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| David and Benji |
TLC has been shaking up its weight loss-themed reality TV show, "
My 600-lb Life," this season. The show has still focused on the lives to morbidly obese individuals who need to lose hundreds of pounds or else risk imminent death. However, several of this season's episodes have featured obese couples going through the weight loss journey together.
I watched a recent episode as a rerun earlier this week. This particular episode featured a pair of thirtysomething brothers: David and Benji.
David is the older of the two and weighs in at
747 pounds by the time he makes it over to see Dr. Now. He has always turned to food for emotional support, having been somewhat neglected by his family during his early years. He eventually met a woman and they had a daughter together. However, he's now largely homebound due to his weight when the program begins and had just suffered a severe health crisis. Meanwhile, brother
Benji isn't quite as heavy at David. He weight
582.5 pounds when he eventually made it to see Dr. Now. He used to be a pageant contestant and did quite well. Later on, he began eating a lot and eventually put on the pounds like his brother. He's married and and a parent.
Both David and Benji see that the other needs to start losing weight, but neither seems terribly motivated to lose weight himself. But I don't think that David realized that he was as heavy as he was. He took to Dr. Now's dietary orders from the beginning and quickly began losing large amounts of weight. He eventually underwent surgery and continued to lose weight. Not only that, his mobility returned. He went from somebody who could barely walk from the bedroom to the bathroom to somebody who could play baseball and go fishing!
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| David (before and after he lost weight) |
It took Benji a little more time to get motivated to lose weight. He traveled a lot for work and ate a lot of fast-food in his car. He had a few disappointing interactions with Dr. Now before finally committing to his weight lost program. Like his brother, once he made the decision to stick to the died, there was no turning back for him. He met all of his weight loss goals and was eventually approved for surgery.
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| Benji (before and after he lost weight) |
I was really impressed with these guys' accomplishments. By the time the program ended,
David was weighing 386 pounds and
Benji was weighting 218 pounds! They both look so much healthier and they seem to feel so much better also! Now it looks like they both need to have follow-up surgery to remove all of their excess skin. It wouldn't surprise me if Benji falls under 200 pounds once he undergoes that procedure.
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| David and Benji |
I really like episodes like this one, where they patients really seize the opportunity that's been given to them and embrace their weight loss efforts. Especially since I'd just watch another recent episode where that guy struggled so much to follow the diet and get off of pain meds and ended up dying. David and Benji were an inspiration of what you can do when he finally put your mind to it.
