My 600 lb. Life

Yes her main mental issue being a personality disorder. Narcissist and manipulator. Horrible horrible woman. I don't believe trauma made her that way. Some people are just bad bad people. I was so shocked when I saw the episode I made my mom and sister watch it too Other people on the show however are really trying and changing their lives.

Btw. good work on your daily success!

KorvapuustiPossu wrote: »

I watch it because I find it fascinating...so many people changing their lives... and then there is Penny....my god, I hate her manipulative woman that never wanted to change.

Penny is the absolute effing worst!!! I have seen every single episode of this show and she's horrible and delusional and I can't stand her. Is it awful that I find myself hoping that maybe she'll be the first one to succumb to her addicition, if ya know what I'm sayin'?

Yes, I watched some of this show about a year ago and it's fascinating. Penny is awful. I can't remember her name but I felt sorry for that woman whose husband married her because she was on the fat fetish sites and when she began to lose weight he was really cruel to her.

I catch shows like that on occasion. I read them as cautionary tales and use them, somewhat shamelessly, for self-congratulatory purposes. (See! I know how to weigh and log things, unlike those people! ) Granted, I was never HUGE (highest weight was 190) but I easily could have been if the wake-up call hadn't come when it did.

I watch the show also, I like the Biggest Loser too. I wish they would show more of the nutritional side of their losses…

I've never seen the show... but I used to live my own 600 lb life (as high as ~680#), but that was long ago and I am certainly not going back to that!

Yes, I agree with scholaris! I always wonder why someone cooks, brings food, drinks, clean up after this person to this mean person who is screaming at them to cook faster, bring more food, etc. I also always wait for the line, "I've put everyone else first." Yeah, right. Call me skeptical, but you weren't thinking of other people when you were making these horrible decisions about your health and shoveling that food in your face. And how is it "putting everyone else first" reconciled with: "You are now so unhealthy you can't attend your kids' functions, everyone has to run around waiting on you, their lives are now dictated by your vast medical problems, and frankly--they're likely embarrassed to be with you in public places"? How exactly is that lifestyle "putting others first"? It isn't. It's horribly self-centered. You have now made yourself and your problems everyone else's main concern--and in many cases (e.g., Penny) that is exactly what you wanted to do. Maybe you didn't set out to become that fat, or that wasn't the way you wanted it to happen--but you have achieved your goal. Then, let's not even talk about the ethical problems of doing this surgery on someone who obviously has psychological issues that are not being adequately addressed. That doctor doesn't give a hoot about that--and my guess is not one of these people is footing the bill for their surgery. They are likely all on Medicaid, unable to work because they are so unhealthy and we are all paying that bill. The doctor is getting wealthier taking the Medicaid money, regardless of how mentally stable these people are. Many of these people are getting surgery without any commitment to a lifestyle change that I can see. But, what do they care? They aren't paying $1800/month for health insurance. It's a train wreck.

I'm a regular watcher of this show. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure, I confess. My husband refuses to watch it as he has no point of reference and just can't understand how people could allow themselves to become super morbidly obese. I find it fascinating, self-motivating and (usually) inspiring. I cheer for the ones that really make change for themselves. I know it is TV and the show is there for entertainment purposes, but these are real people with real issues and real lives. You can't fake being 600+ pounds.

Most of them are surrounded by enablers (like the woman who's mother snuck her fast food into the hospital because she "didn't want her baby to starve"). I think most, if not all, of these people have food addictions, so the counseling side is very important for everyone. The enablers need counseling and education as much as the patients. They don't show a lot about the nutritional side, but these people are all given a strict diet to follow - I think it's 1200 calories a day (sound familiar?). If they do, they lose weight FAST. If they don't follow it, they lose a little or none at all. I hate to see the families continuing to eat crap while the 600 pound person is eating salad greens. Many of the family members are just 100 pounds away from becoming just like the patient!

Ahh, Penny - the one everyone loves to hate. I admit to feeling a great deal of animosity towards her when I watched her episode. She's been given a great opportunity and yet, she continues on her path to an early grave. I'm not a mental health professional, so can't confirm that she has mental health issues, but I'm pretty sure she has a personality disorder. She acts very much like a narcissistic manipulator and her husband is feeding her a continuous supply of emotional caretaking along with all the food she can clip coupons for. He seems to be the typical browbeaten subject of her narcissistic manipulations, paying his dues until she dies. If she lives long enough, she will do this to her son, as well. He's the little one that I feel sorry for in this equation. Poor little guy deserves a mother.

I did appreciate that there was a "Where are they now" follow-up on some of the Season 1 people. Great to see that some of them have continued on their weight loss journey.

Since I don't really consider this educational TV (even though it's on The Learning Channel), I will only allow myself to watch it while walking on the treadmill or doing strength or bodyweight exercises.

Weirdly enough this is my favorite show to watch when doing cardio at the gym. Something about it is so motivating and uplifting and makes me want to push harder in my own workouts. Sometimes it's a little bit TMI though (I'm not good with the surgery scenes lol). Except for Pauline, oh my god she is the worst. Watching her episode made me so angry!! I haven't seen the Penny episode but I hear she's like Penny 2.0 or something

kensreboot wrote: »

I've never seen the show... but I used to live my own 600 lb life (as high as ~680#), but that was long ago and I am certainly not going back to that!

Well Done Congrats!!!

I do watch the show faithfully lol. The show that really bothered me was Pauline. She was the one who made her son do everything for her. He had no life of his own. How very selfish of her. Even after surgery all she wanted to do was eat and complain.
The one last night (3/16/16) really got to me. He got up to 1,001 lbs at the age of 26. So heartbreaking. His mother, who was extremely overweight, was slowing killing him with food.
I told my kids if I ever got bed ridden, they better not bring me junk to eat. No matter how much a beg or throw a fit!!!

These shows tug at my heart because some of the stories are heartbreaking. Especially the ones with the kids caring for the person.

Some family members don't want the person to lose weight. That's tough to watch. In many cases I wonder if it's because they are overweight and like having someone bigger around. They may not realize they think that.

I feel sorry for Penny. She just can't get her mind right. Never want to feel that hopeless. There is vicious hate for her all over the internet.

My favorite was Susie. She was kind of grouchy. She lost her weight slowly. Dr Now complained but eventually accepted her slow but consistent progress. She went from gasping for air from walking 10 steps to coaching a softball team.

You rarely see any of these people or their families eating anything other than fast food and frozen high calorie foods. The portions are crazy. Rarely is a vegetable shown. Could be eating them off camera but who knows. (To anyone on MFP who eats those foods, I am not saying they are bad. I am stating what I see on this show.)

I watch lots of shows featuring people losing hundreds of pounds. I think I watch as a warning to myself. I am afraid I will eat to 600 lbs. While I couldn't eat the amount of food I see these people eat right now, they couldn't always eat that much too. Their weight issue started just like mine, 1 pound at a time.

headofphat wrote: »

Haven't watched. Probably won't. When I see a picture above of a morbidly obese woman in what appears to be a hospital bed and gown eating fried foods (which is probably just a "snack") I get disgusted for a lot of reasons. These people, for the most part, choose to be this way. Please don't come at me with all the medical condition crap...i get it some people do have genuine conditions that need attention but most don't. Here in America we aren't allowed to fat shame or skinny shame but we are allowed to demonize marijuana users. What's a bigger strain on our economy and healthcare system? Rampant obesity or pot heads? Pisses me off. If you're morbidly obese and on a mission to eat yourself to death then good luck with that, but I'm not going to watch a ridiculous reality show about it and sit around and feel sorry for you. Get over yourselves. Please move over when I'm in the emergency room because I'm genuinely sick and you're there because you can't stop eating cake and pizza.

Great! Now I want cake and pizza.

I'm really a nice guy. I think.

Ya know. You are so very far off with your 'pothead' comparison.

headofphat wrote: »

Haven't watched. Probably won't. When I see a picture above of a morbidly obese woman in what appears to be a hospital bed and gown eating fried foods (which is probably just a "snack") I get disgusted for a lot of reasons. These people, for the most part, choose to be this way. Please don't come at me with all the medical condition crap...i get it some people do have genuine conditions that need attention but most don't. Here in America we aren't allowed to fat shame or skinny shame but we are allowed to demonize marijuana users. What's a bigger strain on our economy and healthcare system? Rampant obesity or pot heads? Pisses me off. If you're morbidly obese and on a mission to eat yourself to death then good luck with that, but I'm not going to watch a ridiculous reality show about it and sit around and feel sorry for you. Get over yourselves. Please move over when I'm in the emergency room because I'm genuinely sick and you're there because you can't stop eating cake and pizza.

Great! Now I want cake and pizza.

I'm really a nice guy. I think.

People who get up to these weights are very rarely the "I'm going to just get as fat as I want, and eff everyone else" variety. The vast majority have deep seated mental issues which generally occurred due to severe childhood trauma, and a broken family/enabling system literally feeding into their disorder.