Cate Laughlin: Eating enough is the hardest part of my 'The Biggest Loser' weight loss

Cate Laughlin was eliminated from The Biggest Loser during Monday night's NBC broadcast of the reality weight-loss competition's third fourteenth-season episode.


Cate, a 28-year-old student from Ransomville, NY, was eliminated after her Red Team -- which was trained by Dolvett Quince -- posted the lowest weight-loss percentage at the season's third weekly elimination weigh-in and then cast the majority of their votes to oust her from the ranch.

During a Tuesday conference call with reporters, Cate talked about her short-lived experience on The Biggest Loser ranch and what her life has been like since going back home. 

Take us through your weight-loss journey. Who do you see in the mirror now?

Cate Laughlin: Absolutely. When I look in the mirror, I see the Cate I was always supposed to be. I see this person that went from having no confidence to all the confidence in the world.


What did Dolvett bring out of you that you weren't expecting to happen while you were on the ranch?

Cate Laughlin: Dolvett brought out in me that I was worth it. I never realized how little I felt about myself until I got there and got working with him.

So it's been a lifetime battle for you?

Cate Laughlin: Oh sure, sure it has.

Your bio reveals that you packed on quite a bit of weight very quickly. Could you talk a little bit about how you got to the size you were when you first got to the ranch?


Cate Laughlin: Sure, I was always a heavy girl and once I graduated high school, I went to college and I started working at my first job, and all of my weight seemed to come on in those five short years. It was just a combination of bad decisions, eating out all the time -- In the beginning, I really wasn't much of a cook.

Could you talk about your decision to change "fat Tuesdays" into "fit Tuesdays?"

Cate Laughlin: "Fat Tuesday" was a time when I'd work out with my trainer, and then often, I would stop at a fast food restaurant after because I would have errands to run or things to do after the gym. And I never realized how badly I was sabotaging all the work I was putting in. So "fat Tuesdays" has now transformed into "fit Tuesdays." So I bring a protein shake and an apple to the gym and that's my snack.

So you weren't really realizing what you were doing wrong on those "fat Tuesdays?"

Cate Laughlin: I wasn't realizing, honestly, what I was doing. It was all out of ignorance. You get a hamburger from a fast food restaurant and you take the bun off, because in our uneducated minds, we think, "Oh, well at least we're not eating the bread." And we don't realize how bad of a decision that is.


When you first arrived at the ranch, how were your expectations different from what the reality was?

Cate Laughlin: I truly thought that we would have so many breaks, I guess... that we'd have some kind of break. And that was the biggest misconception that I had, because we really did not have any breaks.

What's your favorite memory from your time on The Biggest Loser?

Cate Laughlin: My favorite memory is when Dolvett told me that he was proud of me.

Did you have the mentality on "fat Tuesdays" that you could eat what you wanted because you had a whole week to work it off afterwards?


Cate Laughlin: A lot of times it was. I thought, "Well, if I make this bad decision, I have the whole week to burn it off." And when you weigh-in, if you weigh-in weekly, that day of your weigh-in is not the end of your week, it's the first day of your next week.

How did it feel to get on the scale the first time you discovered you were under 200 pounds at home?

Cate Laughlin: That moment was just unbelievable when I saw the scale go below 200. I haven't weighed less than 200 pounds in, gosh, even in high school. I mean, we're going back 10 or 12 years now. So it's been a long time and it was just a wonderful dream come true to see that finally happen. I took a picture!

Why do you think a few of your teammates, including yourself, didn't reach the weight-loss number you wanted your third week on the ranch -- which was shown during last night's episode?

Cate Laughlin: I think it was bound to happen. We had two really, really great weeks in a row and I think your body is starting to remember what you're doing and you can't pull big numbers all the time, basically. It was bound to happen. It was certainly not a reflection of the work we did.


Could you talk me through why you voted without looking and do you have any regrets about voting for Jackson Carter in the end?

Cate Laughlin: I could not look at my teammates and pick which one I thought needed to go home. I knew that all of us, in our own way, were strong enough to do it at home now, but I just couldn't pick one. And so, I thought I'd let fate do its job and when it came up Jackson, I was extremely sad. But I think I would've been sad no matter who popped up. I'm just so glad that it wasn't him.

You said during last night's broadcast you really wanted to run a marathon. Have you gotten any further with that goal?

Cate Laughlin: I certainly have. I've been training for my first half marathon, so I'm up to seven miles now.

Obviously we caught up with you by watching your post-elimination update last night, but could you tell us what your current weight is right now and how your weight-loss is going?

Cate Laughlin: Currently, last time I weighed-in -- which was last Friday -- I'm at 183. I think that's four pounds if I did the math right.


What has been the hardest part of your weight-loss journey for you? And what's actually been a lot easier than you expected it to be since you began?

Cate Laughlin: One of the hardest parts is now eating enough, which is odd, because I never dreamed I would ever have that problem. But eating enough. And this is because, we should all learn, it's easy to fill 2,000 calories with garbage. It's not as easy to fill 1,100 calories with good food.

What are you eating now to make sure you're full even though it may not have a lot of calories?

Cate Laughlin: I'm eating a lot of green veggies, actually a lot of bright, colorful veggies. And I eat a lot of lean protein -- chicken, fish, sometimes pork tenderloin, and occasionally I'll eat really lean red meat.

Is there anything you never thought you'd like to eat that you enjoy eating now?

Cate Laughlin: No, but I can tell you that I still do not like spinach and egg whites. (Laughs) I did not like it on the ranch and I still don't like it now.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski