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| Gaunt and emaciated. This is not the picture of a winner. And they say TV adds extra 10 lbs. I'm terrified to meet her in real life. |
It's been almost 12 hours since the finale of The Biggest Loser Season 15 and I still, for the life of me, can't wrap my head around just how gaunt and emaciated winner Rachel Frederickson looks in pictures and on TV.
She was my favorite contestant. Her sheer determination and positive attitude up to the last episode, during the triathlon, made me believe she's another Danni Allen in the making (Season 14 winner).
But................ Wtf just happened?
Here are the numbers that further justify how jaw-dropping, and not in a good way, last night's finale was:
- The Biggest Loser Season 15 entitled, "Second Chances", ran from October 15 to February 4.
- Rachel, who stands at 5 feet, four inches, started the season at 260 lbs.
- During the triathlon which, correct me if I'm wrong, may have been a month before the live finale last night, she won the competition but went on to lose only a pound. Her victory during the triathlon earned her a spot in the finale but her weight loss only brought her down to 154 lbs from 155 lbs. (Pretty screwed up in terms of psychological pressure and public backlash over favoritism, i.e. Chelsea should have been in the finale instead of her if she had not won the triathlon)
- So from 154 lbs to 105 lbs in more or less a month? Do the math. She lost 49 lbs. How? She must have been consuming no more than 1,000 calories/day and exercising intensely for six to seven hours per day, everyday, just to get to that finale weight.
- Rachel's BMI went from 44.6 (Obesity level) to 18.0 (Underweight). If she were, AT THE MINIMUM, 108 lbs, her BMI at 18.5 could have been judged as normal. (SOURCE: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute BMI Calculator)
- David, the first runner-up, lost 54.28% of his original body weight. If Rachel had lost 54.60% (118 lbs) instead of her whopping 59.60% (105 lbs) body percentage lost, she would look healthy and fit and would have still ended as the winner of The Biggest Loser.
And even if Rachel went up by three pounds just to get to the 18.5 normal BMI, a mere three pounds would and could not hide the fact that she lost huge muscle mass and huge amounts of good fat.
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| (From L-R) The three finalists, David, Rachel and Bobby, during the episode before the finale. Rachel is 154 lbs here. |
Was she eating healthy as someone claimed on CNN's Facebook page? No. There's no denying that there are people who are taller and pretty much weigh the same. But these people have got their priorities straight on the dining table by consuming the right amount of fat, carbohydrates, sugar and protein. Rachel, obviously, was not eating enough protein and fat to maintain the healthy muscle definition she showed during the triathlon.
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| Rachel at 260 lbs (left) and Rachel at 105 lbs (right) |
So will someone please honestly tell me how this is not multiple shades of screwed up? I seriously believe that those who defend how she looks and how America overly criticizes using "too skinny" or "too fat" need major fitness crash courses.
