Who didn’t gasp last night when Courtney Crozier posted the one-pound loss that would send her home? One of Biggest Loser 11’s strongest competitors, Courtney’s body went in to what she’s calling starvation mode; she was not eating enough to meet the physical demands being put on her body. Not even the typically neutral host Alison Sweeney could hold back the tears as contestants and trainers objected to her elimination. The only dry eye in the house was Courtney’s, and with a genuine smile on her face, she assured everyone it was OK that she was going home. “I’m going to finish this strong at home,” she said.
She gives no reason not to believe her. Once weighing 435 pounds, this 22-year-old lost 120 pounds on her own before being cast for season 11. “I never needed the show to do this,” she said. “I did it to accelerate my weight loss.” And accelerate she did. Courtney lost 92 pounds on the ranch, sending her home with more than 200 pounds lost. She is very proud of her accomplishment, as she should be.
We spoke with Courtney following her emotional elimination and she talked to us about her advocacy for Dairy Queen, the family-run business, to make a fat-free, sugar-free frozen yogurt available. She also talks about how the weight loss on this side of Biggest Loser is different than her initial push. “It’s a huge process.”
Courtney’s mission is to make sure other people know that the ranch isn’t necessary to lose weight. “I was going to do this one way or the other,” she says about her commitment to herself and her goal. “You have to want it bad enough for you.” 
Courtney talks a lot about changing her mind, and how once she did that there was no stopping her. “I had to change my mind or I wasn’t getting out of the hole I was in,” she says about the decision to change her life. “I haven’t looked back since.”
The first 30 pounds Courtney lost was done by following Biggest Loser’s 30-Day Jump Start, a book by the show’s nutritionist Cheryl Forberg, RD. She did very little exercise during that time, mainly focusing on adopting new habits and getting her diet under control; something that required her to eliminate a three-times-a-day fast food habit. She said it was a series of conscious choices, and that “it wasn’t that hard.”
Courtney’s biggest milestones were getting under the 300-pound mark, and losing 200 pounds. Her next one could very well be winning the at-home prize of $100,000, something she is certainly a contender for.
If you learn one lesson from Courtney’s journey, it’s that a positive attitude will get you very far. That, and believing that you are capable without the help of the almighty Ranch.