If you’re going to the Biggest Loser auditions this weekend in Nashville, Tennessee, send me a message through my contact page. I’ll send you my cell number so we can meet on Saturday. So far I’ll be meeting with 5 peeps that have contact me through my blog.

Leonard contacted me through my blog, he won a VIP pass in a contest. The casting directors put on a contest to see who could best decorate a Mr. Potato Head, and here’s Leonard’s entry: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5281597&id=168398720984 It looks awesome, how many hours did you spend on that?  – I think I would have attempted to create a Mr. T Potato Head Actually, I might end up trying that. If I do it right, it could be awesome. It might make a sweet facebook and twitter avatar.

My buddy Andy and I had a discussion about this weekend’s audition. I told about how nervous I am, and he really helped calm my nerves. Basically, what have I got to lose. Nothing. If I don’t make it, it’s not going to stop me from walking, working out, and eating right.

We’ll most likely be staying Saturday night, however it may be difficult to find a hotel room. March Madness is going on in Nashville. So, we might have to find a hotel outside of Nashville. I’ll be updating the blog this weekend ’cause I’ll have my laptop with me.

I haven’t been through the Biggest Loser auditions yet, but I have been researching about the auditions.

Also, I have been receiving emails from folks that went to last weeks audition in Florida, and I’ve also read articles about the audition process in years past. Here’s the audition process:

1. Line up at the entrance to audition.
2. Wait.
3. Receive one page application and be placed in a group of aprx. 10-15 people.
4. Wait.
5. Wait a little longer.
6. Be taken back into the audition area where you sit at a table with your group and a casting director. The casting director may ask a question and have everyone discuss it, or they might get everyone to give a very brief intro about themselves (name, age, where they’re from, etc.). They will also ask you to mail in a casting video.
7. That’s it. You wait a looooong time in line and sit down for 10 minutes with a casting director.

You better make that 10 minutes count!!!!

Here’s my Biggest Loser audition best practices based on all the videos I’ve watched and articles that I’ve read on auditioning:

1. Show Up – Don’t be scared. Everyone that is auditioning has the same fears that you do. Some people have said that waiting in the audition line changed their lives. They got to meet other people going through the same emotions that they are going through, and as a result, they used this to fuel their motivation to finally get the weight off.
2. Dress Nice – Don’t show up to the auditions in your pajamas or five year old gym shorts. Dress up like you’re going on a job interview. Also, make sure your clothes are pressed and neat. The casting people do not like sloppiness!
3. Have Good Hygiene – This one’s pretty obvious, but I saw this mentioned in pretty much every article I’ve read and every video I’ve seen on auditioning. So, do the basics: take a bath, shave, wash your hair, brush your teeth, put on deodorant etc. Be sure to comb your hair (this goes with the sloppiness bit). It’s a good idea to take some sugar free breath mints with you. Gum might be okay, but it might be a turn off if you’re smacking away during the interview. Be careful with after shave, cologne, and perfume, it’s probably best to not use it because some people are very sensitive to strong smells.
4. Think of the viewers – The casting directors are looking for people to put on a reality TV show. What will people find interesting about you? It appears that most contestants that appear on the show have some sort of interesting story.
5. Personality – The casting directors are looking for personality. You must be outgoing!!
6. DON’T COMPLAIN -The audition process is what it is. Everyone there is going through the same process. Nobody, including the casting directors, wants to hear you complain about waiting!!
7. Know a little about the show. – At least know who the key people of the show are: the host and trainers. Also, it’s a good idea to at least know who the winner was from last season.
8. Have fun!! – Meet people in line, take picture, and have a good time. Like I mentioned in #1, so many people have said that the biggest loser auditions changed their lives!!!!
9. Be prepared to not make it on – I have experienced this one first hand. I was so desperate to get on to another weight loss reality show that I cried and cried when I didn’t make it. What are you going to do if you don’t make it? Think about this: If you can go on a television show and bust your ass for twelve weeks to lose weight, what’s to stop you from changing a few things in your life RIGHT NOW??!! – Also, they are doing two seasons of BL per year, so they will be auditioning in approximately another 6-8 months. You have time to lose weight and prepare for the next audition!!! NEVER GIVE UP!!!!

I had another workout with Danny today. It was another simple 10 minute walk on the treadmill and 3 sets of dumbbell exercises. Very easy and fun.

Danny also gave me a homework assignment: I must watch “Kung Fu Panda”. Yes, it’s a weird request, but he’ll explain why after I’ve watched it.

I’m really starting to see what Danny’s plan is. I have been more upbeat because I’m not mentally beating myself up for not working out. I’m putting in my workouts. Now they may not seem like much, but each week they’ll get longer. I’ll be walking greater distances. I’ll be getting faster and stronger. I look forward to my workouts now.

I forgot to post on Sunday that I did my ten minute walk. I was surprised to get an email from Danny on Sunday to check if I walked. I was feeling under the weather with a mild sore throat, but I went ahead and walked. (Another victory!)

Finally, we’ve found my first goal. My first goal is to walk the Make-A-Wish 5k in May. This won’t be my first 5k, but the goal is to walk it and feel good about it, and not feel sore afterward. I didn’t prepare for the past races that I’ve been in. As a result, I was sore, and I didn’t feel good about it. I felt like I could have done better. It’ll be nice to finish a race and now that I did my best.

So, I’m ending my day with “job well done, you did good.” It may seem silly but it does feel good.

It’s time to saw some logs. Good night.

I will be auditioning for The Biggest Loser in Nashville, TN on Saturday, March 13. Honestly, I wasn’t going to audition, but then Holland Striplin with 3 Ball Productions sent me a V.I.P. pass for the audition. The only benefit of having the pass is not waiting in line. Usually at these casting calls there are a lot of people that form a really long line to get in for an interview. I will be able to bypass the line.

Past Experience with Auditions

Back in December I auditioned for a new unnamed ABC weight loss show. The page is still up for the show: http://www.3ballproductions.com/weightlossproject.html I had to create an audition video for the show. Here’s my edited version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC0j8fpbdYw I edited out some personal information, footage with my shirt off, and added the two interviews at the end. I posted this video on my blog back in January and forgot to mention that the little girl that I pick up and talk with is blind. That’s why she feels my face and comments on “no whiskers”. Her name is Emma, and she is the most precious child in the world. Back to the audition video, I didn’t make it past the first round of the auditions for the ABC show, but I learned so much from that experience.

I didn’t have any time to really prepare for that video. My buddy Hal told me that he saw mention of this ABC weight loss show on his friend’s Facebook page, and he wanted me to try out for it. So he helped me create the video for the audition and I forwarded the video over to Ms. Striplin. After sending the video I was both excited and impatient. I wanted to know if I was going to be on the show. After a couple of weeks, Holland called me and said that I wasn’t chosen to advance to the next round. Honestly, I was heartbroken for a little while. I remember being disappointed over the phone with Holland when she broke the news to me. I get silent when I’m upset, and I remember her telling me the news, and I just remained quiet. Of course I thanked her for calling, but besides that, I wanted to get off that phone. I cried for a brief moment (after the phone call), but after about 10 minutes I got over it. I was thankful for the opportunity, and I didn’t regret trying out

Winning the Lottery

The ABC show had approximately 2500 people audition (my best guess, I don’t know the actual numbers).  However, The Biggest Loser has approximately 250,000 people audition. Because of the large numbers, I have to think of getting on the show as trying to win the lottery. There are basic common-sense things that can be done to have a good audition, but overall the choice ends up being what the producers are looking for. It’s kind of like HR going through a gigantic pile of applications and filtering out what they are looking for.

A Good Audition

I’m researching online how to have a great audition. So far I’ve watched the faq videos provided by the casting directors, and they suggest that applicants be themselves, dress for success, and don’t be nervous. They are really looking for personality.

The Process

From what I’ve seen online, it appears that the first audition interview is a brief, less than five minute Q and A. The goal of the first interview at the casting call is to be called back for a second interview known as a “call back”. (All this stuff is new to me.) In the callback, they sit you in front of a camera and conduct an interview. I believe this interview will be a little longer than the first. My guess is the footage is for the producers to look at. I don’t know what the process is after the second interview, but I hope to find out.

Getting Ready for the Interview

I’m trying to find the questions that’ll be asked at the interview so I can prepare for them. I know one of the primary questions is, “Why do you want to be on The Biggest Loser?” I am going to search for blogs of past contestants and find out what the whole casting process was like, and also see if they blog about some of the questions that will be asked. There have been some folks from Alabama on the show, and I’m going to try to get in touch with them to find out what their whole casting experience was like. I may end up creating another video because we can go to a casting call and also submit a video.

Emotional Preparation

I learned that the casting process is a major emotional drain and is very stressful. The casting people mentioned that in one of the videos. So, this time around I have some time to emotionally prepare.

First, I have Danny training me, which is going very well, by the way. My plan is to follow Danny’s lead on my training, and no matter what happens, continue my training. If I don’t make it on Biggest Loser, I’ll keep plugging away with Danny. If I do make it, I’ll keep training with Danny up until the filming in May, go do the show, and when I get back, I’ll keep plugging away with Danny. No matter what happens, I’ll still be training with Danny and, of course, blogging.

Links

Here are links to all the information on casting for The Biggest Loser:

http://www.thebiggestlosercasting.com/

http://www.youtube.com/blcastingteam <<< If you watch the videos, they tell you about all of their (the casting people) facebook pages and twitter accounts.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Los-Angeles-CA/Holland-Master-Caster-Striplin/168398720984?ref=ts <<< If this link doesn’t work, search for “Holland Master Caster Striplin” on Facebook.

Meet Up

If you are going to the Nashville casting on March 13th, please let me know. I would like to meet you!!!!! Send me a message through the contact section of my blog.

More To Come

I will be blogging all about what info I find about auditions. Also, I’ll have pictures and videos from the audition. – Finally, I will be tweeting from the auditions, so be sure to follow me on twitter.

Good Luck

If you are auditioning, I wish you the best of luck. Be yourself and do your best!!!!

I asked Danny to write up what he told me this morning, and I want to share it with you. Here goes:

Regardless of our goals, be it to lose weight, run a mile, run 10 miles, work out 3 times a week, make more sales calls, whatever, each day, each 24 hour period plays a vital role…To build to running a mile you may have to go out and run 1 lap each day for 5 days….to lose weight it would be to eat smart AND exercise – each DAY, each day that you successfully complete that component, look in the mirror and tell yourself, “Well done” …. It’s a cliche, but the old saying “nothing succeeds like success” works! Nobody else may be aware how hard you are working to achieve your goal, but YOU know. So tell yourself each day, reinforce the ‘good’ that you did EVERY DAY! Look in the mirror at the end of the day when you are brushing your teeth and tell yourself, “Good job”…reinforce the GOOD, each day, every day. If you screw up, have a bad day, drop the ball – whatever, tell yourself, “Today’s gone, just a speed bump, tomorrow – back in the saddle” and do NOT look back. Each morning tell yourself, “today’s the day” and if you string enough good days together, regardless of your goal, one day today WILL be the day! Make you believe in you, one day at a time!

Your body is a remarkable machine – it adapts to whatever stress it is presented and OVER TIME adapts to meet that stress. People start lifting weights, they aren’t bulging with new muscles in 3 days, you start a diet, you don’t lose your weight in a week. You begin a running program, it takes 7 weeks to build from zero to a 5K (doing it smartly). As you progress in any physical discipline the body adapts, but it also ‘learns’ to operate in the most efficient manner possible. So we need to continually ’surprise’ it with easy days and more difficult days (work out wise). For ex. if a man goes out and runs 5 miles a day he will burn up an average of 800 calories +/- each run. After a while the body will adapt and he’ll only be burning 400 or so each run. So keep variety – run 3 miles one day, 5 another, then 6, then 4 and AVERAGE 25 miles a week! One day lift heavy (heavy weight/low reps) and the next session reverse that (low weights – high reps). The body responds best when it is continually ’surprised’. For ex. if your run hard one day, easy another, long another, etc. the body will gear up for max energy burn for EVERY run because it doesn’t know what’s coming…keep it guessing for best results…..

To learn more about Danny, visit his website at: http://www.rununiversity.com/meetdanny.html

This morning I worked out with my new trainer Danny Haralson with Run University. It was a simple confidence-building ten minute walk on a treadmill and a couple of light-weight dumbbell exercises. It really did feel good afterward, physically and emotionally. I did good.

Coach Danny finishing up his workout. He's running in a half marathon in Mississippi tomorrow. Good Luck!!

February twentieth was the one year anniversary for whoatemyblog.com. There have been a lot of emotional and physical ups and downs, but no regrets. I have met a lot of wonderful people and lost one hundred pounds as a result of blogging. Honestly, I feel that this blog is my greatest accomplishment. I’ve laid everything out for everyone to see and I am eternally grateful to all who have read and commented on my posts.

Low Self Confidence

I am sure that most of you have noticed that I allow the scale to determine how self confident I am. If I lose ten pounds, I am ecstatic and can take on the world. If I gain ten pounds, it’s time to call it quits and I cannot do anything right. It is so bad during my downers that I doubt everything that I do, including my job.

Fitness Together

I really appreciate Jack Eyer and Donnie Warnock at Fitness Together at Patton Creek Shopping Center in Hoover, Alabama. We were doing a little trading of services. I would help them with their computers/website and they would train me. In the past few weeks, I have been too busy in the early afternoons to go workout with Donnie. Also, Donnie has been moved out to another FT location that is inconvenient for me to travel to twice a week.

Danny Haralson

I am going to start training with Danny Haralson, a local running coach. He’s best known for his couch to 5k program here in Birmingham, Alabama. Danny approached me last week about trading out services. I’ll take over his website, create a facebook page, a twitter account, and take pictures at various Run University events. Actually, I have been looking for a hobby, something that I love doing that won’t cost me anything, and it found me. Let me clarify, I don’t normally build websites because I’m not a programmer nor a designer, however I really look forward the social interactions and covering RU events.

Our First Meeting

Danny and I met on Monday to discuss what I will be doing. Here’s Danny’s plan:

• We are going to start slow to strengthen connective tissues and to build confidence. We are not aiming for instant results. He said that initially I may not lose any weight the first few weeks. So, starting out this first week I will walk a total of ten minutes every other day. Five minutes out, and five minutes back. As time goes by, Danny is going to increase my walking time, frequency, and speed. Eventually we will include weight training for upper body strength. Also, what’s going to happen is I will slowly adjust to walking long distances. Danny said that eventually I won’t walk less than 3 miles because I’ll feel that anything less won’t be worth walking.
• I will no longer look at future goals for confidence. I am going to look at past accomplishments.  So, in the future when my self-confidence is low, I can look back at what all I have accomplished.
• I will miss walking one day, but the next day is a do-over. There won’t be any consecutive days without exercise.
• Danny wants me to find a picture of what I eventually want to look like. Make three copies of it and post in my bedroom, kitchen, and office.
• While walking I am to tell myself that “I’m doing a good job”, and when completed, I am to tell myself  “well done”. Also, when going to bed I am to tell myself that “I did good today”.
• As we move along, we are going to come up with goals because we always must have goals.
• Right now we are going to focus on self-confidence and walking. Down the road we will get into nutrition. (pun)
• Danny and I will meet once a week. Also, If I’m feeling down or need to talk, I can call him or send him an email.
• Danny’s is a BIG believer in rewards. So, if I’ve done well for the week, there’s no issue with having a slice or two of pizza and a couple of beers. It’s all about moderation on the rewards.

Danny will be sending me an email detailing my plan. I will post more info once I receive it. I look forward to our training.

Hey everybody,

This is just a quick check in to let you know that I’ve recovered from the crud and that I’m back on track. I’ve already put in two good workouts this week and look forward to my next one in the morning.

Now, I need you to do me a favor and not look at my weigh in from last week. Due to feeling cruddy, I gained just a little weight. I’ll also note that you probably shouldn’t look at tomorrow’s weight in. The number will definitely be smaller than last week’s number, but I’m not gonna be happy until I get back down to 498 pounds, my lowest weight from last year. Anyhow, I’m back on track and I’m feeling good.

Finally, I hope to post a book review of The End of Overeating by David A. Kessler, MD tomorrow, but I might not be able to post it until later this week.

Have a great hump day!!

SHV

I have been a bad boy this weekend, but it’s okay because I’m sick. I’ve got a sore throat and chest cold. I have eaten a lot of stuff this weekend to sooth my sore throat. Shame on me. Ha ha ha ha ha!!! My weigh in will not be a good one this Wednesday.

I went to a doc in-the-box this morning, and I don’t have strep, but he did prescribe antibiotics. So now I must be patient and let the meds do their thang.

Dish Network

I finally switched over from cable to satillate. I decided to go with Dish Network because they have the lowest prices and the best DVRs. The tech came out and installed the service last Wednesday, the day after I placed my order.

I was very impressed with the tech that performed the install. He quickly installed the dish and did a neat job with the wiring. There were no loose wires and all connections were clean. I could tell that he enjoyed what he was doing. I even hired him to come back out today and run a network cable for me. I knew he wouldn’t run it when performing the dish install because it’s outside the scope of installing a dish. He quickly ran the cable in the crawl space underneath the house, and we got things running.

I needed the network cable for the slingbox, a network appliance that allows me to watch television anywhere through the internet.

SPEED Channel

One of the primary reasons for this upgrade to DISH was to get the Speed channel. I have missed out on a lot of NASCAR races and coverage because I didn’t have Speed, but no more.

This weekend I watched both the Rolex 24 at Daytona, a 24 hour endurance race for the Grand Am Road Racing league, and I also watched  the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown in Irwindale, California, a race for the all-stars of the NASCAR divisions below the Truck Series.

My boy Moses Smith, driver of the #16 Hasa Pool Products Toyota Camry NASCAR Camping World West Series car, did not finish the Toyota All-Star race due to damage from a wreck, but I look forward to watching him in upcoming races.

Have a great week!!

I was hoping for more, but this morning I weighed in at 510 lbs, which is a 2 lb loss from last week. At least the numbers are moving the correct direction.

I have got to work out more, but I am pleased that my eating is going very well. I will start walking more when the weather gets better, but I need to get some walking in for the upcoming 5k race that I’m walking in February.

I don’t know why I’m using the cold as an excuse not to run. My buddy Randy here in Birmingham runs approximately 4 to 7 miles a day. He uses tracking devices like a Garmin GPS watch to track his runs, and then he posts them on facebook. It’s encouraging to log on to facebook to see what Randy’s doing every day.

Do any of you pre measure your food for the day in the morning? I am thinking of doing this. Like, pre measure snacks and meals, and when it’s time to eat, just grab one of the plastic containers. This way I’ll know how many calories and such that I’m eating.

Also, what do you do to motivate yourself to exercise. Lately I have a bad habit of thinking that I’m too tire to go lift weights. I’ve reduced my weight lifting down to just 3 sets of 3 exercises to get back in the groove of exercising, and I feel so much better after I workout.

Aside from those minor issues, I’m losing weight, and that’s my main objective. Things are going very well at work and I’m looking forward to the future.

Last night I attended our monthly Make A Wish Junior Board meeting, and I look forward to our annual Wine for Wishes fundraiser at the end of April. It will be on Thursday, April 29th at the Wine Loft in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. It’s a fun event for a great cause. I’m thinking about applying to coordinate a wish, of course I won’t do this until I lose a good bit of weight, but I think it will be a great way to help someone in their time of need and it’ll also be a great life experience.