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PLEASANT GROVE — Since high school, Hap Holmstead has chosen family responsibility over sports and his physical health. Now, he is getting chance to focus on himself and his weight on “The Biggest Loser”.
When Holmstead was a kid, he struggled with his weight. Now 26 years old and 403 pounds, he is competing on “The Biggest Loser” to shed the excess weight.
As a 7th-grader, Holmstead tried out for a baseball team. He was told he would need to slim down before the fall season. Over the summer, he worked with a personal trainer to lose about 40 pounds.
In high school, he managed his weight to play on the high school team and for the Utah Baseball Academy on first base and as a pitcher. As a junior, he was contacted by college scouts and as a senior, he was contacted by the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies scouts. A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Holmstead told the scouts he planned to serve a mission. After that, the offers ceased.
After his mission, he married his wife Jasmine, who had written him letters throughout his two-year church mission. He went back to school right after his mission ready to play baseball and was told he would need to shed 15 to 25 pounds of weight.
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With bills to pay, however, he had to put baseball and his education on hold. The same thing happened with football, which had required him to put on between 40 and 50 pounds. And as competitive sports left his life, his weight increased.
“I had to choose family first over sports and it was a tough situation to be in because I had played baseball my whole life and I was passionate about it. So I had to stop playing,” Holmstead said. “There was no other point in time where I’ve been able to just focus on me, since high school. So I was really able to buckle down and focus on what I need to do to to be healthy for myself and for my family so I can better myself for myself and for my family.”
Several years later, Holmstead has two daughters, ages 2 and 3, and a newborn son. He works as a sales consultant and entrepreneur.
Earlier this year, his wife sent him a text about “The Biggest Loser” casting calls. She encouraged him to take the chance and focus on himself for awhile. Frustrated with his unaccomplished weight loss goals, he applied. Tuesday, he appeared on "The Biggest Loser" as a contestant.
“I’ve always loved food and I have a love/hate relationship with every diet in the world. I’ve done every diet known to mankind. I’ve done a lot of exercising as well,” Holmstead said. “But I’ve never been able to stick with a diet and get all the way down to a goal I wanted to be at. Then I got to 403 pounds and that’s when I really said I’ve gotta do something or I’m going to die, I’m gonna kill myself.”
Since June, he has been away from his family working hard with “The Biggest Loser” trainers and taping episodes.
If I can lose the weight and get down where I need to be, the sky is the limit on what I can accomplish for me and for my family.
–Hap Holmstead
“My main motivation to start was to get back into shape to play baseball. And that was my ‘myself’ attitude. It was all about me losing weight to play baseball,” Holmstead said. “But as I went through the process — I just had a son — and I (realized I) want to be a more fit and more healthy role model for my kids so they can live a healthy lifestyle and not have to wonder ‘Why can’t Dad do this with us? Why can’t Dad participate in this activity with us?’ ”
“I want to be that kind of role model for my family. If I can be that role model for my family, then I can accomplish anything. If I can lose the weight and get down where I need to be, the sky is the limit on what I can accomplish for me and for my family.
Though he can’t disclose how much weight he has lost or his standing on the show, he said he has never been pushed so hard mentally or physically.
“Working with the trainers was hell. It was very, very hard. I’ve never done any training in my life that was that difficult,” Holmstead said. “All these people are there to make you lose weight. They are there to help you personally, but they are there to push you. And that’s what they do. They push you beyond your limits. You think you can only run one mile and they make you run three.”
Holmstead said his experience on “The Biggest Loser” is a shared one by anybody who has struggled with weight.
“I had a friend text me and say, ‘Oh you’re going to be a celebrity now.’ And I said, ‘Look. I’m on the same journey as everybody else but I’m on display,’ ” he said.
For others hoping to lose weight, Holmstead recommends plenty of exercise and using scales to measure food. More than anything, however, he encourages people to believe in themselves and their body’s abilities.
“I know that you have to think it and believe it before you can actually do it. If you don’t think you can do something and you don’t deep-down believe it’s going to happen, it’s not going to,” he said.
