I decided to do the Biggest Loser. A spinoff of the TV show, Biggest Loser is a 10-week program in which you form a team and try to lose weight and get healthier. When I signed up to do this, I had no idea that I was about to walk into a claymore, but I did want to be a big loser.

I’m a 300-something pound guy and I don’t exactly love to eat healthy. I stay away from fruits and vegetables as much as possible. Salads give me nightmares and I’ve never actually finished one. I guess I’m more of a meat and potatoes man. I also drink way too much, at least according to my friends. Back in high school I’d finish off a 12-pack of Diet Pepsi in a day or two.

As far as exercise goes, I’ve cut back on that since I came to college. I used to workout all the time. I ran cross country for five years and was in pretty good shape, but college pretty much put an end to that.

So my goal for the Biggest Loser was to lose some weight, get in shape and cut back on the fried food and soda. That’s a pretty lofty goal. Some people call that a lifestyle change. I decided to give it a try and promised my three teammates I’d do my best to cut back and eat healthy.

Going to the gym turned out to be pretty easy. Run a few miles here, do a couple of crunches there, and you’re done. The hardest part was giving up $60 for the gym membership. I seriously contemplated running outside for free to save giving the fitness center my money. My friend recently ran the Disney Marathon and now he’s training for another. He offered to let me train with him, but the cold and the snow made me realize how nice the fitness center is and how intense my friend is. You’ve got to be a few ears shy of a Mickey hat to go outside and run when the wind chill is 10 below.

Besides working out, I have started eating smaller portions and a little bit healthier. I try to stay away from anything that’s been deep fried in lard and the other day one of my residents even made me a smoothie. It had fruit in it. It was actually pretty good, but I would never tell her that. She has been trying to get me to eat healthy junk forever.

After the first two weeks I had lost 10 pounds. That motivated me to keep going. I think this big loser thing is going to work out. I’ve realized that being healthy isn’t about drastic changes. Small things are what make the difference. Maybe I’m not ripped like "The Situation" from Jersey Shore, but who wants to be that guy anyway? If you do, I’d start doing some serious crunches, but I think I’ll take it slow. You should too. Slowly put down the paper and go get healthy.