So many strange vibes floating around this eighth(!) episode of Fit to Fat to Fit: Fallon JD. It’s another week with a female trainer and this time it’s Fallon, a 29 year old certified personal trainer from L.A. Her initial attitude seems pretty positive, and I am drawn to it because after her intro it’s pretty obvious that her attitude will be changing a lot with her weight gain and that she is going to have a lot of work to do for herself, let alone her client.

JD is a 31 year old man who has a real, actual job of video taping red carpet events. First off, I am seriously jealous that someone can make a living off of such a thing. Secondly, JD is obviously in a bad place health-wise and is coming into this experiment at what seems like a good time. He is very disappointed in himself and how he got to be the size he is. He longs for a family and is tired of being the DFF (designated fat friend). All of his friends are married and have families and he wants the same. He’s just convinced that it is his weight that is holding him back from his goals.

Fallon loves being in shape and hopes that people look at her and think, “how can I get a body like you.” When she’s with a client she makes sure to “push you places you’ve never been before,” and she hopes that gaining forty pounds over four months (and then working to lose it with JD) will prove to him that “if I can do it, you can do it too.” Before these two kids meet up, JD makes it pretty obvious that he is dubious of the whole personal trainer gig and that he’s not sure he can handle a situation where he has someone “standing in judgement” over him. He firmly believes that “just because you’re in shape doesn’t mean that I can do everything you do.” It’s his mantra and it will come into play later in the episode.

When Fallon finally meets JD (yes, all of the previous statements were pre-meeting) she lets him know of her big weight gain plans and he seems impressed. He’s happy that she’s “in this with me–it’s a little more inspiring.” But the heavy duty stuff has to happen before mapping a plan to fitness, and that that includes a weigh in for JD. Turns out that he’s hoping that he’s at about 380 pounds, but he doesn’t know because he hasn’t weighed himself in almost 12 years. It is a rude awakening when it’s determined that he is starting off at 445.5 pounds! This is going to be interesting. Fallon and JD agree to meet four months down the road.

Cue the food orgy, and Fallon letting herself go for the first time in years. After watching seven weeks of people basically making love to anything dripping in grease it seems like sort of a let down. She eats a lot but it’s not fun to watch. I had lots of good feelings towards her until she threw out a sentiment explaining how it feels great to “be like everyone else and blend in for once.” We’ll see how you feel a little later down the road there, Fallon. Starting off at 125 pounds, she is hoping to be 165 pounds by the end of 16 weeks.

Fallon gets off to a good start and gains 19 pounds by the fifth week. She’s beginning to realize that “you don’t have to be skinny to be cute.” By week seven she feels pretty good but she starts to feel scared once in a while. She’s convinced that sugar is the devil.  She has been eating so much sugar that she has to have a tooth extracted! Now that’s dedication. By the time she reaches the two month mark, Fallon is terrified that she is really starting to hurt herself. Her menstrual cycles are becoming erratic and she’s worried that she’s messing with her chance to have kids someday.

After a somewhat useless visit to the doctor (I could have give the diagnosis myself), Fallon is back on track with her weight gain. The doctor visit made her feel better about her sacrifice to the weight gain experiment. However, she’s sad about eating alone in her house instead of hiking with friends and she’s worried she won’t be able to bounce back to her former body. Plus she’s concerned that she won’t be the same person as when she started. I certainly hope not, since that’s pretty much the entire reason for the whole show. She’s exhausted, I’m exhausted and we’re both ready to get the big show on the road.

Fallon reaches her goal weight and is ready to make contact with JD again. The guy managed to lose 20 pounds on his own during the four months and seems ready to get a little workout on. He now has a goal of losing 100 pounds in four months. Fallon will need to lose 41 pounds. JD is impressed with Fallon’s change and feels that he is in good hands.

They head to the beach and she puts him through his first workout.  After a few minutes he begins to cramp up and get really grumpy. Fallon is very concerned, because JD is the most unfit client she has ever trained before and is not sure that he can handle what is coming his way. She finally does some of the workouts herself because she “kind of wanted to show off, but I didn’t even impress myself.” No one is happy after day one. Time to call it a day.

Day three arrives and JD is being uncooperative with Fallon. She can’t seem to get him to do anything. He says that he is too hurt from the first workout (which is probably true) and that she’s “pushing more hard than he’s ready for.” Houston, we have a problem. JD’s in pain and Fallon needs him to learn to “push through pain” and that “pain doesn’t mean stop.” It’s truly a match made in heaven.

By week two JD is starting to believe that Fallon doesn’t know what she’s doing. He’s getting pissed that she doesn’t believe it when he says he can’t do something. Soon JD has missed four workouts in two weeks. Fallon is at a loss as to what to do with him. She continues on with her own workout and mulls the problem over. The workout proves to be more difficult than she was expecting and finally realizes that “maybe I was a little too hard on JD.” It’s time for her to put together a different, more emotional approach.

Fallon sits JD down for heart to heart talk, number one to discuss why things aren’t proceeding well for either of them. JD is extremely honest and  lays all kinds of accusations down at Fallon’s feet. She listens to all of his issues and immediately apologizes for pushing him too hard. They agree to a clean slate and she guarantees that he can trust her and she can help him through the entire process.

Things seem to be getting better for our dynamic duo, with JD even giving Fallon a hat with the words “Sadistic Coach” stitched on. It’s touching in a weird “I love you but I hate you” way, and Fallon seems happy with the gesture. She puts it on immediately. By week six Fallon helps JD complete his first one hour long workout. They both begin to lose the weight and at week seven JD has lost 22 pounds and Fallon has lost 17 pounds! Everything seems to be going so well…

Until JD goes into week eight weigh in with a five pound gain and they are both terribly disappointed.  He insists that he’s only been eating protein bars and kale salads while the video shows him at a working event slipping something with both chocolate and peanut butter into his shorts pocket. Fallon is concerned that JD puts work before his health and that is is really getting in the way of his progress. She knows about the food set out at industry events and doesn’t think he has the willpower to resist. She’s right, but he’s very adamant that he’s not cheating.

Week 10 brings JD three more added pounds. Fallon is appalled and taking it very, very personally. JD goes in for a doctor appointment where he’s told he’s pre-diabetic, has the health of a 60-70 year old man and has dangerously high cholesterol levels. He sits there stunned while Fallon breaks into tears. She is more determined than ever to make JD see that his is basically gambling with his life if he doesn’t make the changes that need to be done. Time for heart to heart talk number two.

Fallon has prepared a written contract for JD to sign saying that he is going to prioritize his health and that he needs to commit to all of the workouts she has planned for him. JD looks miserable and is thisclose to letting Fallon hear all of it. They read the contract together and JD says he can handle almost everything except the part where he has to dedicate more time to working out. He’s already tapped out, and he’s not getting enough sleep as it is. She again tries to convince him to put health over work, and, let’s just say, it doesn’t go so well.

JD basically loses it on Fallon and says he has nothing else to give.  He used to be *#&-ing happy guy and now he’s just miserable.  “Training wastes too much of my time.” He rains a storm of f-bombs on Fallon that she’s probably hearing in her dreams to this day.  She is frustrated beyond frustrated and is very sad for JD, “a big person in a small life.”  She removes herself from the situation and heads on out into the sunset. It’s probably the most real moment I’ve seen on Fit to Fat to Fit and I feel really bad for Fallon–but I feel worse for JD.  Weight loss is not going to happen for him with Fallon and unless he changes his priorities he’s not going to lose weight on his own either.

Two months later we catch up with Fallon and find out that she has carried on with her weight loss and has made it back down to 125 pounds.  She feels like she has accomplished so much and that she’s learned a lot. Especially that “you can’t make someone ready.  You can just motivate them.”  She wishes nothing but positive thoughts to JD and hopes that someday he will be able to make the changes he needs to make to improve his health.

Instead of a victorious reveal to family and friends (and now that I think about it, we only ever saw one friend anyway) we get one final weigh in with JD. He has gained more weight and ends the show at 414.6 pounds. Yes, he lost some weight during the process but never as much as really could have if he had been able to commit to the process. He feels optimistic about where his is and let’s us know that through the entire process the one thing he learned was that “the only person that can really motivate me is me.” Hopefully, someday, he will actually manage to find that motivation.

So, it was an up and down episode this week and I feel fairly deflated. I think JD looks a lot like Jason Segel and I was really looking forward to seeing him thinner and sharpened up a bit. Having been denied that little bit of fun, I do hope that he finds his way to where he wants to be someday. I completely understand how difficult the mind can make weight loss and I hope that he gets over his hurdles and is able to make a little family.

What did you all think of this week? It seemed pretty authentic to me, and I will probably dwell a little longer on this episode than I have on any of the past seven. Let me know your thoughts down below.