SLIM DOWN—Hannah Curlee from the TV show “The Biggest Loser,” with “before” and “after” photos as she lost 128 pounds on the wall behind her, speaks Oct. 25 at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks. WENDY PIERRO/ACORN NEWSPAPERS Tipping the scales at nearly 300 pounds, Hannah Curlee felt like the biggest loser around.

As it turned out, she was a big loser, but in a positive way.

Curlee and her sister, Olivia Ward, appeared on season 11 of “The Biggest Loser,” a reality TV show on NBC where contestants compete to lose the most weight.

The duo finished first and second on the show, with Ward losing 129 pounds and Curlee 120. Curlee credited her weight loss to healthier choices and staying active during her nine months on the show.

“All those changes start with one step toward your better life,” Curlee told an audience last week during an appearance at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. “I wanted my life back. I had to believe in myself and finish what I started.”

Curlee takes responsibility for her weight gain.

“I was unhappy but no one forced me to eat or stay in bed too long,” she said. “I was in a vicious cycle and so was my sister. We enabled each other by eating.”

Curlee is now a director for the Health to You program, which promotes health and wellness education. H2U is a subsidiary of Hospital Corporation of America, the parent company of Los Robles.

The 32-year-old talked with Los Robles staff members during her three-hour visit on Oct. 25 about the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. After her appearance at the hospital, she addressed an audience at The Oaks mall.

In her talk, Curlee shared lowcalorie menu tips and her weightloss experience on the show.

“It was a motivating presentation,” said Don Adler, imaging system administrator. “There are a lot of things we can do for ourselves that are simple, cost effective and we can implement at the hospital.”

Curlee worked as an executive assistant at HCA before becoming a contestant on “The Biggest Loser.” She now travels around the country sharing her story at HCA hospitals and community groups.

“I love this job. I get to travel and meet many of the doctors, nurses and staff who supported me with emails and letters during the show,” said Curlee, who makes her home in Nashville, Tenn.

Curlee says that when she was growing up in Houston she wasn’t a chubby kid. She was slender and athletic. She attended the University of Alabama to study public speaking and graduated in 2003.

Her passion was playing volleyball, and she had plans to make a career in the sport.

But at 19, Curlee’s athletic dream ended when she fell from the top of a staircase while working at a summer job during college and severely injuring her back. She was bedridden for weeks, and it took two years to recover fully, she said. During that time, her eating habits went out of control.

“I was very depressed that my life as an athlete was over,” Curlee said. “It was a total pity party.”

Over the next decade, Curlee gained weight, up to 289 pounds.

Last year, Curlee’s lifestyle change started with a phone call from her sister asking her to come to Chicago for “The Biggest Loser” auditions. Curlee hung up on her.

Ward sweetened the offer by promising her sister an all-expensepaid weekend in the Windy City and bingeing on Chicago-style pizza. Curlee laughed when she recalled the pizza bribe, an offer she would pass up now, she told staffers at Los Robles.

The show’s audition process was extensive and included medical and psychological testing. She and Ward also had to make a video about themselves and their goals. The sisters were excited when they learned they’d been accepted to compete on the show.

“We could see the light at the end of the tunnel to finally losing weight,” Curlee said.

She and her sister had tried many diets in the past without success, she said. She learned during the show that she had to change her negative attitude to lose weight.

It helped to have the show’s trainers, Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper, barking at her and her sister to work out and eat healthy.

At the final weigh-in, Curlee had gone from 248 to 128 pounds. Today, Curlee is a comfortable 135 pounds. She works out for 90 minutes a day but encouraged her audience to start by setting small, attainable goals.