Former Teacher and Biggest Loser Contestant Shares Her Journey with UIL
By Jeanne Acton, UIL Journalism Director | Tuesday, September 06, 2011 1:48 PM
Abby Rike,a former UIL State Champion academic coach, talks about her journey of tragedy and triumph with the UIL staff.
Photo by Jeanne Acton
When former Texas speech, debate and theater teacher Abby Rike shares her story about joining the cast of the Biggest Loser in 2009, she draws more than a few laughs.
“As ya’ll can tell by my accent, I am a nice Southern girl,” she said. “Southern girls don’t stand in their nekkid clothes and tell people their weight.”
For seven weeks, clad in only a sports bra and spandex, Abby swallowed that Southern pride and stood on a huge scale with a five-foot display screen in front of America.
She knew she didn’t have a choice. She desperately wanted her life back.
“I thought if I could get healthy, I could start living again,” she said.
And she did. But it wasn’t an easy road, and the laughter faded quite quickly.
Rike shared her story, both the tragedies and triumphs, with the UIL staff at the August staff meeting. Speech and Debate Director Jana Riggins, who taught and coached Abby in high school, played an integral part in bringing Abby to UIL.
“Abby's testimony is so encouraging to everyone she meets, reminding us that no matter what life brings our way, there is always hope,” Riggins said. “Beginning a new UIL season with our schools struggling through budget cuts, a dismal national economy, the Texas drought and record-breaking triple digit heat, causing all of us to wonder about the future, it was inspiring to hear of the journey Abby has taken to discover joy again after experiencing unbelievable tragedy. Her message is inspiring.”
Abby’s story started with a beautiful triumph — love. In 2003, Abby found the love of her life, Rick Rike, at the UIL State Speech and Debate Tournament.
After six weeks of dating, Rick asked Abby to marry him on a debate ballot. She voted affirmative. A definite affirmative.
“We were one of the rare couples who actually liked each other,” she said.
In fact, the couple started teaching and coaching together at the same high school. Together they built “Team Rike” — one of the most powerful speech programs in the state at that time. During their reign, “Team Rike” brought home a Speech State Championship to Canton High School.
The marriage also flourished and the family grew. In 2006, their free-spirited daughter, Macy, received a wonderful new gift – a baby brother, sweet and tiny Caleb.
Then tragedy struck. On Oct. 13, 2006, a car wreck took the lives of Rick, Macy and Caleb.
“After the wreck, I finished the school year,” she said. “I even brought students to the State Meet that year.”
But that summer, Abby “ran away” to southern Louisiana, Houma, where she had family and friends.
“I wanted new scenery, a new place,” she said.
She started teaching freshman English at a local high school and told herself that “this is going to be the best year I can make it. It’s a new start.”
Abby even joined a gym. “Well, I paid the membership each month,” she said.
But the move wasn’t enough to jumpstart Abby back to life.
“I thought. I am going to feel like this for the rest of my life,” she said.
It was a chance meeting that helped her find her path to recovery.
When she finally started going to the gym, Abby met a couple that had been on the Biggest Loser. She subscribed to their blog and learned about an upcoming audition.
After winning her spot on Season 8, Abby who weighed 247 pounds, moved to the “ranch” and began her next journey, which led her right to Jillian Michaels.
“That first day, I went an hour and a half on a treadmill. Without stopping. On an incline,” she said. “It was hideous, sweat-inducing exercise for a girl who hated to sweat.”
That’s when Jillian found an exhausted Abby.
“She told me to lay down, and I thought ‘Thank God,’” Abby said. “But laying down was not what Jillian had in mind. She wanted me to hold onto this bar and hoist my body up 10 times.”
When Abby hit number 10, Jillian stood on her and demanded that Abby lift them both.
“I was so mad,” she said. “I was giving it my all, and it wasn’t good enough.”
As Jillian stood on Abby and yelled at her to keep going, Abby’s path strangely started to change. Her journey back to living was finally starting.
“I realized for the first time since the wreck that I was giving my all to something,” she said. “I realized if I am not failing pretty regularly. I am not living. If you are not failing, you are way too comfortable. Failure is not the end. It’s the beginning to get you where you need to be.”
Abby didn’t win the Biggest Loser, but she didn’t have to. Winning the competition was never her goal.
“I am one of these gals who likes to be strong,” she said. “I was fine. I could do it myself. Sometimes it takes more strength to reach out than stoically suffer alone.”
And during her seven weeks on the ranch, Abby did reach out and as a result, she found herself again.
“I redefined my truth,” she said. “I thought I would never find joy again. I was walking dead on this earth. That was not my truth. I could move forward. I had to redefine what was possible.”
While she lost 100 pounds (46 on the ranch and 54 at home), Abby said the experience gave her much more than just a fit body.
“It provided a platform for me,” she said. “It gave purpose back to my life.”
That purpose now is motivational speaking. She also wrote a book: Working it Out: A journey of love, loss and hope.
“I didn’t seek this out, it found me,” she said.
After the finale of the Biggest Loser, speaking engagements and a book deal fell into her lap.
“Because I stepped out past my fear, my family’s legacy lives on,” she said, “I choose to move forward because I want to honor them. That is what propels me to come here.”
Abby’s strong message revolves around these words: “You can find joy from tragedy.”
“Life is hard, but you will not always feel like you do in the midst of suffering,” she said. “Choose to make everyday the best day of your life. Because it matters.”
Abby has a three-point philosophy that she shares when she speaks. It’s called “The World According to Macy.”
Macy was Abby’s five-year-old, red, curly-haired, free-spirited daughter. She was infamous for spouting out facts about world events as she turned cartwheels in Abby’s classroom.
“Macy had a zest, a zeal, a vigor for life that we all should have a part of,” she said. “Her spirit lives on every time I visit with people.”
“The World According to Macy.”
1. Hold onto each other.
2. Slow down a minute.
3. Be fearless.
Abby wrapped up her presentation with three final thoughts.
1. Act first, feel later.
2. Clear your lens.
3. Take a deep breath and go.
And she left the UIL staff with this message: “May your legacy be large.”