The Contented Cow Blog

Building Workplaces That Work

Earlier this week, on Tuesday night, NBC’s reality show hit The Biggest Loser made its 4th season premier.

Ordinarily, I’m not a big reality show fan. But this is different. This year, one of the contestants on The Biggest Loser is my sister-in-law (my brother’s wife), Julie Hadden.

Julie’s story is like that of millions of women. She was a beautiful, fit, healthy young woman who got married, had a baby, and made the choice to work at home caring for her child. In the process, her health took a back seat to everything else. She gained weight and found herself in that vicious cycle that so many working women and men, both those working at home, and in a career, can relate to. Too tired and busy to eat right and exercise.

Julie decided that, for her, reaching her goal of losing weight and gaining health would take a bold move. She applied, along with 150,000 others, to be a constestant on The Biggest Loser. To everyone’s astonishment, she made it! She was chosen to be one of 18 cast members vying to lose the greatest percentage of body weight, and to win the grand prize of $250,000.

No winner has been chosen yet. That happens in December. The series starts tonight. There’s a lot that we, as her family, don’t even know. I guess we’ll all just have to watch the show. She’s home now with her family, and she looks and feels fantastic!

My admiration for Julie, and those like her, comes from the following:

1. She had a goal - to lose weight and improve her health. After trying conventional means, without success, she decided to take a bold step.

2. As you can see by watching the strenuous exercise portions of the show, she went the extra mile, pushing and stretching herself much farther than she ever dreamed she could. And if nothing else comes from her participation on the show, she has proven to herself that she had what it took to go above and beyond her, and others’, expectations.

3. She showed that others can play an important role in our motivation. Her trainer, who was part drill sargeant, part mother, part teacher, part mentor, and part role model, demonstrated that a leader who cares about - but doesn’t coddle - his or her followers, can get amazing results.

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