Plot Synopsis

MY 600-LB LIFE documents the struggles and triumphs of four individuals who initially weigh more than 600 pounds, and then take a seven-year journey to change their lives after undergoing gastric bypass surgery. While these four individuals try to achieve their ideal weight and begin to regain control of their lives, they find that the battle is as mental as it is physical. They must deal with the highs and lows of confronting their addiction and emotional issues, while transforming their relationships with loved ones, family and friends. Whether they're motivated by love, a high-school reunion or a goal of owning a childcare facility, each episode highlights one person's struggles to become less dependent on others and improve their sense of self worth.

Immediately following an encore presentation of Season 1 from 4-8pm ET/PT on Tuesday, January 7, 2014, TLC aired the Season 2 premiere of MY 600-LB LIFE at 9pm ET/PT. The season opener followed Zsalynn, once known as the "Fat Girl Rock Star," who married a man who loves large women, but now she needs to lose weight to be the mother her daughter deserves. This series chronicles the lives of seven other people in Season 2: Christina (23 years old; South Haven, MS); Chuck (45; Beaumont, TX); Tara (35; Lafayette, LA); Penny (46; Atlanta, GA); Paula (39; Atlanta, GA); James (38; Frankston, TX); and Olivia (46; Cicero, IL).

Season 4 of MY 600-LB LIFE premiered on Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at 9pm ET/PT on TLC, immediately following a brand-new one-hour special (8pm) and an all-day marathon (6am-8pm) of encore episodes. The new season follows the lives of 12 people weighing over 600-lbs and their medical journey to shed the weight. In the new special (8pm), "Moments of Truth," pivotal moments, whether tragic breaking points or ultimate triumphs, decide the success or failure of individuals struggling with extreme obesity. They must face the reality that weight-loss surgery alone is not the answer to reclaiming their lives. Then, in the season opener (9pm), "Nikki's Story," 33-year-old lifelong secret eater Nikki Webster finds her life and career as a costume designer threatened by immobility as her weight climbs to 650-lbs. In urgent need of drastic weight loss, she undergoes gastric bypass and confronts the emotional causes for her eating. Subsequent episodes feature: Ashley Bratcher, a 26-year-old mother of a five-year-old son, who weighs 725-lbs and whose son is one of her primary caregivers, bringing her food and helping with daily chores; Sean Milliken, who was traumatized by his parent's divorce leading him to turn to food for comfort -- but his weight has reached a dangerous level of 900-lbs and is barely being able to stand for 30 seconds.

Season 5 of MY 600-LB LIFE premiered on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 at 8pm ET/PT on TLC. The 14-episode new season is comprised of two-hour episodes detailing what led these people to this point, their journey to surgery with Dr. Younan Nowzaradan and the aftermath. The season opener, "Brandi and Kandi's Story," features 29-year-old identical twin sisters -- Brandi, 575-lbs, and Kandi, 604-lbs -- who are each other's whole support system, but enable one another at the same time. Raised in a chaotic household with alcoholic parents, the sisters quickly learned at a young age that they could only count on each other. With only food to make life better, they built an insular world sharing everything -- even a bed. They care for each other, but at the same time cause one another to continue their unhealthy and deadly lifestyle. The new season also introduces Tracey, a 44-year-old woman weighing over 600-lbs, and plagued with an extreme disfiguring of her legs that's transformed them into weighing over 150-lbs each; James, 800-lbs, who has become entirely bed-bound after once being an avid outdoorsman and active father; brothers Steven, 34 years-old and 787-lbs, and Justin, 27 years-old and 540-lbs, who started to gain weight when their parents divorced; and many more morbidly obese individuals.

On Wednesday, January 10, 2018 at 8pm ET/PT, TLC premiered the sixth season of MY 600-LB LIFE, with 14 two-hour new episodes. In Season 6, viewers see first-hand their struggles of addiction, dependence and the inevitable impact their condition has on their closest relationships; from children to spouses to parents to best friends, many who both serve as caregivers and enablers. Each episode gives viewers an inside look at the emotionally and physically tough journeys to life-saving surgery with Dr. Younan Nowzaradan, and their continued incredible progress thereafter, living the lives they had only dreamed of. In the season premiere, the series introduces couple Lee and Rena, who both struggle from obesity. They first met in bariatric rehab; the two of them grew close but, when the clinic told them they couldn't be together while remaining at the facility, they discharged themselves to try to live on their own. However, while together, their weight skyrocketed even more, admitting that their favorite thing to do together is to eat. When we meet them, Lee can barely leave his bed without Rena's constant care, but with Rena's own obesity issues, she won't be able to be Lee's caretaker much longer. Desperate to have a "normal" relationship, Lee and Rena make the difficult journey from Missouri to Texas to seek out Dr. Nowzaradan's help, in the hopes that they will both be able to get gastric bypass surgery to save themselves and their future as a couple.

Season 7 of MY 600-LB LIFE premiered on Wednesday, January 2, 2019 from 8-10pm ET/PT on TLC. This season follows 20 new journeys including a transgender woman who longs to live a glamorous life but struggles to get through every day basics, a couple who met online and are dealing with morbid obesity together and a woman whose family's lack of proper hygiene -- and the fact that they live with 11 dogs - has exacerbated her own health. The two-hour season opener, "Octavia's Story," features Octavia, who has been bedbound for nearly a year when she decides to make the trip to Houston to get help from Dr. Now. But when it turns out that her best friend is also her worst enabler, Octavia will have to choose between old habits and a new life.

MY 600-LB LIFE returned for its eighth season on Wednesday, January 1, 2020 from 8-10pm ET/PT on TLC. In the season opener, "John & Lonnie's Story," John and Lonnie Hambrick are two brothers from Texas. And the only things they have in common, are their weight, a love of food, and a strict upbringing. But later in life, after the death of their dad, and as their combined weight problems left them with only each other to rely on, John and Lonnie have begun to rebuild their relationship. For most of their lives, younger brother John was always larger, but now Lonnie's weight is almost as bad as John's. But if they can't both get help, the relationship they've just begun to reconstruct may never have a chance to flourish.

TLC premiered the ninth season of MY 600-LB LIFE on Wednesday, December 30, 2020 from 8-10pm ET/PT. Chronicling lifelong hardships with addiction and the inevitable impact their condition has on their closest relationships, each episode gives an inside look at the extreme emotional and physical journeys each person must undergo to qualify for life-saving surgery with Dr. Nowzaradan. In the two-hour season opener, "Samantha's Story," Samantha is dangerously close to dying at nearly 1,000 pounds. To make matters worse, she's paid to eat by making videos online. If Samantha doesn't overcome her toxic relationship with food, she worries that she will leave her daughter motherless.

Season 10 of MY 600-LB LIFE debuted on Wednesday, November 10, 2021 from 8-10pm ET/PT on TLC. The new season follows the journeys of morbidly obese people as they fight to save their own lives by making the courageous decision to undergo high-risk gastric bypass surgery. Chronicling lifelong hardships with addiction and the inevitable impact their condition has on their closest relationships, each episode gives an inside look at the extreme emotional and physical journeys each person must undergo to qualify for life-saving surgery with Dr. Nowzaradan. In the two-hour season opener, "Nathan's Journey," when Nathan's weight gets in the way of the only healthy thing in his life -- his job as a drama teacher -- it's a wake-up call for him. But changing his life might mean a falling out with his wife, Amber, who is also overweight, unless she can lose, too.

MY 600-LB LIFE returned for its 11th season on Wednesday, February 1, 2023 from 8-10pm ET/PT on TLC. Season 11 follows patients who drag themselves out of bed to take those first excruciating steps towards a new way of life and free themselves from the hold food has had over them. Each of them must come to grips with the inner demons that brought them to their current state and overcome the pathological mechanisms that led them to find so much more than substance and nutrition in food. In the two-hour season opener, "Geno and Nico's Journey," as an Italian American, Geno was raised with lots of love, family and food; now, he's still living with his mom and eating himself to death, and it's time to make a change; Geno's cousin, Nico, joins the cause; they pledge to lose weight together.

The 12th season of MY 600-LB LIFE premiered on Wednesday, March 6, 2024 from 8-10pm ET/PT on TLC. Season 12 documents seven all-new journeys of morbidly obese patients as they strive to lose weight in an effort to reclaim -- and save -- their lives. Each two-hour episode follows a different subject as they navigate the emotional ups and downs of their extreme weight loss journey with the help of Dr. Younan Nowzaradan (aka "Dr. Now"). Each patient must undergo major diet and lifestyle changes including potential high-risk gastric bypass surgery, in order to achieve lasting and life-saving results. Stories this season include a paralyzed man desperate to find a way to stand, a bride-to-be fighting to finally walk down the aisle and a recovering drug addict whose life is now dominated by a new addiction: compulsive eating. In the two-hour season opener, "Krystal S.' Journey," Krystal S. has finally met the man of her dreams, but she won't let herself marry him until she can be sure that she won't become bedridden and force him into the role of caretaker.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Wednesday, April 17, 2024 from 8-10pm ET/PT, TLC premiered "Charles' Journey," the Season 12 finale of MY 600-LB LIFE. Charles replaced one addiction with another when he quit doing hard drugs. Now his BMI is over 100 and he can't stop eating. He needs Dr. Now's help, but with his brother doing everything for him, is he too comfortable to make the trek to Houston?