Biggest Loser season three winner Erik Chopin was a recent guest on The Oprah Show in order to share a big secret with her and the rest of the world – he has fallen off the wagon.
The 36 year old deli owner weighed in at 407 when he joined the reality television show in 2006 and dropped 214 pounds to become the Biggest Loser. Unfortunately he has gained back 122 pounds and is deeply distressed to now weigh 315 pounds. Chopin weighed 197 at the finale and admits that he remained in denial until he saw the scale hit 300.
His wife Michele has been silently watching while her husband has gone back to all of his old habits. She told Oprah, “I’d worry about him. I’d look at him and think it was like he was drowning and I couldn’t do anything to help him. I could see it in his eyes, and I could see so many things happening again that we’ve been through.”
Erik told Oprah that he had an Aha! moment when he watched the show host share her own weight struggles with the world. “I thought it was so courageous and so admirable and inspiring. I said, ‘Wow, I should just reveal this and just get it over with.’ Friends and family, neighbors, they see me. But the majority of people don’t. They don’t know.”
He admits that he doesn’t like to go to the gym but he told Oprah that he wants to lose the weight and be healthy for his family. He said that this time he is going to do it for himself. He knows that his family will benefit from the ripple effect so everyone will ultimately win.
“Biggest Loser” trainer Jillian Michaels is concerned about the growing number of morbidly obese contestants that the show is featuring. Several 400 and 500 pound contestants will appear on Season 9. See her comments and photos here.
Current photos of Erik. See two videos that show where Erik is on his continuing weight loss journey.