Pete Thomas is a real-life Biggest Loser, keeping off 185 lb since his 2005 win on the popular reality show.
He was the keynote speaker for the Employer Healthcare Congress/Corporate Wellness Conference and inspired folks at the best attended session of the event.
After the keynote and a run (!), Pete also graciously sat down with Thrive Research to learn about our programs and offer insights on successfully maintaining weight loss and well-being.
Pete shared stories of his struggles as the child of a mentally ill single parent, often fed fast food or left to fend for himself. Not surprisingly, he never learned about nutrition and turned to food to fill numerous voids.
His life changed after becoming a contestant on the Biggest Loser’s second season. In the keynote, he candidly shared stories about his teammates and their challenges keeping up with Gillian’s killer workouts, and avoiding the “temptation foods” placed throughout the ranch. Ask him about Jordan almonds and you’re sure to get a smile.
After being voted “off”, he remained committed to what he had learned at the ranch. Returning several months later for the live finale, he became the “At Home” winner by losing the largest total percentage of weight of all the contestants--46%. Five years later, he’s still at it. Now a full-time motivational speaker and teacher, he encourages folks around the country to, “Master your mind, Manage your mouth, Multiply your muscles.”
Our favorite part of his mantra was the “Master Your Mind” slide (pictured):
Goal setting, behavior modification-cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), self-efficacy.
Sound familiar? These are elements in every one of our programs, so it was music to our ears!
He’s a firm believer that educating children and giving them tools for lasting behavior change is the key to combating obesity. He’s involved in several initiatives in his native Midwest and is even speaking at the NIH in October.
In both the keynote and our sit-down, Pete echoed a theme we heard throughout the Corporate Wellness Conference--self-efficacy.
What is self-efficacy? It’s a fancy term for the idea that you need to find what works for you. And, it’s also about having heroes and positive role models, whether they’re reality show contestants or co-workers around the water cooler.
We heard the importance of providing tools for self-efficacy from employers such as Black & Decker, who offer employees $1200/year in “Healthy Rewards” toward a choice of gyms, exercise equipment or other programs of their choice. Wellness tool provider Limeade reiterated self-efficacy's importance in detailing how companies like REI and the State of Washington are using personalized approaches to get widespread results.
While Pete was home before the Biggest Loser finale, he continued to educate himself and exercise…a lot. He set up weekly alerts on obesity and weight loss research that he continues to monitor, even today. After initial success and ultimate failure on well-known diets such as Atkins and Body for Life, he became convinced that he needed to find “what worked for him.”
Pete embodies so many of the values we hold dear and draw on in our programs. He’s living proof that with the right mix of training, techniques, and perseverance, everyone can thrive!
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