I'm Eric Chopin, I won Season 3.
I was the big guy that season. Back in the day, when the only big guys were 400 pounds.
I was 407, got down to 193.
Lost 214 pounds.
Did good for about a year and a half, and then I started to struggle with my weight.
I kind of didn't know what I wanted to do with my life.
And I-and I lost my purpose. And I became depressed.
And when I had that feeling, I stopped working out, and I stopped eating correctly.
Hi Eric! Hello everybody!
How ya doing guys? But I did some soul searching
I've lost about 70 pounds, and I'm around 300 now. And I'm just looking forward
to getting back to a comfortable reasonable weight.
Nice to see you!
I knew he had gained weight. But to actually see him and see how he put on all that weight
It kinda-it kinda breaks my heart.
But I don't know his struggle yet. I don't know what he's gone through.
And I'm hoping he can share his story so I can understand.
Eric your journey is a little different. You re-gained almost
all of your former weight.
And now you are working very hard, as we can see, to take it off again.
Well, I mean I weighed myself a few months back,
and I saw that I got to 368. I was spinning out of control.
And uh, I know I can offer you guys a lot of help in that
because, I can tell you right now. What you're doing, you don't want to do it twice.
And I'm doing it the second time.
Eric and Helen are going to stick around for a while, talk to you. Enjoy your last week on campus. Talk to you soon!
Bye guys, have a good day. It was really nice to see you. You too!
Thanks for being here. Bye.
Hearing his story about how he gained all the weight back, you know was just an eye opener.
He won the $250,000
and he went home and he gained all of his weight back.
And now he's having to do it all over again. And that's
definitely a place I never want to be.
I kind of had a stumble, obviously, and..
You know there's things that I know that are like telltale signs that you guys
kind of have to avoid, and take notice of.
Yeah. It's very hard. I mean if you come from a place
where you like to eat, and you associate food with good times,
and this is like hard times, and the good times come back again?
Unh-unh.
When weight creeps on, you're gonna say it's not a big deal!
Ten pounds, fifteen pounds, I'll knock that off in a couple weeks.
And you give yourself this pass.
Cause in your brain, everybody in your gym that you go work out at home,
you're better than them. You can diet better than them, you can work out harder than them.
So you keep giving yourself these passes, just watch that.
The thing about Eric is this.
It's a prime example that it doesn't end after this. I'm not gonna
lose all this weight, you know, get to the finale, look good,
be proud of myself, and then go back to my old ways.
Because I'll end up back the way I was before!
Miserable and depressed. I don't wanna do that!
Well, I think we wanna kinda break off and like really
talk to you one-on-one, and maybe you know, just get some
information from you. And-and kind of like
answer some of your questions, and help you through this.
I gotta take pink first, I'm sorry but I just gotta take pink first!
Alright, cool. Okay.
I'm glad you're here, I've got tons of questions. Well, I'm glad I'm here that
I can answer them for you.
I think she couldn't have come at a better time for me. I think it was kind of
an eye-opener for me that 1. I need to figure out when I get home
like I need a game plan. You know, not
just to get me to finale, but after the finale.
What kind of lifestyle am I gonna decide to live
so I can this weight off. I know when you went home
you had some concerns with drinking wine
and stuff like that, because I've part a lot and-and
I know that I've changed, but when I go home everything will
still be the same. It will. We had makeover week and
my sister and my best friend came and it was absolutely phenomenal,
but it did make me realize
that it's going to be a challenge when I go home, because
they're still living a lifestyle that I can't live.
Right. When I partied,
and I got a buzz I didn't feel my weight as much.
And I could go on the dance floor, and dance and not feel
as self-conscious.
But I'm so sick of walking through restaurants and clubs and
having everyone stare at me, and judge me.
I'm really disappointed in myself today.
What you're gonna have to do is sit them down, and tell them
I'm still on a journey, and it's not just
about today, it's about the rest of my life
and how you handle it. Right. You know- yeah -because,
it is. This is about your life long term. Right. Right?
Yeah definitely.