This episode of TLC’s My 600-lb Life is a heart-wrenching one. Each episode of the reality TV show focuses on a person over 600 pounds looking to make a major change.

This week, we get to follow Krystal, a woman who is determined to get her weight under control. This isn’t just for herself, but for her beloved husband, with whom she wants to live life to the fullest.

Krystal Wants To Lose Weight For Love

This week’s episode follows Krystal A, a 36-year-old who describes her life as “excruciating,” in constant pain as she tries to get around. She tells the cameras that it’s hard for her to grapple with the fact that her husband, Mark, isn’t overweight. For his part, Mark is very sweet, boasting that his wife of two years is very strong and still able to hold down a 40-hour/week job.

As far as Krystal’s background, she opens up about how a rough upbringing played a role in her relationship with food:

Krystal shared that eating with her grandmother was one of the only times when she felt comfort, and that at the end of the day it was her “moment of peace.” She resolves that she wants to lose weight so she can keep up with her husband, giving him the kind of partner he deserves.

One interesting wrench is the situation is that Krystal and Mark live with a friend who seems to enable her poor eating habits, Jonathan, who notes that they like to sit on the couch to watch movies and pig out together. It’s an especially interesting dynamic because Mark finds himself having to play bad cop with his buddy and his own wife, and I was impressed with how patiently he navigated their friendship.

Krystal shares that she was once 620 pounds, and at her first weigh-in with Dr. Now she comes in at 592 pounds. Dr. Now says that her BMI is 101, one of the highest he’s ever seen in a person. He assigns her a diet with no carbs whatsoever, telling her she needs to lose 60 pounds in the next two months while also going to therapy to address her past traumas in order to be approved for weight-loss surgery.

Much like Jonathan in the first episode, Krystal demonstrates an impressive level of self-awareness, understanding the connection between her emotional strife and her addiction to food. Perhaps even more surprisingly, Krystal’s friend and enabler, Jonathan, agrees to stay away for a while until she can get her eating under control.

Krystal Wrestles With Exercise

One thing Krystal has a hard time with is exercising, as it’s something she’s struggled to form a habit of her entire life. With some prompting from Mark, she joins a 24-hour gym so she can get some movement in outside of work. At her five-month check-in, she weighs in at 512 pounds, which is enough to approve her for weight-loss surgery the following month.

Dr. Now removes 85% of her stomach during surgery, which will take away her “personal drive” to eat, according to him. He comments that she’ll still need to be vigilant about going to therapy and caring for her emotional health:

If she fails to do this, he says, she seriously risks gaining all the weight back.

Krystal goes to see a therapist, sharing her horrifying past: her grandmother was abusive, she was sexually assaulted at 14, she had an abusive partner, and her daughter ended up leaving the household. The therapist notes that she appears to have a “blind spot” around addicts, and he encourages her to be more forgiving of herself and for not being able to provide everything as a mother that she might’ve liked.

After the session, Krystal notes that she hadn’t even realized some of her experiences could be considered abuse. Later, her daughter Korigan comes to see her, hoping the two of them can talk some things out.

Krystal says she’s regretful that her daughter has grown up to be skeptical of men because of her. She also assures her that she’s not just working on her relationship with food, but on her overall mental health. In the end, she apologizes for “failing” her daughter at times, and the two end in an embrace, providing hope for their relationship in the future.

At the end of the episode, she assures Dr. Now that she’ll stick to her diet plan, hoping she’ll be well on her way to another surgery in the near future. “I feel like I’m getting closer to where I can feel confident,” she tells the cameras.

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My 600 Lb Life

Release Date

February 1, 2012

Network

TLC

Seasons

11

Streaming Service(s)

TLC GO

Showrunner

Jonathan Nowzaradan

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