Fitness guru and reality TV coach Jillian Michaels didn't hold back from admonishing some of her biggest fans at the second annual She Expo on Saturday.
Almost immediately after taking the stage at the Chattanooga Convention Center, Ms. Michaels asked for questions from the audience, and it didn't take long for her to chide a petite blonde woman who said she wore size-2 pants but was worried about her "large thighs."
"You need to go and see a therapist and work on your body image," said Ms. Michaels, wearing flip-flops, an orange T-shirt and pageboy cap. "I say this to you actually from just the bottom of my heart. The problem is in your head."
On stage, Ms. Michaels -- best known as the tough-love, boot-camp style fitness coach on NBC's reality show "The Biggest Loser" -- alternated between offering practical advice to questioners, such as how to exercise while injured and choose the right foods at the store, to rebuking women for unrealistic and negative outlooks on their bodies.
"We as women constantly feel like it's just never good enough," she said. "Why do we do this, you guys?"
But Ms. Michaels also ripped on the food industry and "toxic" ingredients, such as high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils that are used to preserve foods and make them cheaper, but with deadly consequences for consumers.
In an interview with the Times Free Press before her speech, Ms. Michaels emphasized that eating real foods -- including those with fats and sugars, in moderation -- is the key to a healthy diet.
"If it didn't have a mother, if it didn't come from the ground, if it's unrecognizable to you, don't eat it," she said.
"TOXIC" INGREDIENTS TO AVOID* Hydrogenated, or partially hydrogenated, oils (trans fats)* High-fructose corn syrup* Artificial sweeteners (including Splenda, Sweet 'N Low, Equal)Source: Jillian MichaelsJILLIAN'S HEALTH TIPS* Minimize temptations: If you're enticed by commercials aired during your favorite TV show, don't watch them. TiVo the show and fast forward through commercials.* Change your driving route to work to avoid the McDonald's.* Eat real food: "Everything is OK in moderation, provided it's real food."* Choose wild rice over white rice: "It's like night and day."* Get creative with exercise to continue losing weight while injured. For a lower-body injury, try swimming or boxing, for instance.
Ms. Michaels also discussed her new reality show "Losing It" -- a spin-off of "The Biggest Loser" that ended last year -- in which she works intensely with a family for one week to help them improve their health. Working with people in their homes amid their daily lives is a world away from "The Biggest Loser," she said.
"'The Biggest Loser is a fantasy,'" she said in the interview. "We take the contestants out of their homes, they're put on this ranch, it's like Neverland. ... You're not seeing them in their home, with their kids, in their marriage. ... It's really intense, kind of powerful stuff."
Ms. Michaels was the main event at the first day of She: An Expo for Women, sponsored by the Chattanooga Times Free Press and Memorial Hospital. The event, which continues today, features more than 160 vendor booths.
Attendance on Saturday was in the thousands, but organizers didn't have a more specific count Saturday, said Lyndsi Sebastian, a marketing coordinator for the Times Free Press.
More than 250 fans lined up to get Ms. Michael's autograph and picture before her speech. Among the fans in line were 34-year-old Dawn Mason, who drove three hours from Rogersville, Tenn., for the event.
"I love Jillian, and I don't know how to say that without sounding psychotic," said Mrs. Mason while waiting in line. "I have all of her workout videos and she's just my inspiration."
Waiting in line to meet Ms. Michaels, Ooltewah resident Elisha Cantrell, 29, spoke tearfully of how the fitness coach's message has changed her life. Ms. Cantrell said she has not struggled with obesity but has long dealt with self-esteem issues.
"I used to look in the mirror 10 times a day and say, 'I'm fat,'" she said. "Always in my mind, I felt like I wasn't pretty enough or good enough. She (Ms. Michaels) made me feel like I could be. Like I could be strong emotionally, as well as physically."
Ms. Michaels wrapped up her nearly hourlong question-and-answer session by telling women to prioritize their own wellness.
"We as women put everybody -- the kids, the spouses, everybody -- in front of ourselves and in essence it just leaves you feeling depleted, run down," she said. "We have to change that. ... Your one responsibility on this planet is to come here and be uniquely and authentically yourself and to be the best you (that) you can be, and that's your contribution here."
