Biggest Loser Season 2 “At Home” Winner Pete Thomas and Thrive Research at the 2nd Annual Corporate Wellness Conference
Download as PDFPete Thomas is a real-life Biggest Loser, keeping off 185 lbs since his 2005 win on the popular reality show.
He was the keynote speaker for the Employer Healthcare Congress/Corporate Wellness Conference and inspired folks at the best attended session of the event.
Pete shared stories of his struggles as the child of a mentally ill single parent, often fed fast food or left to fend for himself. Not surprisingly, he never learned about nutrition and turned to food to fill numerous voids.
His life changed after becoming a contestant on the Biggest Loser’s second season. In the keynote, he candidly shared stories about his teammates and their challenges keeping up with Gillian’s killer workouts, and avoiding the “temptation foods” placed throughout the ranch. Ask him about Jordan almonds and you’re sure to get a smile.
After being voted “off”, he continued practicing the skills he learned at the ranch. Returning several months later for the live finale, he became the “At Home” winner by losing the largest total percentage of weight of all the contestants—46%.
Five years later, he’s still at it. Now a full-time motivational speaker and teacher, he encourages folks around the country to, “Master your mind, Manage your mouth, Multiply your muscles.”
He’s a firm believer that educating children and giving them tools for lasting behavior change is the key to combating obesity. He’s involved in programs in his native Midwest and is speaking at the NIH in October.
In both the keynote and our sit-down, Pete echoed a theme heard throughout the Corporate Wellness Conference—self-efficacy.
What is self-efficacy? It’s a fancy term for the idea that you need to find what works for you. And, it’s also about having heroes and positive role models, from reality show contestants to co-workers around the water cooler.
At the conference, employers spoke repeatedly about the importance of self-efficacy in successful corporate wellness programs. Leaders such as Black & Decker, offer employees $1200/year in “Healthy Rewards” toward a choice of gyms, exercise equipment or other programs of their choice. Wellness tool provider Limeade reiterated self-efficacy's importance by detailing how companies like REI and the State of Washington are using personalized approaches to get widespread results.
Pete embodies many of the values, including self-efficacy that Thrive Research teaches and draws on in our online adolescent programs. He’s living proof that with the right mix of training, techniques, and perseverance, everyone can Thrive!
About Thrive Research
Thrive Research’s solutions have been developed with top researchers in the field of adolescent behavior at Stanford University’s Department of Behavioral Sciences. Researchers identify an adolescent need (e.g. eating disorder) and use relevant research to develop and test actual programs. In a collaborative partnership with Stanford University, Thrive Research adds robust online functionality and communication tools to produce and distribute adolescent health, wellness and prevention programs.