by Alison Cox
James Crutchfield, one half of the twin brother
Biggest Loser Couples team, was the first contestant
to go home on the Season 9 premiere of The Biggest
Loser. The twins ironically lost exactly 23 pounds
each their first week on The Biggest Loser ranch.
Even with the incredible weight loss, it wasn’t
enough to keep them above the yellow line.
The other Biggest Loser contestants struggled with their decisions to eliminate one. James’ twin John was spared Biggest Loser elimination and was allowed to remain on the ranch another week. After the premiere of The Biggest Loser Couples, it was James who was sent home after divulging he had the resources for success away from The Biggest Loser ranch.
We joined the first of our Season 9 weekly Biggest Loser conference calls and asked James about his continued weight loss success throughout the holiday season prior to The Biggest Loser and what James was able to learn about nutrition during his brief time on The Biggest Loser ranch.
THE DEADBOLT: With the holiday season just coming to a close, how did you manage the indulgences and over-indulgences surrounded by friends and family?
JAMES CRUTCHFIELD: Well, my trainer actually came over on Thanksgiving and on Christmas to help keep me in line, believe it or not. But on top of that, for the first time we did a healthy Thanksgiving. We did it at my house and every single recipe we cooked we did it out of The Biggest Loser cookbook. Actually, it was three books, two of their cookbooks and one of their Simple Swap books. And I actually poached turkey breast and it tastes better than regular turkey breast. It was so juicy. Then you can use the broth left over to make soup and things like that. But that was of course our main dish, the poached turkey, but everything else out of that recipe book, I'm telling you, was really, really good.
THE DEADBOLT: And what replaced pumpkin pie?
JAMES:
[laughs] I don't like pumpkin pie. My mom actually
did these brownies but they were pumpkin based.
It sounds weird, but they were really good.
And I think each brownie was like 60 calories
so you can two or three of them throughout the
day. But you can plough through it and you don't
have to sacrifice taste.
THE DEADBOLT: The Biggest Loser offers a wealth of diet and exercise information. What is the biggest nutrition or exercise tip that you feel you should have known and how much sense it makes to you now?
JAMES: My biggest problem was nutrition. Once you have the nutrition down, you start shedding some pounds and you're able to do more. When you're able to do more, you're able to burn more fat and work out more. When I say I was eating out three to four times a day, that wasn't an exaggeration. I would go breakfast, lunch, pre-dinner, and dinner. [laughs] I called it pre-dinner.
So for me anyway the nutrition part was key. On the ranch everything is organic and you learn about carbs, protein, and fat and you learn about what ratio is good for you. You tweak things around and salt is a big, big problem.
THE DEADBOLT: So would you say that salt was you're biggest 'Ah' moment that you should have known and what it does to your body?
JAMES: Yeah. I had extremely high blood pressure before the show. At one point I had 169 over like 130-something and I just did it to myself. I consider myself a pretty smart guy but I didn't put it together like, 'Hey you know what? You ate 14,000 mg of salt in a day. Don't you think that might raise your blood pressure?' So I think I was blind to it because I didn't bother counting or bother looking at what I was putting in my body. So, yeah that was my biggest 'Ah ha' moment with the salt. The food that I eat now I don't eat more than 2,000 mg of sodium a day, so that's like a seventh of what I used to eat.
Other Conference Call Highlights:
How did you find the public weigh-in?
JAMES:
That was nerve-wracking. You're excited to be
on the show but extremely nervous. Initially,
the first time you take your shirt off - which
I haven't done in public since I was probably
a child at the beach - it's like, 'Oh my gosh,
this is going to be so embarrassing! I work
with these people, this is my family, my friends,
my city, my mayor was there!' It was crazy,
but once I was in the moment it was liberating
and a confidence booster.
Were you concerned that your knee injury might hinder your ability to compete?
JAMES: It was a huge concern for me, even trying out for the show. That's why I'd never done it years prior when my wife tried to get me to do it. But I'd seen other contestants like Ron, who had a similar injury and spent a lot of time in the pool and was in the final four. I thought maybe I could give it a shot and I did. I spent a lot of time in the pool and on the bike and I was extremely happy with my first week weight loss, it's just that people were throwing up some really big numbers this season.
What was your first impression of the bike marathon?
JAMES:
When I saw the bikes I wasn't too scared because
with my knee it's one of the things I can do.
But when they said we were biking a marathon,
my heart was pounding! I was like, 'Are you
kidding me?' I guess it's better than running
a marathon our first day but we literally get
out of the limo, are shown the ranch and have
the pop challenge! It was crazy! I was not expecting
it! It was really great being able to finish
that and that was a big boost because I felt
I could barely walk, much less ride a bike 26
miles!
Did you ever have any concern for yourself or the contestants about your size and the amount of weight they were losing in the first week?
JAMES: There was never any concern. What you learn from being on the ranch is you have the best doctors in the world, the best dieticians and you're given every test you can think of. Doctor Huizenga has been doing this a very long time and he has had great success and knows what he's doing so if he tells me I can do this, I believe him 100%.
