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I absolutely adore The Biggest Loser. Bob and Jillian are fantastic trainers who consistently challenge the contestants to bring out the best in them and change their lives. It’s a dream of mine to one day be trained by Jillian, but I digress. Each episode brings plenty of drama, but also a great deal of personal growth. I recently had the chance to chat with Cheryl George, the contestant who was most recently voted off the show. She talked about her biggest challenges, work week and her friendship with Sherry. Her dream shopping spree is at Macys (how adorable is that) and she was just so gracious with her time and honest about her experience on the ranch.

How did the work week affect your number and are you worried now that you’re home that it’s going to be a factor for you to continue in your weight loss?
Actually my workweek, I lost two more pounds then I did the week before so it didn’t really – having a workweek, yes it was more difficult, but actually it was really a good week. And as far as being home… I don’t think I’ll have any problems.

Now how are you keeping up your progress today?
And I just make sure that I am burning more calories than I’m eating, of course, that is the most important part and I’m doing nothing different than I did on the ranch. You eat clean, you eat correctly and fit in the exercise.

And how many times are you exercising a day, or how many hours are you exercising a day?
Pretty much three hours.

I’m wondering how realistic was work week for you as far as taking yourself out of kind of like the seclusion of the ranch and trying to put yourself back into kind of a real world scenario with work and gym hours and that sort of thing?
Okay, the biggest thing is I’m a person that really has to get that workout out in the first part of the day so I usually workout before I would go to work and you just have to make sure that all your foods and snacks are packed for the day. And if you do that everyday of your life whether you’re going somewhere, going to work, or even when you stay at home you’re packing and you know exactly what you’re eating for the day then you just really don’t even have to think about it.

And then as far as being home, what are some of your favorite new things of this healthy new lifestyle, new foods that you enjoy or workouts that you enjoy or any other aspect of this new life that you enjoy?
Okay, there’s different classes that I can take just for enjoyment which I like body (vibes). I like body combat and those are almost like – almost enjoyment classes. And I do a boot camp. As far as my favorite foods it’s got to be – my favorite food and probably the most used staple is going to be the Greek yogurt because there’s so many different things that you can substitute that for. I mean, you’re talking mayonnaise, sour cream, and it’s just my favorite breakfast food and I eat that with blueberries and the Kashi Crunch Go Lean and that’s my favorite meal.

You seem very emotional last [week] on two occasions. One when you were seen throwing out all of your clothes and the other in talking about your bond with Sherry on the ranch. Can you talk about both of those experiences?
Yes, that was a really big thing for me to get rid of those clothes. First of all you can’t believe that you ever wore those sizes. Second of all that looked like a lot of money just being thrown away and I’m going, what am I going to wear now? The thought of ever going back to that just came to me like I never want to look like that again. And Sherry became a very close friend of mine. We pushed each other, we had so much in – just the more we did the more we had in common and I really had fun with Sherry. And to split that up was almost harder than – it’s just a…And I don’t really even look at it as being a split up. I mean, that’s a lifelong friend of mine and I will be going to see her in Tennessee, she’ll be coming to see me in Oklahoma. So, that’s one thing that I have definitely gained on that program it’s just very…Yes.

And just too quickly follow-up, when you go shopping now what stores are you going into? What is the experience like?
Okay, as far as shopping I really don’t go to buy. I’m going to discount stores as TJ Maxx, (Wahl)’s which is a local place here in town and I just like to buy discount clothes because I’m not going to stay even in the sizes that I am. I’ve already changed sizes three times and not…So it’s…I just try to buy discount clothes right now and I’m not buying a whole lot of clothes.

So you’re just buying discount clothes now, when you get to your ideal size do you think you might treat yourself to a shopping spree?
I know I definitely will. That is definitely in the plans. I will be – when I have finally come to my maintenance weight I will do a lot of shopping because the clothes are important to me and what I look like.

What store would you love to go to and just buy out the place?
I’ve never been to a Macy’s. I’ll have to say I’d like to go to Macy’s which I really don’t even know what kind of store that is to tell you the truth. I just know that you always hear about them and their clothes. Let’s see, I love Dillard’s and as far as – even one of the stores that here locally in town I would like to go into. It’s (Stephanie)’s Boutique because the first time I ever went in that store was when I was overweight, when I first moved to Ardmore and they told me that they didn’t have anything in that store that fit me. And that kind of blew my mind thinking that I’m new in town, for one thing, and never been in there and that’s the first thing they tell me. So, I’d like to go in there and purchase an outfit or two.

And finally what is the toughest thing you’re finding now that you’re not on the show to maintain your program?
I’ll tell you it is the support that you have from everybody that you’re on that show with because everybody has the same goal in mind. I didn’t ever feel like anybody was trying to cheat me out of anything or they were – we all just…I felt like we were all just working together and supporting each other and we did nothing but pat each other on the back. So I would have to say it would be the extra pat on the back.

I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what your biggest challenges where when you were actually on the show?
The biggest challenge I would say would – with all the production just being able to fit all your meals in and that’s, I would say, would probably be the hardest thing.

That makes sense. And last [weeks] episode it sort of seemed like, at least from a viewers standpoint, that it was going to go another way with who was voted off. Where you surprised at all when your name was drawn?
Not at all. I’ve been expecting all week and that’s kind of what part of it was about. I knew it was – I felt like it was going to be my week to go home if the black team did not win the challenge. And that’s because I really was not – I wasn’t Sam or Stephanie, which pretty much work together at that time, and I felt like that anybody that was younger was not going to be one was chosen to be off that it would be one of the mom’s and then…And Sherry was directly related to Ashley so I just had a feeling that it would have been my week. I was kind of setting myself up to go home.

I was wondering if you were happy with your number this [past] week?
Yes I was happy with my number this week. Five pounds was – I was more of a three pound person so I felt like five pounds – I felt like I was almost doubling what I did the week before. But, yes, I would have been happy with five pounds every week.

How do you think Daris is going to cope without you?
I think Daris will do fantastic because Daris has really matured and Daris does his own thing and I do my own because we are just not on the same exercise level and we’re both just working out to our own potential. So – but we have the same things in our mind, same journey we’re on and we’ve discussed it and Daris said he’d be fine without me and I’d be fine at home. And we’re still there in heart and mind and I know he’ll do – I think he’ll do great.

Okay, so I was wondering now some of the past contestants when it’s kind of really close to crunch time, when it’s almost about time to get back for the finale they’ve been known to quit their jobs and dedicate full-time to like loosing weight to really make that last weigh-in and maybe even try to take the take home prize. Is that something that you would consider doing?
I’m spending a lot less time at work. I really am focusing on my health and getting to my goal weight and learning to maintain at goal weight. So I’m just trying to teach myself to go about this and I’ve done nothing – I just want to do this the healthy way and the right way and that’s the way I’ve been taught and that’s the way I plan to finish it.

All right. And where are you at now weight-wise, if it’s alright to share?
One sixty-two.

With the weight coming off, what body part are you most proud of when checking yourself out in the mirror and how has it changed?
I would have to say it’s my butt. My side view – when I look at me from the side I’m just shocked because I haven’t seen myself look like this in, I want to say, 25 years.

Fantastic. It must make you feel pretty good.
Yes it does. The part I miss the most are my boobs.

In watching last [weeks] episode, after each food bank day the contestants where shown as being very exhausted. It looked like a very exhausting week much like a long day at work in the real world. Describe how you avoided coaching it and push past it to workout instead?
Well, that was my ultimate goal because – jut to remember myself when I would come home from work, I’d be so exhausted and go straight to the coach. Well, something that you do realize when you’re there the more you do exercise and the shape that we were getting into I actually looked forward to coming home from work and going to exercise when we got back. So, that was something I looked forward to and that’s the way that I would like for that to stay. I have more energy then I ever dreamed I would have.

What would you say to people who are coming onto the show – people who are going to get ready to start? What’s the best advice you would give them about the experience? What to look out for?
Just worry about yourself and know what you’re there for, learn what you’re there for if you don’t already know when you get there. But that should be your ultimate goal is getting to your goal weight and don’t forget why you’re there and learn why you’re there.

And besides the exercising and the food and the calories and stuff what was the most surprising thing you learned about yourself while you were there? Is there something that just really shocked you that you didn’t know about yourself that came to fruition while you where there?
I’m trying to think. I would just have to say that – and you’re saying besides the exercise?

Yeah, yeah. Besides the things that we saw, we all kind of learned. Was there something in you that you learned about that was there that maybe you didn’t know about before?
Well, I would just say to speak up I have the right to speak up for myself and to get what I need and that my voice is important.

I was just wondering how you felt about how Michael split up the teams and being with Jillian?
I thought Michael, especially when we first got started, that he was just going to go down the line and split up all the teams. Then once he’s done – once he has split up, or actually made the teams, I’m looking at our team, we’re all women, two of them are over 50 and then we’ve got one guy on our team. I look across and I see the other team and its all full-blown men. So, I knew he had another idea there. He wanted to build the team that was going to win the challenges.

And what about being placed with Jillian as opposed to Bob?
Jillian I didn’t have a problem with. I would have taken either one of them. Jillian tends to, I feel like, push me a little more. Bob looked out more for – he even sought more of your physical – like if you had knee problems he was real good about saying well how are your body parts and then he worked around that. But with Jillian it’s just like, okay, just do it. So, she did try to get you to work your best.

And do you have a new favorite healthy recipe that you like to make?
Okay, one of my favorite things to fix is fish. You can use a white fish and then you’re going to have parsley, lemon juice and you beat that up and that’s what you’re going to put on top of your bake fish. And I just use the table, Ms. Dash Table Blend and then I just have that with salad.

Do you cook that in the oven or on the stovetop or…
It’s pretty much in the oven. I was going to say when I make the sauce that I put on top of it with the parsley and the lemon juice, that I do on top of the stove of course.

Was it a surprise to you that Sherry and Ashley voted differently at the elimination?
No because I felt like Ashley was voting more like Sam would want her to and I felt like Sherry was just voting because Sam and Stephanie both had very low weight loss. It’s almost like they didn’t even try to do anything to get themselves…Because if their weights would have been anything close to what they usually have come off in weight loss, then our team probably would have won. So, Sherry was just going for the one with the weight loss which that’s the same way I was voting myself is just I went for the percentage of weight loss and I actually went for the number and Sherry actually went for the percentage. I went for the three pounds of loss and Sam would have been the one that actually would have had the least amount of weight loss percentage, I mean, when you compare that to his body weight. So, I wasn’t shocked and Ashley is just one of the young ones and that’s just the way the whole show really has been going. They’re sending those parents, older people, home so they don’t have to spare any of the younger ones that are in there to loose weight.

Thank you and how do you see your friendship with Sherry in the future?
Oh, I think that is a lifelong relationship right there because Sherry’s…She [will] be my friend forever. If she’s not going to be nothing else we’ll be meeting midway and just go take a shopping spree. I mean, that’s…

For your new small sized clothes, right?
That’s right. It will be a good time to go shopping. That’s what we’ll do after the finale.

Biggest Loser airs every Tuesday night at 8 pm on NBC.