Chay is 23-years-old and spent of his original appearance on the program going through a very slow process of working to overcome his cycle of emotional eating. It wasn't until late within his first year of treatment with Dr. Nowzaradan that he finally underwent weight loss surgery. And much of what assisted him with getting to the point where he could go through the surgery was the support of his aunt and uncle, as well as a therapist to work on his psychological blocks. He managed to lose 120 pounds by the end of his first appearance on the program, placing him at about 450 pounds by the end of his first year of treatment. He was feeling good about his progress.
I haven't seen his "Where Are They Now?" program, but have seen a couple different clips on YouTube and I'm intrigued. Now that Shay is beginning to lose more weight and to work seriously on issues with his therapist, he has come out to his family and friends as a male-to-female trans person.
Unfortunately, the aunt and uncle who had been such strong advocates with Shay's weight loss goals haven't been as supporting of her gender transition. It's been a few weeks since she came out, but Shay was particularly upset by a video that her aunt had posted on Facebook about trans people in the restrooms.
I'm really curious about how Shay and her family will move forward. I'm hoping that her family is just needing time to process and progress.
Anyway, the episode was tonight and I was busy so I totally missed it. But I should eventually catch the episode during the reruns.
You can watch the two clips here and here.