http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24159091/?GT1=43001

The Biggest Loser: ‘I am a whole new woman’
Ali Vincent, the first female winner of the hit show, shed half her weight

By Bob Considine
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 8:58 a.m. MT, Wed., April. 16, 2008
Ali Vincent reveals a new formula to the world, after winning season five
of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” on Tuesday night. The hairdresser from Mesa,
Ariz., lost more than half her body weight, but gained a whole new
perspective on life.

“I am a whole new woman,” Vincent told TODAY’s Lester Holt on Wednesday.
“There are no limits. There are absolutely no limits and I started to dream
big again.”

Vincent, 32, started the show tipping the scales at 234 pounds and ended it
weighing 122 pounds. Although her overall weight loss of 112 pounds was
less than second-place Roger Schultz (164 pounds), “The Biggest Loser”
winner is determined by weight-loss percentage.

By shedding 47.86 percent of her weight, Vincent became the first female
winner of “The Biggest Loser.”

Said her trainer, Jillian Michaels: “She’s a dream come true for me. I just
think she’s inspiration incarnate and she’s sending a message to women out
there that when you connect your mind and your body and your attention,
anything is possible.”

Second chances
In her youth, Vincent, then a synchronized swimmer, said she was “the one
everyone wanted to date.”

But in her 20s, she saw that she “literally got fat five pounds at a time.”
She was prompted to do something about it when she started “not getting as
much affection.”

She decided to try out for “The Biggest Loser” with her mother, Bette-Sue
Burkland. Despite some early success, Vincent and her mom were voted off
the show in the fourth episode.

Vincent, however, remained undaunted.

“I was like, ‘Nobody can take this away from me,’ ” she recalled. “I’m
going to do it. I’m going to go back there and I’m going to stand on that
stage, even if it’s with the at-home people, and I am going to be the
Biggest Loser.”

Fortunately for Vincent, the show, in an unforeseen twist, was bringing her
back.

Even better for her, she lost 33 more pounds on her own — while no longer a
contestant for the show.

She teamed with Michaels upon her return to the show. Michaels described
their workouts as “beatings — eight hours a day. Sometimes 10 toward the
end.”

And Vincent was in for the long haul.

“The tears ended after about week three,” Michaels told Holt. “It was just,
‘Tell me what I need to do.’ She just took every single order. She did
everything that I asked for.”

Continued rewards
Vincent pocketed $250,000 for her losing ways. After taking a red-eye
flight from California to New York, one of the first things she saw was a
copy of USA Today with a “Got Milk?” ad featuring her chiseled self.

“That is, like, strength, you know?” Vincent said of the picture. “I feel
like that’s what beauty is — to feel strong and confident. And I feel like
in that picture. When I saw that [picture], I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh. That’s
what I wanted. That’s what I’ve been going for.’ ”

Vincent hopes her dramatic weight loss will put her in a better position to
achieve her goal of becoming a platform artist for a large corporation.
Until then, she is enjoying her role as an inspirational figure for those
looking to lose weight.

“I’m going to continue to go for what I want,” she said. “My physical being
is a direct representation of what I feel inside, which is strong and
confident and beautiful.”

“This show is not only a piece of pop culture,” Michaels added. “It’s doing
real good in the world and it’s because of people like Ali inspiring
millions.”