02x02 - Tippin' the Scales

[bunniefuu]

Previously on

"1,000-lb sisters"

I got cheese on my pants.

[ Laughs ]

It's been four months since

I had weight-loss surgery.

So far, I lost 124 pounds.

But with the pandemic,

Tammy fell off the wagon.

[ Coughs ]

Ahh!

♪♪

Let's see what

you've got going on.

Scale: 596.6 pounds.

[ Laughs ]

She had lost enough weight

to get the surgery.

She has gained every pound back.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Breathing heavily ]

♪♪

[ Beep ]

♪♪

We're going back to Atlanta

in a couple days,

so I wanted to go see

how she's doing.

I think she wants the surgery.

I just don't think she's

mentally ready for it yet.

Right.

Nuh-uh. I helped.

Okay.

And little bit's.

Okay.

[ Dog barking ]

♪♪

Amy: We're leaving tomorrow to

go see Dr. Procter in Atlanta,

and I know it's gonna

be really stressful,

so we wanted to have some fun.

Hey, y'all, it's Amy. And Tammy.

Ugh.

[ Crunching ]

Mm-nn.

Oh, my god, this is so good.

[ Crinkling ]

[ Laughs ]

Oh, my gosh.

Oh, yeah.

This is like a dream come true.

Ohh.

You're eating too much.

You don't know what it's

like to be pregnant.

No, but I know it

feels like to be fat,

and you had your bypass.

You're gonna make yourself

sick and throw up.

[ Groans ]

How many times have you said,

"oh, I'm gonna eat this

because the baby wants it."

Or, "I can't do this

because of the baby."

I'm worried about Tammy.

As soon as you can't walk,

that's gonna be

the end of it, for you.

♪♪

Yeah.

We're going to Atlanta

today to see Dr. Procter,

and I'm kind of nervous,

because I got pregnant

four months after surgery.

You got that? Yeah.

Okay.

Chris: I'm glad to help Tammy,

because I feel that Amy's got

a full plate to deal with.

Hey, you home? Michael: Yeah.

You ready? Yeah.

Brittany: Y'all need my

muscles to help you?

I don't know. We might.

You ready to go?

You look like it.

All g'd up. [ Laughs ]

Get up there! Oh! Up-a-girl!

No, little. No, little.

Come on, lay down.

Come on, lay down with me.

[ Car beeping ]

[ Brake screech ] Ahh!

[ Thud ] Ahh!

Ahhh Amy: Tammy?

Wahh! Ahh

[ Laughs ]

[ Car honking ] Oh, mother

[ Both laugh ] Oh, my god.

Ahhh.

It was funny.

[ Farts ]

Oh, my god, Tammy.

Chris: Tammy about

dropped a b*mb in here

and tried to k*ll everybody

up in this [bleep] today.

[ Farts ] Ahh.

[ Laughing ]

[ Laughing ]

[ Both laugh ]

Here's a sign saying

"southern belle farms."

Let's go and check that out

and see what's going on there.

[ Bleats ]

[ Car door opens ]

Sorry.

[ Groans ]

All right, tam.

Chris: Alright. There we go.

[ Grunts ]

I don't

So, we'll just do it backwards.

[Bleep].

Okay, look.

How the hell am I supposed

to get up this hill?

Okay.

Chris:

I want Tammy to experience

everything that we

experience as a family.

Now, get in there and lay down.

We shut the door. We're gonna

roll you backwards.

Okay.

Hell, I think I feel sorry

for her, actually.

You know, not being able to

get up and walk on her feet.

Yeah, that would

bother me, you know,

so I would say

she's bothered, too.

♪♪

That's the way to do it.

Tammy: Aw, you're

sniffing my hand! Aww.

Maaahhh. [ Goats bleating ]

Maaahh.

[ Bleating ] Maaaad.

I think that you're making

excuses for yourself.

Lifestyle-wise, you

probably didn't change much

when the pandemic came along.

I've given Tammy

multiple chances,

but at this point,

something has to change.

♪♪

♪♪

Chris: So we got 43 miles left.

♪♪

My lower back, my hips, and

my knees are really hurting.

It's like a sharp throb.

♪♪

[ Car door opens ]

[ Car dings ]

Oh, [bleep].

Tomorrow's a big day for us.

I'm nervous to see Dr. Procter,

because I got pregnant

really quick after surgery,

and Tammy took a step back

from her weight loss, too.

I'm gonna put your

bag right here.

Tammy: Will you just

put it right there?

[ Thud ]

There you go. Thank you.

I'm gonna go get the rest of

the luggage and move the van.

Okay.

♪♪

[ Laughs ]

Oh. It won't open.

[ Pins clatter ]

[ Both laugh ]

[ Chris laughs ]

Tammy: Just don't hit me.

Oh, lord Jesus. Mama.

[ Amy laughs ]

Since Tammy can't move

around a lot like us,

I'm afraid she won't

play the game.

I don't want Tammy

to be on the sideline.

I want her to be

playing with us.

[ Thud ]

Oh! Good job, baby.

Brittany: Oh, he got lucky.

Ooh! [ Pins clatter ]

Chris: Are you walking? Yeah.

Cool.

Amy: Get it, Tammy.

[ Cheering ]

Tammy getting up

and playing the game

like the rest of us

is playing is amazing.

Shows that she does have

some determination to do right,

so we just got to keep her

motivated to do it all the time.

I want to try this one.

Here we go. Grandma throw.

Hey!

Tammy: But she got it!

So keep doing it that way!

Hot dog! Yes!

Oh!

I'm knocking somebody

else's off for them.

It's Tammy's turn.

My turn?

[ Cheering ]

[ Laughing ]

Y'all still suck, but good game.

Just remember that, cause

that's the hardest part.

The more effort you put

forth, the easier it'll be,

so you need to do it for

yourself and nobody else.

Amy.

It's not that. You're taking

what we're saying the wrong way.

I'm not attacking you, at all.

We're just telling you

you need to get back on track.

Amy gets upset, because she

feels like we're attacking her.

We're really not, we're

just trying to get her

to open her eyes and see that

the things she's doing

isn't the right choices,

and she could

reverse the surgery.

If you continue on the track

that you're on right now,

you're gonna be right back to

300-and-something pounds,

taking care of a child

that you can't keep up with.

There was times that I

couldn't get out and play

because I was too

big to keep up.

♪♪

Dr. Procter: Want to weigh in?

[ Scale beeps ]

You're not losing weight

nearly as fast

as I would anticipate

your losing.

What's your secret?

♪♪

♪♪

[ Grunts ]

Amy: Alright, we're here, y'all.

Let's go do this thing.

Don't forget y'all's mask.

[ Car rattles ]

Oh. Oh.

Tammy, I'm getting

the chair for you.

[ Groans ]

You guys here for your

appointment today

with Dr. Procter? Yes.

Tammy Slaton and Amy Halterman.

Okay.

[ Sighs ]

Chris: Waiting on Dr. Procter,

and Tammy and Amy

ain't saying a word,

and you can tell when they know

they're going to get in trouble,

'cause both of them

shut up and shut down.

Alright. Amy?

Hey, Amy, Michael, how are you?

We're good, how about you?

Good to see you guys again.

I know that you two

and I have both recently

had a test for coronavirus

that was negative.

So I'm okay if you guys

want to take off your mask.

We'll make sure we stay

distanced, and so forth.

So I guess I'll start

with some basics.

When I first met you,

you weighed 406 pounds.

Yeah.

Let's see where

we are with things.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Scale beeps ]

♪♪

Alright, 288 pounds.

A few months after your

surgery you were 306,

so you've lost 18 pounds

in the last few months.

You should have lost so much

more weight than that by now.

What's your secret?

Mm-hmm.

Well, listen, I'll start off

by saying congratulations.

I know that's something

that you were both wanting.

Yeah.

But we had talked about,

before your surgery,

waiting a couple

of years, really.

I am disappointed

that they weren't able

to wait the full two years

before getting pregnant,

because even though Amy

has lost a lot of weight,

she's still a very high-risk

pregnancy at 288 pounds,

plus, this is going

to put a huge damper

on her overall weight loss.

Many women have difficulty

getting pregnant

before weight loss.

It's a reason why they seek

to have weight-loss surgeries,

because of fertility issues,

and I warn everybody,

as I did with you,

they become very fertile

very quickly after surgery.

You don't have to lose all

the weight for that to happen,

as you found out.

But what we generally don't see

is that weight loss pick

up where you left off

after you have the baby.

There's a tendency to say,

"hey, I'm pregnant,

and we can eat

whatever we want to."

And for you, this

is in the middle

of a big weight loss journey,

so tell me how you've

been managing that.

You know what else besides

sour gummies are you

Fast food?

I know that you have

these hormones

that are going crazy right now,

and there's certain things

that you're craving

and wanting to eat.

You're gonna have to stay

away from those things.

The baby needs nutrition.

When I hear people say, "well,

the baby really would like me

to go get some fast food."

Or "the baby would like

me to have some pizza"

That baby doesn't care.

That baby wants to have

good-nutrient food

so it can grow up and

be born a healthy baby.

For right now, we're

gonna focus on you

eating the right things, so

as your pregnancy progresses,

you can continue to lose some

of that excess body mass.

Otherwise, my fear is,

you are gonna sabotage

everything we've done so far.

Besides getting pregnant,

she's not following her diet.

She's not doing anything

that she needs to do

to be successful with this.

Even with this tiny

stomach Amy has,

she absolutely has

the capability of gaining back

all the weight she lost,

and then some.

We want you to check

in every month,

see where we are

with your weight,

then after the baby comes,

we're gonna get

right on top of things.

I'd like to see you end

up around 150 pounds.

That's not anorexic skinny.

That's what you have to

get out of your head.

You know, your height of 5'4,

200 pounds, you're

still morbidly obese.

Oh. [ Scoffs ]

You're still putting your

life at risk at 200 pounds.

I know you and your sister have

had a lot of fun on YouTube,

and part of what makes

you guys funny

and part of your whole

thing is sort of

a laughing about your ways

and laughing these things off,

and it's good to have humor,

but it's not funny,

at this point.

Let's see you get healthy.

Okay.

Now you've got a baby in

there that's gonna need you,

that needs you to be around.

Alright, you guys have a safe

travel back to Kentucky, okay?

Okay, bye. Bye, now.

Chris: Amy's got Michael for

support, so I'm going to go

to the doctor's

appointment with Tammy.

It's really important

to get Tammy

back on track with her diet,

and if I can help

with that, I will.

Hey, Tammy. How are you?

Good, how are you?

Dr. Procter: Good.

Hi, how are you?

Fine. How are you?

My name is Chris.

I'm her older brother.

Dr. Procter, nice to meet you.

So I'm gonna go ahead

and take my mask off.

Feel free to do the same thing.

So, talk to me

a little bit about

the last several

months since we met.

What's been going on with you?

So what kind of things

are you eating now?

Whatever? Yeah. Pretty much.

Yeah.

Last time we met, Tammy

was off of her weight goal.

She was not really doing the

things that she needed to do.

I didn't approve

her for surgery.

My hope was that she would take

that back home with her,

use that as motivation

to double down

and start doing those things

that she needed to do.

Unfortunately, she's kind of

gone the other way with it.

Be careful.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Scale beeps ]

Alright, 595.

Tammy's gained nearly

all the weight back

that she had gotten off,

so we are literally starting

all over from scratch with her.

I'm more concerned about Tammy

now than I was before,

because what this tells me is

that she needs a lot more work.

She's got a lot further

to go mentally

before she's able to physically

prepare herself for surgery.

I think that to a degree here,

you're making excuses

for yourself.

Lifestyle-wise, you probably

didn't change much

when the pandemic

came along, right?

Not leaving the house

and so forth.

You're probably not doing

anything different.

[ Sighs ]

You know, I worry about you.

I've done the best

that I can do.

I've given Tammy

multiple chances,

but at this point,

something has to change.

I would love to be able to take

care of you and do your surgery,

but I think that we

need to look at this

a little bit differently.

It's clear that I just can't

keep her as a patient.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Sighs ]

You know, I worry about you.

I've done the best

that I can do.

I've given Tammy

multiple chances,

but at this point,

something has to change.

It's clear that I just can't

keep her as a patient.

We need to look at this

a little bit differently.

What are your feelings

on restarting?

You're for it? Alright.

I think that then, if that's

going to be the case,

I would love to be able to take

care of you and do your surgery,

but I think that you're

gonna be better served

if somebody who was lives closer

to you is looking after you.

I think it would be

in your best interest

if we referred you

to one of my colleagues

who lives a little bit

closer to you.

I think the accountability

of having a surgeon nearby

whose office that you can

go to weigh in more often

and stay on top of things

is going to be a whole

lot better for you.

'Cause you're a very

high-risk patient

Sitting around

and waiting to die

is not a good way to live.

We're not abandoning her.

We're always going

to be here for her,

but she needs more consistent

help closer to home.

I wish her all the best,

and I hope that she

finds it within her

to do the things that she needs

to do to eventually get surgery.

While you two are in Atlanta,

we're gonna have you and Amy

see a bariatric psychologist,

so you can kind of

understand again,

have a refresher on the things

that you need to do.

I'm a little concerned

about your whole approach

and relationship with food,

and we want to work

through that now.

You're okay with that?

Yeah. Alright.

Well, listen, it was

wonderful to see you.

Thank you for bringing

her and coming in.

If you'll wait outside

in the lobby,

I'd like to talk to everybody

before you head out.

Chris: Okay. Alright.

♪♪

Dr. Procter: Hey, guys.

Now we've got

everybody gathered,

I want to talk to you all.

I'm worried about Tammy.

I'm afraid that

the longer this goes,

your mobility is gonna go away.

As soon as you can't walk,

that's going to be the end

of it for you, alright?

So I'm gonna refer her

to one of my bariatric surgery

colleagues up in Kentucky,

so that she can be watched

a little more closely.

I'm really worried about you,

because your chances of

dying in the next five years

are about 80 percent,

if nothing happens.

♪♪

If you were to die

in five years,

you'd miss my son's graduation.

Miss your baby ever

getting into the first grade.

Alright. You guys stay safe.

Be careful driving

back to Kentucky.

Take care.

♪♪

♪♪

Next time on "1,000-lb sisters"

Amy: My thoughts on therapy is,

I can tell my friends

my feelings for free.

It's not going to hurt me

a bit to start dieting, too,

but I'll push you harder than

what Amy ever thought about it.

No more excuses, alright?

Chris: The diet has brought us

together a little closer.

How much closer can we get?

You're right. [ Laughs ]

Man: How you feeling? [ Groans ]

In my mind, I'm

thinking the worst.

I'm thinking I'm

having a miscarriage.

No you're not on

life support! What?

Amy: [ Crying ]