Fat Chance: Losing the Weight, Gaining My Worth

It was a dream come true. Julie Hadden was picked from hundreds of thousands of candidates to become a contestant on the fourth season of the reality TV show "The Biggest Loser". Hadden had struggled with weight and self-esteem issues for years and for her this was the chance to turn her life around. Nothing about Julie's life before, during, and even after has been easy but her experience on "The Biggest Loser" not only changed her life but changed her relationship with her family, friends, and God. "Fat Chance" is Julie Hadden's inspiring tale about her experiences with being overweight and losing that weight on television in front of millions of people as well as her life both before and after her appearance on "The Biggest Loser". Hadden has a nice story-telling style - she has a nice sense of humor, is direct, and very honest about herself - both her good points and bad. Hadden talks about what it was like to be overweight at an early age and how self-conscious she was about it. She doesn't blame anyone but herself and is honest about how her eating habits were not only hurting herself but her husband and child. Her glimpses of her life both past and present are interesting, especially how "The Biggest Loser" made her famous, but the most interesting part is when she talks about being on the show. She doesn't really offer any juicy backstage gossip, but instead talks about how hard she and the others worked on the show, not only to lose weight and get in shape but to gain their self-esteem. While she is clearly a Jillian Michaels' fan, she doesn't sugarcoat how tough a taskmaster Michaels is (Michaels wrote the forward to the book). Religion and her relationship with God have helped Hadden attain her weight loss and maintain it and that is something she talks a lot about in "Fat Chance". Scattered throughout the book are text boxes which expand on information in the paragraph next to the box. At the end of each chapter Hadden also offers "My Best Advice" to help the reader even more. The book is neatly divided into three parts: "Moment of Recognition: Something's Got to Give"; "Jell-O Bones and a Bucket of Tears: My Surreal Existence on Reality TV"; and "At Home in My Own Skin: Returning to the Old Life I'd Sometimes Never Lived". Each section roughly covers her life before, during, and after her appearance on "The Biggest Loser". The appendices at the back of the book contain some suggested sample workouts, some recipes, and some FAQ's. "Fat Chance" is an inspirational book that shows how one person's life changed after she lost weight. Well done.

I am in the process of losing weight and reclaiming my health. Although this book did not start my journey, it has inspired me to continue at a time that I had reached a plateau. The heartfelt journey that Julie engages us in strikes every area that is touched by changes that started with our body. Thank you Julie for writing this book and motivating the rest of us to see ""we are worthy of our dreams" too!!!!

So many Americans are what is called morbidly obese, they weigh so much that they are in danger of several illness and death due to weight. Julie Hadden was one of those people. She had the perfect life, a wonderful husband, a son, and the chance to stay at home to raise him. She had family, friends, and a strong spiritual life. She was blond; who could ask for more? But, she was also severely overweight and it was ruining her life. She didn't have the energy to play with her son, was embarrassed to go out in public, and even ashamed to be intimate with the husband who adored her. She needed a change. That's exactly what she got. When she was picked to compete on The Biggest Loser, she was thrown into a radical program that overhauled her whole life. In the book, Fat Chance, she tells us about her struggle, her pain, and her triumph. The book is divided into three parts, her life before the program, the grueling days on The Biggest Loser, and the struggle to keep the weight off once she was on her own again. Julie is a very charismatic writer and her personality shines through her words. I never watched The Biggest Loser and I knew nothing of her before the book, but by the second chapter I was convinced she was a warm, friendly person. Her writing is simple and welcoming, as casual as a talk with a good friend. A wonderfully refreshing part of the book is Julie's faith. People don't often openly speak of their religion, but Fat Chance is not only a story of weigh loss, it is a personal testimony of her faith. While she had always been a `born-again' Christian, she didn't have a strong personal relationship with God. However, when she faced the toughest challenge of her life, the breakdown and rebuilding of her whole body, she found strength in the Lord. It is delightful to read and to think perhaps your faith could be that strong. This book is a great read for everyone, skinny and thin. It isn't a book just about weight loss; it is a book about facing your demons and surviving. Julie's demon was her weight and the emotional issues behind it, but what she did will inspire anyone who has a large barrier to overcome and needs the strength to succeed.

Julie Hadden thought her chances of appearing as a contestant on "The Biggest Loser" were pretty slim, but not only did she make the cut for Season 4, she ended up being slim herself and keeping the weight off long after the show was over. But even after she made the initial selection and appeared on the first show, she wasn't picked for either the Red or Blue team and thought that all the questionnaires, interviews, and appearances before judges was going to be for nothing. Then after an hour of waiting for the bus to take her and the rest of the "losers" out of the desert where they had finished the first race, who should come screaming out of the dust on her motorcycle but Jillian Michaels herself, ready to form the first "Black Team". They were going to be on the show after all! If you've ever wondered how the contestants lose so much weight each week on the show, Julie tells of the grueling exercise routines they endure on a daily basis. It's not just the "Last Chance Workout" before weigh-ins where they go all out to burn calories and build new muscle, but 6 long hours of that same excruciating workout everyday. She refers to Jillian's workouts as "beatings." Jillian's motto, "Don't quit unless you faint, puke or die!" takes on an all too real meaning for the contestants in the following weeks. They all found out that they were capable of far more than the ever realized, but the process wasn't much fun at the time. Julie tells about what it took for her to keep going and not give up, even when she was only losing a couple pounds per week. In the end she was to lose almost half of her original body weight! I found it amazing that after all the "beatings" and seemingly impossible workouts, that Jillian Michaels was her hero. This book is very interesting for it's inside look at "The Biggest Loser" but it's much more than that. It tells about Julie's background and her internal struggle with herself to keep on going and to not give up on becoming the person that she deserved to be. The book was mainly about her faith in God and how that helped her to get through the show and the weight loss process and to keep the weight off afterwards. If you find talk about other people's religious beliefs not to your liking you may find this book a little over the top. But if you want to realize what it took for one woman to conquer her problem with weight and ending up with her life changed because of the huge burden of all those extra pounds, this book is for you.

I loved this book! Fat Chance is so inspiring that it made even me forego eating that piece of chocolate cake and opt instead for lacing up my sneaks to go for a walk. Julie Hadden, a cast member on Season 4 of The Biggest Loser television show, has written a memoir that transcends the all too usual "I had an exciting experience" memoir. Through the use of humor and a writer's voice that just wants to invite you over for a cup of coffee, Hadden manages to tell her fat to thin story while at the same time impressing on us the important lessons she learned along the way. Included in this well told story are humorous incidents, poignant realizations, and true insight into why she was so overweight to begin with. As an example one of her discussions is about how she has learned to pause before eating something she knows she shouldn't and ask herself "what is it that you are really hungry for?" She realizes now that as a child, she was using food to fill the need of approval and acceptance. You don't have to be a Biggest Loser fan to enjoy this book because even those who know nothing of the show will still benefit from its inspiring and straight forward message. But if you are a fan, you'll love the little bits of inside information she includes as asides in each chapter. For example, the large scale used at the weigh-ins is fake (gasp) and the contestants are weighed at a Dr.'s office earlier in the day. If it's any consolation, they don't know what their actual weights are until the taping segment at the scale. Written in short, digestible chunks (pun intended) Fat Chance is a quickly paced read that will keep you turning the pages, not because you are wondering if she got thin (the answer is on the cover of the book, yes she did) but instead it keeps you wondering how is she going to cope and continue living a thin life where a fat woman once lived. The question "What is it that needs to change?" will keep you up reading this book late at night. Without being heavy handed, Hadden gives her faith due credit for her surviving the show and for her continuing on, even in the face of birthday cake and tea parties. Her honest relationship with God comes across as sincere and not in the least bit preachy. As an added bonus to this book, the appendixes include workout routines, glossary of terms, recipes of favorite foods, and a section on frequently asked questions. Hadden claims that her single most important lesson she learned from being on the Biggest Loser is that she is worthy of living the life she was created for. Her enthusiasm and inspiring words leave you cheering her success while at the same time asking yourself if you are also living up to your own full potential as well. Julie Hadden is a thirty-seven-year-old stay-at-home mom. She and her husband Mike, live in Jacksonville, Florida with their two sons.