Photo Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

One of my favorite times of the year is here! The Biggest Loser is back! Who else is excited? My favorite trainer, Jillian Michaels is also back! Seriously, how are you not watching? Get on it if you aren’t. You are truly missing out.

For the first time ever, The Biggest Loser tackles childhood obesity. This season, The Biggest Loser has invited three kids aboard for a life saving season in their lives as they embark on a journey to not only save themselves but become ambassadors for change in America to the epidemic of childhood obesity. What’s great about the kids joining is they will not be competeing so they will not be eliminated. What’s even better is that all of the kids were enthusiastic about making this change. They will be getting all the help that they need from all of the trainers both on the ranch and at home. That said, they have been assigned trainers as well.

Noah aka Bingo, 13 was paired with Bob Harper, Lindsay, 13 with Dolvett Quince, and Sunny, 16 with Jillian Michaels. I am really looking forward to seeing the transformation in these kids not only phsycially but mentally. Along with the trainers and “Biggest Loser” medical staff, the children are also working closely with Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, a childhood obesity expert and pediatrician whose book Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right features the child-friendly healthy eating plan the kids will follow.

The Kids Overhearing Jillian Training the Adults on Day 1 Inside the Gym From Outside
“I thought we had it bad.” – Noah
“No you have no idea what’s happening in there.” – Dolvett

Moving past the kids, it was time to meet the contestants! Host, Alison Sweeney handed out 15 keys and we went straight to Day One’s workout. I like that we are going straight from picking participants to day one workouts. In the past, more keys have been given out and the contestants had to get past a challenge to determine who would actually make it past the ranch gates. Also, they made a big thing about showing everyone’s starting weight before the first weigh in. Glad that’s over. With a shake up in The Biggest Loser crew (executive producers, etc…) there are a lot of changes this season and so far, I am loving them. Another change…while there are teams, the trainers will be available to everyone. There’s not a huge emphasis on competition among each other because that is not the priority. The priority is competition with yourself. Bravo for finally focusing on what really matters. Actually winning the competition, winning a quarter of a million dollars is icing on the cake. Financial stability is the dream. But either way, all of these contestants’ lives are changing for the better and they are all winners. That’s one of the reasons why I love this show so much!

So we have the usual contestants (mother of said number who “has it all” except for her health, a young person who wants to get healthy before proposing marriage, etc..) but what I found most interesting was the contestant who was in the car with his son and broke the driver’s seat chair which led to his toddler’s eye socket being broken and skull being fractured. Talk about a wake up call. Or not so much a wake up call as rock bottom. I’m glad this guy was finally ready to make a change. Unfortunately, Nikki, 26 chose was not ready and left the ranch before the first elimination. Losing weight is physical but it takes a certain mental state of mind to get to the point where you are determined to lose the weight. Nikki’s time will come, that time is just not now. It was really hard to see her walk off the ranch, walk away from all of the top notch resources available to her for free. But when you’re not ready, you’re not ready.

With Nikki gone, Team Jillian was down one team member. Make that two. It was so sad to see TC get eliminated in the automatic elimination! He seemed to be one of the most enthusiastic ones! At least the editing made it seem so. Looking forward to seeing how far he comes once finale night is here. I was surprised that there was an automatic elimination so early in the season. With so many changes, does this mean more red lines, less yellow lines? What do you think of that possibility and of the challenges involving the kids? Now that was fun to watch! And a 5 lb advantage so early on in the season! I was not expecting that. There were a lot of surprises in the premiere and this was only the first night. The biggest weight loss in the first weigh in was 29 lbs. Congrats! I believe the lowest was 9 lbs but even that is awesome.

Looking forward to seeing the contestants continue to lose and looking forward to losing a bit myself! Is anyone else letting The Biggest Loser jump start their healthy lifestyle? I am! I’ve also got a buddy going on the journey with me! I am starting out at 161 lbs and will update at least twice a month over the next three months of our progress! Anyway, stay tuned tonight as NFL star and San Diego Chargers tight end, Antonio Gates guest starts in Part 2 of the premiere!

Watch The Biggest Loser Mondays from 8-10pm ET on NBC.