Season 13 - Episode 9 - 02/28/12

[bachelorwatcher]

Christine Pickler calls herself "an emotional eater who uses food for comfort" and says being overweight makes even the simplest daily tasks, like tying her shoes and getting up off the floor, very challenging. A native of South Bend, Indiana, Christine has two brothers and three stepbrothers, as well as one sister and two stepsisters. She began gaining weight in childhood, and now at 42 years old and 240 pounds, Christine has high cholesterol and high triglycerides, and also has mild arthritis. She is a very busy mother of four children from her first marriage, ranging in age from eight to 17, and three adult stepchildren. Christine wants to get healthy so she can better juggle the demands of her busy life, continue working to support her family and be a good role model for her children. After losing the weight, she looks forward to wearing fashionable styles and shopping in regular clothing stores, as well as learning how to dance. At 63 years old and 306 pounds, Roy Pickler suffers from high blood pressure, sleep apnea, hypertension and high cholesterol. A longtime scout leader who has enjoyed taking his scout troops on adventures for nearly 25 years, Roy looks forward to getting in shape so he can continue taking kids on adventure trips and be a healthy role model. Roy was born and raised in Flint, Michigan with four siblings, and he started to gain weight in high school. He earned an electrical engineering degree and his MBA at Michigan Technological University, and he is now married with three adult children and four stepchildren ranging in age from eight to 17 years old. He broke his leg last year, and being on bed rest accelerated just how out of shape he was. Roy looks forward to losing the weight so he can be active every day, run a marathon and continue to work with young people and inspire them to be all that they can be. This is from Chris' and Roy's bios on the BL website. I think the roof leak happened after they went to BL ranch because she said in the segment that she hadn't seen it before. I think how much it costs to replace a roof depends on 1) where you live, 2) what type of roof you have (pitched, flat, gabled etc, and 3)is it one-story or two-story. I can tell you that I reroofed my previous home in 1992 and it cost me more than $5,000. Of course I live in S Fla. Things cost more here than in the midwest

Roy must have earned a good living as an engineer. Why did he end up so poor, without savings? It doesn't seem as if Chris gets child support from her ex-husband. Roy and Chris' house also has rusty pipes and broken windows.

[captain]

Which is why I do not have the sympathy for them, yet. Something just does not seem right about their situation.

[bachelorwatcher]

Chris is divorced and remarried, just like her parents. She doesn't seem to be getting child support from her first husband. She must have made a poor choice in choosing a previous husband because she was imitiating her parents making poor choices. People imitate their parents: it's deeply ingrained behavior. Chris didn't seem to have good role models, and because of that, she's struggling, doing odd jobs to support her children. I feel sympathy for people who end up in unfortunate circumstances through no fault of their own. I feel no sympathy at all for Conda, Kim, Mark, Cassandra, and the others in their clique/alliance: they're ruthless, mean and selfish.

[AJane]

Then Conda "deserves" sympathy as well, since she's a single mom. Same with Kim. Kim might have had lousy parents for role models. And maybe their baby daddies aren't nice guys. And they didn't get Santa Claus for a husband. It's kind of a lot of assumptions to make. I'm divorced & remarried myself and I don't think I'm a poor role model for my kids.

[CookieJ]

I actually applaud Cassandra for not being afraid to bake with her family and to actually eat a cookie. I've struggled with my weight all of my life, but in the last four months have managed to turn myself around. I have lost 18 lbs, which works out to about a pound a week. I am NOT on a diet. I refuse to say I'm on a diet. I have added regular exercise to my day for the first time in my LIFE and it's making a huge difference in how I feel. My confidence level is up, and I know that the 30 lbs I have to go will come off in time. I am in no hurry.

My point is, the old me would have been bummed about 'only' losing 18 lbs in four months. I would be shying away from foods that I loved and I'd be afraid to cook or bake for my family. Not this time. I think the reason I'm successful this time around is because I ate baby back ribs at the Outback on Saturday night, I just didn't eat the bread and didn't 'load' my baked potato. I can still bake, eat a cookie, and I'm enjoying the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Valentine box my husband gave me, but I'm eating one or two per week. I can't "be on a diet" for the rest of my life. I'm making healthy choices, and when I make a questionable choice like the ribs, I'm just careful the next day or I hop on the treadmill and work that rack off. Diets are temporary. Real Life is for the rest of your life. Learn how to moderate and make smarter choices and you'll never have to 'diet' another day in your life.

[lizardcat]

Good for you, CookieJ! I lost 15 pounds in six weeks last spring on a fad diet--I looked great and was below my goal. But I slowly regained it over the summer, and now I'm actually a few pounds heavier than when I started. I often wonder where I would be had I lost slow and steady. I just started a moderately low-calorie diet this weekend--the important thing is that it allows any food so long as I count the calories. I was tempted to go back to my crazy meat-only diet but am SO tired of trying to fit that into real life. I also don't like eating that way in front of my kids, especially my young daughter. So tonight I had some of my homemade cornbread, just like everyone else at the table--only mine was a very small piece.

BL isn't much of an endorsement for slow and steady loss, though! I often wonder how so many contestants have managed to keep the weight off.

[PWS]

Way to go, CookieJ, although if my husband threw that kind of temptation in my path for Valentine's Day I'd think he was trying to sabotage me...but then I don't have the will power to only eat one or two a week---I'm impressed with yours!
OK, almost time for the next round.

[CookieJ]

Way to go, CookieJ, although if my husband threw that kind of temptation in my path for Valentine's Day I'd think he was trying to sabotage me...but then I don't have the will power to only eat one or two a week---I'm impressed with yours!
OK, almost time for the next round.

The Reese's heart is a tradition with us, he knows it is my favorite candy. He asked me this year if it was "wrong" to give it to me. At first I said not to give it to me, then I thought about it and told him to go ahead. I love Reese's, its once per year, and I am not on a diet. I want to learn to moderate what I eat and I can't learn if it's not there to learn on! And seriously, what really did it for me? Seeing that one Reese's is about 150 calories and knowing that my half hour sweating on the treadmill or elliptical is only burning about 150 calories. Kind of puts it into perspective of whether it's really worth it!

[PWS]

He asked, that lets him off the hook and lets you make the decision as to how much temptation you want in your life. And your view that one piece = 30 min. of vigorous exercise really shows how well you are doing--not just "knowing" that but being able to act on it! Congrats again!

[CrazyDutchWoman]

Haa. Loved to see the arrogance of some people came to fall this week. I like Mark but did no like how he demanded that the producers changed the rules for his son. hat is the problem these days, children are too spoiled. When is the day that I can party when Gonda is voted out? Probably never. She is the boss according to Dolvett in the house and I agree alas. Not many nice people in that house. Maybe Buddy and Emily