Biggest Loser Stars Reveal How They Kept the Weight Off for Years Without Ozempic

Five years after The Biggest Loser wrapped its final season, several former contestants are opening up about the lengths they have gone to in order to maintain their dramatic weight loss.

The popular reality competition, which aired for 18 seasons across NBC and USA, followed overweight and obese contestants from around the country as many shed 100 to 200 pounds or more.

During their time on the show, participants had access to a full support system, including medical professionals, nutrition experts, therapists and high-profile trainers such as Bob Harper, Jillian Michaels, Dolvett Quince, Jennifer Widerstrom, Steve Cook and Erica Lugo.

Despite its popularity, the series also drew criticism over the years from viewers and health experts who argued that it placed too much emphasis on the number on the scale, rather than contestants’ long-term physical and emotional well-being.

Although the transformations often appeared to unfold rapidly over roughly two months of televised episodes, the actual competition lasted about 30 weeks behind the scenes.

The Daily Mail spoke with five former contestants about where they are now, how their health routines have evolved and the methods they continue to rely on to lose or maintain weight. Notably, they said they are not using popular weight-loss medications such as Ozempic or Mounjaro.

Suzy Preston Hoover & Matt Hoover 

Suzy, 49, and her husband Matt, 49, from Seattle, Washington, are celebrating 20 years since appearing on season 2 of The Biggest Loser. 

The pair met while competing on the show and lost a combined 252 pounds (Matt shed 157 and Suzy lost 95). Although Matt won and Suzy placed third, they said it didn’t help eating ‘fake food’ and ‘more Splenda than you could imagine,’ because they ultimately had to learn how to break their food addictions. 

Matt, a pharmaceutical sales rep and wrestling coach, met Suzy, a hairdresser, during filming and they married a year later. They welcomed their first son, Rex, in 2007 and their second son, Jax, a year later – setting Suzy back in her weight-loss effort. 

After ballooning to 278 pounds, she decided a year ago to undergo gastric sleeve surgery, which reduces the size of the stomach so it can hold less food.

She decided to go that route because her husband had success with the same surgery five years earlier and lost a pound a day for 120 days post-surgery – estimating he had lost 150 pounds.

‘As I got older – and truth be told, when perimenopause hit – my weight started literally weighing me down,’ Suzy revealed. ‘It was hindering me from being involved in my life anymore. And I realized that I had become a burden for my kids, which was just devastating to me.’

She had the surgery in May 2024 and lost 124 pounds, eventually settling in at around 154 pounds. Today she lives a ‘very active life’ and walks an average of 12,000 steps a day.

The downside of her surgery is she ‘immediately’ throws up if she eats too much.

‘I have to now think about what I put in my body more mathematically and it has to be solely nutrition because if not, then it’s not good,’ she explained. ‘I don’t really waste time with carbohydrates because they give me no nutritional value.’

Her advice? ‘I’d say research the surgery and see if it’s a best fit for you because that’s what works for me,’ Suzy said, warning that the procedure requires many months of preparation and recovery.

‘I’ve told a ton of family and friends and I joke, “Just go get your stomach cut out.”‘ 

Olivia Ward & Hannah Curlee Young

Olivia Ward, 49, took home the trophy in season 11 after losing an astonishing 129 pounds (starting at 261 and getting down to 132). 

Her sister Hannah, 46, was the runner-up  – weighing 248 pounds when she started and working 120 of them off during the course of the season.

Although Olivia said that the lessons she learned from the show ‘overflowed into every aspect’ of her life, she admitted that there have been ‘ups and downs both physically and mentally’ following the show.

Olivia has kept in touch with trainer Bob Harper, someone she’s still ‘extremely close’ with. She even named her son Harper after him.

Since leaving the show, Olivia has ‘maintained a healthy weight,’ after giving birth to two sons, Harper, 10 and Felix, 5. 

Olivia admitted that she is not a ‘scale watcher,’ because the number ‘can be such a mental trap,’ but said she’s currently around 150 pounds and a size 6/8.

‘I like to use metrics like how my clothes fit and how my body feels to hold me accountable in my maintenance journey,’ she said.

Hannah had her first child in 2016 with husband and personal trainer Pate Young, and gave birth to her second last year at 45 years old.

‘I truly believe that keeping up with a balanced, healthy lifestyle, helped me beat the odds of having at baby this age,’ she said.

Hannah also avoids the scale – estimating she weighs around 160 pounds or less – and instead keeps up with her measurements and tries to get a body fat test once a year.

At 5-foot-10 and a size 8, she says: ‘I feel great and am very proud of where I am today!’

She credited her husband and focusing on a healthy lifestyle, including walking 10,000 steps a day and strength training three to four times a week.

The sisters launched their passion project, the wellness program CounterBalance, in 2022, helping ‘hundreds of people transform their bodies and lives as they shed hundreds of pounds and reclaim their lives.’

The siblings practice what they preach by following the program, which includes ‘tracking calories, prioritizing protein, keeping hydration consistent and striving to make sure each plate is balanced.’

‘We don’t cut any food groups out, which allows us to customize our own eating plan based on the foods we love,’ Olivia explained..

Hannah added that she maintains a ‘mild calorie deficit’ while prioritizing whole foods, sticking each day to 100 grams of protein, 100 ounces of water and three meals.

She ‘doesn’t usually snack much in between meals,’ but when she does, she suggested a Cosmic Crisp apple with a mini Brie cheese or kosher dill pickles.

Patrick House

Patrick, the winner of season 10 who took home the $250,000 grand prize, lost a total of 181 pounds on the show after starting at 400 pounds.

The 42-year-old, who wrote the book ‘As Big as a House: How One Biggest Loser Winner Took a Look at Himself and Made the Change of a Lifetime,’ is now the director of sales & marketing at a resort in Palm Harbor, Florida.

He takes advantage of place of residence, using the outdoors as a gym for ‘fun, healthy and active’ workouts, he said.

‘I love taking my wife and daughter to the beach,’ he shared of his daughter Kelsyn, 6, while also noting his two sons – Colton, 18, and Caden, 17 – who were featured on the show.

Patrick ran the Boston Marathon five years in a row between 2011 and 2015 ‘I still love running,’ he said. ‘I am working back into it, but would love to do another marathon.’ 

Despite life after Biggest Loser being ‘tough without Bob and Jillian,’ he said he was ‘laser-focused’ on his health and wellness immediately following the show.

He currently weighs 265 pounds and admitted that he is working on getting down to his goal of 235-240 by the end of this summer.

He is sticking to a healthy regime of diet and exercise to try to shed the pounds. 

‘I usually try and eat a piece of fruit for breakfast, a salad for lunch with some protein and a protein-laden dinner,’ he said. 

As far as upping the ante in his workouts, ‘I am working to incorporate more strength training in my standard cardio routine,’ Patrick said.

He is also considering Ozempic, if all else fails. ‘Anything that can help you achieve your health and wellness goals,’ he said.