My 600 Lb Life OMG!!! Part 2

The last two new episodes where really bad I forget their names, but the last one was a drug addict

The women always seem to have a partner who do everything for them, even wipes their ass for them. I go to the gym four times a week, and I'm alone watching a 48 Hours about an obvious closet case on a Saturday night.

r2 Same. There seems to be no end to the line of enablers for these people and I just can't wrap my head around anyone seeing them and thinking "yes, this is what I want to get myself in to!" Weird on every level.

I'm sorry. I have an 80" 4K TV, but it ain't big enough for her.

There was recently a two-part episode about Melissa, one of the first patients on Now’s show in 2012. It shows her life up until around now. She lost what Dr Now said was too much weight, had a baby, gained some but not much weight. Her husband, the one who powdered her fat rolls and wiped her behind, was with her all the way but constantly cheating. He cheated before surgery and after and during her pregnancy and after—and probably all the time.

The majority of obesity enabler’s are abusive cheaters and big old freaks. And if the woman has children and she’s incapacitated by her obesity and there is a male BF around it’s a pretty good chance he’s molesting the children too.

Yes but has anyone noticed that so many of these obese women are with Mexicans? These Mexicans love fat women. I don’t understand.

You don't pay for them through taxes. Their taxes pay for your health care: your sports injuries; your babies; and you living 50 years too long.

The Chrissy Metz story?

r8

[quote]You don't pay for them through taxes. Their taxes pay for your health care: your sports injuries; your babies; and you living 50 years too long.

what are you talking about? they are immobilized. none work. what taxes do they pay?

Aren't most of these sows on disability? I can't imagine them not eating long enough to even work from home.

Yes, most are on disability and food stamps/SNAP benefits.

And sadly you can buy anything on SNAP. I believe 10% of all soda sales are purchased through SNAP

The government can change that very easily:. another food program called WIC -- Women Infant Children. -- pays for healthy food and formula for infants, toddlers and breastfeeding moms.

It's strictly for healthy food:. any fruits and vegetables but only no sugar fruit juice and low sugar cereals like Cheerios. If you try to buy fruit loops or Hawaiian Punch, it's denied.

So SNAP can be programmed similarly but the soda and snack manufacturers would lose huge profits.

If I weighed that much, I think I would put a bullet through my head.

When's this on?

R16 basically that’s what they’re doing but in slow motion. It is morbid obesity.

These attention seeking whales should just cut out the middleman and buy a gun.

8pm every Wednesday night.

They all speak of intolerable pain when they awake in the morning. Can't imagine.

I know the show is an ongoing joke, but I truly find many of these people and their stories extremely sad. People that obese have a mental disorder and are medicating themselves with food. They are drug addicts, but their drug leads them to being immobile shut-ins as opposed to strung-out opiate fiends begging for change on the street. Whenever I watch the show I am always rooting for them to get their lives together, though some are in such deep denial about their problem that I can see how they would be insufferable to actually deal with.

I agree R22. I have learned a lot from this show and really hope these very sick people get help. Profoundly sad. It's great to see those that make the turnaround.

Who’s watching Vianey’s and Allen’s story?

Asante is repulsive. Yet he’s still alive.

R24 I watched it. I felt better for them at the end, but I thought their sad picnic with the grocery bone broth and pack of turkey seemed depressing. At least they were getting out, though, and I guess they probably don’t have money for anything else. How horrible must their life have been if that picnic was their idea of bliss?

I frankly would have taken a shovel to Vianney when she at the last minute realized the documents they needed to get the apartment were packed somewhere in the U-Haul (and still expected the manager to let them have the apartment five minutes before the office closed). Maybe the manager could have waited, but Vianney said she didn’t know where they could be (which I thought was her way of trying to manipulate the manager but feigning helplessness, like “give me my need now). The faces on the guys who helped them move when they realized they were sleeping in the cab of a U-Haul because Allen and Vianney has used all their money for road-trip food and couldn’t afford either a hotel for the night nor to pay their way home...I felt so sorry for these guys.

It IS sad, there's no getting around it. It's especially sad because unlike with drug users, it's really hard to disassociate yourself from these people. Everybody has gotten a sugar high or even a "burger" high (I know I have) and, assuming you're not already in the vicious cycle, you can easily see how someone could get trapped in it.

That's why I like the ones where the "storyteller" is totally unsympathetic. Assanti(s), James K, etc. TLC must like them too since the Assantis now have FOUR episodes just about them.

Also this is one of the only "reality" tv shows that I truly believe is unscripted by the producers (except for the narration, probably).

Do any other unsympathetic characters come to mind besides the ones I said above?

Each new chapter of the Assanti brothers is more perplexing/infuriating than the last. And part four ends on a cliffhanger? WTF?

I disliked the POS witch who had a girlfriend named Erika. Erika stood by this asshat and wanted a life with her; she finally realized that the asshat was only about herself and left.

Who was the very notorious one? John?

They should make this the background music.

I don't remember from the previous M600PL threads; did DL ever figure out what the hell is up with Steven Assanti's marriage?

Even when you overlook his grotesqueness, he's clearly gay as a goose, yet he's supposedly married to a woman. Just a stunt for attention?

R32 Assante is a total attention whore. He was on Dr Phil before 600-Pound Life. He put on a literal shit-ton between the two shows.

He put the "shit" in "shit-ton," R33.

Right now (5-16; TLC) is a story about a horrid woman. Trying to ruin as many lives as she can. Completely unsympathetic person.

Never gets old

Too many of those god damned candy corn cupcakes....

I prefer the scene in which SA throws himself off a moving golf cart hoping to get meds.

How is Assanti still alive??? His legs look like they’re growing legs.

I used to watch this a lot as its kind of fascinating, but then it just gets depressing af. They all have this whiny woe is me voice and make excuse after excuse, almost without exception.

I feel more sorry for any kids they have who are expected to wipe their arses for them. I get its an addiction but come on, why let it ruin their kid's lives? Even if they're making progress it's all about "I'm so proud of myself etc etc, me me me." Nothing about how nice it will be for their families to have their own fucking lives now. Selfish assholes.

r40 he lost weight but kept his atrocious personalty

I can't decide if he's the worst or the "Oww my leg!" guy R42.

R42, did he eventually get the surgery? Sorry, I’ve only started watching the last few years.

R27 Schenae and Lisa. Schenae was the one who asked Dr. Now if he believed in God and Lisa was the one who had her boyfriend buy her food in exchange for sex.

I'm watching the Assanti brothers latest episode right now and I forgot how gross Stephen is. I think part of his shitty personality is keeping those legs uncovered. He could wear long pants like his brother but chooses to have it all hanging out. I noticed that getting out of the cab he seemed to take delight in the driver seeing his gross scaly skin getting all over the interior.

One of my favorite CONTESTANTS is Erica Hall. I liked her. Her sister was a BITCH. She had to literally BEG her sister to go with her to Houston to see Dr Now. Her brother was NO bargain either. He looked like he was a member of a motorcycle gang.

R35, do you mean Angela? What a mess.

Was Angela the one that already had a gastric bypass but gained the weight back and more, the one that said she knew she was losing weight because she could fit in her car?

What about "Lola" the 600 lb transy?

How do they clean all those crevices??

r46 Dr. Now nailed it when he said those legs don't look human. Like, if I had never watched this show I would legit think that was studio make-up... I wouldn't have thought that human skin can basically turn reptilian.

These are people who would never be this fat without food stamps, government housing, “Obama phones” (Stephen Asante), etc. If they had to work to live, they would. They take advantage of systems put in place to save those who might be temporarily in need and they make themselves a permanent drain on society. There are NO examples of people with eating disorders like this pre-Welfare. If you couldn’t work, you couldn’t eat. You might be fat, but you wouldn’t be a human Hostess Snowball.

r53 It could be that these people all have addictive personalities and if the addiction they feed wasn't eating/food, they might instead by drug addicts, where their addiction frequently puts the general public in harms way. Or alcoholics, driving on the roads, etc. So it might be that we're paying them to keep their toxic personalities confined to just themselves and their immediate families, in which case society comes out ahead.

Damn WTF?

Angie J. Was truly horrible-she was such a miserable bitch to everyone

I don’t think anyone gets ahead with these people. The ones who succeed—good for them. The ones who fail and make excuses use resources (taxpayer dollars) that could be used for better purposes. Asante, for instance, routinely went to multiple ERs to get opioids. And he used ambulances.

Most of them have terrible parents. It’s just a hideous first-world problem. They get worse because we give them money; we give them money because they can’t work; they can’t work because we give them money; they use their money to eat.

r57 Calm down Ronald Reagan, it's a little more complicated then that.

Nasty!

It is painful just looking at them.

I can't imagine a shittier existence.

I have never watched the show, just reading these two threads are enough.

I gained about 10 pounds this year, some of it due to medication though the nurse I complained to didn't agree. In any case, I downloaded a calorie and exercise calculator app today. I'm not letting this get out of hand.

I've been fat my entire life.

At 12 I was 198 lbs and the next time I weighed myself at 16, I was 316 lbs. At my fattest I was 378 and I was 286 last summer.

Lately my depression and anxiety have been hard to control and I eat to feel better. I've eaten myself up to 297 lbs.

I know how easy it is to let this go. A scale is a fat person's enemy and is the only thing that can keep us honest.

Will there be a special episode with DL fav Chrissy Metz?

She hold that gut up with some heavy duty garment. That stomach area should be down past her vagina

R58, no one said this is an easy situation. These people are addicted, they come from horrible family situations (parents not paying attention or just signing on for the duration because it’s easier than parenting), they are usually manipulating sociopaths because they seem like victims and they behave like tyrants. Every once in a while you get a jewel who looks in the mirror at the life they might have and they just do the things that need to be done. That’s why the money keeps being spent.

But most of the time you get people who make excuses until they eat themselves to death. They don’t care whose lives get wrecked in their wake, and a lot of times it’s their kids who get shafted. Who really wants to swab their mother’s nethers? What kind of beast would let their kids do it?

You don’t have to be Ronnie Reagan to realize this is usually throwing good money after bad, all to benefit Big Food. If these people had to buy healthy food, they wouldn’t weigh 600 pounds plus.

R62, it sounds like you are amazing. I like what you said about the scale.

I'm watching Allen and Viernay. Pleasantly surprised at how well they did. At the start of the episode, they were some of the biggest eaters we've seen.

You can still be fat and eat "healthy food".

Now I'm watching Cillas, the guy with the "fiancé" who has three daughters. Everybody only ever has a "fiancé," they never get married. Anyhow, the girlfriend is actually not bad looking. What's in this for her? God, the dysfunction in this show.

You know, I get it, so many have suffered abuse and trauma. But has there ever been one who had the guts (heh) to admit they love to eat because it TASTES GOOD?!

Just realized something about this show. It's one reality show that never goes to shit the way they all do - you know, when the cast members start thinking of themselves as stars and creating fake drama. It's all as real as it gets, no faking this stuff.

r56 I just watched that episode and you're totally right, she was a BITCH. It was unreal. And that is a HARD 39 (but then again... drugs--which dr. now sniffed out like a drug-sniffing dog).

Anyone remember the young woman in her twenties with the disabled brother? She worked in wardrobe at a local theatre. She was amazing. She just got on with it and consistently lost weight, exercised and ate what was required. She was a lovely person too, and clearly adored her brother. If I really she was really pretty too, I wonder how she's doing now.

Yes R72, she was one of my favorites. Nikki maybe? I was really rooting for her. I know most people like the trainwreck Assanti type episodes, but I enjoy the ones that feature nice people really trying.

r72, she was definitely one of my favorites. I was so happy for her when she went to buy her first pair of jeans in like 10 years.

She seemed to have a good relationship with her family too.

There was one lady who had the BEST family. A niece and her husband and kids. The niece got the fat aunt a fabulous rental house in Houston (by far the best we've seen) and they all moved down. The niece would cook these excellent meals – grilled salmon with mesclun salad, stuff like that. She seemed a little disgruntled but she really stepped up. And the aunt lost weight, as I recall.

There was ONE gal, in maybe the first season, who lost so much weight she became somewhat anorexic. She didn't seem too happy overall. I wonder how she's doing?

I used to find these stories fascinating but the recent ones have been getting trashier - the stilted narration is also getting to me - why don't they have people just talk instead of reading badly from a script?

R76 I'm not sure many of these folks are good off-the-cuff speakers.

I think the episodes are still ok, and I find the predictable format weirdly comforting.

R75 I think that was Melissa.

[quote]You know, I get it, so many have suffered abuse and trauma. But has there ever been one who had the guts (heh) to admit they love to eat because it TASTES GOOD?!

Of course it tastes good, idiot. But when you're full and you keep eating anyway, it's due to mental issues. Carb heavy foods boost serotonin which makes you feel better - temporarily. Then you need more. You're dealing with people who have a mental illness. It's not a joke. We're not talking about people who simply gained 5 pounds over the holidays. What they're doing is extreme because they have mental problems.

Too many this season are not losing weight. I guess they think it makes better television but I like to see the ones tgat truly transform in a year too.

Assanti Brothers round 2 on RIGHT NOW!!!!!

Who’s in the queue tonight? Is it a new episode ?

[quote]Of course it tastes good, idiot. But when you're full and you keep eating anyway, it's due to mental issues. Carb heavy foods boost serotonin which makes you feel better - temporarily. Then you need more. You're dealing with people who have a mental illness. It's not a joke. We're not talking about people who simply gained 5 pounds over the holidays. What they're doing is extreme because they have mental problems.

^^^ This. Nobody gets to the point of weighing 600 pounds simply because they're lazy or just "like food." It's an extreme condition stemming from an extreme mental disorder.

The new episode tonight is another follow up to the Assanti brothers Steven is doing GREAT

R83 it seems to be a convergence of laziness, habit, genetics, financial status (do they work, how do they buy food), and ultimately mental illness that is acquired.

Like drug addicts, they tend to fare better when completely removed from their situation of origin.

I think Steven sexually abused his brother when they were kids, sick fuck

R85 I think you are right

I mean r86

So Steven, what's with your hair?

This season has feature some really detestable cases.

There was Jeanne, who had a potty chair in the living room that she would hobble to and then her mother would have to wipe her ass. Her mother would also "bathe" her by using a bowl with soapy water in it. The bathing wasn't very effective; when she got to doctor Now's office she had a huge sore on her leg that had feces in it. Jeanne lived in a tiny house with her seriously ill mother and mentally ill father and nine dogs; hygiene was a major problem. At the end of the episode Jeanne just goes back to Ohio with her mother and the nine dogs (the father died during the course of the episode), having accomplished nothing in her weight loss "journey." All she did was bitch and moan and make excuses.

Angela had an oxygen tube in her nose all during her episode. She too, bitched and moaned and made excuses. She suggested to Dr. Now that since she was so good at losing weight on her own (he said if she was good at losing weight she wouldn't weigh over 600 lbs) couldn't she do the program from her home base in Ohio ("there's a first time for everything", she told him)?. Dr. Now said no, so she too went back to where she came from without getting weight loss surgery.

Angie J. is an ugly hog with hideous tattoos and a criminal record. Unbelievably, she has a normal sized husband, who she says eats more than both her and her obese daughter. She goes to Dr. Now for weight loss surgery but she's one of those hopeless cases who just want to lose weight without any effort on her part. Dr. Now gets sick of her pretty quickly; he can tell by talking to her that she's high on something. He tells her she has to go through rehab to continue with the program but she's enraged at being so "disrespected" and quits the program. Good riddance!

I thought the Assanti brothers, schlubby Justin and psychotic Steven, were going to get a "Where Are They Now" episode this season. Did I miss it? Anyway, if I had to pick the absolute worst patient of all it would have to be Steven Assanti. He is the worst of the worst, and that's really saying something.

Great summary r90

R79 Well, no shit, genius, the underlying issues lead to a lack of control in the extreme. Still, for some, the impetus is the physical pleasure of something tasting good.

Fat Doctor on the Only Human channel on YouTube has some bizarre cases.

Who washes the puss?

Another hopeless case this season was Mercedes. She got nowhere in her weight loss program, and at the end of her segment she's in such a bad state that Dr. Now has her immediately admitted to a hospital for an indefinite period of time, probably at least two months.

I liked Vianey and Allen's episode, they were the only people I remember who were honest about eating tons of food being the reason they got so fat, and didn't make excuses or blame others. So many swear they only eat 2-3 meals a day and no snacks.

I genuinely believe these people want to die but for whatever reason--religion, fear--won't take the usual suicide route. They're trying to eat themselves to death.

Add me to the people who got the horrible sense that Stephen Assanti sexually abused his brother.

The woman from Ohio. She was a grandmother at 36! TOTAL WHITE TRASH.

"Even when you overlook his grotesqueness, he's clearly gay as a goose, yet he's supposedly married to a woman. Just a stunt for attention?"

His "wife" looks like a meth-addicted whore. I'm pretty sure her association with him is an attempt to gain money and fame, a pretty desperate attempt. She has a daughter; WHAT is happening to the daughter? Does she have to live with the psycho Steven Assanti? And what happened to his cat "Cupcake?" Did he abandon her? Did he eat her? I always wondered about what happened to that poor cat.

There is a video on youtube of Steven Assanti wearing a towel as a skirt and lip synching to the FLINTSTONES theme song. What a QUEEN!

Even at his enormous weight, Steven has a thin, chiseled face. What's up with that? Imagine if he weren't so overweight- he'd probably have one of those super-thin faces.

I find Pops Assanti entertaining.

"I find Pops Assanti entertaining."

His voice is hilarious. It's like a cartoon voice.

There's significant corrosion on the Assanti chain. Half-witted, all of them.

Is it fetal meth syndrome?

My favorite part of the new Assanti Bros episode is when Dr. Now calls Steven out on taking Justin's pills, which he only knew about because Justin snitched to him! I hope the Steven sexual abuser theory is wrong though, that puts the otherwise circus sideshow-esque entertainment under a VERY dark cloud. Justin sure does hate his brother, though.

Daddy Assanti spoils his sons ROTTEN. He set that stupid hobby business for Justin. I dislike Justin almost as much as Steven. Justin is a FUCKING BRAT.

I made a smart ass comment on Reddit about Dr. Now and I got 15 downvotes. That was my first time posting there, I guess they take things seriously.

Oh yeah r109, he is their god!

I do give Dr. Now credit that he will work with the extreme morbidly obese but he is a bit of a quack. Also when he does any type of plastic surgery on the people he is a butcher, he just hacks off the skin. I remember one of the patients (Zsalynn) went to another surgeon to have the extra skin removed and that was a smart move.

Steven, now.

It’s not hard to imagine their asses stink of fecal matter, urine, sweat, and yeast.

Funny quote from r112 " His voice is different and there is NO RI accent! One can lose fat, but it's really hard to lose a RI accent!"

In case anyone is dumb enough to believe it, that "Steven Assanti" at R112 is a hoax. It' some buff guy pretending to be him. Steven Assanti, as a recent photo of him with his skanky wife shows, is still a blob. And he still has legs like an elephant.

R109 I know several of Dr Now's patients, they all love him. You may have ran into a few yourself there.

Who is the asshole poster who keeps saying that they’re all fat because of food stamps and government assistance, and who can’t spell Steven Assanti.

Who the fuck is “Stephen Asante?” I mean, if you’re smart enough to have figured out the cause and the solution for the obesity crisis, then you should be able to spell a fucking name that has been mentioned 350 times on this thread.

^Calm down.

R118, mom??? What are you doing here?

[quote]I do give Dr. Now credit that he will work with the extreme morbidly obese but he is a bit of a quack.

Could you elaborate on this, R111?

Dr. Now is not exactly what I would call physically fit.

Maybe, r121, maybe I'm not good looking or in the best of shape, but I'm the only one willing to treat your fat ass, so fuck off!

R61, exercise more even if it is taking short daily walks, if you drink soda or alcohol cut those out or cut back. Good luck.

R109 which reddit group did you write about the doctor in?

Here it is R101.

R100 apparently the cat is healthy and doing well.

Steven Assanti isn't exactly "doing well." He's still psychotic and although he's lost weight he's still huge. And still ugly. That pig snout nose with the cavernous nostrils! Those ham-sized hands! The dirt encrusted, elephantine legs and feet! He's still disgusting to look upon. No matter who much weight he loses he's still going to be repulsive.

r126 That's from 2 years ago. The most recent pic of him was taken by someone at a Target a month or so ago in Iowa, you can tell it's him by the leg and no shoes.

But is he using food stamps?

Janine is queued up tonight

Janine is a pain in the ass.

A few bumps but Janine done good. The wig changed her whole look. And her new beau is likeable.

I've never seen a person actually ride a scooter through their house, Janine is a lazy ass

If Janine can get a date, why the hell can't I? I needs me a wig and a fat girl scooter.

R127 I wrote about the cat, not Stephen. We all know that queen is a narcissist with lots of issues.

Tonight's episode was a rerun featured the Assanti brothers. Boy, what a train wreck family. But I completely understood Justin's abhorrence of his brother Steven. He was obviously horrifically abused by him while they were growing up. Did he molest him sexually, in addition to all the physical abuse? I think that's definitely a possibility. Anyway, the show ended with Justin leaving Houston, leaving behind his work with Dr. Now, because he refused to stay in the same city as his vile brother. At the end of the episode Dr. Now tells Steven he's going to do tests to see if Steven is still on drugs (I guess so; he stole Justin's pain medication) and if he is, he implied he would be done with him after that. So what happened? The episode concludes without telling what the tests showed. I would have loved to have seen Dr. Now tell him, that's it, this is over, I'm done with you.

It's been a while since I've watched—where is everyone getting the idea that Steven sexually abused his brother?

"It's been a while since I've watched—where is everyone getting the idea that Steven sexually abused his brother?"

Maybe because Justin hates Steven with her fiber of his being. And because Steven is totally crazy; he seems capable of anything.

R137 because Stephen is a complete nutcase that's why.

New episode tonight that looks like it will be a trainwreck!🐷🐖💥💣

He seems cruel to the young black lady with the baby doll voice. Yes, she needs to get serious, but Dr Now doesn’t need to be so harsh.

The seemingly never ending saga of the hopeless Assanti brothers ended with Dr. Now saying that if the drug tests he was going to do on Steven had anything that wasn't supposed to be there he was done with him. At least that's the impression I got. Anyway, the episode didn't reveal what the test showed, although it was obvious Steven was still a druggie, going so far as to steal his hapless brother's pain medication. It looked as though Steven hasn't come very far on his weight loss "journey." His legs and feet are elephantine.

All these morbidly obese characters seem to be simpletons. Very intellectually dull...boarder line retarted. Their homes are totally devoid of " personality "..sometimes furniture is not even present. Except for an occasional sad dog/cat...or nine...nothing interesting. I recall one large black lady just sitting in her bed staring into space.

On the last episode, Sarah did good. She lost a ton of weight

Those two rednecks from MO were horrible

r143 oh dear, the irony of you saying "boarder line retarted"...

Saw the Sean Milliken episode tonight and it really was heartbreaking. They never mention antidepressant treatment but he clearly had a significant imoulse control problem that I assume would have been greatly helped by antidepressants.

[R145] Spell check sweety... It happens.

The Sean episode is one of the saddest things I've ever seen on TV.

Just couldn't help yourself, r143? Just had to interject race?

R148- I read online months ago that he had died. He was really LOST after his mother died. Dr Now asked him what his life goals were. One of his responses was to have a girlfriend. I didn't buy that. Sean Milliken was a gay boy. He did lots of NEEDLEPOINT to unwind. His father was a useless piece of shit.

I felt bad but I also couldn’t help but be disgusted at him being naked for the EMTs. I mean, really? I had to laugh.

I noticed that too. He was naked in front of that female nurse when he showered himself.

When you're that fat nobody can see your junk unless they dig for it.

I thought that practically ALL the huge patients on this show are shown naked in the presence of medical personnel. Of course they would be; they need help showering or cleaning themselves. Some of them are so big they have to be cleaned as though they are an infant. And of course they need someone to wipe their asses, because they can't do it themselves. It's enough to make you gag, seeing them bending over while some poor nurse or medical assistant wipes and cleans their asses. Can you imagine having a job where you have to do THAT? Yech!

The one lady who lived in that filthy house with her mom had no problem bending that ass over multiple times during the episode.

Sean could’ve put some pants on though.

I saw some of the follow up show on the Assanti brothers. It began with flashbacks and showed Steven Assanti bending over while some poor person wiped his ass. God!. Talk about a fate worse than death! I wouldn't have wiped that psychotic, stinking beast's ass for a million dollars.

Poor Sean. Do DL Queens think he was a gay boy. I do.

Yeah, he was gay, in grief and profoundly depressed. I assume his trauma that prompted this was from his dad? I tuned in halfway through.

I'm watching Susan, gal from I think Texas who had an overbearing mother, cries a lot.. She did super well, is around 200 pounds as I'm watching. And as the weight comes off and her features emerge, she is actually turning out to be quite pretty, kind of a Bette Davis look. Needs her teeth fixed, though, and skin removal. I love when they get the skin removal.

[quote]Steven Assanti bending over while some poor person wiped his ass.

Let me guess — toilet brush with an old beach towel rubber-banded around the bristly end?

I feel like I should find the psychotherapy sessions interesting, but I don't. I usually fast forward through them. Even though Dr. Lola's voice could lull me to sleep like a baby.

I just want to see them eat like maniacs at the beginning.....and then I like to see the scale go down. That's it.

I'm getting good at guessing weights. I just predicted Susan's within one pound.

Did they cancel that skin removal show? I liked it.

I live across the street from a therapist's office, and I've become convinced she's a specialist in obese people (she herself was obese years ago and lost the weight, from my observation). Just now I watched out my window as a young guy arrive for his weekly appointment. Very fat. He sat in his car until it was time to go in, doing guess what - EATING. He's been see her for at least a year and I see no improvement.

R163 It’s so boring.

They showed the episode with Sean again tonight. He was so alone. I think that's why his weight loss efforts failed. He had no one. Poor guy.

Sean was a very sad case. His mother and his own laziness killed him.

r150 I remember on a past episode was Sean just wanted to live in a nursing home. His goal was just to lay around and have somebody wait on him. Sad.

R168 The useless father deserves blame, too.

The grandfather showed no emotion after learning he died. Sad.

I recently re-watched an old one about the two fat brothers who had a testy relationship. One weighed about 700 and the other 550. 550 guy clearly thought of himself as the "skinny" one. Human nature is funny like that.

Over scripted with too many 'Been working so hard' and 'This may be my last chance' type quotes. Production staff should feed their featured fatties some more imaginative lines along with their daily buckets of pizza and donuts.

Agree R172 But other than that I have to say this is one of the realest of reality shows. You can’t fake this stuff. And nobody’s getting fat in order to be on the show – or are they?

The show is obviously scripted. The participants talk about their lives and they all express themselves exactly the same. They're reciting what has been written for them. At any rate, I find this show morbidly interesting. The graphic medical scenes, the nudity, the grotesque effects of massive obesity (maggots in the folds of flesh, being bathed outdoors with a hose, someone wiping and cleaning the anus of someone so huge they can't do it themselves)...it's like watching a horror movie. Only it's REAL.

Maggots? Which fatty was infested with flesh eaters? Fascinating.

That humans are able to reach 1,000 lbs is amazing. I think there is something special about these people beyond mental health (depression/compulsiveness) to be able to acheive that mass.

Having said that, I enjoy watching those who are able to lose weight. I can't imagine eating only 1,200 cals a day (hundreds less than what I eat) and these folks do it down from a 12,000/cals diet.

The late Lisa Fleming's episode showed her with maggots in her enormous folds of fat. Her attempts to lose weight went nowhere; she could not stick to the diet. She had an epic meltdown where she started screaming "This is not helpin' me! This is not helpin'! Actually a lot was done to help her; the problem was that she wouldn't help herself. The episode ended with her going back to Alabama. She eventually died; her family said her death was "not weight related!"

It has to be a requirement to get naked on this show. Every episode we get the obligatory shower or bed bath shot.

I’m surprised the woman who belonged on Hoarders didn’t have maggots.

"I’m surprised the woman who belonged on Hoarders didn’t have maggots."

I guess the one you're talking about is Jeanne. No, she didn't have maggots. What she DID have was feces. She had this huge sore hanging off her leg and it had feces in it, due to her poor hygiene. All her hygiene consisted of was her mother bathing her using a washrag and a bowl of water. And of course she was living in a small, cluttered house with NINE dogs. Jeanne too couldn't stick to the diet and eventually abandoned the weight loss program. I guess she's still alive and existing the way she always was. I felt sorry for her poor, unwell mother. I wonder if social services didn't step in in some way. They were living in such bad conditions.

I missed out on the first thread, but did DL ever discuss LB Bonner?

He was one of the show's success stories (lost 300 lbs), but ended up shooting himself in the head anyway. Sad. He had very kind eyes.

I could never watch people in such despair. It would make me suicidal, and I claim not to like people. I don't, but suffering with no way out is tragic.

r181 They DO have a way out, and MANY of them take it. Dr. Now is one of the most forgiving and empathic doctors I've ever seen; he truly cares about his patients and tries to help them break their bad habits and embrace healthier eating... and many do. Some of the transformations are incredible, and they do it by and for themselves, because ultimately nobody can change you except for YOU.

What I don't get is why SO many of the people are resistant to therapy. Is there a big stigma against therapy among poor people? I would LOVE to have free therapy, but most of the people on the show either openly reject it or just never show up for their appointments. I don't get it.

r180 Sad. Is he FTM?

I think the therapy is THE most important part of the weight loss process, and no diets should be started until therapy is completed. These people are compulsively eating, and until they understand why they overeat, they will continue to do so.

Dr. Now should first insist the patients complete therapy, with the next step to lose 50-100 pounds on their own, then and only then talk about weight loss surgery.

What I don't get: how can these people afford all the food and fast food they eat every day. None of them have jobs. Who pays for the therapy, surgeries, hospital stays and physical therapy? How can they afford this without jobs and health care? A skin removal surgery alone with a weeks long hospital stay must be at least $100,000. They all stay in nice hotels and drive around in taxis. How can they afford this? All the fat ladies have bfs, fiancees or husbands, yet most "normal" people have trouble finding a loving partner.

r184 via OP

[quote]Continue the discussion of these larger than life characters, whom we both feel sorry for and [bold]pay for via taxes.[/bold]

They're all on disability welfare and government insurance (which, as I wrote at r54, isn't necessarily a bad thing). TLC probably funds the medical care from Dr. Now and whatever he prescribes that the gov't insurance doesn't cover. Does anyone know for sure how the people are compensated for appearing on the show? TLC definitely doesn't cover transport TO houston, as in the James K episode where that prick had his father refinance his house so that James could go whine about his leg in a new state.

So if you work and live a healthy life, you get nothing? No money, no insurance. But if you sit on your couch every day, watch TV and eat unhealthy amounts of food, you get welfare and insurance? Wow.

"All the fat ladies have bfs, fiancees or husbands, yet most "normal" people have trouble finding a loving partner."

Not all the patients on the show have significant others. Jeanne and Pauline are two that come to mind; I don't think either of them had boyfriends or husbands. Sean had no wife or girlfriend, and after his mother died, no family either. The Assanti brothers had no girlfriends or wives, although Steven Assanti eventually hooked up with a woman who looks like a meth addicted prostitute and they're now supposedly married. But a lot of them do have some long suffering wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend who helps tend to them. It's called "co-dependence." Anyone who would be involved like that with a person that morbidly obese has some serious mental issues themselves.

For someone too lazy to work, befriending a obese heifer provides them with food and shelter, in exchange for wiping their ass. And yes, some people are so eager to avoid working 8 hours a day that wiping someones ass a few minutes a day is a dream job.

The execratory results of all the eating is the true unspoken horror of the show.

Is there any internet gossip on what happened to steven after the shocking cliffhanger on Assanti Bros pt. 4?

Ow mah leg

The new season is almost upon us, and the now streaming first episode features two brothers--one straight one gay--together trying to conquer their food-eating addiction. The gay one of course does very well and I was actually shocked at how much his face thinned out by the end of the episode. They both lost weight, but his brother got the usual weight-loss-face-sag that so many that lose weight quickly get while he (the gay brother) really didn't at all.

Anyone seen it yet?

I saw the new one, I liked the guys for once. But to be honest I enjoy the train wrecks more.

Notice how many of these people pig out so daintily. Nails done, pinkies out. They’re not fooling anyone.

Let’s be an episode of. I’m the fast food they have “no other options” but to enjoy on the way down to Houston and while settling in.

I’m the poor EMS workers having to drag these people out of their houses. I’ll probably quit tomorrow.

Amazing what the human body can endure. Take care of it and it will take care of you.

I'm the inscrutable nurse/assistant at Dr. Now's office, with the indifferent, judgmental attitude.

I know an EMS who was in physical therapy for having blown out his arm by helping a team of 6 move a fat person.

Holy shit! This new episode...

There are new episodes ?

Yes. New season started about two or three weeks ago.

They take these long trips to Houston, are given a strict diet to lose X number of lbs. for the next visit in two months, and most don't comply. That's when they become most annoying. Some even show weight gain for the second visit. The enablers are either stupid and/or have low self-esteem themselves.

Wow. The worse the weight problem, the more likely they are to have a significant other, it seems. Love how this one makes him come out and bring in the groceries.

funny how his face isn't fat.

Just watched the Jt episode, so weird how he looked totally normal from the shoulders up and then wow, almost 900 lbs. I felt really sorry for him having no one there to support him, except for his cousin that came to stay with him for awhile.

I didn’t notice his weight when I met him”. Seriously? You didn’t notice any of the 900 pounds? What else does she not notice?

Lord, the 600 lesbian is a hot mess. The way she bosses her wife around is too much

Anyone watching the latest episode with Joyce?

Holy fuck she’s fat

R208, I watched that episode and her face was super punchable! The wife was apparently the only one with a job and then she had to stop on her way home from work to pick up fast food for the 600 pound spouse and the rest of the hippo family herd!

What a shitshow!

Joyce is the first stubborn one this season and thank god for that. You could tell right from the beginning--with how she was initially shifting the blame for her condition to others--that she was going to be a good one.

Another good one this week. 22 yo and 600 pounds!

Ashley B thinks she’s all that at an extra large bag of chips!

Another Ashley?

All my favorite threads are grayed out. There are some real spoilsport killjoys on this site.

I just saw the description for tonight's episode and I think I'm gonna hafta tune in: Dominic's life is falling apart due to his food addiction. At over 600-lbs, living in a van with his brother, Dominic decides to leave California for Texas, where only Dr. Now can help him learn to face life's challenges without using food to cope.

I just want to see the spectacle of two dudes living in a van, one of them super-sized. How does he get to TX - does the brother drive that poor van from CA to TX? Who is going to pay for the surgery if this Dominic doesn't have the funds to even get an apartment? Does the brother work - how can he go to CA and maintain his job? Where do they shower and go to the bathroom?

I haven't watched this in a long time and don't recall the patient doing some much voiceover. This guy is narrating his whole life - is this a new thing?

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Well Dr. now is always warning these people that a cold could do them in

Megan, the latest, got out of the opening shower scene. How did she manage that? Always seems to be part of the deal.

This is probably the worst episode I’ve seen...

Thanks for the heads up, R221, on my way!

So she shows up at *only* 486? Something's off with this episode. It's like they bent the rules to let her be on the show, so they could exploit the catfish angle.

She’s actually been on an episode of “Catfish”. She’s basically a reality TV whore. What a waste.

I'm pretty strong of stomach, but I had to put my fat-free yogurt, mango and stevia snack down just now when Dr. Now started talking about the "ficis" in Jeanne's sores and folds. Whew.

......