Life after 'Loser'
BY MATT GLEASON World Scene Writer
Thursday, January 21, 2010
1/21/10 at 9:57 AM
A year before Danny Cahill entered, and eventually
won, NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” contest
in early December, the Broken Arrow
land surveyor stood in front of 60 people and
made a bold prediction.
“I feel like it’s my destiny to be on the show, win it
and lose more weight than anybody ever has,” Cahill
said during a self-empowerment seminar in Dallas.
Of course, those 60 people looked at Cahill — the same man who weighed 430 pounds when he arrived at "The Biggest Loser" ranch — and thought, "Oh, that's nice."
But Cahill was very much serious that day, so he said, "No, you guys don't understand: I'm really going to do it."
By the time Cahill won the weight-loss contest's $250,000 grand prize, he not only made good on his prediction — he'd shed 239 pounds to weigh in at a mere 191 pounds.
'It's hard...it's fun'
About a month after Cahill won the contest — and became an instant celebrity turned motivational speaker — the 40-year-old father of two found himself resting in an office just a few steps away from a bustling Chick-fil-A kitchen in Owasso.
As it snowed outside, Cahill sat in the small office waiting to speak to more than 120 people during an All Pro Dad event. All Pro Dad is a national organization "helping men to become better fathers," according to its Web site.
During his wait, Cahill talked about life after "The Biggest Loser."
"Boy, it's hard," he said, "but it's fun. My life has changed."
For instance, if he'd never shed the pounds, Cahill wouldn't be signing autographs at another Chick-fil-A, this one at 11201 E. 71st St., on Saturday. The event also will feature Sean Algaier, a Jenks youth pastor who also competed on "The Biggest Loser."
And if Cahill had never become the Biggest Loser, he wouldn't be spending part of Saturday as a member of the Washington Generals as the team battles the Harlem Globetrotters at the BOK Center.
But as the winner, Cahill pulled out his pocket calendar and said: "My schedule is filling up. I'm doing a lot of shows. I'm in and out of (Los Angeles) all the time."
Just a few days before, he appeared on "Larry King Live" and was scheduled to appear on an episode of "The Doctors," among other television appearances.
To illustrate how Cahill's hectic lifestyle affects his diet, the Biggest Loser told a story about how his flight back to Oklahoma had been canceled the day before.
Soon after that flight cancellation, Cahill opted for pizza over healthier choices.
"I said, 'I'm in a hurry, I just got my flight canceled and I'm getting a pizza' (a little personal pizza) and I ate it," he said.
"But you know what? Today, I flipped the switch back on to where I'm really going to watch what I eat."
After all, as Cahill said, he's reached a maintenance-level weight that allows him certain food liberties.
"You can eat some things that are normal everyday foods," he said. "You just stay away from certain things like 'fried' and 'sauteed' and you just say, 'I'll take the baked fish.'"
The weight
As of early January, Cahill weighed about 200 pounds. But, really, his winning 191-pound weigh-in was partly the result of water-depletion.
"I hadn't been eating salt at all, so my body was not retaining very much water," Cahill said.
"So I go out, and start eating salty foods, and I'm not cooking and —
bam
— a gallon of water, which is eight pounds, flies on me."
Three or four days later, Cahill weighed 205 pounds.
"I was swollen with water," he said.
"Then I settled in at about 200. That's about where I am. I've got about 15 pounds of skin on me, too. In real life, I'm about 185, which is where I want to be, except I want to build some muscle. I look for building muscle up, taking skin off and ending up at 200, where I'm at now."
In the process, Cahill will train to run in April's Boston Marathon, despite "Biggest Loser" trainer Jillian Michaels telling him, "Are you crazy? Drop out now."
Instead of dropping out, Cahill told Michaels he "needed something out there that I was going to do that's going to make me keep going. If I look at that date, I know what I've got to do to get there."
Plus, running the marathon is yet another way to motivate his fans to change their own lives.
"I've received countless e-mails about how motivational and inspiring just me being on the show was," Cahill said.
"I can't let that sit. That's like taking your money and sitting it in a bank account that doesn't draw interest. You need to put it to work.
"Other people need to be blessed by what I was blessed by."A
year before Danny Cahill entered, and eventually won, NBC's "The Biggest Loser" contest in early December, the Broken Arrow land surveyor stood in front of 60 people and made a bold prediction.
"I feel like it's my destiny to be on the show, win it and lose more weight than anybody ever has," Cahill said during a self-empowerment seminar in Dallas.
DANNY CAHILL AND SEAN ALGAIER
When: 9 a.m. Saturday
Where: Chick-fil-A, 11201 E. 71st St.,
461-0777
HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS
featuring Danny Cahill
When: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: BOK Center, 200 S. Denver
Ave.
Tickets: $20 to $107, tulsaworld.com/bok, (866) 726-5287
Matt Gleason 581-8473
matt.gleason@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
Danny Cahill, season eight winner of "The Biggest Loser," speaks to a capacity crowd at the All Pro Dad's Day, a one-hour monthly breakfast where fathers and their children meet while enjoying free breakfast at Chick-fil-A in Owasso. SHERRY BROWN/Tulsa World
Danny Cahill reveals his slim new body at the season eight finale of "The Biggest Loser." Trae Patton / NBC
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