The Biggest Loser: What you didn’t see!

BiggestLoser1007.jpg Viewers chose to give Amanda Arlauskas a chance to change her life during last season’s Biggest Loser finale. Now wearing the formidable Pink Shirt, the 20-year-old nursing student and patient-care technician will be giving InTouchWeekly.com readers all the exclusive behind-the-scenes dish every week! In the 11th episode of season 8, Amanda knew that if she fell below the yellow line at the weigh-in, she would be sent home. “This was one of my favorite shows, because I think everyone expected me to not do as well as I did,” she tells In Touch. “I was able to show everybody that I did deserve to be there.”

Click here to read more about what you didn't see on this week's episode of The Biggest Loser.


What did you think of seeing the video of yourself from the first week?
That was really emotional for me. It’s hard now to remember how I was back then. That person will always be with me, but this process happened so quick that it was weird. It brought back how unhealthy and unhappy I was. I cried watching it, I smiled watching it, and I feel like it was just yesterday.

You swore that you would never go back to your old weight. Is it harder now to believe that’s possible?
I was in the honeymoon phase at that point. I was like, “I’m ready to go home and have fun. It’s going to be easy.” But reality slapped me in the face when I got back home and had to deal with all the temptations around me and life happening. I can definitely see how easy it is to put this back on. I’ve gone a couple of weeks where I’ve struggled really bad. I thought, “This is a constant struggle that I’m going to face the rest of my life.” But once you get to the maintenance phase, it’s not that bad. I don’t have to work out six hours a day and drastically cut my calories for the rest of my life. It’s making the right choices.

How do you keep yourself in check?
Because it’s a competition, I’m still trying to lose weight. I do a weekly weigh-in. They say you shouldn’t weigh yourself more than that because it can get frustrating. I have days where one day I’m down, and the next day I’ll be up five pounds. Your weight fluctuates so much with water and hormones and everything. So every Sunday morning is my official weigh-in, and that’s how I keep myself in check. I want to continue that at home: live my daily life, know that I’m making the right decisions and work out an hour or two a day and check my weight every week, to make sure I’m not falling off track and my weight isn’t creeping back up. You’ve seen past contestants gain this weight back and you’ll see tonight on the “Where Are They Now” special that a former winner has gained all his weight back. That goes to show that it can happen. I’m sure that he didn’t want this to happen, but it happened under his nose. He’s back to square one. It’s scary. That’s why I need to keep myself in line.

Getting back to the show last night, Suze Orman came on and you won some money.
It’s funny. I’m not going to lie: I really didn’t know who Suze Orman was! When Alison introduced her, I leaned over to somebody and said, “Who’s Suze Orman?” But when I talked to her, she was awesome. She really opened my eyes up to my future finances and how I can start making smarter decisions now. She definitely was a pleasure to meet. Then we did the challenge, and I got three out of five questions right, which was pretty good for a girl who doesn’t know much about finances.

Will you save the $3000?
Yes, I’m going to keep it in the TD Ameritrade account and work with Suze to make smart decisions with my money.

Going into the weigh-in, were you confident?
No. This was one of the most crucial weigh-ins because I had all odds against me. Everyone thought I was going to fall below. But I wasn’t going to hand it to them. I busted my butt all week.

What was it like to have Allen and Liz need your vote?
At that point, you’re so close to everyone, but Liz and I did truly have a closer connection. Even though she had written my name down a few weeks before, I couldn’t take it personally. It’s a game; you have to write down somebody’s name. I didn’t want to think “I can beat Allen” and slack off.

You’re still in Michigan preparing for the finale. What is your strategy?
I’m in an “all or nothing” phase. It’s tiring. I can’t lie when I say that working out for six hours a day and being on a low-calorie intake is easy, because it’s not at all. I have a great trainer out in Michigan, and he’s given me a ton of time. I go to his studio and a local gym that’s open 24 hours. I do a lot of runs around the neighborhood. It’s a perfect spot for me to be right now. Currently, I’m eating between 800 and 1,000 calories a day. It’s very low, but I’m eating the right foods, so I can get more out of it. It’s a lot of fruit and vegetables. It’s extreme and not really recommended for someone on a normal weight loss program, but the way I look at it is that I have a couple of weeks left and I’m giving it my absolute all. I have some real stiff competition. In order to beat Danny and Rudy, it’s going to be tough, but that’s motivation and inspiration. If I don’t win, that’s not the end of the world. I feel like a winner already. I’m happy.

| Posted: November 25, 2009

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