My 600lb life

[Twatalert]

I keep watching episodes and there is a lady on today struggling to lose weight prior to weight loss surgery. The doctor sent her home twice or so after she failed to achieve her target wait in order to get approved for surgery.

Finally he sent her to see a therapist to work through emotional issues. I dont get why he sends patients to therapy so late and not from day one as soon as they seek his help?

Many patients report terrible childhood trauma such as rape, drug addicted parents and what not.

Its clear to me that these people are addicted to food and have bigger issues than just a poor diet. You don't send a drug addict home and ask them to come off drugs before getting any other help offered?

It seems to be portrayed as a lack of willpower when they don't achieve there target of losing x amount of weight in a month. I do think it takes some willpower but these people need to work through their issues from day 1.

Just looking at myself, the more I address my own past, issues etc the less the urge to over eat becomes for me. No amount of willpower will be enough to lose the weight I need. Since I have changed aspects of my thinking etc (through therapy and ongoing work on my past and my beliefs) I actually need very little willpower to not over eat.

Good for you 👍
But you're not her/them are you?

Because it wouldn't make good TV.

And Dr Now wouldn't be a millionaire

The thing I always notice is how much the people around them are letting them down - they can’t get their own food and are reliant on people to bring it. So why don’t their family support them by not bringing them the food outside the diet plan?!

There was an episode last week where the lady, Kelly I think, died 😭 It was heartbreaking.

I think they are trying to see if they have what it takes to deal with what’s after surgery, the life style change. And plenty of them are.

If these programs were just about folks getting therapy it would be a much longer and different programme,

I agree with you. I believe that many, if not all morbidly obese people, have a history of abuse from childhood.. It is very sad and the cruelty shown to obese people does not help at all. Please be kind.

Yes there are some awful family dynamics on display. They also seem to almost always have normal sized partners.

@boon

There was an episode last week where the lady, Kelly I think, died 😭 It was heartbreaking.

I watched this one too and it was heartbreaking. Kelly and Dr Now seemed to have a lovely bond.

Binge eating is a mental health need. A type of eating disorder. Particularly to that degree. Research estimates that over a 3rd of people who are morbidly obese have a history of childhood sexual abuse. Sadly providing people with the psychological help they need does not make 'entertaining' tv. Unfortunately the nhs provision for psychological help in weight management is also very poor.

I really like this programme, he doesn't take any nonsense. I like his approach. I've seen episodes where he does offer therapy earlier and they won't go. There's a lot of denial going on for a long time.

I watched one recently where the son was 1,000lb. His mum was feeding him. It was all so messed up.

Some people's lives are such a mess, it's so incredible when they can make positive changes.

@Bluntness100

I think they are trying to see if they have what it takes to deal with what’s after surgery, the life style change. And plenty of them are.

If these programs were just about folks getting therapy it would be a much longer and different programme,

we only see them for a 12 month period. For many we don't know if they are still a healthy weight 2 or 5 years after surgery.

Surely working through past trauma increases the chances of long-term success.

@Rae36

I really like this programme, he doesn't take any nonsense. I like his approach. I've seen episodes where he does offer therapy earlier and they won't go. There's a lot of denial going on for a long time.

I watched one recently where the son was 1,000lb. His mum was feeding him. It was all so messed up.

Some people's lives are such a mess, it's so incredible when they can make positive changes.

True. Maybe too many people actually resist therapy and need to get to a certain stage to accept other help.

Yes I like his approach too. Very much to the point and he sees right through his patients.

It usually does go back to unhappiness I think . I gained weight in childhood because I was desperately frightened . I’m now a 20 stone, desperately frightened adult . It’s incredibly difficult .

NHS often don’t want to know .

Best approach I’ve found was someone talking to me very straight, kindly, but very blunt . That did help .

There is a lot of stigma about morbidly obese people. Its not accepted as a mental illness, which I think it is. Some people literally eat themselves to death.

I wonder if it is easier for an extremely obese person to find the energy and motivation to start working on the psychological issues which impacted on their weight AFTER surgery and a good chunk of their journey back to health. It might be the positive trigger to fixing the source of the unhappiness. Obesity is just a symptom after all. We don’t wait until someone recovers from flu before we give them a painkiller to treat the symptoms.

Some of the families are abusing them. Bringing them fast food onto hospital. It's appalling.

I watched the one last week where James was in the hospital pre op to get his weight down, but kept putting on weight as his wife was sneaking food in. Dr Now was absolutely fuming and demanded that his wife not visit, but James refused, so was removed from the planned surgery/weight loss program. I googled afterwards, and saw that he’d died this year from organ failure due to his excessive weight. In this situation his wife should have been charged with something, as she enabled him to die. He was only 49.

Love Dr Now 'You are not following the plan .....

@AtlasPine

I wonder if it is easier for an extremely obese person to find the energy and motivation to start working on the psychological issues which impacted on their weight AFTER surgery and a good chunk of their journey back to health. It might be the positive trigger to fixing the source of the unhappiness. Obesity is just a symptom after all. We don’t wait until someone recovers from flu before we give them a painkiller to treat the symptoms.

I totally see your point. I can imagine it becoming slightly easier once you start seeing result.

However some of these people are close to death as Dr Now says himself. Some actually need to lose some weight in order for the risk to undergo surgery to become acceptable. Yet he sometimes sends them away to lose 50lb in one month. Strange.

@DrManhattan

Love Dr Now 'You are not following the plan .....

Right? Its a good reality check and debunks a lot of myths around weight loss. Slow metabolism and what not...Dr Now is not having it lol

I like Dr now, but he is a bit of a twat, then again there's no point sugar coating things. At 600lb you wouldn't have to cut back that much to lose 50lb. I do always wonder about the people bring them food, seeing as most are bed bound. Also how come they seem to have nice houses and massive cars, you always hear about so much poverty in USA so how do they all have massive cars? I dont get it.

There was also something about a girl who was a wannabe actress who was found in a state having drank herself there, but was found congealed in her own piss and shit, who the fuck was bringing her vodka!

"You ate too much and you did not move enough"

Harsh but true, for most of us struggling with weight issues.

I also remember an episode where he said that every extra bite is over-eating. Every single extra bite. Even if you just have one extra square of chocolate, it all adds up. As someone who struggles with over-eating this stuck with me.

He's harsh, sometimes doesn't seem very sympathetic, but he's right.

I remember an episode where the woman had lost weight and her husband was driving her home. He stopped to buy burgers or some other junk food and all the time was trying to make her eat.

Also one where the woman absolutely refused to do any exercise at all, wouldn't get out of bed.

Many successes though.

I think quite a few of the women in the show are in relationships with "feeders" - men who are attracted to larger women. It's a form of abuse and control imo. And then if you see a follow up show and the woman has lost weight the marriage has broken down, I really feel for them. It must be so difficult.