She’s lost 140 lbs., but just one was her downfall

She may have been voted off the ranch, but Kristin Steede remains the biggest loser among all the women who have ever appeared on “Biggest Loser.” She won’t win the $250,000 top prize, but she’s got something more precious: a new life.

“I’m really excited to start my new life. I’m a brand-new person,” Steede told TODAY’s Al Roker Tuesday, a week after she got booted off in the 16th week of “The Biggest Loser: Couples.”

Steede became vulnerable when she climbed on the scale and showed a 1-pound weight gain after a week of intense exercise. Even so, the 117 pounds she had lost as of Week 15 is the most ever by a female contestant on the hit NBC reality show.

“I had an amazing week on the ranch. Exercisewise, the intensity was a lot higher. For me, I believe there’s a certain time in a woman’s month when her weight tends to fluctuate,” Steede said in explaining her unexpected weight gain.

140 lbs. lighter
Since leaving the show, Steede reported that she’s continued to lose weight and is now down 140 pounds from her starting weight of 360. When she and her mother, Cathy, who was eliminated early in the competition, began their quest, Steede had said she wanted to get healthy so that she could start a family. She told Roker she’s done that. She’s also trying to win the $100,000 that will be awarded to the contestant who lost the most weight after being voted off the ranch.

“I feel wonderful,” she said. “I’m really excited to start a family.”

Steede agreed with Roker’s suggestion that politics played a role in her exit. She had aligned herself with the father-son team of Ron and Mike Morelli, a strategy that others had warned her was risky.

Ron has been clear all along that he’s there to help his son win the competition, which is entering its final episodes. The reality-show bloggers believe that Ron saw Steede as Mike’s biggest competitor for the grand prize, and decided it was time to eliminate her.

When she gained the 1 pound, he had his chance.

Still, Steede said she bore the Morellis no ill will. “I was a little surprised, because we had been aligned with each other since the very beginning, but I knew full well going into the game that there’s a game aspect of it. And Ron never hid the fact that he was there for Mike’s best intention, and I was perceived as a threat,” she told Roker.

‘Crazy’ Bob
As the 28-year-old business owner spoke, clips of her days on the ranch played on a studio monitor. Most showed her straining furiously to meet the demands of her unrelenting coach, Bob Harper.

“I do miss working out with Bob. Bob was amazing to work out with,” Steede said. “The intensity was so high, the workouts were so great, yet you felt just wonderful when you were finished.”

“Was there a point during the exercise when you thought, if you had a chance, you would kill Bob?” Roker asked jokingly.

TODAY Kristin Steede admits there were times she thought her trainer, Bob, was “crazy,” but says she misses him.

Steede laughed before replying, “There were times I thought Bob was crazy. I asked him, ‘How do you come up with these things?’ But I knew if he was making us do it, we could do it.”

A bonus to come out of the experience was becoming a cover girl for Life & Style Weekly.

“Seven months ago, if somebody had told me that I would be on the cover of a magazine, I would never have believed you,” Steede said. “It was an amazing experience.”

On May 12, she and all the original contestants will reunite for “The Biggest Loser: Couples” conclusion.

“The finale is right around the corner,” Steede said with a smile. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

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