Biggest Loser Host Bob Harper: Im Healing After Heart Attack
As a trainer and host of NBCâs hit show The Biggest Loser, Bob Harper seems to be the picture of health. However, after reports that the 51-year-old recently had a serious heart attack, he took to Instagram to update his followers.
On Monday night, he shared a of himself, writing, âI am feeling better. Just taking it easy.â The photo shows him with his rescue dog Karl, whom he calls âa great nurse.â He also thanked fans for their support. âIt feels good to be cared about,â he says. âIâm lucky to have such good friends and family to care of me right now.â
A second post, which he captioned âon the road to recovery,â shows Harper wearing heart monitors. âIâm required to wear these monitors to see what my heart is doing throughout the day,â he explains, thanking his followers again for their kind words.
It can be surprising to learn that a health and fitness professional has had a heart attack. âSome peopleâs hearts are more prone to dangerous heart rhythms due to structural or electrical heart abnormalities, regardless of whether their heart has blockages that might cause a heart attack,â says James Beckerman, MD, a cardiologist in Portland, OR.
To cut your chance of having heart disease, you can manage your blood pressure, control cholesterol, be active, eat healthy, lose excess weight, and quit smoking.
Weâre glad to see Harperâs doing better, and we wish him a speedy recovery.
What Dissolves Artery Plaque
HDL is like a vacuum cleaner for cholesterol in the body. When its at healthy levels in your blood, it removes extra cholesterol and plaque buildup in your arteries and then sends it to your liver. Your liver expels it from your body. Ultimately, this helps reduce your risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.
Getting To The Heart Of The Matter
Coronary artery disease is the most common kind of heart disease. It is the leading cause of death in the United States.
It occurs when the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart muscle itself become narrowed by a build up of plaque. Plaque is made up of cholesterol, fat, calcium and other substances from the blood.
Narrowing of the arteries leads to a decrease in blood supply to the heart muscle. This can lead to the symptoms of chest pain or even heart attack if the narrowing is severe enough, or if part of the plaque breaks off and blocks a smaller part of the artery.
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What Is A Widow
The anterior interventricular branch of left coronary artery, , or anterior descending branch) is a branch of the left coronary artery. The coronary arteries supply the heart muscles with oxygenated blood. Blockage of this artery is often called the widow-maker infarction.
This term is used because the left main coronary, and/or the left anterior descending supply blood to large areas of the heart. This means that if these arteries are abruptly and completely occluded it will cause a massive heart attack that will likely lead to sudden death. The blockage that kills is made up of platelets streaming to the site of a ruptured cholesterol plaque. Even a small amount of plaque in this area can rupture and cause death.
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Get Bobs Heart Attack Survivor Tips
As a survivor, Bob has learned to move forward by working with his care team and finding a treatment plan that worked for him. He shifted from solely focusing on physical fitness to making room in his life for tranquility, mindfulness, and emotional wellness. He chooses to make his second chance about paying it forward and showing other survivors that theyre not alone on their path to recovery.
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Trainer Bob Harper Had A Heart Attack: Does This Mean Were All Doomed
5 years ago |
Joy Stephenson-Laws, JD, Founder
When a fitness guru suffers from a heart attack, where does that leave the rest of us? Thats what Bob Harpers heart attack, just a few weeks ago, is leaving many people wondering. You may know Bob Harper, 51, as star trainer turned host from NBCs The Biggest Loser. He has authored several weight loss books and appeared in workout DVDs.
Its been reported Harper suffered from a heart attack while working out in a New York City gym. A doctor sprung into action, administering CPR and using a defibrillator. He remained unconscious for two days and eventually woke up in the hospital. Harper says genetics are to blame. His mom suddenly died from a heart attack.
Now, Harper says hes feeling better and on the road to recovery, according to recent posts on his social media accounts. A recent post shows him with wires. Im required to wear these monitors to see what my heart is doing throughout the day. I feel like a robot from WESTWORLD, the post says.
While Harper sounds optimistic, spectators from the general public does not know what to make of this. Here are just a few examples of comments from the TMZ article about the incident:
So does family history seal our fate?
Whole genome sequencing may give you a better picture of your genetic predispositions, which may not only help you to make informed choices but those in your family as well. Read about our experience with the test here.
Enjoy Your Healthy Life!
The New Season Will Try To Show That Its About The Off
He said his recovery process made him better able to empathize with contestants, who were also undergoing a dramatic, and often intimidating, lifestyle change.
I went from doing most intense CrossFit, to: I couldnt walk around a city block without feeling winded, Harper said. I had to change everything. I had an emotional struggle and identity crisis, and that really humbles a person.
One of the shows trainers, Erica Lugo, also has personal experience with significant weight loss, having lost 160 pounds herself, and surviving thyroid cancer.
She really brings a whole other level to the training of the contestants, Harper said. Wait til you see the personality this girls got. Im nervous for anyone that tries to make an excuse to her.
The show will still determine its winners based on the scale, and the Biggest Loser title comes with a cash prize awarded for the most weight lost. But Harper said he hopes contestants, and viewers, will recognize the progress and process beyond the numbers.
We have, and celebrate, the on-scale victories, but its about the off-scale victories too, Harper said. There are a lot of different types of weight loss. At the end of the day theres only one biggest loser, but all contestants have the opportunity to be winners.
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He Leans On His Medical Team
Prior to February 2017, Harper would head to the doctors office for a routine physical exam every now and then. I didnt see doctors very much and I would kind of get nervous when Id go to the doctor, he says. And now, Im very comforted by having a doctor. Im working with a team of doctors that have become a part of my life that are guiding me through this new journey.
Something else that is also completely new for him is taking medication. One of the things that was a really big wake-up call for me after I had a heart attack was when my doctors told me Id be more likely to have another heart attack within the first year, states Harper. I said, Okay, you tell me what I need to do. He was instructed to leave the hospital with BRILINTA, a prescription drug for heart attack treatment. Today, Harper is working with AstraZeneca, the company that distributes the med. Teaming up with them has been very personal for me because I am a heart attack survivor. It was such an organic fit.
And he hopes his experience will inspire others to establish a relationship with their physician. I remember Savanah Guthrie from the TODAY show reached out to me and said, When I heard this happened to you, I immediately went to my doctor, he concludes. I thought that was so powerful because I want people to be proactive. I dont want you to just look in the mirror and say, Damn, I look good. I want you to be able to see your doctor and make sure that you are good.
He Wants The Biggest Loser Contestants To Realize That Fear Cannot Control Their Lives
A post shared by Bob Harper on Jan 14, 2020 at 12:35pm PST
When he was announced as the host for the revamped Biggest Loser, Harper said he cant wait to help a new batch of contestants start living their best lives.
Ive learned a lot over the last two years since suffering a heart attack, said Harper. I know more than ever that its about overall health and living your absolute best life inside and out, plus finding ways to overcome the everyday obstacles that we all face. That is what we are doing with the show. We are going to be changing lives and it is going to be big. I cannot wait to get started!
Then during the premiere, he told the contestants how fearful he was after his heart attack, but he did not let the fear take over his life.
When I woke up in the hospital, I felt really embarrassed and I was consumed with fear. I was so afraid I used to be doing crazy Olympic lifting workouts and now I couldnt walk around the block because it was just too hard, Harper tells them in the premiere episode. When I finally, after almost a year, got cleared to go into a gym, I was petrified of being in that gym. I would have panic attacks when my heart rate would go up. It was a really tough time for me, but I moved forward and I did not let the fear consume me. We all have reasonable fears, you have a right to feel afraid. But now its time to face those fears.
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Bob Harper On His Heart Attack: ‘i Had What They Call A Widow
That Sunday morning, Feb. 12, Harper, 51, had joined friends at the gym. After his regular workout, he dropped to his knees, then fell to the floor and stopped breathing.
“I had what they call a ‘widow-maker,”’ he said. “It was a 6 percent survival rate, and the fact that there were doctors in the gym when I had the heart attack saved my life.”
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In a quick-thinking move that likely saved Harpers life, one of his coaches immediately located two doctors in the gym who were able to perform CPR and administer a defibrillator, a device which delivers a dose of electric current to the heart. Paramedics arrived quickly and used the defibrillator on him for a third time before rushing him to the hospital.
“It was super scary for me because I woke up and I was so confused,” he said. “I was like Dory from ‘Finding Nemo’ because I had this short-term memory, so I was reliving the heart attack over and over again.
“I was like, wait, why am I here? What happened to me? And 10 minutes later I was asking the same thing and getting super emotional.”
Mapping Human Health Together
The Heart Biomarker Study is part of Verily’s Project Baseline. Born out of Google X, Verily is Alphabet’s healthcare and life sciences arm focused on making health data useful and actionable so people can enjoy healthier lives. Project Baseline is an initiative to map human health, launched in 2017 to address one of the most fundamental challenges of clinical research: accessibility. Less than 10% of Americans participate in research today, due to challenges including the historical difficulty of participation and lack of transparency around the research process. Project Baseline is focused on approaching clinical research in new ways, from the breadth and complexity of data collected to fostering greater partnership with participants.
Building on the Project Baseline Health Study — a landmark initiative to develop a platform to collect rich, complex health data — this year marked Project Baseline’s expansion into new areas that require deeper scientific exploration, starting with heart disease. Research Goes Red, a collaboration with the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women movement, launched in February to improve the underrepresentation of women in heart research. Now, the Heart Biomarker Study joins these efforts to increase the speed of discoveries, and ultimately improve healthcare.
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Biggest Loser Trainer Bob Harpers Heart Attack: Why It Can Happen To Anyone
Can a heart attack happen even if you are relatively young and fit? Yes, and genetics can play a role.
Biggest Loser host and personal trainer Bob Harper is recovering from a heart attack that left him unconscious for two days, People reported today. The fitness celeb reportedly collapsed two weeks ago while working out at the gym, and was recently released from the hospital after an eight-day stay.
But Harper, 51, is hardly your typical heart attack victim: Hes relatively young, hes super-fit, and hes built his career on getting people healthy. Although the specifics of his experience havent been shared, we do know one thing: Its an important reminder that even people with no obvious risk factors can still have underlying heart disease or problems.
A persons heart disease risk is affected by both environment and genetics, explains Pankaj Arora MD, assistant professor of cardiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. So its possible for someone with a family history of heart problems to live an extremely healthy lifestylestaying active, eating well, not smokingand still have an elevated risk. In fact, Harper does blame genetics for his recent event, saying his mother died young from a heart attack.
Image Source: Getty / Ray Tamarra
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Weight Loss Is Going To Be Controversial Harper Said
The show has been the source of much controversy over the years. Research found that former contestants regained the weight they lost on the show, and developed health issues from attempting to lose weight unhealthily.
The foundational elements of the series still focus on weight loss, including public weigh-ins where contestants stand in just their shorts on a scale. They receive results from medical testing on-camera, having to react in real time to the potential health-related consequences of their weight.
This is seriously exploitative, said Rebecca Scritchfield, a registered dietitian, nutritionist, and author of Body Kindness, a book about developing healthy habits and positive body images without dieting.
Its psychologically problematic because of what the contestants going through, she told Insider. Its using the shame of national TV to drive weight loss. The motivation to avoid public humiliation is going to override any desire to take care of yourself.
Harper said that, behind the scenes, there are safeguards in place to keep the contestants healthy throughout the process, from limitations on how much time they can spend in the gym, to a minimum calorie requirement to make sure no one is eating too little and sacrificing on their nutrition.
However, he expects there will still be a fierce community of critics.
Its a multi-billion dollar business because everyone has an opinion and thinks they know more than the other person, Harper said.
Read more:
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Is Lipoprotein A Hereditary
Genetic variation is believed to account for 75 to 95 percent of lipoprotein level variation in the population. Because nongenetic factors, such as diet and physical activity, do not substantially influence lipoprotein concentrations, a genetic test is well positioned to identify high concentrations.
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Do Any Of The Shows Changes Reflect What Youve Gone Through Like Aftercare
Were giving guests a gym membership and nutritionist for a year, because losing weight is the easiest part keeping it off is the hardest. If you dont take what Im offering and put it into your daily life, youre going to struggle. And theres no finish line: Youre going to be dealing with this forever. When youre able to swallow that pill, youre going to have more success.
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Trainer Bob Harper Fights Back From Major Heart Attack
Celebrity Trainer Bob Harper is known for his toughness when working with clients from The Biggest Loser. But this was nothing compared to the mental and physical toughness he would need to overcome an almost devastating medical condition. Seven weeks ago, after training at a New York gym, Bob Harper collapsed to the floor. He was not breathing, and his heart had stopped. Fortunately, a club trainer found two doctors working out at the club and they were able to perform CPR and use a portable defibrillator on him before the paramedics arrived.
Harper was in a medically induced coma for two days and had two stents placed in his coronary arteries to prevent another heart attack. Hes been closely working his way back to health, and in a first public appearance since the incident, talked to Savannah Guthrie on the Today show this morning.
Harper said that he was incredibly grateful to be there: I had what they call a widow-maker. It was a 6 percent survival rate, and the fact that there were doctors in the gym when I had the heart attack saved my life. He said that he doesnt remember anything about that day, and kept asking his friends why he was in the hospital after he woke up.
Harper admits the adjustments have been hard. Hes had some depression. You really face your mortality. And Im really understanding whats important in life.