Community Chat

[BlueFinch]

@Carmie  Exactly.  Food satiates and becomes a diversion. It's their drug of choice. But, they have to keep it coming all day long, or they're left with emotions they're trying to avoid.

All addictions are sad.  I've learned to withhold judgment of those suffering such, but there is undeniably frustration, when you keep throwing out life rafts, to no avail.     

[Carmie]

@BlueFinch   Joyce seems like she is very kind and doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

I wish she would just look her mother in the eyes and tell her off.  Her mother abandoned her as a child and allowed horrible things to happen to her.  Joyce has forgiven her, but I don't think she has allowed herself to get it off of her chest.

She won't heal emotionally until she does.

[BlueFinch]

@Carmie  You're right, Joyce needs strength to confront her mom.  I have a feeling her mom would be receptive to it now.  

I fear what Joyce might be doing, perhaps not on a conscious level, is punishing mom with her disability.  It's a 'see what you've done to me,' rather than telling.  That's a no-win situation for all.  

I became fond of Joyce, in spite of her behaviors.  She needs aggressive, long term psychotherapy, if she lives that long.  

I'd like to see Dr. Now do follow-up, with some of their clinic failures and not leave us hanging.  

[minkbunny]

I have watched the shows since the beginning as well as the others involving the families and Dr. Proctor in Atlanta.   I agree that the recent sisters were a couple of characters and appeared to be grasping the concept of the program and doing well.  I often watch these shows on the exercise bike.  I do think that the earlier Dr. Now shows were more successful and more comprehensive - usually the month by month updates showed dramatic progress ( I often watch the older shows on TLC Go and they are much more satisfying.)   I want these people, these families, these children - to do well.  The sad part of the story is that many family members who appear to be well adjusted emotionally are also traveling down the obese lifestyle path due to the fact that the family lives on the types of food that they do. 

I think that almost every patient has enablers, often living off of them and their disability payments to provide their housing and food. (many having admitted so).   

I also think that abuse plays a part in almost every case, be it s*xual, physical, emotional, abandonment, whatever - thus the token offers of counseling given on the show.

That said, I also think many enjoy the victim role and the control they have over others forcing them through their angry outbursts to provide the nonstop food given to them by their hanger-on ers. This is, in many cases, the control they did not have earlier in their lives over those who took advantage of them, it seems.

I cannot fathom the amount of money spent on junk that could have been spent on nourishing food - to the body and the soul.  Proof of that is the dramatic weight loss they achieve when hospitalized on a controlled diet.   

I wish them well, will continue to watch and hope...

[threecees]

Joyce's mother, Joyce, looked 100 times better than her daughter.

Joyce, the daughters name as well, weighed in at a whopping 758

pounds, Wow!!! Well, she played Dr. Now like a fiddle. 

One lie after another. I could not stand her after the first 30 minutes

or so. She did not deserve the chance for this program. Now should

cut them after 2 chances or so.

No ambition, or worries just cares about the next buffet meal to

feed a whole family.Would not shut up about medical transport. Over

and over. Dr. Now should not kept providing it for her.  Dr. Now could

just look at her face and know that she kept packing on the pounds,

which was a 58lb. weight gain at one visit.

When they were complimenting her at the end for walking 10 steps

or so, it was the biggest joke. Are the 3 of them crazy or what?

O.k. you walked out the door to get a whiff of air, now what's for

my next meal???

[Carmie]

@threecees   I don't view her the same way you do. Joyce is suffering from mental illness.

Unless her illness is addressed, she will never lose the weight.  She is incapable of making the right choices at this time.  You can't just prescribe a diet plan and think it will work.

The whole person must be treated. There are underlying causes to eating in a destructive manner.

I worked over 25 years for a health insurance company.  In order to be approved for weight loss surgery, you would need to receive mental health services for at least six months and then continue after the surgery.

Dr Now seems to only send his patients for mental health if they can't adhere to his diet plan.  That doesn't seem to be the best way to handle things.

[chickenbutt]

I wasn't buying her words for a minute.  How does one go from spending the first month in the hospital and, on his diet, losing over 100# and then go home and gain 80-some pounds in the same time frame, and say that you went by the diet and ate even less.

What was odd, for this show anyway, was that they really didn't show what she was eating in that first month home.

Choices.  We all make them.  Yeah, I know that life is tough.  I know this as well as anybody.  But we still have the power to make choices and she has made hers.

[pieman]

I watched that last night, the night before I fell asleep watching her lay in that chair.

When and where was she eating, I saw her have a scrambled egg. Was she eating behind closed doors?

I usually feel very bad for some of these people, but she had me hysterical laughing when she told the doctor she was filled with 60 lbs of water and was having a heart-attack and needed to go to the hospital.. I mean a woman her size and somehow he tells her that all her tests were normal??? Unreal!

The lady caring for her was strange. She would just sit so quiet with her eyes closed , wherever they were.

So it ended with the "mean mother" ( who seemed caring to me to go with her) and the lady caring for her, thinking the doctor wasn't understanding?  I remember only seeing one story where a woman really slimmed down and went on to help others,

The rest are still pretty heavy in the end of their stories.

Have you see the other show, I think its called the 1000lb Sisters?

Tammy & Amy I think are their names.

They can be entertaining but they are trying......

[Caligurll]

---

@threecees wrote:

Joyce's mother, Joyce, looked 100 times better than her daughter.

Joyce, the daughters name as well, weighed in at a whopping 758

pounds, Wow!!! Well, she played Dr. Now like a fiddle. 

One lie after another. I could not stand her after the first 30 minutes

or so. She did not deserve the chance for this program. Now should

cut them after 2 chances or so.

No ambition, or worries just cares about the next buffet meal to

feed a whole family.Would not shut up about medical transport. Over

and over. Dr. Now should not kept providing it for her.  Dr. Now could

just look at her face and know that she kept packing on the pounds,

which was a 58lb. weight gain at one visit.

When they were complimenting her at the end for walking 10 steps

or so, it was the biggest joke. Are the 3 of them crazy or what?

O.k. you walked out the door to get a whiff of air, now what's for

my next meal???

---

I was shocked to find out that was her mother; looks more like a sister age-wise.

I've read some disturbing things about the 1000 pound sisters on another forum; won't (can't) go into details here, but that entire family is....well, disturbing if true.  I couldn't get past their burping and farting humor (although I have to admit I watched the entire series).

[Caligurll]

---

@pieman wrote:

I watched that last night, the night before I fell asleep watching her lay in that chair.

When and where was she eating, I saw her have a scrambled egg. Was she eating behind closed doors?

I usually feel very bad for some of these people, but she had me hysterical laughing when she told the doctor she was filled with 60 lbs of water and was having a heart-attack and needed to go to the hospital.. I mean a woman her size and somehow he tells her that all her tests were normal??? Unreal!

The lady caring for her was strange. She would just sit so quiet with her eyes closed , wherever they were.

---

The posters on another forum think both Joyce's mother and her caregiver were stoned most of the time.  I thought it was weird when the caregiver was following the medical transport but lost them and was unavailable when Joyce needed her.  How do you lose a vehicle that large on an interstate?