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A Knoxville trainer will get his chance to transform a former high school student from Seymour in MTV’s reality series “I Used To Be Fat” (10 p.m. Tuesday).
Almost a year ago, Knoxville trainer Chris O’Hearn was paired for two months with a Knoxville Catholic graduate, referred to as “Holly.” MTV would not release the last name of the student.
Filming took place over two months.
“I Used To Be Fat” has high school seniors, longing for a change, to drop weight and gain confidence before entering college.
To be expected, the relationship between O’Hearn and Holly was contentious.
During an interview earlier this year, O’Hearn talked of the relationship between he and Holly and why problems sprang up.
“There was a resistance,” O’Hearn said. “With any change (and in a) new program, there’s usually going to be some resistance.
“Because of our habits, our brain wants to stick with what we are comfortable with. That was mostly the resistance I was seeing with her.”
At the time of the production, Holly was 17 years ago.
O’Hearn said of the experience: “The most difficult part for me was how I specifically do my training. I am a life coach as well, and I believe in working with the spirit and the mind before the body. The hardest part of that was to help someone see something in a different light.”
The series tries to reflect what O’Hearn believes about weight loss. It’s not about the physical part of the process. It’s also the attitude.
“It’s never about just weight loss,” he said. “If you’re looking at a scale, you’re always going to be chasing the weight, and you’re never going to be happy. (They) can’t (define their) happiness (by) what somebody else does.
“It’s about someone reaching for their best. I saw a lot of changes with Holly.”
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Knoxville fitness trainer Chris O'Hearn wanted a challenge, and he got one with MTV's teen makeover show "I Used To Be Fat."
"'I looked at it as a good way to challenge myself," says the 31-year-old Knoxville Catholic High School graduate who took on the one-episode job of helping a 17-year-old Seymour girl get into shape before she entered college. "That's what I stayed focused on."
"I Used To Be Fat," which airs 10 p.m. Wednesdays, pairs a trainer with a recent high school graduate during the summer before the student enters college. The idea is to give the student a fresh start after high school.
O'Hearn was the trainer to Holly (whose last name has been withheld by MTV). O'Hearn responded to an e-mail from a casting agent who was seeking a local trainer to help her.
O'Hearn and Holly trained during the past summer. The episode has yet to air, and MTV had no air date to announce.
Filming took place over two months in Knoxville.
Most of the teens are trying to lose between 50 and 100 pounds. O'Hearn says Holly was "on the lower end of that scale," though he would not talk about specifics.
Being on a makeover show, of course, meant built-in drama.
"The most difficult part for me was how I specifically do my training," O'Hearn says. "I am a life coach as well, and I believe in working with the spirit and the mind before the body. The hardest part of that was to help someone see something in a different light."
With Holly, "there was a resistance," he says. "With any change (and in a) new program, there's usually going to be some resistance.
"Because of our habits, our brain wants to stick with what we are comfortable with. That was mostly the resistance I was seeing with her."
For O'Hearn, "it's never about just weight loss," he says. "If you're looking at a scale, you're always going to be chasing the weight, and you're never going to be happy. I can't (define) my happiness (by) what somebody else does.
"It's about someone reaching for their best. I saw a lot of changes with Holly."
The two have not been in contact much since filming ended.
