NBC contestant promotes weight loss with USU group
Last Saturday, USU students and their families working toward the title of “Biggest Loser” were able to receive some tips for weight loss success from a contestant on the most recent season of NBC’s Biggest Loser.
Burgandy Keel, Utah resident and former contestant on the show, spoke Saturday to an audience of more than 100 students, USU staff and volunteers. Keel’s presentation helped kick off a “Biggest Loser”-themed weight loss and health competition by USU’s married student housing. Drawing from her experience on the show, Keel spoke about difficulties often encountered in weight loss and the importance of making personal commitments.
“What I learned from “The Biggest Loser” is how to keep personal commitments to myself. That’s the key to life,” Keel said. “Instead of it being ‘I want to go on this show and I want to lose weight,’ it became ‘I am capable of building myself into whoever I want to be. Anything, at all, that I want to be.’ Do you guys feel that … it’s possible for you to be able to set a goal, and reach any goal possible?”
Keel stressed self-affirmation and the benefits of a balanced lifestyle, including proper dietary, sleep and exercise habits.
“The first and great health commitment is always,” she said, “drink more water.” Though she was voted off early in the 10th season, Keel continued to exercise after returning to her family in Eagle Mountain, Utah and has lost 64 pounds.
The competition includes the Biggest Loser contest as well as the Healthy Habits Makeover contest, in which contestants earn points by participating in healthy activities.
“The second competition … is for anybody who just feels like they want to improve their physical and mental health,” said Shannon Jolley, MASA coordinator.
“We tend to relate bad health or obesity to laziness, but I don’t think that’s actually the issue,” Jolly said. “I think you’ll find that most people are extremely busy, but they’re busy doing things that aren’t good for their health. They’re in class all day, they’re at work all day and they eat on the run but they’re not actually taking time to take care of themselves.”
The winners of both contests will each receive a $250 rent credit toward their student housing. Other prizes include a weekend snowshoeing vacation donated by the Outdoor Recreation Center, water bottles, water filters, gift certificates to Lee’s Marketplace and a bicycle for a children’s fitness challenge. Funding for the rent credit will be provided from USU’s general housing budget, while other prizes will come from MASA’s activity budget.
Attendee Monica Carlson said she appreciated Keel’s speech and MASA’s fitness contests. Carlson, a graduate student in psychology, lives in Aggie Village. She attended the event with her 4-year-old daughter and 5-month-old son.
“I thought it would be a good chance for us to, as a family, encourage each other to improve our health and get motivated,” Carlson said. “We had actually thought of maybe trying to do ‘Biggest Loser’ among our family, but that kind of never took off, and so to have something like this gives us that push that we’ve been needing.”
– steve.kent@aggiemail.usu.edu