My 600 Lb. Life TV show

[mystang52]

I'm not sure if it reflects poorly on me, but I confess I watch this show every week - and I'm not sure why. I want to scream at the TV, watching these poor people who are so messed up psychologically as well as physically. But most frustrating, as a viewer, are the family members that enable these people.
Sort of related to this site, I do wonder how these people get by, financially. The sheer amount of food they eat has to be costly in and of itself. Invariably, the stories show the people driving to Houston (where the doctor does the surgery) in their one or two cars. The subject people don't work, and it often appears their family doesn't either.
So, where is the money for the food, the cars, etc? I can't believe welfare pays for all of that.

 

[Live And Learn]

I watch it too ! And I don't know why either. Maybe its the same reason I watched Hoarders when we were downsizing. I want to know what NOT to do !

I think the diet choices are pretty much high carb (low cost), although I do see alot of fast food on the show. We don't know if these folks have other relatives who assist them or what level of debt they have.

Food can easily become an addiction. I know because I've gained 10 lbs per year in each of the 4 years before retiring. Thankfully that trend stopped with ER but losing weight has not been easy.

 

[Moemg]

Since we are confessing I watch 90 day finance .I'm not sure why but I do .I also scream at the TV . These women are so crazy .

 

[athena53]

Is it possible that at some point you can qualify for SS disability when your weight and the associated health issues make it impossible to work? I've wondered the same thing. Occasionally there's an employed spouse but sometimes there's no mention of anyone in the family being employed.

Also curious about who foots the bill for the travel, living costs in Houston, etc. Do they get compensation for being on the show?

 

[RetiredGypsy]

Somehow this show always came on when I was doing cardio at the gym. It was a train wreck to watch. I guess that's why it's popular.

It is astonishing how easy it is to eat to a level of excess where 100+ pounds can be created, if you're predisposed to using food as some sort of emotional crutch.

It also can be astonishingly cheap to do, if all you eat is junk food. Family sized bags of chips, and candy, and cereal, and such can be had for almost nothing compared to even a much lesser amount of fruits and veggies.

Even sticking to the dollar menu at a fast food place can get you in excess of a day's worth of calories for the cost of a single healthier meal.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

Is it possible that at some point you can qualify for SS disability when your weight and the associated health issues make it impossible to work?

Yep, sure can. Apparently both here in the States, and the UK.

 

[MRG]

Is it possible that at some point you can qualify for SS disability when your weight and the associated health issues make it impossible to work? I've wondered the same thing. Occasionally there's an employed spouse but sometimes there's no mention of anyone in the family being employed.

Also curious about who foots the bill for the travel, living costs in Houston, etc. Do they get compensation for being on the show?

I think that you can get disability. I remember a fellow I worked with having a handicap license on the vehicle. Later when he left the organization, the rumor mill had it he was on disability.

We watch those on occasion. Truly sad how people's lives can become so out of control.

 

[Sunset]

So basically if someone is lazy and hates their job, they can early retire by simply watching tv, and eating a lot until they qualify for disability SS.

 

[FIREmenow]

So basically if someone is lazy and hates their job, they can early retire by simply watching tv, and eating a lot until they qualify for disability SS.

Ayup.

 

[Greencheese]

It always amazed me by the amount of mental gymnastics some of those people had when it came to justifying their decisions and behaviors to the doctor.

 

[athena53]

It always amazed me by the amount of mental gymnastics some of those people had when it came to justifying their decisions and behaviors to the doctor.

Yes, but it also saddened me to hear the stories some of them had when they finally opened up to a counselor- lots of abuse and/or abandonment at a young age. I know that many people survive such experiences without turning to overeating, but I hope there's a special place in hell for the people responsible for these traumas. You wonder how different the patients' lives would have been without the effect of the abuse.

 

[MRG]

So basically if someone is lazy and hates their job, they can early retire by simply watching tv, and eating a lot until they qualify for disability SS.

As a person who gave testimony for someone who was ill, no amount of disability benefits would be enough to go through the humiliation and extreme digging through ones past for the disability benefits.

 

[imoldernu]

Is it possible that at some point you can qualify for SS disability when your weight and the associated health issues make it impossible to work? I've wondered the same thing. Occasionally there's an employed spouse but sometimes there's no mention of anyone in the family being employed.

Also curious about who foots the bill for the travel, living costs in Houston, etc. Do they get compensation for being on the show?

Yes... from personal experience within the family, this is true.
Not always is the situation of excess weight a matter of choice. At age 41, a lifesaving drug induced a system change, that allowed recovery from a near death 6 month hospitalization for guillain-barré syndrome which included 5 months of total paralysis. This also left acute lupus after recovery, and long term weakness and recidivism of other symptoms.

Social Security, Medicaid and programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) offer minimal survival help for a person to live independently, though some supplemental help is necessary for minimal transportation needs.

While I can understand the tendency to fault indigent people, the cause is not always laziness. I suppose the real question is whether we would choose to trade places. The reality of this kind of "retirement" is too close to home for me to ever again make a judgement, without knowing the facts.

 

[Sojourner]

I confess to watching these kinds of shows occasionally (Hoarders and Intervention, mostly) and deriving some level of schadenfreude from it. No matter how down you might be about something not going quite right in your life, watching these pitiful folks wallow through their miserable situations is almost guaranteed to make you feel pretty fortunate by comparison.

 

[Sojourner]

Not always is the situation of excess weight a matter of choice.

True... but I'd be willing to bet that at least 90% of the time, it is. Of course, you can always ask what is the root cause of someone's maladaptive behavior. Perhaps in many cases there is childhood trauma, or a genetic predisposition to something, etc. But ultimately we have to say that, in most cases, eating 5,000+ calories per day, every day, is within a person's control and is a conscious choice.

 

[ivinsfan]

So basically if someone is lazy and hates their job, they can early retire by simply watching tv, and eating a lot until they qualify for disability SS.

Perhaps this is one of those comments that sounded better in your head then it does in print....

 

[ls99]

Never watched any of theses shows. But do keep wondering who mucks out the stall after all the input is outputted.

 

[Aerides]

Perhaps this is one of those comments that sounded better in your head then it does in print....

Agreed.

People in the situation on this show... aren't "oh see I could have had a decent shot at being normal.. but nah, decided to eat on the couch and oopsie now I'm morbidly obese and collect SSI". Not saying that's everyone, but that's not what I've seen on this show.

These are people with lifelong issues, a wreck of a family (you can see the dna all around them, and the enabling). They can't walk, or drive, they mostly seem to have had little/no education, but realize they are going to die young if they don't do something... Then cut to their mom in the next room cooking grits in butter with eggs because they know that's what they like...

 

[old woman]

I watch it as inspiration to not gain more. I am large but not that large. Weight is something that compliles from being chubby to fat to obese then 600lbs+.
My nephew has a wife he met when they were both delivering pizzas in their early 20s. She was short and fat, he tall and fat. She had a miserable childhood with all kinds of abuse and depression. Before he married her she had blood clots in her legs. She took a job in an office and gained 100lbs the first year. She had congestive heart failure still early 20s on oxygen and was put in a nursing home a few weeks. She lost a lot that time but gained again once back at work. She got bypass surgery @525lb and lot then gained again. Her depression medicine often failed to work and she got electric shock treatment. Now her memory is shot, she can't work even an office job and is on SSDI and oxygen at home. The good part is she now forgets to eat and forgets some childhood trauma. She still gets serious health issues and once had about 90 days where she forgot everything including not knowing her husband, she lost 20 years. She never at extreme amounts just when you can't breathe or walk you don't need many calories and even 500 a day extra calories gains you a pound a week or 52lbs a year.

 

[ivinsfan]

Never watched any of theses shows. But do keep wondering who mucks out the stall after all the input is outputted.

Another comment that sounded better in your head then it does in print..this is body shaming

 

[GravitySucks]

So basically if someone is lazy and hates their job, they can early retire by simply watching tv, and eating a lot until they qualify for disability SS.

Living high on the hog with that average beneficiary payment of $1,166 a month.

 

[MRG]

Agreed.

People in the situation on this show... aren't "oh see I could have had a decent shot at being normal.. but nah, decided to eat on the couch and oopsie now I'm morbidly obese and collect SSI". Not saying that's everyone, but that's not what I've seen on this show.

These are people with lifelong issues, a wreck of a family (you can see the dna all around them, and the enabling). They can't walk, or drive, they mostly seem to have had little/no education, but realize they are going to die young if they don't do something... Then cut to their mom in the next room cooking grits in butter with eggs because they know that's what they like...

+1
In the folks who do seem to succeed it appears that many family members change their behavior. Makes sense, to me, the whole is family engaged in a sickness.

 

[ls99]

Another comment that sounded better in your head then it does in print..this is body shaming

Political correctness was never my forte, nor will it ever be.

I am not a fan of washboard skinny or of the morbidly obese. There are a very wide range of weights, none of which can be criticized, nor would I do so.

While there are a small percentage of anorexics and grossly morbidly obese, having gotten there due to medical problems, for those I have much sympathy. There are several of each in my and DW's extended family. The shaming also belongs to the enablers.

 

[ivinsfan]

You wouldn't criticize, you compared some people to animals who crap in their stalls.You are "not a fan" of people who are too skinny or too fat.

And apparently, you are all knowing about how and why people are anorexic or obese and then you can decide if you should have sympathy for them. And somehow you think this is a "political correctness" issue.

 

[W2R]

Thanks for the interesting discussion.