S04.E17: Where Are They Now? Bettie Jo and Susan

[Muffyn]

Bettie Jo battles depression and a cancer diagnosis after finding out she's pregnant; Susan suffers a major setback after surgery for her excess skin.

 

 

[Katt]

My DVR cut the last few minutes off... What happened with Bettie Jo and her situation?

[notyrmomma]

I fell asleep after Susan's surgery, but I will try to watch it tonight (hopefully my DVR didn't cut it off).  From reading the synopsis, I guess Susan didn't heal well from her surgery, but it seems like she would look totally normal with her lymphodemas removed--there were a few scenes in the beginning of the show where there was a shot of her in the kitchen with her back to the camera where I thought it was her mother they were shooting.  I'm also interested to see how Betty Jo's pregnancy turned out.

[notyrmomma]

Oh, and one more thing.  Did anyone catch the look of shock on Dr. Now's face when Betty Joe said she attempted suicide nine times?  How the heck was that not in her medical record and how the heck did she ever get psych clearance (or maybe the truth is coming out that they aren't making the people on this show do that, SCARY!)

[OhioMom]

My DVR cut the last few minutes off... What happened with Bettie Jo and her situation?

Nothing.  They left us hanging.

I was so disappointed with the way they handled this episode.  Why didn't they just wait to finish filming until BettyJo's situation had some type of resolution?  Is she still pregnant?? Did she have the baby??? Although my DirecTV synopsis said she had a "cancer diagnosis", not once in the show did I hear those words.  Did she have the surgery??

[OhioMom]

I have a feeling either she didn't have the baby yet, or she decided to terminate the pregnancy, since there are no new baby pictures on either her Twitter https://twitter.com/bettiejonjosh, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bettiejosue/or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Joshygirl accounts.  I don't know how much time has passed since when the "update" show was filmed, and today (ie when was she due to deliver her baby?).

Edited April 21, 2016 by OhioMom

[ClareWalks]

I'm not done with the episode yet and I missed exactly when in the process (1 year 6 months? -ish?) the ultrasound was, but if they could tell the sex she was probably 4-5 months pregnant. So she should have had the baby by the end of the second year update. It is unlikely she would/could choose to terminate the pregnancy at that late stage. Hopefully there was not a stillbirth or anything. 

 

ETA: Ohhhhhh, I see what y'all were saying. I would be curious to know if she could have tried to carry the baby as long as possible, then risked a very early delivery (like maybe 30 weeks) to reduce the risks to her and give the baby at least a shot, despite being premature. Either way, what a tough decision.

Edited April 21, 2016 by ClareWalks

[stillhere1900]

My DVR cut the last few minutes off... What happened with Bettie Jo and her situation?

 

You can add time to the end of the recording. Directv  lets you add mins to the start and stop of a recording.

[CousinOliver]

Susan's weight loss was phenomenal.  My gut feeling is that she won't get all the accolades other people have, but down to 210 in 2 years is amazing.  Overall, I found Bettie Jo's segments to be very unsatisfying. 

 

It seems like Dr. Now knew something of Bettie Jo's suicide attempts, but I'm really beyond caring.  Every week it's fresh outrage over what viewers assume about psych evals (they're not upfront about who is paying, but if insurance is involved, they're having full evals.  If not, who knows?) 

 

Maybe they do evals, maybe they don't, maybe people are honest at their evals, maybe they are not (my suicidal boss once talked her way out of a residential program through convincing lies.)  Maybe Dr Now just takes the psych's recommendation as a yes/no, maybe he has access to their entire medical records and knows everything they discussed.  Regardless, I'm not in this to see someone have counseling (which I find more intrusive than watching surgery or recovery), or to even discuss going to counseling.  I'm in this show for seeing what a 600 lb body looks like, it's limitations, the effects of surgery, how weight loss affects the body, the loose skin limitations, etc. 

[OhioMom]

Don't you think, though, if she had the baby, there'd be pictures? There's absolutely no mention that I can see, either way -- neither of a birth, nor of a loss.

[MsSilverSpecs]

I'm glad i didn't stick around to the end then. Why didn't they just finish Bettie Jo's story? I was curious to see if she had the baby.. About the mass on her spine.

Susan looked great. Good for her! Though I cringed when they showed her stomach stitches ripped open. Ouch.

[Hero]

Damn, this episode didn't record for me. Does that happen to anyone else? I have Dish and this has happened a few times.

[Ocean Chick]

I'm glad Susan was able to recover from her infection, but YIKES!  Waiting nearly a week to go to the ER after she first noticed problems?  She's very lucky she didn't lose her life.  Hope that was the beat upside her head from the clue stick that she needs to take her health seriously.  She's looking really good now, and yeah for horseback riding with friends.  I hope she is able to have the rest of her loose skin removed, especially from her neck area (which she can't really hide under clothing).

 

I hope Bettie Jo had a healthy baby, or is still pregnant.  She and Josh would be devastated if they lost another baby, I'm sure.  But yes, how in the heck did Dr. Now not know about the previous suicide attempts?  Maybe THIS will be the beat upside the head HE needs to make sure he fully evaluates his patients in future so he knows all the details that might be pertinent.  I hope we get an update regarding Bettie Jo soon.

[MaggieMay638]

Hi...new here I can't seem to figure out how to reply to a specific post.

 

I'm Facebook friends with both Bettie Jo and Susan through a closed group. They cannot say anything publicly until their show airs. She hadn't said anything about being pregnant but did talk about "the mass" a month or so ago.

 

We heard from Bettie Jo this morning and the baby is not due until August 26th. She's only 22 weeks along as of today. I didn't realize everything was so recent myself.

[ClareWalks]

Hi...new here I can't seem to figure out how to reply to a specific post.

 

I'm Facebook friends with both Bettie Jo and Susan through a closed group. They cannot say anything publicly until their show airs. She hadn't said anything about being pregnant but did talk about "the mass" a month or so ago.

 

We heard from Bettie Jo this morning and the baby is not due until August 26th. She's only 22 weeks along as of today. I didn't realize everything was so recent myself.

 

Thanks for the update! I am shocked that she is only 22 weeks along. Clearly the show lied about their timeline, then, since it is not possible to see a penis on an ultrasound in a fetus that would (if the timeline is accurate) be less than 12 weeks along. I guess I shouldn't be surprised!

 

Oh, edited to add that you can quote a post by hitting the little quotation marks at the bottom right corner of the post you want to reply to, then when you reply at the bottom it will show up automatically :)

Edited April 21, 2016 by ClareWalks

[MaggieMay638]

Thanks for the update! I am shocked that she is only 22 weeks along. Clearly the show lied about their timeline, then, since it is not possible to see a penis on an ultrasound in a fetus that would (if the timeline is accurate) be less than 12 weeks along. I guess I shouldn't be surprised!

 

Oh, edited to add that you can quote a post by hitting the little quotation marks at the bottom right corner of the post you want to reply to, then when you reply at the bottom it will show up automatically :)

Thanks!

I was really going crazy for a while.

 

[dahling]

I felt really angry with Bettie Jo and her doofus husband for intentionally becoming pregnant while her weight was still almost 500 lbs.  Yes, she said it was an accident and that she didn't know she could get pregnant, but then later said she'd had earlier miscarriages. It sounds like a planned pregnancy to me.  Bettie Jo can barely take care of herself physically. Yes she's lost weight but she's still extremely limited in what she can do.  And they are living with relatives.  They can not physically take care of a baby in any aspect on their own.  Very selfish, very dumb.  

 

Susan lost an astounding amount of weight but looked like she aged 20 years.  I was happy for her getting to buy jeans and ride the horse.  But as someone who is dreaming about getting skin surgery after I hit my goal weight, some of these shows are really making me wonder about it.  The recovery seems excruciating and prone to complications.  

[gunderda]

Very happy for Susan! I was surprised she stuck with it.  

 

Betty Jo's was just kinda wahhh wahhhhhhh..... glad the husband could get cleaned up though after they moved. He looks like a dirty mess at the beginning of the episode. I think she should have had the surgery, she was obviously very early in her pregnancy.  And then I couldn't believe they were actually buying baby stuff while she was still trying to decide if she was going to have the surgery.  Yes, let's by baby stuff when our child might die and then we will be able to live in misery and depression over all this stuff we prematurely loss. And yes, let's not have surgery, cause yourself to go paralyzed so then your husband now has to take full time care of a baby AND yourself.

[ClareWalks]

I felt really angry with Bettie Jo and her doofus husband for intentionally becoming pregnant while her weight was still almost 500 lbs.  Yes, she said it was an accident and that she didn't know she could get pregnant, but then later said she'd had earlier miscarriages. It sounds like a planned pregnancy to me.  Bettie Jo can barely take care of herself physically. Yes she's lost weight but she's still extremely limited in what she can do.  And they are living with relatives.  They can not physically take care of a baby in any aspect on their own.  Very selfish, very dumb.  

 

Susan lost an astounding amount of weight but looked like she aged 20 years.  I was happy for her getting to buy jeans and ride the horse.  But as someone who is dreaming about getting skin surgery after I hit my goal weight, some of these shows are really making me wonder about it.  The recovery seems excruciating and prone to complications.  

 

Agree with everything you said. Even if they weren't trying TO have a baby, they didn't seem to be trying NOT to. I would have liked to hear some doctor talk about specifically what is risky about having a baby at 500 lb. They really glossed over it. 

 

Susan definitely looked old. She looks at least as old as her mother, and did even at a higher weight. I don't know if poor nutrition made her look so prematurely aged, or what. But after she lost the weight, it was mostly the loose skin on her neck that made her look remarkably older. It sucks that you can do something good, like lose weight (congrats to you also by the way, dahling!), and end up looking worse in another way. 

[Noirprncess]

Yeah, I will keep most of my comments to myself other than to say Susan did well in the end.

[Armchair Critic]

I felt bad for Bettie Jo having depression and suicide attempts. But the cynical side of me thinks she told Dr. Now about that when she did so he wouldn't scold her about not losing weight.

 

I still need to finish watching but good for Susan.

[aliya]

Well, color me surprised that Susan did as well as she did. I didn't place her by name, so when I saw her face and her weight loss, I couldn't believe it.  Her extended version is on now, and yeah, I don't think there's anything in it that would indicate her success. I am so glad she was horseback riding and seeming to get her life back. That said, she needs a chin operation or something. She looks old and tired out. Which is kinda sad after having so much work done and working so hard on her weight.

 

I'm sorry. People have terrible parents, parents get divorced, die, whatever. How does that result in tremendous weight gain? I guess I'm not too sympathetic with the people on these shows who say their weight gain is due to this type of event (I'm gonna leave sexual abuse out of the equation). Stuff happens. Making yourself immobile isn't going to make your parents fall back in love or your grandpa rise from the grave.

 

As for Bettie Jo; I wish they had said if she'd had the baby. I'm afraid things might not have worked out. It pained me to see them looking at baby stuff when there were so many unknowns about the situation.

 

Regarding the suicide attempts and weight loss therapy, two thoughts. 1) If they knew about the attempts, and if they were weight-related, maybe the thought was to give her the surgery so that issue would be removed. 2) My understanding from investigating the surgery is that the psychiatrist only wanted to see if I had some kind of eating disorder that would hinder my adhering to the post-surgery meal plan. They didn't really care if I hated my mother. So, she may well have had a session, but that it didn't get to deeper issues. 

[MaggieMay638]

Well, color me surprised that Susan did as well as she did. I didn't place her by name, so when I saw her face and her weight loss, I couldn't believe it.  Her extended version is on now, and yeah, I don't think there's anything in it that would indicate her success. I am so glad she was horseback riding and seeming to get her life back. That said, she needs a chin operation or something. She looks old and tired out. Which is kinda sad after having so much work done and working so hard on her weight.

 

I'm sorry. People have terrible parents, parents get divorced, die, whatever. How does that result in tremendous weight gain? I guess I'm not too sympathetic with the people on these shows who say their weight gain is due to this type of event (I'm gonna leave sexual abuse out of the equation). Stuff happens. Making yourself immobile isn't going to make your parents fall back in love or your grandpa rise from the grave.

 

As for Bettie Jo; I wish they had said if she'd had the baby. I'm afraid things might not have worked out. It pained me to see them looking at baby stuff when there were so many unknowns about the situation.

 

Regarding the suicide attempts and weight loss therapy, two thoughts. 1) If they knew about the attempts, and if they were weight-related, maybe the thought was to give her the surgery so that issue would be removed. 2) My understanding from investigating the surgery is that the psychiatrist only wanted to see if I had some kind of eating disorder that would hinder my adhering to the post-surgery meal plan. They didn't really care if I hated my mother. So, she may well have had a session, but that it didn't get to deeper issues. 

 

 

Sorry for the above...still learning....

 

Betty Jo is only 22 weeks pregnant as of this morning. The baby is due August 26th.

[Guest dutronc]

Was Susan the one whose father/stepfather threatened them with guns? I know not all humans react to the same stimuli the same way, but if she had a traumatic childhood, obesity is in keeping with studies that show that trauma and turmoil (and not just sexual trauma) in childhood increase likelihood of obesity in adulthood by something like 70%. It's not just behavioral, it is connected with the hormonal response of cortisol and stress in addition to behavior. And for many people, overeating has a sedative effect, so there's that.

 

In her original episode, I found Bettie Jo exasperating in a way I didn't experience with any of the other patients. She seemed much needier and clingier ("can you tell I lost 100 lbs?" "I need someone to help me say no") and yet she also seemed very blank like Ashley and Christina did, and in her follow up, still pretty blank and devoid of personality. I know not everyone needs to be a sparkly firecracker, but she didn't seem to have a lot going on. Maybe that's just how she is, and her family seems to love her, so maybe she's just not a good fit for documentary reality tv. I hope she has a positive outcome.

Edited April 22, 2016 by dutronc

[operalover]

I hate they way they write a script for these people and have them read the narration. Betty Jo sounds like a first grader trying to read aloud. It's terrible to listen to- she can't read! She  has this terrible flat inflection like she doesn't understand what she is reading. Shopping for baby clothes, saying the baby meant more to her than use of her legs? Is she kidding, she needs to lose another 300 pounds which you can't do sitting in a wheel chair! 

 

Susan IS pretty old! She is NOT in her 20s. Two clues when she said she had not worn jeans since High School it sounded like a long, long time ago. Also she said she has not been horseback riding in TWENTY YEARS. I think she is in her early 40s or late 30s-not in her 20s. We think she is older because she acted like such a baby and a cry baby with the mother every minute.

[Muffyn]

Bettie Jo and her husband seem emotionally immature and perhaps a little slow.  It was interesting to me that they chose to move back home rather than stay in Houston.  The show definitely prefers when people move to be near Dr. Now.  Her husband seemed very depressed being there.  Two people locked in a small apartment with nothing to do but think about what to eat or not eat had to be depressing.  I wonder if he had trouble finding work. 

 

The episode synopsis is strange in mentioning cancer.  Bettie Jo kept saying a bone growth.  I do wonder if she was trying to downplay it or if she did not understand the issue. 

 

Susan did lose an incredible amount of weight.  Her lymphedemas were really hard to look at.  When she lifted the huge one and showed the smaller one underneath - no, just no.  That was scary looking.  I thought she either said she was close to forty or in her early 40s.   

[Guest dutronc]

Susan was 37 when she had surgery, and had a 38th birthday party in her first episode, which means she's about 40 now. And 40 is not pretty old, in my opinion. ;)

Edited April 22, 2016 by dutronc

[grumpypanda]

I hate they way they write a script for these people and have them read the narration. Betty Jo sounds like a first grader trying to read aloud. It's terrible to listen to- she can't read! She has this terrible flat inflection like she doesn't understand what she is reading. Shopping for baby clothes, saying the baby meant more to her than use of her legs? Is she kidding, she needs to lose another 300 pounds which you can't do sitting in a wheel chair!

Susan IS pretty old! She is NOT in her 20s. Two clues when she said she had not worn jeans since High School it sounded like a long, long time ago. Also she said she has not been horseback riding in TWENTY YEARS. I think she is in her early 40s or late 30s-not in her 20s. We think she is older because she acted like such a baby and a cry baby with the mother every minute.

Early 40s and late 30s is pretty old? Yikes, I'm an old lady! I'm pretty sure Susan is in her forties which isn't really considered geriatric but she does look like she's closer to her mid to late fifties to me. It's mostly due to the sagging skin on her neck though.

Anyway, I'm happy that Susan got the skin removal surgery and finally healed from it. She seemed motivated and happy so good for her. She has some nice friends to let her swim in their pool too.

[IvySpice]

I'm 40, and Susan looks like my grandmother.

 

Bettie Jo's choices. I just...who's going to support her and her child for the rest of her life when she's permanently paralyzed? I guess we will. She has every right to refuse surgery to avoid risk to the pregnancy, but I choose to be grouchy about it. If you've been dependent on others your entire life, maybe it seems normal to you. Maybe she misses it. She's only 26 and has many years of fertility ahead -- probably improved fertility if she continues losing weight. And how is that kid going to feel if his mom's a paraplegic thanks to birthing him? Get the bone mass out!

[Katt]

You can add time to the end of the recording. Directv  lets you add mins to the start and stop of a recording.

lol, I know. All my shows are set to go at least 3 minutes over and the DVR does what it wants anyway.

[operalover]

well Im the one that said she was "pretty old" and I'm 55 so no 40 is not old, that is not what I mean!!!. I think I had the idea she was about 22 the way her mother babied her and realized that we are expecting her to look 25 she lost the weight- and all I meant is that is at least 40 not in her 20s so she may look older than you would expect. Her body has been through hell.  No 40 is not old but I was just saying it IS old compared to 22. 

[ClareWalks]

I knew she was in her late 30s (they mentioned it briefly in her original episode) which is why it was so surprising to me that she looked about 60 before she lost the weight. It is probably poor nutrition taking its toll. Now that she has lost the weight and is eating better, her face actually looks younger than before, but the neck skin is counteracting the effect. Agree that her mother was infantalizing her, like so many of these enablers do.

[preciousperfect]

I think that is something that is somewhat of a harsh reality with this show. None of these people look great after surgery let's be honest. Yes they are smaller but the wide systemic damage has already been done to their bodies. It clearly ages and permanently damages you in ways they are irreversible. You can get skin surgery etc but you will never be able to 100% undo what has been done.

[Muffyn]

Susan looked really old because the fat deposit on her upper back made her look hunched over and she had those horrible dark circles around her eyes.  Melissa has those same super deep set eyes.  It makes them look exhausted.  The only time Susan's eyes looked more normal was when she was horseback riding.  Those dark circles can be the result of not getting enough oxygen.  As her weight reduced and she was more active, she may have been breathing better,  Or, given how much this show forgets to tell us things, she may have asthma or another breathing disorder that was finally addressed. 

 

I want friends with a pool!

[aliya]

I think that is something that is somewhat of a harsh reality with this show. None of these people look great after surgery let's be honest. Yes they are smaller but the wide systemic damage has already been done to their bodies. It clearly ages and permanently damages you in ways they are irreversible. You can get skin surgery etc but you will never be able to 100% undo what has been done.

I agree. I'm still on the FB page for 'mature' people thinking about or who have the gastric sleeve. While some have very nice after photos (and I mean months to a year or so after), few truly look attractive. I'm not talking 22 yr old attractive, but what I would expect for a mature person who has kept themselves up. I think the surgery must be hard on the body, though I understand that some obviously need it and do better with than without it. I have seen many more healthy and attractive looking people who lost large amounts of weight (100 lbs+) via veg*nism or whole foods (eating meat/fish, but skipping the processed foods).

 

Something else I"ve noticed, many of the people ask about protein shakes because they find it hard to continue to lose or to maintain if they actually eat. The problem, for me, would be that these are artificial foods. You're not going to be doing the best for your body relying on manufactured shakes, so I can see why complections, etc. just don't look as nice as they could - folks aren't feeding their bodies with real food. 

 

I wanted to ask why there is no food education, but we know there must be. Yet we see Melissa sulking over cottage cheese when she could have had a huge salad with maybe some chicken breast strips or salmon on the side and a light hand on the dressing. She would have felt full, happy, and not like she was being punished. Her children would have seen her eating real food - and they could have eaten the same thing, maybe with fruit or a roll for extra kid-calories. 

[mrsjoe]

Damn, this episode didn't record for me. Does that happen to anyone else? I have Dish and this has happened a few times.

 

I have Dish too and have to have at least three tuners set for this show because of all the different names of the episodes. All my follow-up episodes prior to this one went under the "My 600 lb life - Where are they now" timer until this one which went under my regular "My 600 lb life" timer.

 

Susan's weight loss was phenomenal.  My gut feeling is that she won't get all the accolades other people have, but down to 210 in 2 years is amazing.  Overall, I found Bettie Jo's segments to be very unsatisfying. 

 

I was shocked by Susan too. It's so beyond the realm of understanding, losing 400 lbs in two years. Let's not forget the dynamic with her mom. We have seen more than one patient struggle to lose weight because their enablers can't stop enabling. And she had some setbacks and didn't give up. I don't really recall her episode indicating that she had that kind of grit. The horseback riding scene and swimming scene do however hint that she's got more going on than was implied. She at least had a friendly enough relationship with the pool owner and appears to have actual friends to do things like horseback riding with, so maybe that has been the key to her success. And the relationship with her sister has likely improved now that her sister sees her not killing herself with food. I have to imagine many of these patients have managed to pretty much alienate every single person around them who is not tied to them by obligation (i.e. Family), so real friends outside the home are not common.

 

Bettie Jo's stuff was so sad. She doesn't exactly look setup for great success to begin with, but then life just throws her a terrible situation. At least she was still losing weight while pregnant, but I truly worry for her when the post-partum pregnancy hormones kick in. I also don't quite understand the logic of "I tried to commit suicide 9 times when I was around my family, but I think being around my family again is going to be the key to kicking my depression." Um huh? 

 

I know they will never tell us, but I would love to know how long TLC supports the patients living in Texas if at all, or do they just pay them a flat living expense rate and then it lasts however long it lasts. I could easily see the removal of TLC funding being a big factor in moving home. If any show needed a behind the scenes/tell all episode, it's this one! We all seem to have the same questions EVERY episode about therapy, pre-screening, expenses, food quantity/calories, etc etc.

[Guest dutronc]

I wanted to ask why there is no food education, but we know there must be. Yet we see Melissa sulking over cottage cheese when she could have had a huge salad with maybe some chicken breast strips or salmon on the side and a light hand on the dressing. She would have felt full, happy, and not like she was being punished. Her children would have seen her eating real food - and they could have eaten the same thing, maybe with fruit or a roll for extra kid-calories. 

 

Is cottage cheese not real food? Most of what I know about being a bariatric patient comes from this show and people on the internet, but I thought something like a big salad with a small portion of protein was not advised because a) protein was prioritized, and b) a large portion of anything on a reshaped stomach was a very bad idea. I also thought she was making faces at the cottage cheese in part because the pregnancy was making her nauseated or otherwise ill. 

 

Anyway, I don't always love this show, but I do always appreciate its Rorschach-like effect on the viewers. :) 

[IvySpice]

I'm a cottage cheese fan, but I wouldn't enjoy it plain for dinner, especially if the rest of the family is having hot dogs. That would kinda feel like a punishment.

 

Now, cottage cheese with granola, jam, and cut-up fruit? That's a feast! But bariatric patients shouldn't have it like that.

[Typhoo]

I'm a cottage cheese fan, but I wouldn't enjoy it plain for dinner, especially if the rest of the family is having hot dogs. That would kinda feel like a punishment.

 

Now, cottage cheese with granola, jam, and cut-up fruit? That's a feast! But bariatric patients shouldn't have it like that.

Bariatric patients cannot have granola....too many carbs. Jam .....too much sugar and you can dump. Cut up fruit .....depends on the fruit if itdoesn;t cause you to dump. Protein is always emphasized first.

[mrsjoe]

Is cottage cheese not real food? Most of what I know about being a bariatric patient comes from this show and people on the internet, but I thought something like a big salad with a small portion of protein was not advised because a) protein was prioritized, and b) a large portion of anything on a reshaped stomach was a very bad idea. I also thought she was making faces at the cottage cheese in part because the pregnancy was making her nauseated or otherwise ill. 

 

I've had the gastric sleeve and had to work with their nutritionist. We actually discussed cottage cheese. Her thing was that cottage cheese was a great choice in the terms that it is packed with protein, but that the reality is that certain proteins are going to digest faster than others, making you hungry sooner. When you're in your early stages and can barely eat anything, cottage cheese is good to try to encourage you to eat again sooner, but you may be better off having some sort of meat protein when you're further out like Melissa, especially if you are only eating one protein as an entire meal. The salad mentioned above is actually a good choice for Melissa because really for maximum fullness length you are supposed to combine fiber and protein together. At least that's according to my nutritionist who works with bariatric patients.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to learn though that Melissa feels like she can't "splurge" on things for herself like grilled chicken (even though boneless skinless chicken breast frequently goes on sale for under $2/lb by me, so it's probably just a perception, not reality).

[aliya]

Is cottage cheese not real food?  

Yes, it's real food (I guess; not a fan). What I was trying to get at was that she was not happy about it and that she might be happier, and stick with it longer, if she ate actual meals. Putting an end to dividing foods into 'healthy=starvation /not appetising' and 'regular food = the junk I feed the kids,' would be so helpful to most of these people. It would also help those with plump kids because other than adjusting for calories and perhaps a bit added fat when the kids are young for brain development, at this point after the surgery, everyone can eat the same thing. She she wants to focus more on protein, doesn't the new Atkins even allow for something like chicken and green veg? Again, for most people that looks more like a meal than a carton of cottage cheese. Add some quinoa or rice for the kids and again again, everyone eats the same food.

 

I have  friend who is years out from her surgery. She eats what she wants at this point. There's no reason why Melissa couldn't have had something else to eat that might contribute to a better frame of mind. Personally, if I thought the only way I could lose weight was to eat cottage cheese (out of the container, not even in a cute bowl?), I'd pack it in pretty quickly.  

[Suzywriter]

I have a feeling either she didn't have the baby yet, or she decided to terminate the pregnancy, since there are no new baby pictures on either her Twitter https://twitter.com/bettiejonjosh, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bettiejosue/or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Joshygirl accounts. I don't know how much time has passed since when the "update" show was filmed, and today (ie when was she due to deliver her baby?).

Sorry, hit reply too fast. The baby is due in August.

[aliya]

Bariatric patients cannot have granola....too many carbs. Jam .....too much sugar and you can dump. Cut up fruit .....depends on the fruit if itdoesn;t cause you to dump. Protein is always emphasized first.

Maybe we should note the difference between the 'regular' bypass surgery and the gastric sleeve. I'm on a sleeve page and the people there eat cottage cheese with fruit all of the time. Because you aren't completely re-routed, I don't think sleeve patients get dumping syndrome.

 

Which, now that I think about it, may be one reason why I see so many of them complaining about regaining weight - they aren't 'punished' by eating the wrong foods the way they might be with the other surgery.

[MaggieMay638]

Bettie Jo was hospitalized over the weekend with high protein levels and elevated BP. The doctors fear Preeclampsia.  What happens now will be determined by how well she responds to treatment.

[scootypuffjr]

Thank you for the update.  I hope things turn out okay for everyone involved.

[ClareWalks]

13 hours ago, MaggieMay638 said:

Bettie Jo was hospitalized over the weekend with high protein levels and elevated BP. The doctors fear Preeclampsia.  What happens now will be determined by how well she responds to treatment.

I hope everything works out okay! But that's kind of what I was afraid of. I thought the excitement about the pregnancy without mentioning any of the risks was a bit shortsighted of the show. Fact is, getting pregnant while (still) morbidly obese is straight-up dangerous.

[Hero]

I still can't believe that she got pregnant at 500lbs. That was so irresponsible of her and her husband. 

And claiming that it was an "accident" or a "surprise" is stupid. It's 2016, there are so many ways to prevent pregnancy. 

[CarolMK]

Wow, preeclampsia is serious. Is there any way to treat it besides delivering the baby early? I remember when I used to follow the Duggar family years ago on TLC, their youngest daughter  had to be delivered at 25 weeks due to the mother having severe preeclampsia. She had to stay in the hospital for about 6 months until she was allowed to come home.

[OSM Mom]

The only way to treat pre-eclampsia is to deliver the baby. 

[Henri205]

I hope Bettie Jo's okay.  I was on the fence about her in the initial episode I just really liked her in the follow-up.  Such a sweet woman.  I wish her well.