By Dani M. Stone
Kim Nielsen is used to being in the spotlight. She’s been involved with the WWE, wrestling under the name “Desire,” and later found success with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Kim was in the best shape of her life and even modeled for “Natural Muscle” magazine, but her career ended after breaking her back during a match six years ago. While pregnant with her third child she was secretly grateful for the chance to stay out of the gym and eat whatever she wanted. She quickly put on almost 100 pounds. Now at 252 pounds, she is reluctantly stepping back in to the spotlight of Biggest Loser 13 to compete on the pink team with “stranger” Emily Joy.
Being overweight finds Kim in strange territory. She has always been fit, playing basketball and softball in her youth, and later in high school she was the MVP and all-state athlete for both sports. It was her success as an athlete that inspired her to pursue wresting. At the height of her career she weighed 128 pounds and had only 10% body fat. After gaining 85 pounds in her third pregnancy and then adding on even more, 38-year-old Nielsen admits she simply gave up on herself.
Kim knows she’s fallen in to a trap of excuses in regard to weight loss. She has often said she doesn’t have time to exercise and eat right, particularly being a busy single mother of three. She’s upset with herself for not recognizing the denial and says when confronted by the scale at the Biggest Loser ranch for the first time she felt humiliated by the number.
Although she’s disappointed in the way she has let her health fail, Kim is looking forward to the journey and is already dreaming about what she wants to do when she’s shed some of her weight, including being more active with her kids, wearing a bikini at the beach, and horseback riding.