Losing big in Utah

He became a believer last summer when he was hired and his first assignment as a member of the staff was to sign up for a workout week along with the guests.

At 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, Jeff, 28, was hardly overweight, but he did as he was told and at the end of the week had indeed lost weight: exactly one pound.

"But I lost six pounds of fat," he says, "and gained five pounds of muscle.

"It changed me. After the week, I looked at food differently; there's food and food-like substances. Most of what we eat are food-like substances. I changed my diet and it turned me into more of a regular exerciser instead of just doing it recreationally. I ended up doing more exercise in one week than the previous couple of years combined. You can do so much more than you tell yourself you can do."

So goes the beat in a place where more is less and less is more and it's all trademarked. A place where the routine involves, as Jeff puts it, "Lots of crying at the start, lots of confidence at the end." Just like that show on TV.

EMAIL: benson@deseretnews.com