said, “The trainers do want to win, so they really push for you to cut calories. I always listened to Dr. H who said, ‘If the trainers tell you to drop your calories less than what I give you, don’t do it!’

“However most of them listen to the trainers anyway. The show really needs to change to percentage of fat lost and muscle gained, instead of percentage of weight loss. That would be the responsible and healthiest thing to do!”

Over the years, I’ve interviewed several other “Biggest Loser” contestants about their weight loss tips.

Here are  Jackson Carter’s weight loss tips and Jackson’s behind-the-scenes stories.

Here are Deni Hill’s weight loss tips.

Here are Justin Pope’s weight loss tips.

Here are Sarah Nitta’s weight loss tips.

Here are my parting thoughts on the disastrous Season 13:

For more stories and updates on these former contestants (such as Sarah Nitta’s miracle babies, Rulon Gardner and Justin Pope parting company, and Deni Hill leaving on a Mormon mission to Mongolia)  you can click on the Biggest Loser tag.