Our "Where Are They Now" Summer Series continues with our favorite past contestants from NBC's hit reality show "The Biggest Loser". The premise of this series is simple ... asking the same set of questions to all participants ... getting honest answers in return.

One of the best moments on Biggest Loser 3 was watching my two favorite contestants battle it out in the now infamous "escalator challenge"! Knowing that Pam Smith was one of "our own" girls from the Biggest Loser forum � seeing her up there struggling to win that prize was a very inspirational moment for me personally, and I'm sure for millions of home viewers! Our first mother interviewed, Pam talks about the difficulties of missing her daughters first birthday, and gives us a down to earth heart felt recap of her experience on the show.

Pam Smith

Since leaving the show have you gained weight?

• Have you found it relatively difficult to maintain?

Yes I've gained about 8lbs. It's honestly been fairly easy to maintain and when I say maintain I mean within 10lb of my finale weight. I weighed 179 at the finale and I now weigh 187. Now losing weight is a WHOLE other story. My goal weight is between 170-175 and so I still have a little ways to go. Right now I'm happy with where I'm at and until I'm mentally caught up with my physical changes I'm very content here. A new body is a lot to get used to, ESPECIALLY when you have been over 200lbs for 15years and overweight your whole life. If I have to stay between 180-190 (which right now is my maintain zone) until I'm totally comfortable in this new body before I lose that other 15lbs then so be it, I'm totally ok with that. I feel strong and happy and most important I'm healthy now, which is something I don't think I've ever been able to say. I've made HUGE changes in my life not just for my health but for my kids and my husband and it's not a temporary thing this is how we live so I think that's why it's not been too hard maintaining.

What sort of training plan are you following now?

• Have you seen results?

Well I just finished my first sprint triathlon!! YEAHH FOR ME!! It was awesome, my husband and my aunt both did it with me, and so my training for the last 4 months or so has been significantly different that what it would normally be. I've been doing running, cycling and swimming for the tri but normally I like to jog and do circuit training, I LOVE circuit training. I work out between 30-60min a day. I work out a lot more then that on the weekends that I don't work. It's more like 2-3hr a day on the weekends I'm home, but that's only 4 days a month. I work 12hr days as a dispatcher(AKA sittin' on my BUTT) and also have a husband, 2 kids under the age of 3, 2 softball teams and I also now do motivational speaking, so my plate is FULL!! I would love to work out 2 hrs a day but it doesn't fit into my lifestyle and as long as I've cut out all of the other stuff (watching TV, lying around on the couch etc etc) then that's all I can do. My husband is just AWESOME and lets me work out at night while he has the kids. I work 6a-6p and then I work out right after work from 6:15-7:15p and then I'm home by 7:30p. It's nice because I don't have the distraction of the kids at home or work and I have the time all to myself. I used to work out in the mornings but I have to get up at 4:30a to do that and with daylight savings time I can barely get my kids to bed at 10:00p let alone earlier and sleep is an ABSOLUTE necessity!! It was much easier to work out in the morning this winter when the kids were in bed by 9:00p. So just as all mommy's have to do, we adjust, so that's what I did :) :) It's cool to be the first Mom to have done the "where are they now" segments because I think that it's a much different situation when you have kids to deal with while losing or maintaining weight!! My husband and I have lost a total of 128lbs together and as much as we would LOVE to work out 3 hrs a day (which sometimes we do when mamaw and papaw take the kids) we just can't do that so we have to compensate by eating really well at home. I have been living this now for over a year and I STILL can't have junk food in my house because I will EAT IT!! I know that, I'm aware of it and it doesn't mean I'm weak because I can't say no it just means I know my limits.

What target/goals have you set for yourself?

Wow, I've set a lot of different goals for myself, hardly any of them pertaining to an actual number on a scale. A past contestant from season 2 gave me some great advice at the finale this year. He said to make sure I had my goals set BEFORE I left CA because I always needed to have something to work for, and I've kinda lived by that. I HATED living my life around numbers like we did at the ranch and then once we got home before the finale. I'd much rather have specific things to work for that has no bearing on my weight. My first big goal was my triathlon, which I finished OH and I wasn't last (another goal). My goals now are to finish the 3 day breast cancer walk in michigan in Sept, get my body fat down to 25%, improve my time for my next triathlon( I think I'm doing another one in July, I've got the Tri-Bug!!) get through my surgery at the end of the year and run a half marathon next May. I know that's a lot of different goals but they keep me motivated. I'm not one of those people that can say ok I have an appearance to do in a month I have to lose 4lbs, my mind doesn't work like that, if anything it deters me or stresses me out so then I eat, it's really bad. SO... I have to make physical tangible goals and so far I'm doing ok, they keep me positively motivated.

Can you tell me a little about your experiences on the ranch?

• Best times?


• Worst times?


• What's the ONE moment you'll never forget?

best times- first and foremost I met two of my best friends there. Even though I haven't seen Heather & Kai since the finale I still talk with them regularly and there is a kinship there that I'll never have with anyone else. They are the ones that helped pull me through that hell hole and brought me out on the other side a better person.

worst times The worst day on the ranch was the day before my daughters first birthday and consequently the day of Nelson's elimination. I knew at that point that I was not going to be going home and therefore I was going to miss baby girl's 1st birthday. I didn't want to go home but it almost killed me to miss it. The day of her birthday I cried and begged to call home to tell her happy birthday I promised I wouldn't talk to my husband I just wanted to hear her voice (which the only thing she could say was mommy) but STILL!! They wouldn't let me they said they were sorry but they just couldn't do it. So on the day that EVERY mother remembers (their kids 1st birthday) I don't even know what my daughter looked like or what she was wearing, I didn't get to see her eat cake, or open presents and I didn't get to tuck her in that night and tell her happy birthday and that I loved her. It was the hardest thing to date I've ever had to go through as a mom. It still breaks my heart to think about it. The only positive I have out of that day was that I realized how precious my family was and that if I hadn't started taking care of myself it could have been her WEDDING that I missed or god forbid my grandkids, so I started fighting that day, fighting for my health which honestly up to that point I had NO regards to whatsoever. It was what I call my ahaaaa moment, that moment when everything fell into place and I realized why I was there and what my purpose was and getting "skinny" was not it!!

Never forget- the day of the escalator challenge!!! People ask me all the time about that stinking challenge, some say I must have really needed the money for diapers to win that thing (ha ha some people are really funny!) but honestly I felt like I was fighting for my life that day. I felt like I had to stay up there to prove that I could beat being fat, as stupid as that sounds. I had so many flashes of my past and my future on that elevator I could write a 100 pages on what was going on in my head in that 20min. It was UNREAL! That was definitely a time I'll NEVER forget!!

What type of support have you had in regards to dealing with the mental obstacles that come with obesity?

• Do you feel overcoming these mental blocks have helped in maintaining your current health?

Luckily for me I have an INCREDIBLE husband that has helped me through every step of this process. He has always supported me in everything I've ever done and this experience wasn't any different. When he found out I was coming home he cleaned EVERYTHING out of our fridge & pantry because he said he didn't know what I could or couldn't eat so he didn't want to tempt me with anything. When I got home I FREAKED OUT I thought they had been starving to death (he had lost 40lbs by the time I got home)!!! I'll just be totally honest I was a nut job by the time I got off that ranch. I was such an emotional eater before and to try and nix that in 3 months with nobody but Heather & Kai to keep me sane was damn near impossible. Mike knew how bad I struggled with binge eating and stress eating and was really great at giving me alternatives to that, like sex, HA HA just kidding!! We'd go ride bikes and I got one cheat meal a week where I could have anything and everything I wanted at that ONE meal, appetizer, dinner AND dessert!! That helped me get through the week and helped suffice that need I had to EAT like crap!! I still struggle with wanting to eat like a crazy person but I've managed to keep it under control. I also heard someone on Oprah say that she didn't get fat off of one binge; it was a lifetime of binging that made her fat, and that REALLY hit home with me. So now if I go crazy one afternoon and eat really bad then I know that I just do better next time I put something in my mouth. I work 2 weekends a month and those 4 days are the worse for me because I get to go to work and RELAX and I always want to pig out on those days, well I came home the other day bitching about what I had eaten and I told Mike OH MY GOSH you are NOT going to believe what I ate today, so he ask what and I go I had TWO mini-bags of popcorn, a balance bar, 2 SF FF pudding cups and that was JUST my snacks for the day and he started DYING laughing. Well I couldn't figure out what his problem was and he said, "Did you just hear yourself" and obviously I'm STILL not getting it so I say WHAT?? He said "a year ago if you had "pigged out" you would've had 3 candy bars, 1 gallon of ice cream, a whole pizza and 3 loaded baked potatoes and THAT would've been your snack"!!! SOOOO I started thinking about (he always puts things into perspective, I'm the dramatic one) and even though I'm still trying to get a rein on my emotional eating I've have made HUGE strides in my lifestyle from a year ago. I KNOW that I'm an emotional eater so I don't keep junk in my house AKA ice cream, cookies, etc etc etc. If I HAVE to have a cookie (which I LOVE) then I go somewhere and BUY just 1 cookie and then I don't have the option of binging on it, same thing with ice cream, I'll go to coldstone and get ice cream but by doing that I'm not going to eat a gallon of ice cream so that's what I have found that works for me. I'm now aware of my emotional obstacles and I've found ways around them and so far that has helped me maintain the weight that I'm at and happy with at this time!!

Do you feel better equipped to handle weight loss and maintenance after being on the show .. or do you feel the same?

Well everything I've been talking about as far as find ways around the emotional eating, setting goals to keep me motivated,

Know what to eat, getting a support group, making this a LIFESTYLE is all because of the show!! That's what they taught me, that you have to LIVE this, it's not something you can do mon-fri or for a month it's something that you will do EVERYDAY for the rest of your life and as depressing as that sounds I feel better know I'm not going to fall off of some stupid DIET wagon anytime soon. This plan is steady it's always been here and it's not going anywhere, eat right and move your butt that will be around till the end of time!! It's just the choice people have to make and they have to be taught how to do it.

How was the transition from "Reality TV Star" to "Real Life"

Yeah Well..HUM, they actually mesh too much for me!! I'm from the Midwest where people get really excited over corn so let's just say RUPERT (from survivor) is like a ROCK STAR here!! I'm so not joking about that either I did a benefit with him and he was literally MOBBED!! Crazy! The whole state has been UNBELIEVABLE supportive and I've got to do a lot of great things like be a spokesperson for the InShape Indiana campaign our governor was running (he ended up being recognized by the Presidential Council of Physical Fitness & Sports for it's success) and getting to do a LOT of speaking around the state to schools and businesses about health & wellness. I've also started my own Fit 4 Life weight loss counseling which is definitely something I wouldn't have been able to do without the exposure of The Biggest Loser, BUT.... My personal life and my "professional" life get tangled sometimes like when I'm at wal-mart with my TWO toddlers and someone stops me to tell me their life story (which I don't mind most of the time) and my kids start screaming because they want to go BYE BYE and the person acts like they don't here a 2 and 3 year old crying their heads off but EVERYONE else in the store does but they just KEEP on talkin'!! Or when I'm grocery shopping and people walk up to my cart look in and then walk off without saying a word ( I now go shopping at wal-mart around midnight when there aren't 1000 people in there) SO... Like I said I'm thankful for the exposure (please don't mistake exposure for fame because you have to have an actual talent or be good at SOMETHING to be famous

Being a former fatty does NOT count) because I have got to do things I wouldn't normally BUT there is definitely a down side to it

Were you able to incorporate what you learned at the ranch into your everyday routine?

Well yes and HELL NO! The nutrition part of what I learned at the ranch yes DEFINITELY!! BUT while we were at this ranch we only had to work out & learn about nutrition (please don't think we had hours of extra time on our hands because we ABSOLUTELY DID NOT) BUT we also didn't have a 2 and 3yr old baby hanging off my legs either. I didn't have them standing at the big picture window beating against it with their little fists crying their little heads off screaming " I want to go wif you mommy" when I was trying to go to the gym. I didn't have bills to figure and diapers to change and potty training to do while I was at the ranch. I also didn't have a boss, or friends that complained that they NEVER see me anymore or a husband who was tried of making dinner and sitting at home with the kids while I worked out 2hrs a night (which was the case before the finale) So I guess what I'm saying is yes what I learned at the ranch I can incorporate at home but there were things that I DIDN"T learn at the ranch. I guess the most important thing I learned was that I HAVE to take care of myself because my health is worth it so really that transitions into every other aspect of my life.

What's the BIG lesson you learned from your experience with The Biggest Loser?

Like I said before that my health is worth it, I'm in charge of my life and MY body and it's MY job to keep it in tip top shape because if not the people I love the most will pay for that.

!

What are you doing now? Work? Home? Life in General?

Well I'm still working full time as a dispatcher, I started my wellness counseling and I'm just hanging out with the family in my free time. WE lead a very simple life and my husband is my very best friend so we like to go camping on the weekends by ourselves (which doesn't happen very often) and take the kids to amusements parks and take them camping and on picnics and just kinda hang out. The kids both got big kid bikes for their birthdays so that's a big deal now they both want to ride bikes ALL the time, and that's kind of what's exciting in our world. It's nice and peaceful, and that's just how I like it!! (well except when we go to wal-mart!!)

What's your routine like now?

I work out about 5 day s a week and then stay active the rest of the time which isn't hard cause the kids are on OVERDRIVE all the time!! I still eat right I still keep all the junk out of my house I usually have one day a week where I will go over my calories significantly but other then that I eat healthy.




Have you found a healthy - happy balance between maintaining a healthy lifestyle with your family life and maintaining your careers?




Yeah I think so~ Man that feels good to say!! For the first time in my life I feel comfortable in my own skin, I wake up every morning now not thinking about how to lose weight but PROUD of who I am and what I've achieved!!




Pam has just started up her new Web Site. It's a work in progress, but she's invited everyone to stop by and check it out! The focus is on Wellness Training: pamsmithfit4life.com




Our original "Where Are They Now" Schedule has been revised a bit ... I've got a few contestants that signed up to be interviewed who are now MIA! Next week's guest will remain a surprise for now! Stay tuned!




As always, you can find all the Biggest Loser, Fat March, and MORE - reality news, scandal, spoilers and gossip at Willo's Web - get real!




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