Toma Dobrosavljevic – The Biggest Loser

By starrymag | February 3, 2015

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

 

Q) So can you share what your biggest personal obstacle that you had to overcome to be successful, can you tell us a little more about that?

A) I honestly think it was a combination of the grieving of my father’s loss and just not believing in myself anymore. I think those are two things after losing my dad – I don’t know if it was losing faith or just losing belief in myself and I can’t really see a future for myself. So, being able to really understand where the weight gain was coming from but also understanding how to let go of that grief really, I think, helped me, basically get to the point where I’m at today.

Q) What tips would you share with other people who have to face the same challenge to lose 20 or 200 pounds? And what would you say?

A) I think it’s normal to have the feelings that they’re having and they need to talk to somebody. There’re people out there that are willing to listen and be able to help them go through, get through the issues that they’re dealing with. And understand that there is a future for them regardless of what they think and to truly believe and believe in themselves and they can do anything they put their minds to.

Q) I heard you say on the Today Show that you were a little bit concerned about maintaining and – your weight loss. So what are a couple of things that you’re going to do just to maintain this weight loss?

A) Yes, pretty much – in my schedule, I’ve kind of blocked off 90 minutes a day for myself to concentrate on health and wellness. So for basically 90 minutes, it’s going to be my time to work out, exercise plan my days make sure I have basically a good plan in place. I think there’s a good chance that I could fall back into my past things. So I’ve kind of committed myself to making sure that I give myself at least that 90 minutes a day for me to work out and concentrate on me.

Q) And in that 90 minutes, are you going to do, like, food planning, too, or is that what that 90 minutes is for also?

A) Yes, definitely. Yes, definitely. I would say probably 60 minutes of that is going to be working out, 60 to 75 minutes working out and then the other time is going to be food planning for the week and whatever needs to be done whether it be meditating, stretching, something for me.

Q) Also you said that you found, on the show, that sleep was important and so are you making a better sleep schedule now?

A) Absolutely. That was the one thing that I was really, really surprised with. Our bodies, we definitely need sleep. Sleep is important. Obviously eating well, working out, those are two really important things. Getting enough rest is also the third part of that, I think, of that whole pyramid. And, yes, I mean, I’m definitely going to try to get into a schedule where I can get my 7-1/2 to 8-1/2 hours of sleep and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t, especially with – if I lay out my schedule for the week and plan accordingly.

Q) Compare and contrast how you feel, just, like, going through the day before weight loss and now after weight loss?

A) I will tell you, before weight loss, I struggled to actually even stay awake throughout the entire day. I felt like I needed naps all the time. And when I did start moving, I had a hard time breathing, my joints hurt, my back was sore and I just kind of felt miserable and I really wasn’t happy.After losing all this weight and really, you know, eating well and exercising, I feel amazing. I feel like there’re really nothing I can’t do and I’m looking forward to waking up in the morning and working out and I’ve got plenty of energy to last throughout the day. And it’s just really an amazing feeling.

Q) So I want to talk about the .01% for a second. When you saw Sonya at weigh-in, how confident were you that you had beat her?

A) I wasn’t. Honestly, when she stepped on the scale and she put up her number, I actually thought I had lost. I said it was a good competition and I think she had it in the bag. And I knew Rob was still coming up so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But, yes, I was quite surprised to be able to beat her.

Q) I couldn’t believe it. It was unbelievable. And talking about you and Sonya, you were both on Jen’s white team to begin with. And Jen had two of the top three contestants as a rookie. Can you tell us about Jen as a trainer and how she’s different from the other trainers that have been on the show and are on the show?

A) I can’t really talk about the past trainers but I know I can tell you my experience with Jen was absolutely amazing. She is truly very genuine. She spent a lot of time with us on the ranch put together workout plans for us, gave us tons of homework to do if she wasn’t there, but I think she really, truly invested in us and spent a lot of time with us. Talked about meal plans and not only that, got to know us on a real personal level and truly tried to understand what made us tick and in my eyes, really became a close friend of mine.

Q) I saw you talking about how you wanted to put on some more muscle mass now. Are you still hoping to play soccer again?

A) I am. I am. I definitely want to put on some more muscle mass. And, yes, I’d still like to play soccer. Initially I’m just going to try to go back and play in some rec clubs, rec leagues, soccer with some of my friends. And it’s always been a lifelong dream of mine to try – at least try out for a professional team and so that might be something that I do here in the future.

Q) Could you have lost the weight without the show?

A) I definitely think I could have. I’m not necessarily sure I would’ve been able to lose it in that time period that I was able to do it in. I started losing weight before the show started. However, I’m not necessarily sure I’d be confident enough in myself knowing I’d keep it off. I feel like with the overall transformation that I’ve gone through, not only physically, but spiritually and emotionally, I feel like I’m in a lot stronger place now than if I tried to tackle this on my own.

Q) Did you forge any friendships with your fellow contestants that you will keep up?

A) Absolutely. I think I became really great friends with Jordan and Sonya and Scott Mitchell, all really nice people. And everybody on the initial white team I think we all forged a really close bond. And the entire cast, really, is you know, considered a friend of mine and actually more like family and will be forever.

Q) During the period you were losing weight, like, how many hours a day or how much time a day were you working out and how much did you have to change your diet?

A) So from the beginning my diet had to change drastically. I had to cut out sugar and all those bad things and on the ranch we ate very clean, very healthy foods. As far as working out goes, I initially started out working maybe three hours a day and then as my body became more efficient and it was getting harder harder to lose weight, I had to increase my workouts. So I – probably by the end I was probably working out anywhere between six to seven hours a day.

Q) You’ve become a part of social media. Have you been enjoying that feedback you’ve been receiving while watching the episodes there?

A) Yes, absolutely. It’s been great to hear everyone’s kind words and their support and knowing that I’m also helping inspire them as well to and motivate them to lose the weight. It feels pretty good.

Q) What were some of your favorite moments that stood out to you while you were filming The Biggest Loser?

A) Ooh, some of the greatest moments – there’re – I think every – I feel like every week there was – it was an exceptional moment. I loved the makeover week. I thought that was a great time. I had a chance to really, truly, feel good about the clothes I was wearing, the whole experience with Tim Gunn and Kent Davis and then, of course, my mom and my sister coming out, that was pretty awesome. And then the Hawaii experience was absolutely beautiful and something that I’ll never forget. And then, of course, the finale last night, something that – memories that’ll last a lifetime.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who was a fan and supporter of you while you were on the show?

A) I can’t thank them enough from the bottom of my heart, really. Truly hearing their kind words and their motivational words to me really just kept pushing me. I felt like I didn’t want to let anybody down and I was kind of not only competing for myself but I was competing for them as well. And I can’t thank them enough.

Q) You had such great control over your emotions throughout the season, I think, but it was clear that you couldn’t hide it when you knew that you had won last night. But can you describe what that felt like for you and just being overcome with emotion and excitement?

A)  Oh, it’s overwhelming. It’s one of those things where all that hard work it paid off. It’s one of those things where I didn’t think I was even going to get on, “The Biggest Loser.” I felt like I was blessed and extremely lucky to be on. And then to finally be crowned the Biggest Loser champion, it’s just one of those things where you feel joy and happiness and sadness. You just let go of all that grief that I had a long time ago with my dad throughout this process. I feel like that’s, like, one thing that I can say I fulfilled that promise to him and I have my future to look forward to and it’s just – it’s really hard to put into words other than just unreal and overwhelming.

Q) A lot of former contestants go on to become speakers or trainers. Have you thought about what you want to do next?

A) Well, I definitely thought about a few things. For right now, I want to get back into I want to find a nice routine and a schedule that I can be comfortable with as far as working out and getting back to my normal – my job as a project manager. But I definitely look forward to having the opportunity to do some speaking and I truly did mean – I think I’ve said a few times that I really do want to help others with their health and wellness path as well. The experiences that I’ve had hear at, “The Biggest Loser,” have been amazing and obviously I feel very blessed and I’d love to be able to help other people as well.

Q) I was wondering, compared to what you were eating before you were on, “The Biggest Loser,” what are some of your new favorites as far as meals, foods, that kind of thing?

A) Before I was eating a lot of fast food, nothing really good. So, I’ve kind of cut all of that out of my system now. As far as foods now that I love breakfast foods. I really look forward to breakfast. I used to skip breakfast a lot and now it’s one of my most, I would say my favorite meal of the day. I love having a new egg white omelet with some – maybe some turkey lean ground turkey in there and some onions and some different seasonings. I love avocado. I just feel like since I’ve removed a lot of sugar and stuff and processed foods from my diet, I feel like a lot of vegetables have become a lot more sweet than I realized and even fruits now I never really thought I’d love fruit as much as I do. But it really, truly is a treat when I do eat it.

Q) And what are you planning on doing with your prize money?

A) I still have to really think about that. There’re a few things I definitely want to do. One thing I know I need to do for sure, my bosses have been very generous with me while I’ve been on the show. I still have to really think about that. There’re a few things I definitely want to do. One thing I know I need to do for sure, my bosses have been very generous with me while I’ve been on the show. They’ve basically have loaned me some money and helped me financially while I was working out and concentrating on myself, so definitely going to pay them back because I wouldn’t be here today without them. Also, I’d like to really help my mom out. She and my father were – they mean everything to me and they’ve done everything they possibly could for me. And if I could help maybe pay down some of her mortgage so she doesn’t have to be then be – less stressed out about that, I think that would be a good thing. Of course, if there’s anything left over, maybe some school loans or definitely a new wardrobe. I think I’m a little short on some clothes.

Q) The word skinny kind of has, like, a negative connotation now in our society. earlier in the season that 70% of our population is fat yet somehow we seem to be embracing or empowering people who are chubby, overweight, I mean, even pushing obesity. So the thing with that, and they say that it’s what’s on the inside that matters the most but realistically obese people, the inside is killing them. So, what’s your response to that type of mindset and what’s going on in our community right now with obesity and also the negative perspective we have on skinny. Like Rachel Frederickson last year, people ate her alive when she won yet she’s entirely healthy.

A) Yes, there’re always going to be critics out there, right, and regardless, if you’re – some people think you’re too fat or too skinny. At the end of the day, I think the most important thing is you’re happy with yourself. I think it’s really hard for a lot of us to be happy with ourselves regardless of what weight we’re at. We all think we have an ideal goal weight that we want to get to, where we’re going to be happy at and if you hit that number, everything’s going to – all your pains are going to go away. And that’s not necessarily true because a lot of us have other issues, underlying issues, like myself with grieving the loss of my dad and losing the belief in myself and everything like that. So, losing the weight was definitely – helped me obviously feel better about myself but also knowing that I’m healthy. I fulfilled that promise to my dad. And I truly do love myself and everything about me. It’s something that I truly appreciate and I do tell people today they ask me I want to lose this weight and this and that and the other thing. I said, “The most important thing is you feel good with yourself. You’re comfortable and don’t worry about what the scale says. And the end of the day if your pants feel good and you feel like you’re feeling good on you, that’s the most important thing.” And so that’d be my advice to anybody. Being fit doesn’t necessarily mean being your ideal body weight. Being fit means being not only physically capable of doing things but also being happy with yourself.

Q) I wanted to ask you about is calories. In most of the interviews we’ve had with the contestants this season, almost everyone has mentioned how many calories they used to eat. But people say they don’t want to count calories for the rest of their life so they won’t go on a diet and they won’t do this and that because they don’t want to count calories. But almost all of you have mentioned this. So what do you say to people that say that?

A) I think every diet is different for everybody. The things we’ve learned here at the ranch we were given minimum calorie requirements to hit and we had to make sure we ate. And we can eat more than that if you wanted to, but you obviously have to – if you want to maintain your body weight, you also have to make sure you exercise regularly and do those types of things. Everyone’s resting metabolic rate is a little bit different so a 2000 calorie diet might be good for you. It might not be good for me. I might need to I might need to be at 2400 or 2500 calories. So I will definitely be counting my calories. I don’t know if I’ll always be at 100%. That’s something that’s part of being consistent with what you do. But I think it’s definitely important to have a goal in mind and I think talking to your doctor is really important to find out where your resting – your resting metabolic rate is and understanding what that means for you because what my body needs is definitely different than maybe what your body needs.

Q) Can you tell us how you got cast for, “The Biggest Loser,” and what that experience was like for you?

A) I definitely can tell you that the general thing – the experience I had with it. Really for me was kind of a random experience. My life insurance agent had mentioned one time to me that I should sign up for, “The Biggest Loser.” He knew I was trying to lose some weight. I had lost about 20 or 30 pounds. And then one day I found out, “The Biggest Loser,” was in my hometown and I said, “You know what? I think I’m going to make a run for it and see if I can see what this is all about.” I ended up coming to the – going to the open casting call in Itasca. I should say I think, “The Biggest Loser,” now resort is in Bloomingdale but at that time it was in Itasca. Anyhow, did the process and then just kind of went from there. Got follow up phone calls and filled out some forms and here I am.

Q) You mentioned you planned to follow through with the 90 minute routine every day. Do you have plans for how you will have support now or are there people you plan to work with or?

A) Yes, definitely. I’m really fortunate enough to have a really good support system at home. I have a girlfriend who is also very health and fitness aware. She basically lost quite a bit of weight on her own as well. And she pushes me every day. She’s really the one that helped me get off the couch this past last January and she’s definitely a big motivational factor there. And then I belong to a really great gym and I think the people there continue to push me as well. So I think surrounding yourself with the right people and which I have, I think is one of the reasons why I have been successful thus far and I think I will continue to be successful.

 

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*