My 600-lb Life S7E2: Brianne’s Story is a successful struggle
Brianne, who is over 700-lbs, feels like her whole world is falling apart on My 600-lb Life, and she can’t stop herself from eating.
My 600-lb Life introduces 30-year old Brianne in damp, moldy sweat pants as she rolls out of her Florence, OR bed. And by bed, I mean mattresses on the floor. She wakes up every day miserable, with pain and exhaustion. It’s misery to get through the day, to move, to breathe, to live.
As a young girl she looked like Natalie from The Facts of Life, but Mrs. Garrett wasn’t around to reign in her out of control eating. Bri blames her weight gain on lack of attention from her disciplinarian father, an alleged sexual abuse among a group of friends, and a subsequent miscarriage. To her credit, she’s still walking and isn’t completely bed-ridden.
Home life
The set up at Bri’s house is all too familiar. Her husband Rick is 30 years older, obviously cuts his own hair (badly), does everything for her, and is basically a prisoner. Rick has to help her wipe like a sumo assistant as she puts her hands on the bed and assumes the all too familiar position. He feels like he’s caring for a child. A child with horrible tattoos who could body double for Fat Bastard in Austin Powers.
The ubiquitous shower scene for maximum embarrassment follows. She washes with a long-handled brush, walks to the bed wet, lays down for Rick to use a Costco-sized jug of petroleum jelly on her various skin lesions and a lymphoma that looks like a flesh-colored cactus.
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The average meal
First, Brianne calls up a local eatery and they already know her name. Like Cheers, people. That’s how you know it’s a major problem.
Her lunch consists of loaded fries, a barnyard sandwich (whatever the hell that is), a double cheeseburger with cheddar cheese, and brisket sliders with bacon. Rick plays the role of GrubHub and fetches her mountain of calories like a good enabler.
Her stepdaughter later makes her a small snack: an entire box of microwaved taquitos absolutely buried in a fistful of cheddar cheese. But they’re low in carbs, right?
That’s topped by a family-sized cheesecake swirl. Hey, any pizza is a personal pizza if you put your mind to it.
Dr. Now’s Evaluation
Surprising to everyone, Brianne is flying with Rick to Houston. The three tickets they purchased may be an underestimate. Thanks to the help of some leftover pizza in a Ziploc bag, she perseveres. The struggle to just get through the airport, where even the mega-wheelchairs don’t support her width and girth, is unsurprising.
Initial weigh in tips the scales at 742, and Dr. Now distills the situation in less than five minutes. Crap food, enabler, it’s all going to change or Bri’s going to die. Rick gets a tongue-lashing, and Dr. Now tells Bri to move to Houston to be in the program because simply traveling is dangerous for her health. Unfortunately, Rick and his daughter can’t make it.
The follow-up appointments & therapy
It’s a shock, but Bri is one of those rare people who followed the diet and the plan. On her birthday she weighs in at 604lbs for a staggering 138lb loss in two months. Dr. Now isn’t approving weight loss surgery, however, because she’s been vomiting and feeling dizzy.
Sadly, Rick is also hospitalized in Oregon to get a heart stent replaced. We learn Rick is alright and Bri is approved for gastric sleeve surgery three months into her journey. The surgery is difficult for Dr. Now because of her thick abdominal wall. That’s saying a lot considering his patients.
- Total weight loss 1m since surgery (5m total): 46-lb total
- Total weight loss 2m since surgery (6m total): 72-lb total
- Total weight loss 3m since surgery (7m total): 90-lb total
- Total weight loss 4m since surgery (8m total): 130-lb total
- Total weight loss 6m since surgery (10m total): 180-lb total
- Total weight loss 7m since surgery (11m total): 219-lb total
Between months three and four Bri blames her mother for not fighting off daddy dearest, but it feels a little misplaced. After month four she makes a surprise visit back to Oregon where she “cooks” a sausage on white bread. In order to move on with the skin surgery and further weight loss, she’ll have to call on her scorned mother in a future episode.
Next. 5 atrocities leaving Netflix in January. dark
Ultimately, this is a to be continued story. Brianne is one of the easiest to cheer for, determined people My 600-lb Life has ever seen.
My 600-lb Life airs Wednesdays on TLC.