‘Biggest Loser’ Rachel Frederickson Speaks Out On Controversial Weight Loss

Season 15 winner of popular weight-loss show Biggest Loser Rachel Frederickson found out the hard way that the public believes even the biggest loser can lose too much.

During the season of the show, Frederickson, 24, lost a jaw-dropping 155 pounds, shrinking from 260 pounds down to 105. Her weight loss totaled 60 percent of her entire beginning body weight. But her dramatic weight loss stirred far more controversy than praise, receiving public backlash from people who deemed her new look to be “unhealthy.”

Frederickson was, of course, elated to be named the winner of Season 15, and naturally very proud of her accomplishments. When the live recording of the finale was over, she was shocked to find that her new look had set social media on fire with negativity, calling her — and the show — out for being unhealthy, complaining that she looked too thin, that her bones were visible, and even that she should be disqualified from the contest because of her low body mass index.

“You know, I did work so hard for the finale and finding myself again,” Frederickson said in an interview with Today. “I felt amazing on the stage. I felt like I shined in my dress. Then I got off the stage, and Twitter was all abuzz.” She added, “I was [surprised], because I felt proud of everything I’d accomplished. My journey was my own, and I loved it; I lived it. So, I felt really proud of what I did.”

But ten months after the Biggest Loser finale and all the controversy that has surrounded it, Rachel Frederickson has published an article addressing the controversy and how it impacted her life.

Frederickson speaks of an unhealthy relationship she had with a foreign exchange student — a man for whom she moved to Germany, and whose poor treatment of Fredrickson caused her to lose her voice.

“It didn’t take long before the voice of a boy I loved started diminishing my self-esteem. His voice told me I wasn’t enough and I believed it. I started listening to a louder voice than my own, and in turn, I lost the person I loved being.”

Appearing on the Biggest Loser, she explained, was where she “learned that my voice had to be stronger than everyone else’s.” Frederickson says that, during those minutes she spent on stage as the winner of Biggest Loser, she had never felt stronger, more accomplished, or more proud — but that those feelings, unfortunately, did not last long. And that once again, she allowed someone other than herself be the voice that she listened to in the controversy surrounding her weight loss.

But that’s no longer true for Frederickson, who has gained about twenty pounds since the finale and, while still very slender, does seem to look much healthier in the photos she has shared. And, much like with the finale on Biggest Loser, Frederickson seems to be finishing strong and wants others to be able to do the same, despite it all.

“There will always be other voices in life. The trouble comes when you stop listening to your own. I am committed to trusting my decisions and standing strong behind them. I found strength in this struggle and I am listening to my own voice again!”

“My question to you is this: What voices will you allow into your life to tell you who you are? Everyone’s voice is powerful. Is your voice going to be one that tears others down or one that lifts this world up with positivity, hope, and love?”

So it seems as though Frederickson does agree that you can lose too much — when it comes to your own voice, that is.

Rachel Frederickson is not the only person to achieve the very difficult goal of losing a dramatic amount of weight, of course — check out this 22-year-old’s amazing transformation here.

[Images via Today and CNN.com]