The Biggest Loser: Midnight Snacking

I can’t imagine what it would be like to live in a place where everything you did was taped on camera.

Everything.

That’s how viewers of The Biggest Loser got to watch former Olympic wrestler Rulon scarf down a bag of chips when he should have been sleeping.

His trainer, Jillian Michaels, confronted him openly.

“You’re rogue!” she told him. “You do whatever you want, all the time.”

And that doesn’t work on this reality show.

Contestants who don’t adhere to strict diet and exercise plans eventually fall below the yellow line. That puts them up for elimination by their peers who get to vote. If they’re seen as competition, they get eliminated.

Often they get eliminated for not working hard enough in the eyes of the other contestants. That could be Rulon’s fate if he doesn’t overcome his midnight binges.

Part of a personal trainer‘s job is understanding what motivates their client’s behavior. It didn’t take Jillian long.

Rulon’s excuse was that he felt he deserved rewards and treats for working out so hard. Then the truth spilled out: living at The Biggest Loser is really, really stressful.

“Rulon is feeling deprived,” Jillian said. “That’s triggering him.”

Her advice is something many of us should heed: find ways to cope with life’s hardships that are not self destructive.

“I don’t want him thinking about food at all.”

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Alice Warchol is a fitness instructor and freelance health writer.