Fat Chance
Page 27
38. What do you do for recreation now?
Sleep. No, I’m just kidding. While I hated being outside before the show, I can’t get through a day without being outside now. It represents to me a world I’d never known. My boys and I play in the park, we race, we jump rope—whatever it takes to enjoy fresh air and sunshine.
39. You seem so natural speaking about this life-changing experience. Do you love talking about it?
I do. In fact, although my family members will roll their eyes every time, I can tell the same stories over and over again. The other night Mike and I were at dinner at his mom’s house. She had invited some friends over, who happened to be big-time The Biggest Loser fans. The husband pelted me with questions until his wife said, “Honey, leave her alone! She’s probably exhausted from all these questions,” but I loved every minute of it!
40. Do people recognize you when you go out in public?
Yes. It’s fun. And annoying. And yet still somehow fun.
41. Did you enjoy your time living in LA?
I did! I was always the kid who wanted summer camp to last just one more week. I didn’t go away for college or anything, so there is a spirit of adventure in me that has never really been satisfied. Out of all of the Season 4 contestants I’m probably the one who feels most strongly about having a monthly reunion. “Come on, guys!” I cheer, “don’tcha miss me yet?”
42. What are you the most thankful for?
I’m most thankful for second chances.
43. Who, or what, inspires you?
(I know I’m supposed to be concentrating intently on this meaningful, in-depth question, but it’s more than a little difficult with my own miniature Ringo Starr playing his pots and pans in the background!) Okay. Who or what inspires me. Let’s see…
Actually, the people who inspire me most are the ones who are able to do what I myself never seemed able to do—namely, lose weight and live their best life without the help of a four-month getaway, a personal trainer, a nutritional education and a group of people surrounding them who would hold them accountable to their goals. Those people make me proud. They make me want to work even harder to keep walking this road that I’m on.
44. What is your favorite exercise?
I don’t know that I can answer that with any credibility whatsoever. I’m devoted to this lifestyle, but to use the term “favorite” and the term “exercise” in the same sentence? Fishy.
Now, if someone could come up with a way to make the atrocious “mountain climbers” (see page 199) somehow involve a piece of chocolate cake at the end, that would be a good exercise.
45. Who is your favorite The Biggest Loser contestant and why?
No shocker here: Season 2’s Suzy Preston. I actually know her now, and she is still my favorite.
46. Did you think you’d win your season?
Heck, yeah! Well, okay, to be fair, I didn’t think I’d win at the beginning. But after I survived the first few beatings from my beloved Jillian, yes, even I believed I could win.
47. What are the foods you’re still tempted to eat?
I’m from the South, where things like hush puppies and corn muffins abound. And man, are they good. My biggest food temptations are still pizza and chocolate cake—well, anything chocolate, as it turns out.
48. What can you do now that you used to not be able to do?
You name it! I can outrun an eight-year-old. I can hula-hoop. I can carry in the groceries without stopping to take a break. I can exercise for ninety minutes without needing a four-hour nap afterward. I can do everything I need to do in a day without utterly falling apart. Wow. That last one could bring me to tears.
I can sleep soundly at night. What a gift.
49. Would you ever consider writing a book?
Hmm … I guess the answer’s yes.
NOTES
1. Proverbs 31:30–31, MSG.
2. Genesis 1:26, John 10:10 and John 15:11.
3. www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3503.Maya_Angelou?page.
4. www.quotesdaddy.com/quote/263494/william-shakespeare/to-climb-steep-hills-requires-slow-pace-at-first.
5. Esther 4:16.
6. One of the coolest aspects of being on The Biggest Loser was that we were given great resources to help us achieve our goals. In addition to Jillian’s books, I remember being given a copy of Devin Alexander’s The Biggest Loser Cookbook, as well as a small-form The Biggest Loser Complete Calorie Counter. Helpful reads still to this day.
7. Matthew 17:20.
8. Ephesians 3:20.
9. Casting Crowns, “Stained Glass Masquerade” from Lifesong album. Reunion Records, 2005.
10. Luke 19:40.
11. “Gloria” by Watermark. © Rocketown Music, Sweater Weather Music, Word Music LLC.
12. Ibid.
13. Julia Indichova, Inconceivable. Broadway Books, 1997, page 57.
14. “On the Right Path.” As printed in Living Choices magazine, a publication of Women’s Resource Center of Jacksonville, Volume 1, Issue 1, January 2009, page 8.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Julie Hadden, “All I Needed to Know about Life I Learned from My One-Year-Old.” Originally published at www.guideposts.com, 14 January 2009.
18. “The Real Me,” written by Something Distant; produced by Lu Rubino.
19. Max Lucado, You Are Special. Crossway Books, 1997, page 19.
20. Ibid, page 23.
21. Ibid, page 25.
22. Julie Hadden, “Worth the Weight.” Guideposts magazine, January 2009, page 45.
23. Beijing 2008 Humanity Archives, http://en.beijing2008.cn/29/16/article212011629.shtml. Home > Road to 2008 > Education > Humanity > John Stephen Akhwari.
24. Marianne Williamson, from A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles. HarperCollins, 1992.
25. Ephesians 1:11–12, MSG. Emphasis added.
26. Luke 15:24.
27. For more information on how you can help abolish human trafficking, visit www.thea21campaign.org.
28. See http://americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4735.
29. Nutritional values that are provided with each recipe are estimates and can vary depending on brands you choose. All information provided by Calorie King (calorieking.com).
30. Instead of using cooking spray in recipes that call for it, fill an ordinary plastic spray-bottle with extra-virgin olive oil and spritz that instead.
31. Taken from information found at www.foodreference.com/html/artokra.html.
CONTACTING JULIE
For more information on Julie Hadden or to contact her directly, please visit her at juliehadden.com.