Despite snapping a bone in her leg because she was “being a little too competitive” during a challenge early in the season, Columbia’s Teri Aguiar made it to the penultimate episode of “The Biggest Loser.” 

She also appeared on the 10th and final episode, which aired last Tuesday night, and spoke to the Republic-Times ahead of it airing about her time on the show. 

“The experience was definitely a blessing,” the 47-year-old said. “There’s so many people now who are in this experience with me to support me. It’s just been so much more than I thought it would be.” 

Aguiar, who started the show at 256 pounds, was at the show’s facility in New Mexico for 10 weeks and spent a total of 12 weeks away from home while  filming. 

She lost 70 pounds, which was good for 27.34 percent of her starting weight and third place in the $25,000 at-home prize. 

Aguiar said she is about halfway to her goal weight even though she was in a walking boot and on crutches because of her injury. 

“It was a significant amount of weight to start this journey and have the tools to move forward from hear,” she said. 

So far, Aguiar said that has gone well because she has maintained her weight loss since coming home and returning to work as a flight nurse. 

“I was very worried while I was on campus because I’m very aware of the things that caused me to fail before in weight loss and fitness,” Aguiar said. “I think I worked most of that out on campus. The really great thing is we have so much support coming home.”

That support includes a dietician, trainers who check-in regularly and a gym membership. 

While Aguiar said that support system is critical to success, not having all those pieces in place cannot be a barrier for those looking to get in better shape because excuses must be overcome. 

“There will always be excuses,” Aguiar said. “It’s going to be about what my priorities are in life. It’s going to be about valuing my health and my future. And it’s going to be a daily decision to make good choices.” 

The effort has been worth it for Aguiar, who said she enjoys “feeling fit again.” 

“The sweetest part of that is being able to bring that home and now do that with my family,” she explained. “Being able to run with my kids, being able to go for a bike ride, being able to jump in when they say ‘hey mom, let’s go sledding’ – these are all things that I just didn’t think I’d be able to do again.”

“It’s pretty amazing to think after 20 years of not making fitness a priority you can get to a level where you feel amazing again,” she added.  

That has been particularly nice given that Aguiar said the most challenging part of the show was not the workouts or diet changes, but being away from her loved ones.

“The hardest part was being on campus without connection to our families,” Aguiar said. “I think it was necessary to minimize distraction and to really cause us to focus on what it was that got us to where we were.” 

In addition to finding a support system, Aguiar offered a few more tips from her time of the show that anyone can employ on their fitness journey. 

“Any movement you make in a forward direction is still movement,” Aguiar stressed. “No matter how slow or small you start, it is always worth it. I think the biggest thing is just don’t give up and start somewhere, even if it’s small.” 

For more advice and to the entire season of the show, watch it on streaming services like Hulu or on usanetwork.com.