Joe Breaks the 300 pound Wall on 'Biggest Loser'

The following is a guest post from Joe Ostaszewski of the Biggest Loser. Look for his posts here every Tuesday after the show.

Week 5 a lot of changes going on with my body & my mind. I made it to my first Goal under 300 pounds. YES I am 299lbs a "Biscuit shy of 300".  It has been a long time so I had to celebrate with an old school dance, the cabbage patch. I know should have done the running man, I don't think that would have been good for the scale.

The changes that are taking place within me are amazing, my mind is finally starting to dance with my body.  The first four weeks were like my old Football two-a-day practices, other than your body being one big bruise from all the hitting, every fiber in my body hurt! I could hardly walk, my body was in shock. I kept thinking "what are you doing, why are you doing this, I can't do this, I'm too old!! You really let your self go Joe.." All of those thoughts were running through my head as I would lie in my bed with a body concussion.. It was at that moment as a single tear rolled down my cheek that I heard what my "Coach"  Dolvett told me "Joe, See the Big Picture."

I knew that every other teammate of mine on the red, blue and white team were all feeling the same as I am. The only difference is, that I had been there before. I had been yelled at, pushed beyond my comfort zone, and even coached myself as a graduate assistant offensive line coach at Florida State University under the best coach in the history of the game, Coach Bowden.  Why was I feeling sorry for myself? No one else made me unhappy; no one else made me this unhealthy.Yes, it has been over twenty years since I trained this hard, no I am not in my youthful 20's, I know that athlete is buried under more than just the excess weight.  It is time to dig deep, put all excuses aside, stop limiting my future by living in the past, and do as I have always done "lead by example".

This is an amazing journey for me, after five weeks, I am seeing the Big Picture!  I want to be whole, I want to live a happy, healthy, authentic life. I want to give back by showing each and every viewer that if you want your life back you can get.  Once you figure out as i did, that there is nothing more precious than the self, you too will take the first step in changing your life.

This week was another tough one for the Red team, we had to vote another teammate off!  This is the hardest part of the show. After being together for a short 5 weeks we have become family, we eat together, train, walk, talk, cry, encourage and depend on each other.   When you're with a group of beautiful people who are at the same place for the same reason, there are a lot of commonalities, each with their own scars, reasons and demons!

The physical workouts exhaust each of us, they make you see more than just the extra pounds you become exposed to all your teammates on the Ranch.

Sending Lisa home was so Hard for me.  She is such a beautiful person, her spirit shines in everything she does, even her singing!  I chose Lisa because I knew that she has such an amazing support system at home with her family, friends, church, work, and  community.  Lisa Rambo is an amazing beautiful person and I am so proud of what she continues to do in her life, and millions of others, she is an amazing inspiration to me!!

Photo: NBC Universal