First Female ‘Biggest Loser’ Admits to Weight Gain: ‘I’m Too Embarrassed to Tell the Truth’

Gained Weight Back
Ali says she is once again struggling with her weight.

She was the first woman to win The Biggest Loser, but five years after she triumphantly stood on the scale at the finale and accepted her prize, Ali Vincent says she has let herself get “soft” and “fat,” and that she has been keeping this secret from the show’s fans.

“I can’t communicate to people how I need support because I’m too embarrassed to tell the truth of where I’m at,” she says in a clip for the season premiere of her show Live Big With Ali Vincent.

Ali, who during Season 5 dropped an incredible 112 pounds, has had her image used on many ‘Biggest Loser’-related products, and is a former spokesperson for 24 Hour Fitness. However, she said that the svelte 122 lb. body she had at the ‘Biggest Loser’ finale in 2008 is long gone.

“After I won ‘The Biggest Loser,’ I weighed 122 pounds for about 2.2 seconds,” she said. “It’s been five years since I won and I’ve seen myself gain at least five pounds a year.”

During the first episode of her show’s fourth season, Ali decides to get on the scale to see how much weight she’s actually gained since her ‘Biggest Loser’ days.

“I just want everybody to know how much I weigh so I don’t have to feel bad about it,” she said.

Ali is certainly not the first ‘Biggest Loser’ contestant to continue to struggle with their weight after the show ends. Many former contestants have had problems keeping the weight off once they leave the Ranch. Last year, Suzy Hoover, a former contestant and current wife of Season 2 winner Matt Hoover, spoke out about this very topic.

“Just FYI…. More Biggest Losers gain their weight back than maintain,” she posted to her Facebook fan page. “They are real people. Going [on] TV doesn’t quick fix cure all.” (You should click here and read all of the other things she had to say about being on the show!)

For her part, Ali said she is having trouble admitting to fans that she has not kept the weight off.

“Telling the truth is hard sometimes,” she said.

Ali will reveal her current weight on the season premiere of ‘Live Big with Ali Vincent’ on January 25.


18 Comments

  1. It’s a lifestyle that is hard to keep you still look great and if your happy and healthy your good We all have been fighting everyday not to gain weight but it’s hard for life Let’s do the best we can and not beat ourself up life is too short congrats on your marriage enjoy each day


  2. I admire anyone who can run 13 marathons in a year! Anybody who can do that must be healthy, no matter what their weight! And I admire anyone who has the guts to come forward and admit the numbers on the scale have changed. Ali is still Ali, she still has the fantastic outgoing Ali personality. I do not think any less of her; rather, I respect her more.


  3. I have never struggled with a weight problem, therefore, I might be speaking out of turn. Whenever I watch Ali prepare meals or teach someone else how to eat healthily by counting calories, I think——this is just too hard! I never count calories. I eat protein, veggies, fruit, nuts, etc., every day. I do not eat bread with any of my meals. When I do have bread it is with peanut butter or fish and stay away from the desserts. I don’t buy them because if they are in the house, I will eat them. I eat all day long,but healthy foods. I never drink soft drinks or sport drinks—only water with lemon, juice or milk. I have red wine two or three nights per week or a beer occasionally. If I have a pizza, it is with whole wheat crust with various veggies. I do not eat bacon, sausage or ham. I never eat prepared meals and never eat anything with artificial flavors or colors. Once you know what you eat, it’s easy.

    I do yoga twice per week, Pilates twice per week, Body Pump and Body Combat. If I eat something I shouldn’t at one meal, I just balance it with something healthy at my next. I weigh 120 which remains stable within 3 or 4 lbs. I feel great. I am 71 years old. Counting calories is just too much work!


  4. It is nothing wrong with having weight problems but this women has a television show and is going around telling people how to be healthier. How in the world does she gain have her weight back, is she not paying attention. She did not gain two hundred pounds in all one day. She got obese in the first place by hitting too much and not be healthy. Running a marathon means very little.


  5. My goodness……..are any of us perfect ? Weight is a life long struggle. Ali is an every day person. She was not a celebrity before she went on Biggest Loser. But her will and determination to loose weight made her just that with America. We all love a success story. Let’s just be supportive and encouraging. We all know she has been just that with us.


    1. What did it to for me to finally see your side is noticing that her tv show has now been canceled (August 2014).

      IMHO, now that the series of events have been played out for me to see (approx mid December ’13 with her demise at trying to make an appearance at the BL Fat Ranch) to her show being canceled in August of this year ….IMHO I stress…I have been able to ‘connect the dots’ if you will and see what has lead to her downfall.
      I feel that her downfall has been these last 180 days and her NOT being honest with the General Public. Had she been upfront & honest with her weight gain “struggles,” I perceive that the LWN would have been more forgiving and would have allowed her to go on with her show, etc.

      Moreover, I find it to be quite a joke for anyone to go on this tv show and ‘get upset’ at the General Public for placing them under such heavy scrutiny to not gain weight, etc.

      Yes, we all go through “Life’s long struggle with Weight,” etc………….
      WHat makes it different with Ali is she went on a show designed to lose weight and yet what did she learn from it?? and why the attitude??

      But with her:
      1)Example of her blase attitude towards the General Public:
      Yet, when I emailed her during these last 180 days, All I recieved was a generic email.
      **HUH??***

      #2)Also, look at the videos of her from her show dated approx Feb-April 2014 and IMHO you will see the disdain she has for the BL tv show; yet she forgets that this is the exact thing that gave her her 15 minutes of fame.
      **15 minutes INHO that she wasted. **

      So the question remains really: What exactly did she learn from being on this show?? Hopefuly now she can develop a better gain plan and rebound from all this mess that IMO she created.

      So now that her show has been canceled, yes – of course…my heart does go out to her & I hope she will rebound. I wish her all the best & I hope she knows that she will always have a cardio / core workout buddy down here in Texas.


    2. Susan that is the point that she is only a celebrity since she lost the weight. It has given her a platform and a TV show. She has gained wealth. Have you seen her show?

      I am alcoholic I have been sober over twenty years but I still go to meetings. I do not need money for me to help others to stop drinking

      Focusing on fame and fortune not her demons. Unless you have a biological disease no one makes you fat, it your behavior.


      1. As one who frequently watches her LBWAV show, I completely agree. As a weight loss authority and host of the show, she should be judged by and held to higher standards. Simply put she is holding herself out there as a ‘quasi-trainer’ as she guides those with weight issues. She makes a living by (supposedly) being svelte and maintaining her wait to influence and inspire others. Her wait gain is so not inspiring. And it seems as though she made a fat salary for a show on which she and her Mom (yet another inspiring figure) do nothing more than travels luxuriously and dine out all the time. Sheesh. How standards have plummeted?!


  6. I’ve been watching her show since 2011, and I must admit, it was all pretty inspiring. She inspired me to put an effort into losing the weight that I had gained AFTER having my child. I was neglecting myself and taking naps when baby napped. I started working out when baby napped, and cut out a considerable amount of carbs, including not eating my baby’s leftovers anymore. So, as far as inspiration, she did give me that. I started to lose interest in her show after I saw how she made it convenient to blame her mother for all her mishaps. She us an adult. I also saw how she would get after her guests if they had to swing by a fast food joint every now and then on account of a lack of time. There she was scarfing down a bagel, generously stuffed with goodies right before a workout, and we got to watch her puke it out. Then I started to notice that she is not only always holding somekind of Starbucks drink in her hand, but she is picking up somekind of flatbread junk (“flatbread” sounds “healthier”, I guess) to go with it. Maybe it costs more than the dollar menu at McDonald’s, but its still junk. If she is telling her guests that there are healthier options at junk food joints, there are helathier options she can go for at Starbucks such as salads, protien packs, maybe green tea with somekind of artificial sweetener (artificial sweeteners are not healthy but work if you’re trying to ditch diabetes and weight gain, I personally rarely use sweeteners at all). But, thanks to her I was able to drop 20 pounds (for 2.2 seconds), but gained 10 pounds (I’m working on those


    1. Here is a slight twist on what I have learned from watching Ali’s show: THE ABILITY TO PAY IT FORWARD through inspiration. We have a co-worker….male – 6 feet tall and weights 306 pounds who has expressed an interest in losing weight. Not only do I welcome his quest to be a better & healthy person but it has also provided me with a good challenge as well.
      Meaning – I weigh 203 pounds and have a desire to get to 185 pounds – (I am male @ 6 feet tall) – before December 20th as I will be venturing into the land of sugar just a few days later (my birthday).
      Curious to see how he & I will do???? follow along if ya like with the below listed travel blog of mine & T.T.F.N. (don’t worry, its an DIS WEBSITE) “MY “ADVENTURES n DISNEYLAND, CATALINA ISLAND & OTHER ASSORTED STUFF” PRE-TR; DEC’14
      http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3112286&referrerid=0
      ……..am beginning to get ready for this challenge & will pick up up SERIOUSLY late next month when I come back from Europe.
      ….P.S…..no disresoect to Ali but I just don’t get into disengenius people and feel that Jillian Michaels message gets the overall point accross better than Ali & her maessage.


    1. Yes, I do applaud the fact that BEHAVIORALLY she is admitting that she mislead her fans and herself over gaining 66.7% of the total amount of weight she lost oh so many months ago…….
      BUT……..
      VERABLLY, she has yet to own up to this out and out right and enstead opts to show off her pool pass (from the Fat Farm pictures on her Facebook Page) as if she is just ‘so proud that she’s there and we are not.”
      = HUH?? I don’t get it.
      Moreover, she continues to have the opening credits to her show show that she has lost over 104 pounds, blah blah blah…….
      Yet, even as approx 9 months ago during one of my posting on one of her two Facebook Pages, i took note that based upon her pictures on the Internet, my best educated guess is that she has gained back approx 30 pounds back from the 114 she has lost.
      I WASN’T THAT FAR OFF in my calculations.
      And –
      wait for it…..
      wait for it………
      it was during that time that I was right in the middle of a massive weight loss journey myself (I have lost 104 pounds and have only gained back 3 since Dec 31st 2013)…..following her show regularly….hanging on to every word she was saying……….even blogged about my weight loss journey……it starts on page 6 of my blog “MY ADVENTURES N SAN FRAN, ROSE BOWL” by knewton64……….just for me to see that what she was saying on public tv didn’t match up with her own behaviors in private……..HUH??
      Now I ask you, how would that make you feel?
      HAPPY????
      Enstead, the Rose colored glasses have been removed from my eyes in relation to her as I feel that it seems to be beneath her to actually own up to this and other topics she has said as well.
      I digress –
      Like her comments from late last month:
      “I was 112 pounds for all but 2.2 seconds.” or something like that.
      DUH!!
      We all know that most BL Contestants gains back approx 20-30 pounds (getting their bodies hydrated back to normal levels, etc) easily within the first 60-90 days after they leave the show……
      YET…….
      ONCE AGAIN, MS Vincent is typically silent on how much weight she gained back and how quickly after leaving the show.
      Enstead, we are still being shown video of her right after winning that contest , yet here it is 62 months later and her body visually is telling us a much different story.
      Now, IMHO, that is yet again another perfect example of her mis-directing people and not being totally upfront in what she is doing.
      I even Facebooked her a few times with…..
      DUH!!!
      no reply. Yet……….
      Here it is………
      48 hours away from “THE BIG REVEAL” on January 25th and suddently outta no where, she Facebooks me right and left!!

      Yet, she KNEW 48 hours later, the whole fan folowing of hers was about to have her tell us how much she actually weigh – so why /what was her intention behind her SUDDENLY” wanting to be best buds via Facebook?

      IMO, it’s because of my numbers (please see my weight loss blog to see them).
      AND –
      because IMO, she knew her announcement wasn’t gonna go over to well.
      BUT, in relation to her recently trying to be my best Bud,
      Great – but that does little for me when I feel bait and switched by her behaviors versus her verbalisations. And when I asked for an apoligy? SILENCE was what I was meet with.

      So all in all, my new numbers come out in a few more weeks (esp my cholesteral levels) and yes – they will also be posted on my new travel blog, “MY ADVENTURES N ENGLAND & SCOTLAND.” —-by KNEWTON64
      and yes – I do wish Ms Vincent well in whatever it is that she is doing. More power to her. What you are seeing in my two earlier postings is a natural reaction to having the old proverbial rug being pulled out from underneath you. I hated it. I felt betrayed by someone I trusted and now, even after I waited for her to openly admit her errors, the thrill over my little Angel is gone.
      ** SAD **
      But with every door closing, another opens as I and looking at SYMG.com vacation for next year and yes, I have Ms Vincent to thank.
      That and now I am a big Julian Michaels fan now. ** PEACE OUT **


  7. It’s because the show is there to make television money and not to teach these overweight, usually predispositioned, individuals how to lose weight and keep it off realistically.


    1. I couldn’t have said it better myself as you are looking at an individual who sees that numbers on a weight scale DO MATTER as it is a reflection on who you are; both inside as well as out.
      Moreover, I find it just mind boggling that her “sheeple” via her Facebook page(s) just simply accept her behaviors as common practice & continue to fawn over her even when she recently checked herself into a Fat Farm with all the while, Ms Vincent NOT OWNING UP TO MISLEADING THE PUBLIC LIKE THIS.
      I digress –
      Yes, I am seeing now that obviously her show is ‘for entertainment purposes only’ which I find sad but it is what it is as I am now off in search of a tv program to watch that WILL provide me with the information and inspiration to …..’LIVE BIG’ and so far I see that “MOTION” fits the bill. I welcome suggestions for additional tv shows like Motion to watch or participate in & yes, once again, I wish Ms Vincent the best of luck in finding herself while at the same time she is having fun pushing her chocolate bars onto her “Sheeple…..” Now as Ali is famous for saying…..”REALLY??”…..”REALLY??!!?”


  8. What’s interesting to note about this article is that Ms Vincent has yet to apoligize to her Fans (much less on her Facebook Page(s) for misleading them into thinking that who she is in front of the camera is also who she off camera as well.
    Moreover, she claims to feel “sorry” for her Fans – yet she never bothers to explain WHY. This simple answering of the above question IMHO will go a long way to restoring her credibility in my eye as a Motivator and Leader in her industry.
    Yet here I am (a recent 104 pound weight loss person in 4.5 months & very proud of it)- finding myself flipping the tv channel yesterday am to another tv channel (“The Price is Right” w/Drew Carrey) and away from her program as I feel that atleast T.P.I.S. tv program is for entertainment purposes only as I feel Ms Vincent has clearly crossed on over from Informative and Inspirational to circus Barker; bent on talking the talk yet not walking the walk – and when called out on it, continues to remain evasive and refuses to own her behaviors. Enstead, she blames a NBC show called, “The Biggest Loser” for 100% of her weight problems these past 60 months. If this was actually true, then she is also calling into question – 1) she isn’t in control of her food and liquid intake these past 60 months, 2) she had no business being a spokesperson for 24 Hour Fitness, 3) she had no business having a cable tv show instilling weight loss and healthy lifestyle choices, etc etc etc…..
    Yes, I do wish her well and hope that she loses the amount of weight she wants to lose and also chooses to adopt a much healthier balanced lifestyle as running 500 marathons a year and or participating in 300 IronMan Triathlons a year don’t mean a thing to me when you are not true to ones own inner self.


      1. She is a human being with real struggles & weight can be a life long struggle with highs & lows. It’s embarrassing enough to get on the scale in my own bathroom & realize I’ve gained weight I can’t imagine to have to do it in front of millions of people. She has no business being a former obese woman help others struggling with their weigt because she isn’t skinny…..????? Sorry i just have to disagree.

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