All mothers want their daughters to grow up happy, healthy and successful and that was exactly Marci Crozier's intent for her daughter and current participant in the hit TV show, The Biggest Loser. If you don't follow this highly popular reality show at all, basically it's a mix between Survivor and Richard Simmons. It's a show that champions the strength and tenacity of the human spirit and has captured the hearts of many Americans - whether overweight or not.
Marci and her daughter, Courtney, as well as another show contestant from Portland, Oregon, Arthur, had a sort of motivational walk scheduled at Dairy Queen on N. Calumet on the evening of March 29, 2011. Hundreds of people gathered out in the parking lot to get pictures with the recent celebrities and to express their gratitude in the inspiration that they have felt from Marci, Courtney, and Arthur on the show.
"I really thought I was going out there for Courtney," said Marci, her mother. "But once I got there, it just stopped me on a dime, and I realized I needed to be there as much as she needed to be there." Courtney had actually tried out for the show a year ago and wasn't chosen but decided she could lose weight on her own. So she lost 112 pounds, and the producers for the show started calling her and wanting her to try out again. She nearly didn't, but it was still her dream. And her dream is what carried her mother out to the "ranch", where the show was and is still being held.
"I was real stressed out. I had become a workaholic. I wasn't taking care of me. I was making excuses, because I was taking care of everybody else," said Marci, describing her previous condition before the show. "The truth is I can still take care of everybody else. I can do an even better job of taking care of everybody else if I take care of myself first."
Although Courtney was not available for any quotes or pictures, her mother continued her inspirational story. "She told me four months before we even got on this show, she showed me a magazine that had a beautiful dress, an aqua dress," said Marci. "She told me 'Mom, this is the dress that I'm wearing at the [Biggest Loser] finale." Her mother doubted her at the time, but now she fully believes that her daughter can make it to the show finale.
"The truth is that Courtney and I have always been close," explained Marci. "I think the only thing that created a little wedge between us, I know, was her weight. Because I was always on her about it...and she resented it deep down. We didn't talk about it that much, but I know I pushed her too hard." Marci realized during the show that there's a difference between being a mother to your child and being a friend to your child. She talked about how she was not her daughter's friend as a child but her disciplinarian and her mentor. "I've watched her blossom into an adult," Marci said ecstatically. "And now she's my very best friend."
Marci Crozier owns the Cumberland Crossing Dairy Queen in Valparaiso and the Omni 41 Health and Fitness Connection in Schererville, IN. Be sure to follow her daughter who is still trimming pounds on The Biggest Loser on Tuesdays at 7 pm Central Time on NBC. Read about the show and watch past episodes at http://www.nbc.com/the-biggest-loser/
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