I am very sad for her because I have been there; not winning Biggest Loser but gaining back weight that I worked so hard to lose and the shame and embarrassment associated with that. Wonder if Dr. Huizenga will stop judging those of us who choose WLS and stop thinking we are taking the easy way out.

Since Ali Vincent became the first woman to win “The Biggest Loser,” she has battled ups and downs — and struggled on the scale.

After shedding 112 pounds to win the show in 2008, Vincent says she has gained back most of the weight she fought so hard to lose, nearly returning to her pre-“Biggest Loser” weight of 234 pounds. Her struggles, she revealed, have made her ashamed.

“When I struggle I shut down, I feel alone, I push people away, I hide, I sleep all day, I eat, I try to feel satisfied and comforted but do nothing to allow true satisfaction or comfort.”

Vincent became a celebrity during “The Biggest Loser’s” fifth season, when the 5-foot-5 champion walked away from the competition 112 pounds thinner.

“I have had successes and I have had major losses,” she wrote on Facebook last week. “I have gone from feeling alone to having thousands of people reach out with support. I have experienced ultimate highs that I could have never dreamed of as well as nightmares I wouldn’t wish on an enemy. Quite frankly some of them have gotten the better of me and I have struggled.

But the next year, she told NBC’s “Today” that she already was apprehensive about regaining the weight, explaining that she was worried that she would put the pounds back on unless she spent every spare minute at the gym.

She said she continued to use her BodyBugg, a calorie-management system that the contestants wore on their arms, and threw away all of the junk food in her home.

“I childproofed my life,” she told “Today” in 2009. “I don’t want to leave anything to guesswork when I have the tools not to.”

But the weight started to creep back on anyway.

Vincent recently appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN series “Where Are They Now?” and talked about a low point several months ago, when she was slammed with comments about her weight during a Facebook Live chat.

“I really started hiding after that,” she said.

On April 15, the eighth anniversary of her victory, she didn’t get out of bed, Vincent said.

“I was ashamed,” she said. “I was just ashamed. I was embarrassed. It was a low point. It was probably my lowest point. I won ‘The Biggest Loser.’ I was the first female to win ‘The Biggest Loser.’ Like, I’m Ali Vincent. I’m supposed to be strong. I’m supposed to know how to do this – I do know how to do it.”

Vincent said she realized that she was headed in a dangerous direction.

“If I keep going in the direction I’m going,” she said, “I don’t know if I’ll ever come back. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to have the strength to do something different.”

Then, Vincent said, on April 16, she did “one of the hardest things in my life.”

She decided to lose the weight — again — and announced publicly that she has joined Weight Watchers.

“I swore I would never be there again, be here again,” she wrote on Facebook. “I couldn’t imagine a day again that I would weigh over 200 pounds. I feel ashamed. I feel embarrassed. I feel overwhelmed. I feel like failure.”

Vincent is chronicling her latest weight-loss efforts online. Weight Watchers,which is partially owned by Winfrey, said Vincent is a not a paid spokesperson.

“I’ve decided to feel proud of myself again,” she wrote. “To hell with shame. I’ve been so afraid and worried of public shame and ridicule that I’ve created more pain for myself than anyone else can but not anymore.

“I know there is going to be a lot of faking it until I make it on the proud front but I’m starting with taking action.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/%E2%80%98i-feel-embarrassed%E2%80%99-a-%E2%80%98biggest-loser%E2%80%99-winner-confesses-her-weight-gain-shame/ar-BBsq9yz?li=BBnb2gh

Saw it on FB and I commented that she needs weight loss surgery and not Weight Watchers. People came out of the woodwork to attack me with the standard misinformed and ignorant crap about the surgeries.

I'm really despising Oprah and how she is fooling people for profit. She isn't in control of herself and needs the surgery too.

I also heard WW changed their program for Oprah so she could eat what she wanted but appear successful. Don't know if that was true or not...

Saw it on FB and I commented that she needs weight loss surgery and not Weight Watchers. People came out of the woodwork to attack me with the standard misinformed and ignorant crap about the surgeries.

I'm really despising Oprah and how she is fooling people for profit. She isn't in control of herself and needs the surgery too.

You do know WLS isn't for everyone, right? And telling her that WW's won't work for her and WLS is what she needs is actually quite presumptuous.

I also heard WW changed their program for Oprah so she could eat what she wanted but appear successful. Don't know if that was true or not...

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard....

What this article tells me is that food addicts 'fall off the wagon' a whole lot more than those who are addicted to alcohol or drugs, or just about anything else. I also think the reason is that you can live without booze..without drugs, without just about everything that's bad for you. You can't live without food though. It's everywhere and the temptation can be overwhelming whether we are walking into a restaurant or a grocery store, or even watching those endless food commercials on TV.

I know that the medical community does not see food as as addiction but I don't care what anyone thinks. I know that my brain lights up like a pinball machine when I see food. I also know that I react differently when I eat than when someone who is not a food addict acts. I still live to eat...but just not in a detrimental way. I love food, I love how it tastes, and I love everything about it. Which is why I have to be mindful all the time. ALL THE TIME.

I'm three years out from WLS and I'd be lying if I said I got this. Because I don't. Every day I make choices to eat healthy and volume appropriate. Most days I do, but some days I do not. The band helps. It helps alot. But I can eat around the band if I so choose. I can self sabotage if I so choose. I can get fat again in a heartbeat if I am not careful.

Whether this woman uses WW or WLS or hypnosis, or voodoo...it's still going to be a struggle and I do not judge, nor do I feel anything but sympathy and empathy for her.

Wow, that's pretty shocking. She was always one of the people BL trotted out as a "success" and had doing speaking engagements and revisiting the ranch to talk to new contestants and pushing their products... It really does prove how the odds are stacked against people who lose weight through diet and exercise. Even with the money rolling in and much more tangible intensives to keep the weight off than most of us have, she wasn't able to do it. A lot of what she talks about with the "shame" of regain makes me think she'd feel a lot of shame "resorting" to surgery as well, but it sounds to me like it might be the best option for her.

... I commented that she needs weight loss surgery...

I'm really despising Oprah and how she is fooling people for profit. She isn't in control of herself and needs the surgery too.

It would be for Ali Vincent to determine what she "needs."

(Her name is slightly familiar-sounding. Does she have some sort of TV show? A secondary channel of some sort?)

I neither criticize nor defend Weight Watchers. The last I knew of it was way before the "points" system was introduced. People have long-term, even permanent, success with WW and other non-surgical choices while others regain. Oooh, just like surgery. It's for Oprah to determine what she "needs."

weight watchers is a tool

sleeve is a tool

lap band is a tool

bypass is another tool

Does it REALLY matter which tool we use?

As long as it works for you is all that matters.

I feel MY tool is my sleeve. I tried WW, multiple times, didn't work for me. Others like their band, balloon or bypass....or prefer WW.

Whatever path (tool) someone chooses is their choice. If they fail or succeed it was their decision.

We talk about this all the time here...it's a tool, and how you work it.

It's not a "one size fits all" world.....

rant over.....

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/diet-exercise-treatment-for-obese-patients/

It took me a little over a year, but I lost almost 100lbs through diet and exercise alone. At my lowest weight, I fell off the wagon and slowly started gaining back close to 40lbs. I tried the same reset diet only to lose 4lbs, hence the reason I'm post op sleeve now. I had read somewhere prior to finding this article, that only 5% of morbidly obese individuals who lose weight through diet and exercise alone are able to not regain all of their lost weight and then some. I'm glad I chose this route so far because I am not lucky enough to be in the 5%!

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/diet-exercise-treatment-for-obese-patients/

It took me a little over a year, but I lost almost 100lbs through diet and exercise alone. At my lowest weight, I fell off the wagon and slowly started gaining back close to 40lbs. I tried the same reset diet only to lose 4lbs, hence the reason I'm post op sleeve now. I had read somewhere prior to finding this article, that only 5% of morbidly obese individuals who lose weight through diet and exercise alone are able to not regain all of their lost weight and then some. I'm glad I chose this route so far because I am not lucky enough to be in the 5%!

I think a huge percentage of WLS patients have similar stories. I've lost significant amounts of weight many times through diet and exercise. As much as 90 pounds one time, but 25-40 pounds several other times. 5% of people may be able to keep the weight off, but I failed at it 100% of the time until I was sleeved. I've now been maintaining under goal for 8 months!

What this article tells me is that food addicts 'fall off the wagon' a whole lot more than those who are addicted to alcohol or drugs, or just about anything else. I also think the reason is that you can live without booze..without drugs, without just about everything that's bad for you. You can't live without food though. It's everywhere and the temptation can be overwhelming whether we are walking into a restaurant or a grocery store, or even watching those endless food commercials on TV.

I know that the medical community does not see food as as addiction but I don't care what anyone thinks. I know that my brain lights up like a pinball machine when I see food. I also know that I react differently when I eat than when someone who is not a food addict acts. I still live to eat...but just not in a detrimental way. I love food, I love how it tastes, and I love everything about it. Which is why I have to be mindful all the time. ALL THE TIME.

I'm three years out from WLS and I'd be lying if I said I got this. Because I don't. Every day I make choices to eat healthy and volume appropriate. Most days I do, but some days I do not. The band helps. It helps alot. But I can eat around the band if I so choose. I can self sabotage if I so choose. I can get fat again in a heartbeat if I am not careful.

Whether this woman uses WW or WLS or hypnosis, or voodoo...it's still going to be a struggle and I do not judge, nor do I feel anything but sympathy and empathy for her.

I like your comment about your head lights up like a pinball machine.... my heart glows like E.T. when I think about favorite food too... my mouth gets slack has with drool like homer with chess pie... so the struggle I real...As far as Ali, she can become biggest loser again WITH TOOL our surgeons have bestow in us....but WE .. been there done that...

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Here is an article I read this morning about how people's bodies fight tooth and nail to put weight back on after weightloss. It looked at biggest loses six years out. Measured all their hunger hormones. Main point was metabolism slows way down, and decreases leptin and increases grehlin. Maybe that's at least some hope for sleeve patients is that it is harder for our bodies to wreck out hormones to put weight back on.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&referer=

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Here is an article I read this morning about how people's bodies fight tooth and nail to put weight back on after weightloss. It looked at biggest loses six years out. Measured all their hunger hormones. Main point was metabolism slows way down, and decreases leptin and increases grehlin. Maybe that's at least some hope for sleeve patients is that it is harder for our bodies to wreck out hormones to put weight back on.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&referer=

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I just read that article too!

Scares me, that part about wrecking our metabolism after rapid weight loss. I feel much better now that you reminded me our WLS will help!!

The other thing is they studied people who were working out 4 to 5 hours a day, eating under 500 calories. We know that if we did that our bodies would freak out too. We lose weight quickly but not 200 lbs in a few months quickly. Our metabolism do take a hit, but nothing like the guys who do biggest loser.

Think about all the veteran WLS patients who have managed to maintain for 3, 4, 5, 10 years. Sure there are those than gain but largely because they stop exercising and start adding in too many junky foods.

We got this!!!

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