The TLC reality My 600-lb Life is one of the most inspirational shows.
It first aired back in 2012 and viewers can still watch the life stories of obese people who are doing all in their power to turn to a healthier way of living and gain control over their life again.
The doctor who helps these individuals turn their life upside down in a positive way is famous Iranian-American surgeon Dr. Younan Nowzaradan, known as Dr. Now. Many say he’s attitude towards his patients can be harsh at times, but all he wants is to be the voice of their reason and the wake-up call many of them have been waiting for so long.
Among the great number of participants on the show is a woman named Melissa Morris. At her heaviest, this Texan lady weighted 635 lbs. Eating uncontrollably became her thing and over the years, she lost the ability to perform even the simplest of tasks without the help of those around her.
Melissa’s husband, Chris, couldn’t control her eating and couldn’t say no to her, which only made things worse.
Sadly, Melissa’s obesity was standing on her way of becoming a mother, something she has always dreamed of.
Speaking of her condition and how she lost control over her body, Melissa said, “It’s not like I set out to say ‘Oh, I want to grow up to be the world’s biggest lady, I want to be 700 pounds. It just happened. For the longest time I talked myself into that I didn’t have a weight problem. I was still walking. If I had a weight problem, I would not walk.”
While she and Chris were shopping one day, Melissa could hear people speaking of her weight behind her back. That crushed her completely.
“You can think what you want in your head, whisper what you want to somebody who’s with you,” she said while crying at the aisle. “But to say that out loud is the worst. The only thing I want to do is just to fall into a deep hole and just never come up.”
Finally, after many doctors giving up on her, she met with Dr. Now in his office in Houston Texas in 2012. Melissa listened to his every advice and undergone the so much anticipated gastric bypass surgery. Following the surgery, she changed her eating habits and turned to a low-carb diet and exercises.
Over the course of seven years, or at the end of the program with Dr. Now, Melissa lost whooping 447 pounds. She didn’t only look like a completely different person, but her biggest dream, that of being a mother, fulfilled. Today, she has three children, but is no longer married to husband Chris who was by her side while she was losing weight.
In 2016, she wrote a post about her journey.
I LOVE helping people on the path in life I find myself telling people all the time you can either stay where you’re at or you can go where you want to be the choice is yours. The first step is ALWAYS scary, always hard, and ALWAYS worth it. I also tell them have Faith. I don’t know how many times during my journey I would say to anyone who would ask or to my Mom I have Faith when I have nothing at all I have faith.You have made the first step coming here, calling your doctor that is the first step now you need to know”.
“I have faith in you, when you don’t have faith in yourself I have faith in you. When you are ready to throw in the towel I have faith in you, I know it is hard to believe that someone you may have never met in your life has faith in you but I do,” Melissa writes. “I know what it is like to want to quit, or you are crying because it is harder than you thought it is going to be. They did not show you all the break downs I had all the fights I had with myself over food, over the hate I had for myself because of what I did to me and my family.”
In November, 2020, Melissa posted a photo of her kids and Dr. Now and wrote just how much he helped her turn into the person that she is today. She’s forever thankful for his dedication and for changing her life and giving her a second chance.
Dr. Now doesn’t make any money from the surgeries he performs on the people on the show.
This incredible man told Houstonia Magazine, “Looking at the moral obligation that we’ve got, you see somebody who has no life who could have a life. We don’t need to be rich. We do make a living, but we don’t need to worry about making a living out of every patient we see.”
We are very happy for Melissa and hope others who struggle with their weight will find inspiration in her impressive life story. This is her today, doesn’t she look incredible?