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Life Beyond the Ranch with Damien Gurganious of The Biggest Loser Couples
by Troy Rogers
 Fresh on the heels of The Biggest Loser Families, the new season of the popular NBC reality weight loss series is fast underway after a third episode, as the competitors of The Biggest Loser Couples began to feel the emotional challenge of competition. After being put to the test during the temptation challenge, with players at home also factoring into the mix, the work out session became the source of fireworks as Carla and Joelle clashed over Joelle's lack of motivation. When it was all said and done and the final weight was calculated, Brooklyn industrial designer Damien Gurganious found himself in the bottom two with Joelle. In a surprising turn after Joelle's lack of early will, it was Damien that became the latest evictee from The Biggest Loser Couples.
The next day we stepped on the scales with Damien for a conference call chat about what he expected before the series started, Joelle's motivation, maintaining a healthy lifestyle beyond the show, and what advice he'd give to those struggling to change their lifestyle and lose weight.
THE DEADBOLT: Before you got to the ranch, what did you expect and what surprised you?
DAMIEN GURGANIOUS: [laughs] Like every person that watches that TV show, I thought maybe you just work out for two hours just for the show, that’s it. And they say that ignorance is bliss, so why would I want to mess that up? And they messed it up for me. I got there and they were like, "Oh, you’ll be working out all day." So I was like, "Okay. What do you mean all day?’ He was like, ‘All day.’ You work out with Bob, you work out with Jillian, then all of a sudden he’s like, "Okay, now there’s four hours of homework afterwards.’ And you’re like, "Homework? Am I taking a test?" And [Bob's] like, "No, you’re on that treadmill or that Stairmaster for four hours." It was just a shock to me emotionally and physically because you’ve now got to actually do those things. And if you don’t, it’ll show up in the results. You’ve got to get it done. Whether you like it or not, you signed up for this. It wasn’t like they knocked on your door and came and got you, you signed up for it. So now you gotta do it.
THE DEADBOLT: Is Joelle really as bad as what we’re seeing on TV?
 DAMIEN: You can’t fake what you saw, you know? Everything that was recorded, it wasn’t as if they made her do that stuff. Everything you saw is actual - that’s what was going on and it was unfortunate that she was that way. But I think sometimes it comes down to fight or flight and I think a lot of things that she was going through - It’s just like myself, I wasn’t really expecting what happened and once she got there she reacted a certain way. But I’m sure she’s probably figured out a different way of reacting to circumstances now.
THE DEADBOLT: So, basically, she was just pushed too far out of her comfort zone?
DAMIEN: Well, I think she wasn’t aware of what was going to happen. See, the thing is, the comfort zone is life. The comfort zone is always going to pushed no matter what. And I think that with her, she just wasn’t prepared for the emotional and physical battle and that’s what it comes down to. It’s metaphysical. It’s like you better be emotionally ready, spiritually ready, and you got to be physically ready to just deal with what’s going to happen. I mean, let’s be honest. Let’s use the word, it’s "fat". You are fat and now you got to deal with a lot of stuff you’ve never dealt with before. And you better get over those emotional challenges and you better get over the fact that even though mentally you feel like you can jog 40 minutes, physically you can do about 35 seconds. It’s such an emotional crush. A lot of times people act out in different ways and hers was just, as you saw, just a mental block.
THE DEADBOLT: What would tell someone who is overweight but uses the excuse that there’s not enough time to work out?
 DAMIEN: Enough time is the key. It’s not about the amount of time, it’s about the quality of time. If you have five minutes to yourself, most of the time people just want to sit down and get some peace of mind and quiet. But then, on the other hand, there’s a lifelong battle with [the fact that] you got bills, family, friends, you got issues at work, and you’re big. But the main thing it comes down to self preservation. It’s either you or them. So a lot of times you got to figure out, "Okay, what do I want to do? Do I want to lose weight or do I want to sit down and have a hamburger?" A lot of folks go for the hamburger. I’m at the point where I’m realizing that time has to be spent on making myself better. So now I’m at the point where I have ten minutes alone, I’m doing toe touches, jogging in place, and just kind of stretching my body. I’ve had a 180-turn as far as what I consider to be downtime.
THE DEADBOLT: A healthy lifestyle is both diet and exercise. Which one is easier for you, the working out or the food side?
DAMIEN: It’s really a combination. But it’s really the physical activity, because you can actually - this is going to be the worst advice probably, so don’t take it out of context - but sometimes you can eat a lot of food. But the thing is, you;ve got to go ahead and exercise because it’s all about input versus output. If you’re going to have a hamburger, great, enjoy the burger. Just don’t have them every 20 minutes. But have your burger and then exercise. Go work out, do some intense work out that equates to what you ate. It’s all about working out. And I found out that if I actually have a day where I slip up and I have a pastry or Danish, I just know that whatever I put in I’ve got to get out. So now if I’ve got to go for that one Danish, I’m going to jog for 45 minutes and then I can burn it off. Then I don’t really lose any weight or gain any weight, I just kind of leveled off. And then, now I know the next day I can’t have that Danish. I’ve now got to work out for two hours to make up for the time I could’ve spent in the gym that I spent at the donut shop.
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