AUGUSTA, Ga. - NBC Augusta 26 is getting ready for the third season of Augusta's Biggest Loser.

Last year, contestants lost more than a thousand pounds.

Medical experts say being hundreds of pounds overweight takes years off your life. Losing it can be an overwhelming task, but despite the difficulties, some find the strength to take back control of their lives. Two of those people are Augusta's Biggest Losers, Pam Segers and Bernard Milligan.

When we first met Pam she weighed over 300 pounds. She had to walk with a cane and had several health problems. After competing in and winning Augusta Biggest Loser, Pam's got a whole new look.

"I'm a twin and now I'm considered a twin instead of triplets because I weighed the amount of two people," said Pam.

As a ceramics teacher, Pam works with clay. Since Augusta's Biggest Loser, she’s lost the weight of about two and a half boxes of clay or about 115 pounds. She says it wasn’t easy.

To call the workouts the contestants went thought just "tough" would be an injustice to trainers like Barry Allison at The Omni Club. To the contestants, the workouts were nightmares.

Barry pushed Pam hard in the gym and told her how much she needed to improve.

"I laid on the couch and I was hurting so bad thinking about what Barry had said. I told him I'm not going to quit,” said Pam. “I'm not a quitter, so if you want me to quit you're gonna have to kick me off the team."

Pam stuck with it and the results speak for themselves—she changed her life around and will even soon be free of her walking cane now that's she's lost weight and taken pressure off her knees. Pam gets tears of joy just talking about how far she’s come.

"It's a new me and I feel better than I did 20 years ago."

The biggest of all last year's contestants was Bernard Milligan.

For years he didn't even know how much he weighed because every time he got on a scale it would break.

The school teacher went into Augusta’s Biggest Loser at an incredible 421 pounds.

Walking down the school hallway it was impossible to miss him, but today you wouldn't even recognize him.

Weight is usually referred to in terms of pounds and ounces, but Bernard has lost so much you can count the weight he’s lost in students. Two students in his English class add up to about 180 pounds, about amount Bernard shed off.

"When I look at the pants I'm wearing now, I was in a size 66, now I'm in a size 40 and I probably could wear a 38, but it's just the difference,” says Bernard. “My mind tells me even now that 'you can't wear those pants,' but I do everyday."

So what advice does a winner have for the next round of losers?

"It's very difficult, but when you surround yourself with the right people, people who are going in that same direction who can support you, it makes it a whole lot easier," says Bernard.

He and Pam both agree that nothing was easy about changing their eating habits and working out everyday, but they say it was a life changing experience they would do all over again.

If you'd like to be a part of the Augusta's Biggest Loser competition, NBC Augusta 26 is taking applications right now.

Just follow the link: SIGN UP HERE

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