Still keeping the weight off, former contestants of NBC’s The Biggest Loser, Phillip and Amy Parham, are touring the country promoting wellness and fitness.
They have authored two books on getting fit: The Amazing Fitness Adventure for your Kids and 10 Lessons from a Former Fat Girl and a DVD, The 90 Day Fitness Challenge. They also provide online community and resources on their website www.philandamyfitness.com.
The couple lost a combined total of 256 pounds on the show, which aired in 2008. Phillip weighed in at 331 and Amy at 229. He went from size 3X to a large and Amy went from size 22 to size 6.
“We were really fat, I looked like a cloud,” Phillip told an audience Friday at the John S. Knight Center where exhibits are set up for the Akron Marathon. The couple will run the first leg of the marathon today. “It’s all about good health. We’re not elite runners, but maybe we can motivate or inspire others to at least get started to healthy weight loss, to take that first step or go a little further. It’s not an overnight thing, it’s a journey.”
The South Carolina couple, who have been married for 23 years, said the key to losing weight is not to starve yourself, but to eat. “You have to eat to lose weight,” Amy said. “You just have to watch what you eat and your portions.”
They have five key messages for losing weight. They call them DREAM Principles.
They are: Dream about what you want your life to be; Recognize where you are today; Eat to live; Activate your body and Make a difference in the lives of others.
They describe themselves as reasonable people with reasonable guidelines. They also suggest you drink plenty of water, eat smaller meals more often (five or six times a day), get rid of sugar and excess salt, combine carbohydrates, proteins and fat every meal, exercise and get plenty of rest.
Phillip, 45, and Amy, 44, said they have never been thin, and would easily gain a maximum of 10 to 15 pounds, but when their lives got out of control, so did their weight gain.
“Our business failed and our son was diagnosed with autism,” Phillip said. “We had a mortgage company and when my partner left the business, it went downhill. I went from driving a Mercedes to a pick-up truck.”
He said he worked long and crazy hours trying to find a way to get his family out of debt. They have three sons. Phillip said he developed poor eating habits and because he had a poor self image, he wanted material things to prove his success. Fast food became his best friend.
Amy gained 70 pounds with her three pregnancies and after spending the day with their autistic son, she turned to comfort food, especially ice cream, and would have a self pity party as she ate, watched TV and cried.
“I was an emotional eater. I would binge eat at night to cope with the stress of the day,” she said. “My husband was an enabler. He would call and ask if he should bring home ice cream or cookies.”
She said one time she got so depressed she thought about ending her life, as she studied a wooden beam in the house wondering if she tried to hang herself would the beam be able to support her weight.
The couple knew they had to make some changes in their lives before they died or got too old to change.
Amy was a fan of The Biggest Loser, but Phillip had never watched it. She convinced him to go with her to the casting tryouts. Out of 300,000 applicants, they were one of eight couples chosen.
Amy said they actually lost weight before going on the show because they were so embarrassed about their weight.
The couple said the show did more than just help them get physically fit. It also helped their son. When they shared their story on national television about their autistic son, a brain training company, Learning Rx, contacted them and worked with their son. In The Biggest Loser follow-up special about where are the contestants now, the couple said their son can now read phonetically, do math and is in regular classes. The company is now the sponsor of their tour.
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.