The heaviest contestant ever to walk onto the scales of "The Biggest Loser" tv show will be doing just that this season. A 29-year-old social worker from Newport Beach, CA, Shauntina "Shay" Sorrells begins her weight-loss journey at 476 pounds.
When asked how she thinks that she ever got to be so heavy, Sorrells told etonline, "There is a bunch of stuff. I will give you the lowdown version. My mom was a heroin addict for 29 years. I saw the destruction and the path of addiction. That is first and foremost. Secondly, there was a two-year period when we were homeless and there was a lack of food. When there is a lack of food, all you do is crave it more. You desire it, so it becomes second nature to have it whenever and as much of it as you can. That became a huge part of my subconscious."
Sorrells continued speaking, "Then at the age of five, I went into foster care and stayed there until I was 18, so a lot of emotional things. My mom was still struggling with her addiction, and when she wasn't there, food was. When she broke a promise, food didn't, so all those issues come into play. It just continued to grow.
For so long, I hid from it because I didn't want to face it. And when I did realize it, I didn't want to face it. I hid behind education. I thought it would be the most amazing thing if I could go to college, because 17 percent of kids in foster care go to college. I did that. Traveling, getting my master's degree, I felt like I was fixing everything, like I was putting the band-aids on it, masking it and making it better, but in reality, I was just continuing to get bigger."
"I was refusing to face that because I would have to face the addiction," Sorrells continued. "I would have to face my mom's shortcomings. It wasn't until she passed away -- she passed away about three years ago -- she was 48 years old, 300-plus pounds, so she, too, had an issue with weight. It made me realize I had a very short time to live if I continue. That was very scary for me, because I feel like I have so much to give and I wouldn't have much time."
When asked whether her mother's death actually was her "ah-ha moment," Sorrells agreed that it was one of those moments.
"That was the one that death was imminent," she said. "About a year and a half ago, I hiked a waterfall in Hawaii. It took me about four hours to do a mile-and-a-half. It was wet and rainy. It was the worst conditions you could think of to hike in, but I completed it, I got to the top and that was my ah-ha moment that I could do it. So there was the I should, I could and then there was the how, but I had no idea how.
"At 10 years old, I was in women's plus-size clothing. I had no reference point. I had no, this is what you feel like; this is how you do it. I had none of that. Last season, sitting on my couch seeing Daniel Wright doing it -- 454 pounds -- that is the how. Once the how clicked in, it was "do it." Get up and do it! Here I am. He is back and he is my partner."
Daniel Wright, a 20-year-old from Willow Spring, NC, was the heaviest contestant on the show last year, with a starting weight of 454 pounds. And in keeping with the show's theme of Second Chances, he is back again this season to continue his weight-loss campaign.
Both Sorrells and Wright are members of The Biggest Loser blue team.
No comments:
Post a Comment