S02.E02: Tippin' the Scales

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

The Slatons head back to Atlanta to see Dr. Procter.  Amy is worried about dropping the news that she got pregnant so soon after surgery, against doctor's orders. Tammy returns knowing she gained all of the weight back.

This is the regular episode thread.  It will open after the US East Coast showing.

Original air date 2021.01.11

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Sending them to a bariatric psychologist makes good sense.  They need to address the relationship with food and with each other. There is so much codependency.  

I thought the doctor might ask their brother to stay behind a second and talk to him about his weight too.  The entire family has food issues that are negatively impacting their lives. His saying how much he missed out on with his kids was a great wake up call for Amy.  

[the-grey-lady]

Can someone enlighten me re: bariatric surgery?

I know it's possible to stretch the reduced stomach, which is how a lot of patients end up right back where they started, but doesn't it take awhile to do that?

How was Tammy, a few months out of surgery, shoveling such mountains of food into her newly-smaller stomach? How is that possible?

[seasons]

Tammy was having such trouble breathing to get to the couch. With her walker. 

Dr Now might put her in the hospital for 1200 calorie a day monitoring.

[seasons]

Fowling looks like fun! Even more fun would be beer-fowling! 

 

[seasons]

I really wish brother Chris had his weight under control. The girls seem to listen to him and respect him?

[Mothra]

Oh, Tammy.

[Texasmom1970]

I think this entire family should have been in therapy a long time ago. It is obvious they hide their pain behind jokes and snarky remarks.

Just about everyone has some kind of food issues. Some eat when sad; others might not eat when stressed. But most have the ability to recognize and try to handle these problems. Not this family they need a lot of help.

[CrazyInAlabama]

11 hours ago, the-grey-lady said:

Can someone enlighten me re: bariatric surgery?

I know it's possible to stretch the reduced stomach, which is how a lot of patients end up right back where they started, but doesn't it take awhile to do that?

How was Tammy, a few months out of surgery, shoveling such mountains of food into her newly-smaller stomach? How is that possible?

From watching this and several other WLS shows, it depends on the person how fast you can stretch out a stomach.   You have to be determined, and apparently the sisters are.    

If only they both had been just as determined to lose weight, stay on the eating plan, and improve their health. 

I'm hoping this will be a wake up call for both sisters, before it's too late for them.    Tammy huffing and puffing even with a walker was scary. 

Edited January 12, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[Kid]

Tammy stated that maybe they have a different plan for her when she hoes back to the doctor. The different plan they need is to wire her jaw shut.

[SevenCostanza]

I really wanted to shake Amy this episode.  She has no business eating Pringles, gummy worms, lo mein, and whatever else she was shoving in her mouth.  No your baby doesn't want that garbage, that's just your weak excuse to eat crap.  She needs to stop now or she's going to stretch out her stomach if she hasn't already.  

Tammy looks massive, that scene of the 3 of them sitting on the sofa together Amy almost looked petite.  I hope Tammy can get it together and loose some weight before she's bedridden.

I agree with everyone that said this family needs some good therapy. 

[Kid]

Chris makes sense but he needs to lose weight just as much as his sisters do.  

And Amy is just as deluded as Tammy.  She got what she wanted out of the surgery - getting pregnant.  She was using the strongest amount of birth control, my ass (and the look on Dr. Proctor's face when she said that said to me that he was thinking the same thing.)  So she got pregnant and now she can go back to inhaling  copious amounts of food.  She gives no consideration to raising that kid or to the bad habit she's going to pass on to that kid.  

 

Edited January 12, 2021 by Kid

[PrincessPurrsALot]

It occurred to me that Dr. Procter mentioned their youtube videos.  Did these two keep posting videos of them eating garbage?  I suspect Amy did some pregnancy, feeding the baby garbage videos.  You cannot lie to the doctor when you share everything you do online. 

They have an opportunity to change their online profile from the burping, farting sisters who eat copious amounts of food to the burping, farting sisters who have lost a significant amount of weight and can share the struggles and victories with others. You'll note, I don't expect them to stop burping and farting.  Some things are too core to who they are.  The family that farts together . . . . 

[Bugfrey Von]

Honestly, the previews have me pretty upset. I really hope they don’t show Amy having a miscarriage on television. That would be horrific, even for TLC.

Tammy needs to get it together. Her online persona is doing her no favors. She really needs to stop pontificating about what anybody should be eating. In order to maintain that kind of weight, she has to be eating thousands of calories every day, maybe 10,000 if not more.

[Twopper]

15 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

I thought the doctor might ask their brother to stay behind a second and talk to him about his weight too.  The entire family has food issues that are negatively impacting their lives. His saying how much he missed out on with his kids was a great wake up call for Amy.  

Well, here is how to fowl if anyone is interested.   https://fowlingwarehouse.com/official-rules/

I was really expecting this to end up with Dr Proctor taking Chris as a patient as well.  I could foresee his treating all three of them like the family he took on a few years back.  At least that family lived in the Atlanta area.   It is good that he is sending Tammy to a closer doctor. 

20 minutes ago, Bugfrey Von said:

Honestly, the previews have me pretty upset. I really hope they don’t show Amy having a miscarriage on television. That would be horrific, even for TLC.

You are not the only one.  I would guess she is close to her due date now, if she hasn't already delivered.   I was horrified by the preview of her visit to the doctor;  I think it made it worse because my daughter is 4 months preggers which is about what Amy was at that point.  My daughter is of normal weight, however.

I missed the live chat last night because  I was watching the college football championship game .  And also because I forget there is one.  I just read it and I think someone mentioned wiring Tammy's mouth shut.   I think this was a fairly common method back in the day.  About 35 years ago I met the wife of my husband's late wife's brother.  And her jaw was wired.  She lost tons, but gained it back.   While she was wired, she sounded like Natalie from the Ukraine on 90DF.   The problem with wiring jaws shut is that it prevents eating regular meals, but it is so easy to consume calorie rich drinks that defeat the purpose.   I think many people  whose jaws are wired think only solid food has calories.  And I think the people who regain weight after bariatric surgery probably start by adding liquid calories first.   My college roommate had the surgery about 20 years ago, and she kept it off for a while.  She remarried a really nice guy, but he was 6'7' or taller and just very big all over.  I think she just gained her weight back eating meals with him.  Her original surgery was to get her thin enough for hip replacement surgery which I think she got for both hips, but she now needs it for both knees.   They are two of the nicest people I know, but sadly they can't get a handle on eating far too much.

[ShortyMac]

Amy needed a doctor to tell her that garbage food is not nutritious enough for the baby?? Seriously? 

Edited January 13, 2021 by ShortyMac

[Kid]

57 minutes ago, ShortyMac said:

Any needed a doctor to tell her that garbage food is not nutritious enough for the baby?? Seriously? 

What she was shoveling down her throat had nothing to do with that baby other than her use of the baby as a tool to justify her behavior.  

You will notice that she has "cravings because she's pregnant" but she doesn't appear to have any morning sickness where she cannot eat and pukes up what she does.  So, the effects of pregnancy are very much in line with her addiction.

Edited January 12, 2021 by Kid

[Mothra]

It seems that every member of that family, except the one sister (the one who tried to get Tammy to walk to the mailbox) grotesquely obese, and I wonder what will come of psychotherapy.  They can't *all*, including their mother, have suffered the same kind of trauma/loss/whatever to cause them to overeat.  The photos of Tammy and Amy as children show them overweight--Tammy more than Amy--and I'm wondering if this is one of those cases which I thought were mythological, where the obesity is genetic.

I think Dr. Now would have had Tammy in the hospital on a controlled diet and PT long before this.  She is so very, very sick and in danger of dying.  She obviously can't get herself out of this danger zone and needs to be forced to lose a significant amount of weight before she's put back on her own.

When I was pregnant, I was overjoyed to be freed of my weight-loss goals--and I gained 60 lbs.  It was really, really hard to get rid of that baby weight, but I can sympathize with Amy to some extent to suddenly have weight loss be secondary to my health.

[the-grey-lady]

43 minutes ago, Kid said:

What she was shoveling down her throat had nothing to do with that baby other than her use of the baby as a tool to justify her behavior.  

Amy: The baby wants sour gummies/barbecue chips/lasagna/etc.

Me: The baby doesn't know he has toes. YOU want crap food.

[Snarkastikate]

17 hours ago, the-grey-lady said:

Can someone enlighten me re: bariatric surgery?

I know it's possible to stretch the reduced stomach, which is how a lot of patients end up right back where they started, but doesn't it take awhile to do that?

How was Tammy, a few months out of surgery, shoveling such mountains of food into her newly-smaller stomach? How is that possible?

I had a gastric bypass many years ago, wasn't "super sized" by TLC standards, abt. 250 lbs,  I've maintained my weight in the 180's since.  But that takes some diligence.  I do know many forget super sized patients I've met through support groups however.  To answer your question, yes it's certainly possible to start the climb back up there relatively quickly by eating frequently throughout the day until your stomach just stretches out bit by bit, and unfortunately it looks as though that's what Amy has been working on.  I think it was very sad when she was confronted by her brother about blaming all her eating in the baby and she responded that she just wanted to enjoy her pregnancy.  And that means eating, even if it is putting the baby in peril.  Sad.  And maybe she just kinda forgot taking her birth control pills.  The way she's relaxing those belly muscles when she can't be very far along is kinda funny, we've probably had friends that did the same thing.  Looked ready to deliver after 4 months LOL.

The brother mentioned that he missed out on doing so many things when his kids were young, so I think as heavy as he is now, he was much heavier at some point.  So he probably knows of what he speaks.  

Honestly I like these ladies and appreciate their super honesty, they joke around a lot, have great family camaraderie, and are endearing in many ways.  After watching such a big phony baloney like Whitney Thore, it's refreshing.  And they ain't as dumb as some people may think, they have good perception.  (Well jury's out on Amy's hubby LOL).  I like this show far more than I thought I would. 

[the-grey-lady]

2 minutes ago, Snarkastikate said:

I had a gastric bypass many years ago, wasn't "super sized" by TLC standards, abt. 250 lbs,  I've maintained my weight in the 180's since.  But that takes some diligence.  I do know many forget super sized patients I've met through support groups however.  To answer your question, yes it's certainly possible to start the climb back up there relatively quickly by eating frequently throughout the day until your stomach just stretches out bit by bit, and unfortunately it looks as though that's what Amy has been working on. 

Thank you for this terrific insight. I had no idea it was possible to "undo" the surgery so quickly!

[RedDelicious]

Tammy’s weird maroon eye makeup looks like she put on a Lone Ranger mask and colored in the eye holes with markers.

[RedDelicious]

Also Amy’s husband, as sweet as he is, dresses like an adult Beavis/Butthead.

[snarkish]

Amy knows exactly what she's doing. She had no intentions of waiting 2 years to get pregnant. Just like her eating solid foods before it was safe to do so. She does what she wants.

I do wonder, however, if she's possibly having some extreme vitamin deficiencies as to why she's shoving in these odd combinations of foods. Before surgery, she just ate shitty food. Now she's pairing really weird foods together (the peppermint patty and chips and pineapple with lasagna had bile rising in my throat). SO much acid with the pineapple and sauce. I have no idea how she can fit in all that food so quickly after surgery. 

When I see Tammy I start to think of James K. of M600PL. I think some people get to a point where there is no helping them, or turning them back. I unfortunately think she's a lost cause. 

As for Tammy's makeup, it looked to me like she tried to draw on her buried eyelids with a red magic marker. Pink/reds do not make good eye colors!

Can we say "staged" 10X fast, during the scenes of meeting with Dr. Procter? He could barely control his adorable dimple and keep a straight face when she was telling him she "had a surprise" and "was on strong birth control". 

I'm so afraid that Little Bit is going to wind up crushed into Tammy's butt crack in the van one day, as the Gatorade bottle almost did. 

[missnoa]

16 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

It occurred to me that Dr. Procter mentioned their youtube videos.  Did these two keep posting videos of them eating garbage?  I suspect Amy did some pregnancy, feeding the baby garbage videos.  You cannot lie to the doctor when you share everything you do online. 

They have an opportunity to change their online profile from the burping, farting sisters who eat copious amounts of food to the burping, farting sisters who have lost a significant amount of weight and can share the struggles and victories with others. You'll note, I don't expect them to stop burping and farting.  Some things are too core to who they are.  The family that farts together . . . . 

Amy didn't really post much to youtube after the surgery and the end of the first season and when she did, it was makeup videos. No food challenges or anything with her eating. Most likely she wasn't allowed to post too much because typically TLC doesn't want people they film showing off how much weight they did or didn't lose, they want to save that for possible filming.

Amy was using "the baby wants this" as a way of circumventing her restrictions and even she isn't stupid enough to believe that the BABY wanted all that crap. "The baby" doesn't truly know what you're eating, it's not having a party because you're eating BBQ chips and mints. That has to go down as one of the dumbest ways I've seen a person try and justify the crap they're shoving in their mouth and I've seen every 600 Lb Life episode. She was crying about wanting to "enjoy her pregnancy" but she's not going to enjoy it if she has a miscarriage because she's screwing around with her and the baby's health so she can get her gummi fix. Also, she thinks 150 lbs is "anorexic skinny", so her mentality is still completely unhealthy.

Tammy is in deep, deep trouble. She can barely walk anymore and even worse, she struggles to breath just sitting on the couch sometimes. She's not that far off being completely bedridden and once that happens, the only thing she has left is dying. And she's in even more trouble once Amy reaches the last stages of pregnancy and then once the baby actually comes. She's not going to have the energy to be doing everything for Tammy at 9 months pregnant and she's not going to have the energy or time after that baby is born, and there's nobody else who is going to take care of her since she burned her bridges with the rest of the family, so she's screwed.

Edited January 13, 2021 by missnoa

[Shauna]

I was shocked to see Tammy weighs less than 600 pounds.  I thought she would be at least in the 700 range.

It looked like Dr. Procter was absolutely done with both of them.  No smiling, no joking.  Just flat out said you'd be better served by seeing someone closer to you.  I bet he's glad they don't live close to his office.  

[SevenCostanza]

10 minutes ago, Shauna said:

I was shocked to see Tammy weighs less than 600 pounds.  I thought she would be at least in the 700 range.

It looked like Dr. Procter was absolutely done with both of them.  No smiling, no joking.  Just flat out said you'd be better served by seeing someone closer to you.  I bet he's glad they don't live close to his office.  

It seems kind of ridiculous to drive so far just to step on the scale and talk to the doctor.   Amy and her stupid excuses, about not following any of his instructions must be infuriating.  I agree, he's very glad to see the last of them.

[CanuckFan]

21 hours ago, Kid said:

Chris makes sense but he needs to lose weight just as much as his sisters do.  

And Amy is just as deluded as Tammy.  She got what she wanted out of the surgery - getting pregnant.  She was using the strongest amount of birth control, my ass (and the look on Dr. Proctor's face when she said that said to me that he was thinking the same thing.)  So she got pregnant and now she can go back to inhaling  copious amounts of food.  She gives no consideration to raising that kid or to the bad habit she's going to pass on to that kid.  

 

No birth control is 100%. What the dr should have done was suggest termination. She can always get pregnant again after she's lost the weight.

[Kid]

11 minutes ago, CanuckFan said:

No birth control is 100%. What the dr should have done was suggest termination. She can always get pregnant again after she's lost the weight.

Dr. Proctor wasn't fooled one second.  And he knew it was pointless to make that suggestion.

[HoneyBeach]

Food has always been an issue for me. I too was born at almost 10 lbs and have always been overweight. All I ever wanted was to have a baby but of course had fertility issues. At 30, I took Phen and went to the gym.  Got down to 253 and got pregnant. I was high-risk, developed gestational diabetes, was continuously at the Dr. for check-ups,  and was so terrified of harming my baby that I actually only gained baby weight.  Two weeks after she was born, I weighed 243 lbs. My medical "team" was alarmed at the end of my pregnancy because she was small.  She weighed 6.2 lbs. at birth and nobody could believe it. Luckily she was healthy and is now 18 years old.  I too wanted to enjoy my pregnancy and eat, but I was so scared I would lose her that I was finally able to restrain myself.  After she was born, I slowly regained the weight back and still struggle to this day, but I keep trying.  My baby needs me.

[auntjess]

2 hours ago, Shauna said:

I was shocked to see Tammy weighs less than 600 pounds.  I thought she would be at least in the 700 range.

It looked like Dr. Procter was absolutely done with both of them.  No smiling, no joking.  Just flat out said you'd be better served by seeing someone closer to you.  I bet he's glad they don't live close to his office.  

I think she's very short.   Also, she never got the surgery, did she?

[Shauna]

3 hours ago, SevenCostanza said:

It seems kind of ridiculous to drive so far just to step on the scale and talk to the doctor.   Amy and her stupid excuses, about not following any of his instructions must be infuriating.  I agree, he's very glad to see the last of them.

Seems like he's a real doctor and not just one looking for tv time.

Love your username by the way.  Go George!

40 minutes ago, auntjess said:

I think she's very short.   Also, she never got the surgery, did she?

She never got the surgery.   Doesn't seems like she's ready.  What is really annoying to me is how much she expects Amy to do everything for her.  But that could be partly Amy's fault if she has always done everything for Tammy.  Tammy also seems very jealous of Amy, her weight loss, marriage, baby, etc.  She's bitter.  But she's got no one to blame but herself.  

[ams1001]

Tammy looks at least twice as big as Amy. The two of them on the couch is disturbing.

[Suzywriter]

On 1/12/2021 at 5:31 PM, the-grey-lady said:

Amy: The baby wants sour gummies/barbecue chips/lasagna/etc.

Me: The baby doesn't know he has toes. YOU want crap food.

OMG, it drives me nuts when women say "the baby wants...". It's childish and manipulative.

[Scarlett45]

Hello everyone- I didn’t watch season 1, but my BFF filled me in so I will be watching along with you guys. 

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Live chat thread is available here: 

 

[auntjess]

1 hour ago, ams1001 said:

Tammy looks at least twice as big as Amy. The two of them on the couch is disturbing.

The one I keep seeing, maybe on TV, is Amy standing, and Tammy sitting, and Tammy looks like an enormous round couch.
I don't know what might help Tammy, because I agree with the person who said that she's bitter, and jealous of Amy for having a husband.
 

 

[Caoimhe]

Tammy will lose weight if she’s put into an institutional setting where she can only eat what she’s given - a low calorie low carb diet - and she can’t get ANY food from outside.  She’d drop fifty pounds in less than a month.  Of course when she’s released into the wild it will all pile back on again and I’m not sure therapy will be able to make a real difference for her.  There was a comment on a thread somewhere that therapy will only work if you are willing to put in the work and change.  It doesn’t seem like Tammy wants to do any work at all.

I thought I heard Amy comment in a voice over that the reason she had the surgery was to “have me a baby”.  That really doesn’t sound like someone who wants to commit to getting (and staying) healthy.  She keeps repeating that birth control stuff so much that I think she got pregnant “accidentally on purpose”.  I cracked up at the 150 pounds being “anorexic skinny” because I’m a good bit taller than her and it’s still pretty much overweight for me!  If she’d been able to have her baby without the weight loss surgery I don’t think she would have seen much need to change.

No more Dr. Proctor is sad, but I’m surprised he didn’t send them to someone else much sooner.

[lulu69]

On 1/13/2021 at 11:50 PM, auntjess said:

I don't know what might help Tammy, because I agree with the person who said that she's bitter, and jealous of Amy for having a husband.

Agreed. I know it was a re-enactment for tlc cameras but Tammy's reaction to Amy's pregnancy news was far more that of jealously and anger than of love and concern IMHO.

I'm thinking maybe Tammy was counting on the 2 years Amy was supposed to wait as time as enough time to marry Jerry (nevermind that he's already married to someone else) or some other man and catch up to Amy. Yes, its incredibly juvenile thinking but that's Tammy, mental age of 5yrs.  Amy's pregnacy news basically torpedoed that plan. Now Amy is once again further along in life and in the lead indefinitely. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by lulu69

[chenoa333]

On 1/12/2021 at 4:37 PM, RedDelicious said:

Also Amy’s husband, as sweet as he is, dresses like an adult Beavis/Butthead.

Does this guy have a job? I don't watch this show regularly but iirc, it was mentioned that he did have a job. I don't understand how he can have time to drive Amy and Tammy everywhere...the doctor in Georgia, grocery shopping, pedicures etc. And who cleans the houses these 2 sisters live in? We know they aren't physically capable. And this dumbass husband of Amy's needs to care more about what his wife is eating because this is HIS child too. This baby deserves to be born healthy and fed healthy food. Sadly I don't believe these sisters will ever change. 

 

[RedDelicious]

21 minutes ago, chenoa333 said:

Does this guy have a job? I don't watch this show regularly but iirc, it was mentioned that he did have a job. I don't understand how he can have time to drive Amy and Tammy everywhere...the doctor in Georgia, grocery shopping, pedicures etc. And who cleans the houses these 2 sisters live in? We know they aren't physically capable. And this dumbass husband of Amy's needs to care more about what his wife is eating because this is HIS child too. This baby deserves to be born healthy and fed healthy food. Sadly I don't believe these sisters will ever change. 

 

It’s hard to say - I think he does? Both sisters seem to be very bullheaded about their eating habit, so I’m not sure if Mr. Amy would be able to sway her otherwise. He seems like a genuinely kind person and bless his heart because hell hath no fury like a hungry Slaton Sister 😳

[RedDelicious]

I've re-watched/listened to the episode twice now by virtue of having TLC on in the background while I've been doing other things.  I'm kind of surprised by some of the things Tammy says - by that I mean that even though she isn't the most articulate person in the world, she doesn't seem to be a dummy by any stretch.  I think she might have a bright mind and is very stunted by her circumstances, both environmental and self-imposed.  It's such a shame.

One thing I don't understand is people referring to 10+ pound babies as having a weight problem since birth.  That makes no sense to me.  My brother was almost 11 pounds at birth and has had trouble keeping weight ON his frame his entire life.  We're in our mid-40s now and he's still a bean pole.

[GoGamecox]

The whole "my baby wants it" excuse for eating crap food seems pretty ridiculous when that baby is growing a brain and has absolutely no capability of thinking anything. It's not like he's using his app to order Grubhub up in there. Is she going to be one of those moms with a morbidly obese child who shrugs her shoulders and says, "He wants cheeseburgers and doesn't like vegetables. He needs to eat, doesn't he?" Then the cycle continues. 

Edited January 19, 2021 by GoGamecox
More insightful thoughts that needed to be shared with the world 😉

[CrazyInAlabama]

So Dr. Procter tells Tammy that she has an 80% chance of dying in the next five years, and Amy's response is to say "You won't be around for my son's graduation"?     They are both so self-centered that it's pathetic.  

[xls]

On 1/13/2021 at 10:10 PM, ams1001 said:

Tammy looks at least twice as big as Amy. The two of them on the couch is disturbing.

omg Amy was lost beween them two! she looked like a little person!

😮

[GoGamecox]

On 1/17/2021 at 1:18 PM, chenoa333 said:

Does this guy have a job? I don't watch this show regularly but iirc, it was mentioned that he did have a job. I don't understand how he can have time to drive Amy and Tammy everywhere...the doctor in Georgia, grocery shopping, pedicures etc. And who cleans the houses these 2 sisters live in? We know they aren't physically capable. And this dumbass husband of Amy's needs to care more about what his wife is eating because this is HIS child too. This baby deserves to be born healthy and fed healthy food. Sadly I don't believe these sisters will ever change. 

 

I don't think he works at all; looks like Amy is making all their income. I was thinking that the sisters were collecting some kind of disability due to morbid obesity impairing their ability to work, but with them both collecting income through the show and possibly through social media, I'm guessing that may not be the case anymore.