TLCs "My 600-lb Life" is one of the most gut-wrenching shows on television but also one of the most important. Each week, morbidly obese people face their own untimely death sentence and decide to outrun it or succumb. They become Celebrities due to extreme size. There are failures--bariatric surgeon Younan Nowzaradan can only do so much. The bulk is up to patients and surprisingly, their caregivers. Tara is one success story from season 2. Tara is down to 278 pounds and it proves you can't judge obesity by fat. Learn how this mom of two dropped 304 pounds, broke the family obesity cycle and went from caregivers to relationships.
Louisiana mom down to 278 from 606 pounds
Tara's story starts in Lafayette, Louisiana, which is one of the least obese parishes in one of the fattest states in the U.S. Mississippi is the state with the highest obesity rate. After gastric bypass, Tara struggled with the lifestyle changes necessary to make weight loss surgery work. That's just one of the myths about gastric bypass is that it is the magic cure-all. But it doesn't work unless you work the weight loss. Another misunderstanding is that you bring any size body to the surgery table. Actually, people who are several hundred pounds overweight must lose a certain amount prior to gastric bypass.
Don't judge obesity by looks
So gastric bypassweight loss surgery was just one piece of Tara's food addiction recovery.
Most of it was doing the homework. By revamping her own diet and exercise, she was able to lose the requisite pounds to have the surgery and then by continuing those healthy habits, she got to independence. Tara is still over 100 pounds overweight and has an obese BMI (body mass index). But you have to compare that to where she came from at 606 pounds.
Before anyone starts body-shaming (which is wrong anyway), they should realize that these folks may be skinny compared to their former selves.
Give-and-take relationships vs. caregivers
After gastric bypass surgery, Tara is teaching her kids healthy lifestyles so that she can break the cycle of generational obesity that has plagued her family.
She famously said that she now has interactive relationships with people instead of enablers andcaregivers. To lose the massive amount of weight, folks on "My 600-lb Life" often have to lose enabling relationships that keep them fat. Tara says she has 85% of her fab back. A look at her shows she's got it all!
