My 600 Pound Life?
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levitateme wrote: »Chay's grandmother was obese and died of a heart attack. If that isn't enough to make him want to change, I don't know what is.
The sad thing is she mentioned in a clip while she is sitting in her chair how she is short of breath and her chest is tight. I was wondering why is she not getting medical help? He already said she has medical problems. I was not surprised when she passed. Sad for him, but I just wonder if it could have been thwarted.
They seem to be low income based on their home, maybe they didn't have insurance/resources to get help. It was very sad, and I felt bad for Chay's loss, but he was just making tons of excuses even before his grandma passed. I'm glad that Dr. Now shut him down with "white bread and wheat bread have the same calories." One of the biggest issues I have with the people on this show is that they always claim they've "tried everything" to lose weight but have no concept of calories and how they work.0 -
levitateme wrote: »Chay's grandmother was obese and died of a heart attack. If that isn't enough to make him want to change, I don't know what is.
The sad thing is she mentioned in a clip while she is sitting in her chair how she is short of breath and her chest is tight. I was wondering why is she not getting medical help? He already said she has medical problems. I was not surprised when she passed. Sad for him, but I just wonder if it could have been thwarted.
Yeah, the minute she mentioned having a tight chest alarm bells went off in my head (my father's had 5 heart attacks - he used to smoke like 3 packs a day). It was almost like foreshadowing because then the next scene was the black screen with the message that his grandmother passed away unexpectedly due to heart attack.0 -
They didn't have insurance ok I can maybe buy that, but most low income people use the ER as their family doctor. And if they didn't have insurance they must be insanely rich to afford all the food it took to feed 3 people (2 morbidly obese) and also to afford out of pocket gastric bypass (an elective surgery). Unless the Dr. is doing these surgeries for free (or TLC is paying for them)...
Not trying to start anything, but it just is so sad to see these people pass because someone didn't listen to them enough to care.0 -
They didn't have insurance ok I can maybe buy that, but most low income people use the ER as their family doctor. And if they didn't have insurance they must be insanely rich to afford all the food it took to feed 3 people (2 morbidly obese) and also to afford out of pocket gastric bypass (an elective surgery). Unless the Dr. is doing these surgeries for free (or TLC is paying for them)...
Not trying to start anything, but it just is so sad to see these people pass because someone didn't listen to them enough to care.
I'm pretty sure tlc pays for everything (surgery, Dr. Now), but not sure about that. Weight loss surgery is often covered by insurance as a lifesaving surgery, not an elective but that depends on how obese and how many obesity related problems the patient has.
Lower income people are statistically heavier than high income people. This has been brought up in the thread before. Notice that almost everyone on this show doesn't work and lives in a trailer or a beat up apartment. Food stamps pay for any kind of food. You can buy many calorie dense foods for not very much money.
Obviously someone in the family should have taken her to the doctor, but grandpa didn't seem too with it and Chay wasn't very mobile. Personally, I will avoid going to the doctor even if I think something is very wrong with me because of anxiety and I have insurance. Grandma may have refused to go to the doctor or acted like she was okay. The show wasn't about her, so we will never really know.
eta: my fiance's mother is obese and I think embarrassed about it. She once thought she was having a heart attack and drove herself to the hospital without calling any of her 4 kids because she didn't want to trouble them. Chay's grandma may have felt similarly and then it was too late for her.0 -
levitateme wrote: »I'm pretty sure tlc pays for everything (surgery, Dr. Now), but not sure about that.
I think so too. Does it make anyone else smile every time the caption comes up "Chay is driving to Houston to visit a doctor who specialises in surgery for patients his size"? I always think "Ooh, surprise me! Is it a different doctor?!" Also, how old do you think Dr Nowzaradan (sp?) is? That dye-job isn't fooling anyone.0 -
levitateme wrote: »I'm pretty sure tlc pays for everything (surgery, Dr. Now), but not sure about that.
I think so too. Does it make anyone else smile every time the caption comes up "Chay is driving to Houston to visit a doctor who specialises in surgery for patients his size"? I always think "Ooh, surprise me! Is it a different doctor?!" Also, how old do you think Dr Nowzaradan (sp?) is? That dye-job isn't fooling anyone.
It says on healthgrades that he's 70. I like Dr. Now though. The only thing I wish he'd do is make a point to get ALL of the patients into some kind of counseling. I've noticed on the show that most of the time if they get therapy they tend to do better.0 -
Not all but some obese people receive government benefits from being obese. Aka disability. I know a lady in our town who receives benefits due to being obese. Lower income families also receive government benefits. That probably explains amount it takes to buy food.
I'm sure at his grandparents age, they would receive medicare and all. But I'm just guessing of course.
He did seem very sweet. I liked him alot better than Penny and some of the rest.0 -
MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »levitateme wrote: »I'm pretty sure tlc pays for everything (surgery, Dr. Now), but not sure about that.
I think so too. Does it make anyone else smile every time the caption comes up "Chay is driving to Houston to visit a doctor who specialises in surgery for patients his size"? I always think "Ooh, surprise me! Is it a different doctor?!" Also, how old do you think Dr Nowzaradan (sp?) is? That dye-job isn't fooling anyone.
It says on healthgrades that he's 70. I like Dr. Now though. The only thing I wish he'd do is make a point to get ALL of the patients into some kind of counseling. I've noticed on the show that most of the time if they get therapy they tend to do better.
They all have to undergo a psychiatric eval before they're approved for surgery (never shown on TV though). Yes, they could all use some therapy, but they may be resistant. Or maybe TLC doesn't want them to have therapy to increase the drama.
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They didn't have insurance ok I can maybe buy that, but most low income people use the ER as their family doctor. And if they didn't have insurance they must be insanely rich to afford all the food it took to feed 3 people (2 morbidly obese) and also to afford out of pocket gastric bypass (an elective surgery). Unless the Dr. is doing these surgeries for free (or TLC is paying for them)...
Not trying to start anything, but it just is so sad to see these people pass because someone didn't listen to them enough to care.
I tried to google how much the cast is making being on the show with no luck. However I am sure you have to sign a paid contract to be a cast member on the show and I am going to speculate that the surgery and care is included.
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MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »levitateme wrote: »I'm pretty sure tlc pays for everything (surgery, Dr. Now), but not sure about that.
I think so too. Does it make anyone else smile every time the caption comes up "Chay is driving to Houston to visit a doctor who specialises in surgery for patients his size"? I always think "Ooh, surprise me! Is it a different doctor?!" Also, how old do you think Dr Nowzaradan (sp?) is? That dye-job isn't fooling anyone.
It says on healthgrades that he's 70. I like Dr. Now though. The only thing I wish he'd do is make a point to get ALL of the patients into some kind of counseling. I've noticed on the show that most of the time if they get therapy they tend to do better.
They all have to undergo a psychiatric eval before they're approved for surgery (never shown on TV though). Yes, they could all use some therapy, but they may be resistant. Or maybe TLC doesn't want them to have therapy to increase the drama.
I really, REALLY want to know how Penny got past the psychiatric evaluation. You may be right about the drama side of it though, which is really sad.0 -
I suspect the psychiatric eval is mandatory, perhaps required by Dr Now's malpractice insurance or just the standard of care, which it would be stupid of him to ignore for practical, medical, and liability reasons. My wife is a therapist and she is now doing these evaluations once a month for all patients undergoing WLS. It is required in the hospital where she does this.0
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They didn't have insurance ok I can maybe buy that, but most low income people use the ER as their family doctor. And if they didn't have insurance they must be insanely rich to afford all the food it took to feed 3 people (2 morbidly obese) and also to afford out of pocket gastric bypass (an elective surgery). Unless the Dr. is doing these surgeries for free (or TLC is paying for them)...
Not trying to start anything, but it just is so sad to see these people pass because someone didn't listen to them enough to care.
How is everyone so sure the grandmother didn't go to the hospital? All we know is that they showed the clip of the grandmother saying her chest was tight and then the text was displayed that she died. Not everyone survives a heart attack, even with medical attention - even, in fact, with immediate medical attention.
Perhaps the film crew wasn't around when it happened - I mean the film crew doesn't live at the person's house for days or weeks, correct?
A heart attack can be quite sudden and may initially be mistaken for something else (my grandfather thought he was having indigestion). I think it's jumping the gun a bit to assume that either the grandmother had no medical resources or that they just didn't care enough to take her to the hospital. If the family did think to alert the camera crew in the middle of all this (which would have been weird) we don't know that the hospital, unlike Dr. Now's hospital, didn't say, "Sorry, we do not allow camera crews in our ER Bay sticking their cameras into the ER crew's faces while they are attempting to save old women and no, you may not drag your equipment into our ICU."
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Chat called 911 so it would seem the hesrt attack happened at home. I may be getting my shows confused but for some reason I think it is this show that only has one camera following them. I do not think it is a crew following them 24/7.0
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The first episode I watched was the one for Chay - it made me cry because I just felt so bad for him when his grandmother passed away (my mother passed away when I was about the same age and I know how hard that is to deal with - I went the opposite way for a while and just didn't eat much and lost a lot of weight - I didn't start gaining until I was a bit older) and then when he started to finally follow though, and get the counseling, and lost weight, I admit it totally made me happy. I know when he was in the giving up part after his grandmother passed away I kept thinking that he needs to keep doing it and now he has one more reason - to get healthy and honor his grandmothers memory. She wasn't in it much but I got the impression she really wanted him to lose the weight. When he went to that gym and was exercising I have to admit I thought it was awesome and was really cheering him on - and I normally hate reality shows but this one (well this episode at least) just really got to me.
And he did say that she was at the hospital when she passed away. But I don't remember them saying it was a heart attack so I missed that part but I agree that the tightness in her chest comment just gave me a bad feeling.0 -
Italian_Buju wrote: »OMG ten more minutes in and his grandmother dies?? Poor kid
:laugh: Classic. Good thing I avoided this thread until just now when I got done watching. Gotta say, I'm loving the MFP bookmark feature
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Lourdesong wrote: »Something else I was thinking about, that kind of bothers me, is that a lot of these people are hermits. It makes me wonder how prevalent this super extreme obesity problem is, really. Since these people on the show are the people who had the courage to come forward and expose themselves. It's difficult to imagine how many there are whom lack the courage, and are still suffering silently, with their shades drawn... with no job, no friends, no one knows they even exist except their enablers and perhaps the government who may or may not be cutting them a check every month.
They are definitely out there. I used to deliver home medical equipment, we specialized in wound care. Most patients were paralyzed or amputees or otherwise bed ridden for some reason beyond their control. But there was maybe 5% or so that were in this super obese category. Very sad. Medical equipment companies make an entire line of homecare products for the super-obese (this line is 'politely' referred to as "bariatric"). There is a whole population of homebound people living in the shadows with the blinds drawn. I hated that job but it was a big eye opener to what was out there.
Aside from the people themselves, you'd also be shocked the type of home environments people live in. Just ask anyone who's job involves regularly visiting peoples houses (ie, cable guy, HVAC, plumber, etc). I've seen it all from wealthy million dollar perfect homes to complete squalor - animal feces on the floor worst stench you can imagine homes in the worst neighborhood of town.
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Chays grandmother was actually complaining of chest pains and felt "tight" earlier in the episode. He said in the voice over right after she'd complained that he was worried about her. Poor lady...0
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tracyannk28 wrote: »Crossfitkeke wrote: »I find it can be motivating to watch, until I watched the one last night where the girl was only 23. That pissed me off. To be 650lbs at 23 means her parents allowed her to essentially do and eat what she wanted. That puts the blame on them.
You do have a point, but when I was 11 and about 125, my mom schlepped me to the GP who put me on a 1000 calorie diet (with cottage cheese on the menu, yuck) and then she made me ride the exercise bicycle for 3 miles every day. Great intentions, no doubt. Don't know what effect it had on my body at the time, but it set me up for a lifetime of yo-yo dieting, unhealthy habits and a lot of self-loathing. My own kids went through "chubby" stages at puberty, and while lean and healthy now, they blame me for that time because I didn't do anything about it. Bottom line: being a parent is a no-win situation because we never seem to get it right no matter what we do!!
ditto! I think we had the same childhood...I had to eat cottage cheese and something called melba toast yuk!!
I like cottage cheese and melba toasts lol
mmm melba taost dipped in cottage cheese.0 -
Italian_Buju wrote: »OMG ten more minutes in and his grandmother dies?? Poor kid
:laugh: Classic. Good thing I avoided this thread until just now when I got done watching. Gotta say, I'm loving the MFP bookmark feature
I would never read a thread on a show if I was not caught up on the latest episode, after all, what is the point of the thread if not to discuss the show!
Likewise I stay away from the internet all together if I have not watched the latest episode of certain shows that are most likely to be posted about. It is only not a spoiler once the show has aired.0 -
Italian_Buju wrote: »Italian_Buju wrote: »OMG ten more minutes in and his grandmother dies?? Poor kid
:laugh: Classic. Good thing I avoided this thread until just now when I got done watching. Gotta say, I'm loving the MFP bookmark feature
I would never read a thread on a show if I was not caught up on the latest episode, after all, what is the point of the thread if not to discuss the show!
Likewise I stay away from the internet all together if I have not watched the latest episode of certain shows that are most likely to be posted about. It is only not a spoiler once the show has aired.
Ten minutes in you're giving the mother of all spoilers?? Guess that's why spoiler tags were invented on some forums
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Italian_Buju wrote: »Italian_Buju wrote: »OMG ten more minutes in and his grandmother dies?? Poor kid
:laugh: Classic. Good thing I avoided this thread until just now when I got done watching. Gotta say, I'm loving the MFP bookmark feature
I would never read a thread on a show if I was not caught up on the latest episode, after all, what is the point of the thread if not to discuss the show!
Yup.
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Italian_Buju wrote: »Italian_Buju wrote: »OMG ten more minutes in and his grandmother dies?? Poor kid
:laugh: Classic. Good thing I avoided this thread until just now when I got done watching. Gotta say, I'm loving the MFP bookmark feature
I would never read a thread on a show if I was not caught up on the latest episode, after all, what is the point of the thread if not to discuss the show!
Likewise I stay away from the internet all together if I have not watched the latest episode of certain shows that are most likely to be posted about. It is only not a spoiler once the show has aired.
Ten minutes in you're giving the mother of all spoilers?? Guess that's why spoiler tags were invented on some forums
I was ten minutes in, the show was close to over.......0 -
Italian_Buju wrote: »Italian_Buju wrote: »Italian_Buju wrote: »OMG ten more minutes in and his grandmother dies?? Poor kid
:laugh: Classic. Good thing I avoided this thread until just now when I got done watching. Gotta say, I'm loving the MFP bookmark feature
I would never read a thread on a show if I was not caught up on the latest episode, after all, what is the point of the thread if not to discuss the show!
Likewise I stay away from the internet all together if I have not watched the latest episode of certain shows that are most likely to be posted about. It is only not a spoiler once the show has aired.
Ten minutes in you're giving the mother of all spoilers?? Guess that's why spoiler tags were invented on some forums
I was ten minutes in, the show was close to over.......
Eh. I'm over it. Was mostly just poking fun, anyway. On forums that mostly exist for TV shows I think the spoiler tags help people in a different time zone, or if you inadvertently showed up to discuss an older episode. But that's not our primary purpose here so this is quite sufficient
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Did anyone ever happen to catch a glimpse of Chay's grandpa after his wife passed? Just devastated
Man, the scene where they went out to eat was just brutal to me. On the one hand you should be able to vocally enjoy an epic meal even though you're eating with someone who's "dieting". On the other hand... dunno
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MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »levitateme wrote: »I'm pretty sure tlc pays for everything (surgery, Dr. Now), but not sure about that.
I think so too. Does it make anyone else smile every time the caption comes up "Chay is driving to Houston to visit a doctor who specialises in surgery for patients his size"? I always think "Ooh, surprise me! Is it a different doctor?!" Also, how old do you think Dr Nowzaradan (sp?) is? That dye-job isn't fooling anyone.
It says on healthgrades that he's 70. I like Dr. Now though. The only thing I wish he'd do is make a point to get ALL of the patients into some kind of counseling. I've noticed on the show that most of the time if they get therapy they tend to do better.
They all have to undergo a psychiatric eval before they're approved for surgery (never shown on TV though). Yes, they could all use some therapy, but they may be resistant. Or maybe TLC doesn't want them to have therapy to increase the drama.
Therapy is a pretty private thing. I think the therapy they show on the show is staged, and real services are provided privately. Just my opinion though.0 -
No fast food for me for 6 weeks straight. No carbonated drinks for 6 weeks. No bread for six weeks and being mexican only 4 tortillas in 6 weeks. It's tradition. Haha. Lost 39 lbs in 6 weeks. 0
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sanchezamezcua wrote: »No fast food for me for 6 weeks straight. No carbonated drinks for 6 weeks. No bread for six weeks and being mexican only 4 tortillas in 6 weeks. It's tradition. Haha. Lost 39 lbs in 6 weeks.
Congratulations on losing 39 pounds in only 6 weeks.0 -
I get frustrated with Pauline's story. She say she wants to lose weight but she makes so many excuses and she doesn't want to do anything. She plays the victim and all her crying is irritating. She doesn't take accountability for anything.0
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This thread is quite long, so I haven't read every reply. At any rate, I wish a lot of these shows would focus on therapy as well. Sometimes on this particular show, the surgeon and/or his office will recommend a therapist, but usually not until AFTER the client expresses depression. In a lot of these cases (granted, not all) there seems to be a running factor of some sort of abuse, loss or abandonment which has been self medicated with food.0
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About who pays for what - I happened to notice one of the producers of the show had the same last name as Dr. Nowzardian in the credits. I don't know if it's his son or what.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2890940/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm0
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