We all fell in love with Valley native, fitness trainer, and transformation expert Chris Powell when he was on Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition - but now, Chris is back with a whole new show, aiming to not just transform individuals, but also transform the entire nation.
Appropriately titled, "TransformNation," the free YouTube series debuted a few weeks ago and has already seen huge success.
In one of the first episodes, Chris is seen working with a woman from Yuma, who recently lost her father.
"It's more than a show," explains Chris. "It's a movement...When I was doing Extreme, you could only work with 15 people a year, and that was it. And we'd have 10,000-15,000 people apply every single year, and we had to turn away so many people. And what I always wanted to do was create a participatory experience for everybody who never had the opportunity to transform their lives."
The idea behind the show is that Chris and his team will check in on people at different stages of progress.
"There is no beginning or end to the show," Chris explains. "It is ongoing. We just keep dropping in on people during different stages of their transformation, telling their beautiful stories. Sometimes, they are heartbreaking stories because this is real life."
And it was Rachel Paul's real life that made her realize something needed to change - beyond just losing weight.
"True transformation sometimes is a lifetime journey," says Rachel. "And that's okay. I'm still on my journey, and many of the people we work with are too."
Rachel first met Chris more than a decade ago on Extreme, and the experience ended up being the wake-up call she needed in more ways than one.
"I did lose 145 pounds and I needed to do that to highlight my alcoholism because I was so unhappy, and I thought it was because I was so overweight. And then I lost the weight, and I was still unhappy. And so I was faced with a reality I didn't want to come to terms with, but then I got sober, and I am so grateful. I just celebrated ten years of sobriety!"
Now that Rachel is on the other side, she is coaching with Chris.
"There's a lot of tears," says Rachel. "When they say I know I can do it because I have seen you do it."
To see Powell's show on YouTube, click here.
To sign up for the transformation plan, click here.
