Algonquin man vying to be 'The Biggest Loser'

Julio Gomez of Algonquin hopes to be America's next biggest loser - but in a good way.

Gomez, 40, made his debut on NBC's "The Biggest Loser" this week, weighing 407 pounds.

On the TV show, now in its eighth season, 16 obese people from all over the country work with a pair of trainers to eat healthy, work out and lose weight. The person who loses the largest percentage of their starting weight scores a check for $250,000.

On the first episode, Gomez, the lone Illinois resident on the show, survived an elimination scare and dropped 13 pounds.

By appearing on the show, Gomez says he is fulfilling a promise he made to his daughters - to start getting fit on his 40th birthday.

"To this point, thank goodness, I have not been in bad health," said Gomez, who quit smoking two weeks before the show began taping. "You can only press your luck so much without having something major go wrong with you." As a mortgage loan officer based in Elgin who describes himself as "food obsessed," he says first impressions mean a lot in his line of work. So he uses his charm and sense of humor to help clients get past his appearance.

"I'd like to say that my personality kind of developed from my weight," he said. "You need to get over that initial first reaction when people see you - 400 pounds is a big guy."

But the first generation son of parents who fled Cuba in 1963 didn't always struggle with his waistline.

When he was 18 to 21 years old, he was pretty thin. "But within a year of knowing my wife, I gained 100 pounds," he said. "And she still married me, so I figured she loved me."

He gained another 100 pounds, he said, while Deanna, his wife of 17 years, was pregnant with their two daughters, Alyssa, 14, and Nicole, 11.

Gomez can't divulge how much weight he lost on the show for contractual reasons, but says the show dramatically changed his lifestyle.

He has since incorporated fruits, veggies and whole grains into his diet.

Gomez has also turned biking and working out at the gym into regular family activities.

Although he's had more than 200 friend requests on Facebook and has started to get recognized on the street, Gomez says he could care less about becoming a local celebrity - he's more interested in inspiring other people.

"If I can get one dad like me off the couch and into the gym, then I feel like I accomplished something," he said.

"The Biggest Loser" airs Tuesday nights on NBC at 7 p.m.