Kristin Steede and Cathy Skell change their lives with
‘The Biggest Loser’
They didn’t take home the top prize, but there’s no doubt that Cathy Skell and Kristin Steede consider themselves winners after dropping pounds and picking up a fresh approach to life thanks to “The Biggest Loser.”
“I feel like a newlywed,” Steede says, and Skell echoes her feelings of renewal.
“At my age, I honestly thought it could never happen for me,” she says. “But it just shows that by eating right and exercise you can lose the weight no matter what your age is.”
‘Anything is possible’
Skell and Steede let the NBC reality show take over their lives for five months as they were sequestered on a California ranch to slim down in front of a camera crew and television audience. The show captured Skell’s dedication to her daughter as she let herself be voted off to give Steede more time on the show and showed Steede’s emotional and heartfelt words of encouragement after becoming the first contestant to lose 100 pounds.
“If you’re sitting at home and you’re watching this,” she told viewers, “… you’ve got to get this message that anything is possible!’’
You can do it
The realization that they could accomplish whatever they put their minds to didn’t come without agonizing effort. The show forced the women to push themselves physically and challenge themselves mentally while living thousands of miles away from family and friends.
Ultimately, however, it became a life-changing experience for the Fox Cities mother and daughter.
“It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life,” says Skell. “In one of the challenges we did, I was still 248 pounds and I ran half a marathon. It was so powerful and amazing. It just goes to show it’s never too late to change your life.”