For some people, weight-loss might be a longing for the old days. They want the sleekness of their youth.

"I never had that," said Ron Morelli, one of the eight finalists on the "Biggest Loser" reality show. "I don't have anything to look back at; I've always been big."

He was 200 pounds at age 9 and kept growing. He had reached 520 before having gastric-bypass surgery in 1995; he shrunk to 360 for a while, but was back to 430 when he started the show.

He's much less now; so is his son, Mike, also in the final eight. As the most recent episode (March 24) concluded:

-- Ron had gone from 430 to 317. He's 6-foot; at 54, he's retired in South Lyon, Mich.

-- Mike had gone from 388 to 264. He's 5-foot-11; 18 when taping began (the youngest "Loser" contestant ever), he had just started his freshman year at Michigan State University.

There are plenty of others who could use the show, Ron Morelli said. "If you just sit outside Wal-Mart, where you really see middle-America, probably 50 percent of the people are overweight."

Or more. One report (by the National Center for Health Statistics) said 60 percent of adults in his home state of Michigan are overweight.

That report said only 10 percent of the state's high school kids are overweight. Morelli was, for reasons he can't explain.

"I had seven brothers and sisters and most of them never had a weight problem," he said. His parents tested him for glandular trouble, but found no solution.

Weight became a constant. After a hip replacement in 1998, he sold his food-distributorship. He had diabetes, high blood pressure, immobility. "I would sit on the couch and ask someone to get me something."

More disturbing was seeing the pattern repeated. His younger son, 17, is 6-foot-2 and 410 pounds.

When "Biggest Loser" had a casting call near their home, Ron and Mike went. "We stood in the rain for six-and-a-half hours," Ron Morelli said. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me."

On Sept. 22, they began their secret exile to the "Biggest Loser" ranch. "We had no TV, no cell phones, no computers," Morelli said. "We couldn't text anybody."

He was allowed to explain it in confidence to colleagues on the South Lyon city council. Still, the council considered removing him due to absences; the vote failed, 3-2.

At the ranch, the routine was simply to work and sleep, Morelli said. "Everyone brought cards, a few people brought games, but there was never time. I'm a big card-player, but I don't think I played more than three times. The monopoly game was never cracked open."

That first week, Ron lost 32 pounds and Mike lost 22, bringing a key immunity: Other duos had to each send one person home, but they were exempt.

"It made a huge difference, because the game is as much mental as physical," Morelli said. "Having someone else there made all the difference."

It was still tough, though. NBC implies that the March 31 episode -- taped long ago -- shows Ron Morelli with a medical emergency.

If so, he survived. His blood-pressure has dropped to normal, he said; his diabetes symptoms have disappeared. "I just feel so much better."

ON TV:

"The Biggest Loser"

7 p.m. Tuesdays

NBC