Each episode of the reality TV show My 600-lb Life shows the harrowing weight-loss journey of a morbidly obese individual. Now that the TLC show is in its thirteenth season, the stories continue to pour in.

This week we follow a young man named Deshaun. With so many family members catering to him, it makes his motivation to lose weight extremely difficult.

Deshaun Is Deeply Dependent

Deshaun is only 28-years-old, living in Omaha, Nebraska. Right from the start, he tells the cameras that he feels “trapped” in his own body. He lives with his mother and regrets the fact that, though he’s the eldest child, his younger siblings have to help take care of him. His sister says it’s “a little awkward” that she has to help him wash up, but that she’d rather do that than allow him to be unclean and ashamed.

His mother explains that she may have allowed Deshaun to get too comfortable around the house, and that she’s urging him to make a life change:

We learn that Deshaun’s father was away in prison while he was a child, and that his mother struggled with drugs, so food became a comfort to him in place of his parents. When he started committing petty crimes as a teen, he was sent to a group home, and eventually it led him to gaining more weight, pushing past 500 pounds.

To make matters worse, Deshaun recounts a time when he was the victim of a driveby shooting, a bullet grazing his hand and coming out of his thumb. After that, he started to retreat indoors, barely leaving the house and making his weight issue worse. Now he’s at the point where he asks his family members to do his shopping for him, FaceTiming them from bed while they go to the grocery store. He hasn’t left the house in three years. “He needs someone to push him,” his mom says.

Deshaun Decides To Change

In his first appointment with Dr. Now, they have a video call where Dr. Now prescribes Deshaun a low-carb, 1200 calorie diet to get him started on his weight-loss journey. “He clearly lacks a lot of motivation,” Dr. Now tells the cameras, concerned about the fact that Deshaun can barely stand and that he has multiple people who supply him with junk food.

Later, Deshaun meets with a dietician, who comes to his house and walks him through how many calories he’s consuming based on the foods she finds in his kitchen. “I know it’s gonna be difficult,” Deshaun tells the cameras. He begins his diet, his sister cooking him chicken and vegetables to help his journey. Dr. Now is frustrated to learn, however, that his loved ones still enable him and bring him fast food when he wants it.

At their next video check-in, Deshaun reveals that he’s stopped following the diet plan and stopped working with his physical therapist entirely. He’s all but given up on his journey. “He really doesn’t appreciate what you do for him,” Dr. Now tells Deshaun’s mom, who’s so frustrated that she’s on the verge of tears. Dr. Now explains to her that Deshaun needs an internal reason to make a life change:

Dr. Now gives Deshaun one more chance, emphasizing that he needs to speak with a therapist and look after his mental health. “I feel like we’re wasting you,” the therapist tells him when he hears that Deshaun’s never had a job. He points out that being stuck at home sounds like he’s actually stuck in jail. He urges Deshaun to imagine that there’s a “fire” in his life and that he needs to get out. “We need to get you into action mode,” he says.

Eventually, Deshaun starts to do some exercises around the house and walk out to the porch to socialize with the neighbors. He even joins his mom for a meal in the living room, and she tells him she’s proud of his progress. At the end of the episode, however, Deshaun is supposed to go in for a doctor’s appointment in-person, but he ends up refusing, claiming that he doesn’t have a pair of shoes that fit him.

He does a video appointment with Dr. Now instead, and while the two agree to postpone the appointment to the following week, Deshaun doesn’t seem particularly motivated to continue his journey. “If I get my shoes, I’ll go,” he claims. By the end of the episode, however, Dr. Now reveals that Deshaun and his mom have completely stopped answering his calls. “He has no interest in changing his life,” Dr. Now proclaims. “We have given him a chance to get healthy and change his life for the better, and he doesn’t want that. And a lot of his family may not want that for him either.”

My 600 Lb Life

Release Date

February 1, 2012

Network

TLC

Showrunner

Jonathan Nowzaradan

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