Behind the scenes at 'Biggest Loser' with Mesa contestant - AZ Central.com

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I am so nervous and excited to share my experiences about my time at the Biggest Loser Ranch during Season 12 in this blog.

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Interview: Mesa teacher loses 70+ pounds on 'Loser' -- so far

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In Week 1, the 15 contestants were divided into three groups according to age.

My group (Fab 40s) won the first challenge and we chose Bob Harper as our trainer. My starting weight was 445 pounds. My weight loss for the first week was 37 pounds.

Week 2 started with a temptation and I ate 37 doughnuts to ensure that the Black Team could exercise first thing in the morning.

Maybe not my smartest move!

Week 2 is known for low weight loss, but I was able to lose 15 pounds and be the biggest loser for the second consecutive week.

Week 3 was fantastic. I'm a high-school-football coach, so NFL Week was very inspiring for me. Working out with NFL all-stars really helped me stay focused and motivated. I was so motivated by the NFL players that I lost 18 pounds that week.

The Black Team has thus far won every challenge and, more importantly, every weigh-in. The first three weeks I set a record and lost 70 pounds!

This week was really powerful.

The Black Team was fortunate enough to work out with Season 11's Hannah Curlee, who's one of the most amazing women I have ever met.

She showed us that low-calorie food is easy to prepare and great tasting, too. Not only did Hannah teach us about nutrition, but she put us through an amazing workout.

Hannah's life story touched my heart and it was so uplifting to speak with her about life on the ranch. She taught me that I could achieve incredible goals by believing in myself and working harder than I thought possible.

Our challenge for this week was to not only brave rough terrain, but to face severe elements as well.

The stakes were high because show host Alison Sweeney told us whoever won the challenge would receive precious letters from home. That motivated me beyond belief! I wanted to hear how my wife and kids were doing; I wanted letters from home!

The Black Team was willing to push ourselves to the limit physically to win the letters from our loved ones. We braved obstacles and severe elements. As if snow and rain were not enough, we also walked into hurricane-force winds.

Can you imagine snow in California? To top it off, we climbed what seemed like a never ending mountain to claim our prize.

After all the teams made it to the top of that hill, we were told we were all going to read our letters. And because Black Team won, we also got to video chat with our families.

I was so excited to see my wife and kids. It is hard being away from them because they are the most important people in my life, but I know I'm doing great things here at the ranch.

At the weigh-in this week, I was able to lose an additional 9 pounds. This brought my total weight loss to 79 pounds over the course of four weigh-ins.

The Black Team was safe yet again from elimination for four straight weeks! You'll have to tune-in next week to see if we can continue to survive elimination.