Katarina Bouton might have been sent home in week five of The Biggest Loser, but the 23-year-old Jacksonville, Florida resident has been living her best life with a new sense of confidence and a healthier outlook. Ahead of Tuesday’s all-new episode of the USA reboot, Bouton opened up to PopCulture.com about how her mindset changed after the show and through a painful breakup.
Coming into the Biggest Loser campus, the cardiac nurse admits she struggled comparing herself with her fellow competitors when it came to both weight loss and completing the challenges.
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“It gets to a point where you start to question your abilities as a whole, as well as your abilities on the scale,” she recalls. “A lot of the people on this show were previously thin or former athletes. I have never been that way — I’ve never been an athlete; I’ve never worked out.”
Connecting with coach Erica Lugo, who lost 160 lbs. on her own weight loss journey, helped Bouton move beyond that mindset into one that was competing with herself.
“It’s amazing to have a trainer who knows what I’m going through and knows how to push me without overwhelming me,” she explains. “I was repeatedly proving to myself and surprising myself with the things I can do. It made me the confident person I am today.”
Being sent home so early in the journey “sucked,” Bouton admits, as did coming home to a split from her longterm boyfriend. But staying with keeping active and eating more healthfully, the 23-year-old is having the time of her life as a single woman, even going to the bars with friends for the first time.
“I didn’t have clothes to wear. I felt like I didn’t feel like I belonged in the environment,” she explains, saying now, “I have been going out hoeing out, living the life I never got to live.”
It’s a massive contrast from her life before the experience on Biggest Loser, which consisted of her sticking at home and feeling she had to “overcompensate” with her personality. “I feel like I’m finally being myself for the first time,” she says.
The Biggest Loser airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on USA.
Photo credit: USA
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