"I crossed out days on the calendar and waited for freedom": Magdalyna Dymyd, one year after "The Biggest Loser", could not enter her former room

The finalist of the Ukrainian show "Zvazheni ta schaslyvi" (the Ukrainian version of "The Biggest Loser" format) Magdalyna Dymyd returned to the project exactly one year after her participation. This time she came not as a contestant, but as a mentor for new participants to share her experience and support those just starting their journey to change. However, as Dymyd herself admitted in a fresh Instagram post, the return turned out to be emotionally difficult: the sight of familiar corridors and doors instantly brought her back to the trials she had endured.

"I never wanted to come back"

Magdalyna openly shared that during her own participation in the show, she did not dream of a repeat visit. Every day on the project felt like an ordeal, and the end of filming was what she looked forward to the most. "I dreamed that the project would end as quickly as possible. I literally crossed out days on the calendar and waited for them to set me free. I never wanted to come back here. Never," she wrote on social media. A year later, according to her, her attitude toward the experience has completely changed: now she sees the project not as a cage, but as proof that transformation is possible.

The door where the "ghosts of the past" awaited

The most emotional moment of the visit was returning to the room where Dymyd lived during her participation. She confessed that she did not dare to go inside: "To be honest, I couldn't even enter my room. I opened the door, and all my suffering, like ghosts of the past, wanted to pounce on me again." Pain, fatigue, despair, and fear — all these emotions, according to her, seemed to be waiting behind the familiar door. "I quickly closed it and decided that it would stay there," the ex-participant added, noting with humor that her "sweat and tears soaked into that grass."

Minus 65 kilograms and a result that needs to be maintained

During her participation in the project, Magdalyna lost weight from 144 to 79 kilograms — minus 65 kg from her starting weight. The result of 45.14% allowed her to enter the top three finalists of the season. However, as Dymyd emphasizes, the end of the show was not the finish line: maintaining the achieved weight after the final is a separate challenge that far from every participant in such programs manages to accomplish. In the photos published on her account, the difference between her a year ago and now is clearly visible, which, according to the plan, should inspire new contestants.

An appeal to those "in their room"

Concluding her story about the visit, Magdalyna addressed the current participants of the show who might be tired and want to give up. "If you are now in your 'room' where everything irritates you and you want to run away as soon as possible, know this: someday you will return here completely different and thank yourself for everything," she wrote. Her return to the project thus became not just a media gesture, but living proof that working on oneself does not end after the final weigh-ins and that the result can and must be maintained in ordinary life.