She's not heavy

April 8. 2007

BY DIMITRA LAVRAKAS

Frontiersman

She did Alaska proud. Not just because she lost weight, - 118 pounds in seven months -but because she remained true to herself. She is a genuine, no-nonsense Alaska woman.

&#8220I was a happy person before, and a happy person after I lost the weight,” Kai Hibbard told the audience at the Take Pounds Off Sensibly meeting in Palmer on March 30.

They clapped and cheered wildly.

Last season, Hibbard came in second on the popular, reality TV show, &#8220The Biggest Loser,” and she now does speaking engagements at clubs and conventions.

While waiting to get up and speak, Hibbard hoisted one of the four half-gallons of water she consumes every day, and talked about her experience.

From September to December 2006, she was at the Biggest Loser Ranch in Los Angeles, Calif.

Did she like it?

&#8220It was the most beautiful prison I've ever seen,” she said.

For the first six weeks, she said they weren't allowed to make calls or communicate with their families. When they were finally able to receive letters, they were censored by

the producers.

&#8220They didn't want anyone to know what really was going on,” Hibbard said.

She was even followed into the bathroom, not because she might eat something forbidden, but that she might make a phone call.

After the ranch, contestants went back to their lives and continued to lose weight. Hibbard stayed with a friend in Vermont and discovered she was really an athlete, running every day.

Part of that though, she concedes, was fear of ridicule.

&#8220I still have that impetus, because four million people are saying, ‘I can't wait until she porks up again,'” Hibbard laughed. &#8220People even look at what's in my shopping cart.”

The downside to the fame, was that she became what is called an &#8220exercise anorexic.” She ate only 1,000 calories a day and exercised six hours daily. Her hair started to fall out and friends intervened. She changed her ways and took a more moderate approach to losing weight.

&#8220Yeah, lose 100 pounds, but lose it slowly,” she said.

Even now, she keeps a log book of everything she puts in her mouth.

So where does her career go from here?

Well, for one thing, she has two bachelors degrees, one in criminal justice and one in psychology. She also minored in English. And she was on her way to law school when she was accepted on the show. For sure, she's no dummy.

Now she has to find a job.

For the time she was on the ranch, she was paid $400 a week and her prize money totaled $50,000. She just received the final check, she said.

Hibbard has to charge for her speaking engagements. It's been hard finding a job, she said, because she's being told at job interviews that she would be a &#8220distraction” in the office if she were to be hired.

&#8220I do strongly believe in prayer, so if all of you will pray for me,” Hibbard said when she asked the audience to pray for the dream job she's applied for - anchor and reporter on the local Channel 11 news.

Hibbard will be writing a tell-it-all book and one that details how she really lost the weight.

Born in Kodiak, she just bought a house in Eagle River.

Her life has taken so many fantastic turns, the anchor job just might happen.

She married last year and bought a house in Eagle River. In fact the news of her marriage will be broadcast on Extra and Access Hollywood sometime in the future.

Plucky, intelligent and vivacious, whatever she does, Hibbard will do it in her unique way.

And that's why Alaska girls kick you-know-what.

Contact Dimitra Lavrakas at 352-2269 or valleylife@

frontiersman.com