S07.E08: Maja's Story

[Hellga]

I totally get Christian's checked out look and behavior.  He has been down that road a billion times before, and he knows she will fly into a rage no matter what he says or does.  It's easier to just wait it out and expend as little energy as possible in the process.   When you deal with someone like that, you react the first dozen times or so and then you realize that there is no point and you just treat them as a weather event - nothing you can do just wait for it to pass.   The only question I have for him is why he moved to Texas with her instead of breaking up back in Portland.  My two hypotheses:  when she focused on losing weight she actually behaved decently and he thought maybe she has seen the light of day and wanted to help, or she and her whole family ganged up on him and guilt-tripped him into going with her.  Once he saw that she was hell bent on being a nasty fat bitch, he cut his losses and hightailed it. 

[Scarlett45]

9 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I totally agree with the father's pulling away from Maja.    If she was just as mean, and self-centered then as she is now, he was protecting his new wife, and kids from Maja.      I know it's rotten to cut off your own daughter, I think he did it to protect his wife and kids, and I can't fault him for that.  

I disagree with this. You don’t get to cop out of parenting your minor child just because you don’t like their personality. Wasn’t Maja a young teen when her Dad disappeared from her life (she looked between 12-13 in the photos)?

Now in extreme cases where your minor child is violent/abusive or addicted, I believe you can remove them from the home to protect other family members, but you’re supposed to get them HELP along with that.  Nothing Maja said insinuated she was a danger to any of her family members. I think her Dad just didn’t want to parent any more and wanted the easy way out (like many parents before him). That in no way excuses Maja’s behavior NOW but her ending up a nasty brat doesn’t excuse her Dad who had an affirmative duty towards her at least until 18. 

[Hellga]

I agree that a parent should not bail out on a minor child - but given how delusional Maja was about everything else, I am not sure how much of what she said about her father leaving her is true.  For all we know, it was her screaming that she hates him and he is starving her and fighting tooth and nail to never go to his place again.  And then her victim mindset conveniently transformed that into her father abandoning her.  

[Pepper Mostly]

10 minutes ago, Hellga said:

I totally get Christian's checked out look and behavior.  He has been down that road a billion times before, and he knows she will fly into a rage no matter what he says or does.  It's easier to just wait it out and expend as little energy as possible in the process.   When you deal with someone like that, you react the first dozen times or so and then you realize that there is no point and you just treat them as a weather event - nothing you can do just wait for it to pass.   The only question I have for him is why he moved to Texas with her instead of breaking up back in Portland.  My two hypotheses:  when she focused on losing weight she actually behaved decently and he thought maybe she has seen the light of day and wanted to help, or she and her whole family ganged up on him and guilt-tripped him into going with her.  Once he saw that she was hell bent on being a nasty fat bitch, he cut his losses and hightailed it. 

Bingo. That's why Maja called her mother, in hysterics. The whole family probably ganged up on Christian and made him feel like shit. I think his reaching out to Dr. Now was a last ditch attempt to save the relationship. I can see him thinking "maybe if she can lose some weight she'll be happy and won't be such a raving, screaming, vitriolic bitch from morning till night". Once he saw that she was determined to fail, and blame him for her failure, it was the last straw. I don't blame him one bit. And Maja will say "Christian abandoned me!" every five minutes until she finds another patsy. As I said upthread, I'm highly skeptical of her version of events wrt her dad. I'd be interested to hear his side.

[Hana Chan]

1 hour ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Her mother had a stroke, and is still working two jobs, and Maja is mad about her mother going to work?

^^THIS!!!^^

I have no end of frustration with people who have never worked a day in their life being put out because they're being inconvenienced by those who do. Her mother is a goddamn champ, raising her daughter and working her ass off to keep a roof over Maja's head and food in her whining mouth. Bitching that her mother isn't willing/able to hang around until it was convenient for Maja to make their goodbyes because she had to get to work is about sixteen different kinds of pathetic.

This isn't quite as bad as the tub of lard who let his father put a second mortgage on his home in order to give him a chance at being treated by Dr. Now (and then blew it), but it's up there.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Hana Chan

[RTS]

Maja was a nightmare.

With regard to the wussy therapists on this show - early on in the therapist-patient relationship, it's common practise to agree with whatever BS the patient is spouting.  The goal is to establish yourself as an ally and get to a place where criticism won't be met with immediate rejection.  If Maja were confronted about her behaviour in the first visit, she'd just never return.

It doesn't make for very interesting TV, though.

Edited February 21, 2019 by RTS

[Scarlett45]

11 minutes ago, Hellga said:

I agree that a parent should not bail out on a minor child - but given how delusional Maja was about everything else, I am not sure how much of what she said about her father leaving her is true.  For all we know, it was her screaming that she hates him and he is starving her and fighting tooth and nail to never go to his place again.  And then her victim mindset conveniently transformed that into her father abandoning her.  

Yes this is very possible. 

[mmecorday]

How dumb did she think Christian was? She drives around getting fast food under the guise of "running errands," and she expected him to believe that? "Gee, Maja eats like a bird at home. I wonder why she's so large?"

She really needs to do something about her hair. Either cut it or put it up or something.

She literally sounded like a baby when she was making a scene at the car rental counter. She has the emotional maturity of a preschooler.

Why was she wearing compression stockings to bed? And wear did she find them in her size?

[Hellga]

24 minutes ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Bingo. That's why Maja called her mother, in hysterics. The whole family probably ganged up on Christian and made him feel like shit. I think his reaching out to Dr. Now was a last ditch attempt to save the relationship. 

Another (slightly crackpot) version:  her family paid him behind her back to take her to Houston so at least she won't be able to stop by.  It's way easier to disconnect a phone call than to push 700 pounds of resisting flesh out of one's living room! 

[IvySpice]

5 hours ago, Hana Chan said:

even a walk across an airport is made out to be like the Bataan Death March

LOL! I love a good World War II reference.

Quote

given how delusional Maja was about everything else, I am not sure how much of what she said about her father leaving her is true. 

Right. Maja has a personality disorder big enough to fill her gigantic body. She's vacillating between terror of abandonment and driving everyone in her life out the door. Christian is her whole source of happiness or the whole reason she's failing at life. Her father may be the one who created this monster, but we don't know. She's just not a reliable narrator.

Edited February 21, 2019 by IvySpice

[AVM]

38 minutes ago, Hellga said:

I agree that a parent should not bail out on a minor child - but given how delusional Maja was about everything else, I am not sure how much of what she said about her father leaving her is true.  For all we know, it was her screaming that she hates him and he is starving her and fighting tooth and nail to never go to his place again.  And then her victim mindset conveniently transformed that into her father abandoning her.  

Only one word for Maja is Vampire .

Edited February 21, 2019 by AVM

[Hellga]

8 minutes ago, AVM said:

Only one word for Maja is Vampire .

The word vampire does come from Serbian language, so it's not unfitting!

9 minutes ago, IvySpice said:

Christian is her whole source of happiness or the whole reason she's failing at life. 

She was so 100% sure he won't leave, it was amazing to watch.  It's like he was not a person, but no different from the food she eats - I want it, therefore I will have it and once it's mine, no one can take it away from me.  Only he decided he was, after all, a person with a life of his own that does not revolve around her whims and hysterics. 

[Tatortot]

5 hours ago, Jeeves said:

Was mom helping support Maja?

While they were putting the stuff on top of her car she did mention that her mom gave them money to move to Houston.

[Tatortot]

3 hours ago, Motor City said:

Was it ever said how Christian and Maja supported themselves?  Did Maja really think she was fooling Christian when she said she out doing errands when in reality she was eating at 4 to 5 fast food restaurants?

As she was driving from one place to another I was adding up the cost of it.  Fast food is not cheap, and there was no mention of either of them working.   

[Caoimhe]

3 hours ago, parrotfeathers said:

How do you "savor" a fast food burrito?

I don’t think Maja has EVER savored any food in her life.  She shovels it in fast to drive on to the next fast food place!  With the amount she ordered in each one even I was shocked (and as a sometimes binge eater I know lots about shoveling food in).

10 minutes ago, Tatortot said:

While they were putting the stuff on top of her car she did mention that her mom gave them money to move to Houston.

Yes.  Which is why her hissy fit when Mom wanted to leave was incredibly ungrateful.  But of course Maja is the perpetual victim here.

[cynicat]

Just when I think I can't love Dr. Now more, he goes above and beyond.  Not only did he immediately call bullshit on her only eating large portions, no soda and no snacking, he saw right through the Christian support.  Right out of the gate he said that he thought Christian figured Maja would fail and that he wouldn't have to move.  That Dr. Now has seen it all.

[DropTheSoap]

1 hour ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

With all of the 'crying' jags, did anyone see a single tear?     I didn't.    

They were all literally toddler-level temper tantrums. Lots of manipulation tossed on top.

[raiderred1]

Damn, the only thing Christian did that was wrong was not leaving without notice.  If I were him, I would have booked the bus back home and scooted out the door that morning and she would be none the wiser. Also blocked her number.

[Tatortot]

3 hours ago, Motor City said:

Was it ever said how Christian and Maja supported themselves?  Did Maja really think she was fooling Christian when she said she out doing errands when in reality she was eating at 4 to 5 fast food restaurants?

As she was driving from one place to another I was adding up the cost of it.  Fast food is not cheap, and there was no mention of either of them working.   

[Hana Chan]

12 minutes ago, ThereButFor said:

I don’t think Maja has EVER savored any food in her life.  She shovels it in fast to drive on to the next fast food place!  With the amount she ordered in each one even I was shocked (and as a sometimes binge eater I know lots about shoveling food in).

How many sandwiches did she order at the fast food place during the opening? I tuned out after three....

We see a real common denominator in a lot of these cases. They're not just eating a lot. They're eating a lot of cheap, highly processed foods with little real nutrition and a shit ton of fat, calories, sugar and sodium. We don't see much in the way of vegetables or fresh fruit or even rich food that's high quality. I've never seen one of Dr. Now's patient's crying that they gained weight because they couldn't resist the log of herbed Chèvre or that they deserved an entire portion of Oeufs à la neige.  It's all fast food crap...

[Tatortot]

I don't understand why Dr. Now does not require the pyschotherapy, or visits to the nutritionist before the WLS.   I know for a fact that here and in other areas of the country that it is required not only by insurance but also other agenices.    

The pyschotherapist, and the nutritionist have to sign off on the surgery first.  It sure would save him alot of heartache and time with these patients.

Some require up to 6 mos of therapy before they will even touch you.

[libgirl2]

29 minutes ago, Hana Chan said:

How many sandwiches did she order at the fast food place during the opening? I tuned out after three....

We see a real common denominator in a lot of these cases. They're not just eating a lot. They're eating a lot of cheap, highly processed foods with little real nutrition and a shit ton of fat, calories, sugar and sodium. We don't see much in the way of vegetables or fresh fruit or even rich food that's high quality. I've never seen one of Dr. Now's patient's crying that they gained weight because they couldn't resist the log of herbed Chèvre or that they deserved an entire portion of Oeufs à la neige.  It's all fast food crap...

That would be me! 

[parrotfeathers]

1 hour ago, Hana Chan said:

Bitching that her mother isn't willing/able to hang around until it was convenient for Maja to make their goodbyes because she had to get to work is about sixteen different kinds of pathetic.

I thought her mom made good sense.  Let me say my goodbyes and leave now or I will just break down and not be able to handle it.  She has probably been telling her to be a "big girl" her whole life.  I remember my mom saying that and it alway worked.  Maja just doesn't want to be a big girl.  Or a middle girl.  Or anything higher than a baby that needs comforting.

[happy2bhere]

3 hours ago, KateHearts said:

So, my takeaways:

Although the commitment to move to Houston and support someone in this endeavor, Christian (or "Krisshin", as Maja says) is a class-A jackwad.  I get that it's weird to live out your struggles on TV but hey, you signed up for it. And the whole "I'm not gonna answer" stuff and staring at the phone is so childish.  Just say, "I'm sick of you nagging and berating me; I don't like Houston and I need to break it off."  But even better, how about really considering it all and making the decision BEFORE you spend three days traveling somewhere you know you won't like with someone you're fighting with all the time.

Maja, like many of these people, has learned to blame EVERYONE for her issues, and blaming her "stress" on her gorging on seven fast-food meals at a time.  For example, her mother's goodbye when they were headed to Houston. Maja made it into a giant conflict ("I didn't want to do it THIS WAY!  I can't concentrate on more than one thing at a time and I'm PUTTING THE ROOF RACK ON NOW, MOMMMM!").  And the doctor's office scene with Christian: "It's ALL YOUR FAULT!  YOU CAUSED THIS!!!"  I think I would ditch her at some point too.  And the airport/car rental!  "I'm SO MAD that THEY screwed up so many things! I asked how far the walk was in the airport! I asked for an SUV!!!" Obviously she hasn't traveled much.  I have very few trips without snafus.  And ya know what? I don't have tantrums and sob at the counter.

Again with the "I am so stressed I can't eat the right way."  I realize to get to 600 lbs one must use food as a totally inappropriate substitute for a lot of things in life, but c'mon.  That's your JOB right now.  Maja said, "I gave up everything to come here and have a chance to save my life!"  - everything includes your mother with whom you have major issues, an apartment, and grandma.  No job. No children. No hobbies- except driving around to drive-thrus.

Kudos to her for volunteering. I'm not sure that her weight will ever get under control.  But she did get rid of a couple of hundred pounds of non-supportive boyfriend.  

I disagree with the "non-supportive boyfriend".  I didn't see it that way at all.   

He did virtually everything for her, financially and physically.  He was even the driving force trying to save her life by changing her lifestyle.

He left his family, friends, job... his life, in essence, behind, for her, and got bombastic abuse in return.  Do you think her behavior becomes better when the cameras are off?  I don't.  I think it gets far, far worse.  Could you live with that?  I couldn't.  

Leaving an abuser is simply not supporting the abuse, or allowing it to become a physical threat.

[TwirlyGirly]

I rarely let this show's participants get to me. Maya did.

I didn't join the chat last night because I can't give 100% to both the program and the chat (that's mathematically impossible), so I decided to just watch this episode straight through. FTR, I fell asleep halfway...😉...and finished watching it this morning.

Never, and I mean NEVER, have I been so infuriated at a poundicipants in all the episodes I've seen.

Maya had, really, everything going for her. Or, at the least, she didn't have many of the things working against her a lot of the poundicipants have had:

Maya wasn't immobile.

Christian wasn't an enabler, bringing her food and deliberately trying to keep her fat to fulfill his own needs 

Maya didn't seem to have any serious trauma in her past (such as child molestation, or rape) that was never properly addressed and treated.

Money didn't seem to be an issue; she appeared to live in a decent home, had nice furniture, nice clothes, a late model car, and the resources to buy healthy food.

Maya also seemed to have better than average cooking skills (as compared to other poundicipants we've seen).

Maya's biggest stumbling blocks are 1) As she was growing up, her father called her names because of her weight, and 2) Other people refuse to do and say what she expects them to do and say - according to the schedule SHE demands (!?!?)

While her father should have refrained from any name calling, it's important to remember we're only getting one side of the story - and that from someone prone to exaggeration and placing blame on everyone BUT herself for...everything. Maybe he did exactly as she claimed. 

A book I read as a young teen (fiction) had a line in it I've never forgotten:

"Don't be hung up on how you're brung up."

It's something I remember every time I'm tempted to use anything that happened to me growing up as an excuse for self-destructive behavior - or for treating others badly. I was born with a serious mobility impairment. I was bullied from 6th through 10th grade. It culminated with a group of four boys trying to set me on fire by lighting matches and throwing them at me as I walked by when changing classes, and resulted in a hole, 6" in diameter, being burned in the back of my shirt. (I wasn't injured. I wore a brace for scoliosis at the time, and the metal bars in the back held my shirt away from my body).

I should weigh a few hundred pounds by now, if I were to live my life according to Maya's philosophy. But I don't. I won't give others that power over me.

Maya dismisses the wants and needs of everyone else in her orbit. They don't matter. She expects others to defer to her to correct a problem she created. 

"That's not how [life] works. That's not how any [part of life] works!"

I know many viewers saw Christian negatively, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. They'd been together for a couple of years, right? So we only saw snippets of the last eight months of their relationship. By the time TLC got involved, I think he'd pretty much had it with her and only stayed because "Hope springs eternal" and all that. When he realized what had to change was something inside her and that wasn't going to happen (and it didn't), he cut his losses.

I don't feel a bit sorry for Maya. She's going to continue to blame everyone and everything for her overeating behavior until the day she dies; prematurely, no doubt.

And the worse thing is: the people she leaves behind will probably be relieved.

Edited February 22, 2019 by TwirlyGirly
Spelling & grammar/changed "pounder" to "poundicipant"

[Pepper Mostly]

59 minutes ago, Hana Chan said:

We see a real common denominator in a lot of these cases. They're not just eating a lot. They're eating a lot of cheap, highly processed foods with little real nutrition and a shit ton of fat, calories, sugar and sodium. We don't see much in the way of vegetables or fresh fruit or even rich food that's high quality. I've never seen one of Dr. Now's patient's crying that they gained weight because they couldn't resist the log of herbed Chèvre or that they deserved an entire portion of Oeufs à la neige.  It's all fast food crap...

I have noticed the same thing. They all claim to "love food"!, but live on cheap fast food, which they shovel down with a speed bordering on desperation. None of them eat great food. And if they did actually "love food", they would find a way to make the reduced calorie diet tasty and appetizing. But we just see sad plates of plain, unseasoned chicken and gag inducing canned vegetables. I know I've told this story before, but in the 80's I had a chance to spend 5 days at a high end spa. (Norwich, in Connecticut). It was wonderful. Their chef had invented "spa cuisine", apparently. We had gorgeous, delicious meals, three times a day. Virtually no calories. Lots of salad, fresh fruit, herb tea, whole grains, lean protein. Portion controlled, healthy as hell. During the day, from about 10 AM on, there were huge plates of fresh fruit and bottles of Evian water in all the common areas. No one could have been hungry. It was great, nutritious, filling and appetizing. It can be done. (My mother and I had a blast, ate like queens!) One would think that a person who "loved food" would be excited to see what was possible. I know, I know, fast food is addictive, they have lots of problems that aren't just food related, but still.

[Tatortot]

What is "Live Chat"?

[WonTon]

My take on Maja:

1. Very whiny, very infantile with her tantrums and the way she treated Christian. However, I found him to be completely unfeeling and virtually checked out during the whole episode. I mean, yeesh, even my ex-husband and I had a more loving, communicative relationship at the end of our marriage.

2. But it was nice to see Maja, unlike most of the participants, actually wearing stylish clothes instead of the tents/tarps/flip flops I'm accustomed to seeing.

3. Her mom was very strange though in a way I can't quite put my finger on.

4. Although I really doubt Maja will end up with surgery I do think it's nice she's at least trying to get out there and doing something positive with herself with her volunteering.

5. Once again, you guys brought the funny in the live chat. Just reading your posts gives me a good ab workout!

Edited February 21, 2019 by WonTon

[happy2bhere]

31 minutes ago, Pepper Mostly said:

I have noticed the same thing. They all claim to "love food"!, but live on cheap fast food, which they shovel down with a speed bordering on desperation. None of them eat great food. And if they did actually "love food", they would find a way to make the reduced calorie diet tasty and appetizing. But we just see sad plates of plain, unseasoned chicken and gag inducing canned vegetables. I know I've told this story before, but in the 80's I had a chance to spend 5 days at a high end spa. (Norwich, in Connecticut). It was wonderful. Their chef had invented "spa cuisine", apparently. We had gorgeous, delicious meals, three times a day. Virtually no calories. Lots of salad, fresh fruit, herb tea, whole grains, lean protein. Portion controlled, healthy as hell. During the day, from about 10 AM on, there were huge plates of fresh fruit and bottles of Evian water in all the common areas. No one could have been hungry. It was great, nutritious, filling and appetizing. It can be done. (My mother and I had a blast, ate like queens!) One would think that a person who "loved food" would be excited to see what was possible. I know, I know, fast food is addictive, they have lots of problems that aren't just food related, but still.

Bang on!  I don't want to offend anyone here, but I rarely see anything on this show that I would personally even consider "food".

[libgirl2]

6 minutes ago, embarassed2bhere said:

Bang on!  I don't want to offend anyone here, but I rarely see anything on this show that I would personally even consider "food".

I feel pretty much the same way every week. It all looks so gross. I don't mind some fast food, for some reason when I have a stomach issue, I love chicken McNuggets, but I wouldn't live on them and other fast food only. I love a nice piece of salmon, or a nice salad. 

[Toaster Strudel]

3 hours ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Bingo. That's why Maja called her mother, in hysterics. The whole family probably ganged up on Christian and made him feel like shit. I think his reaching out to Dr. Now was a last ditch attempt to save the relationship. I can see him thinking "maybe if she can lose some weight she'll be happy and won't be such a raving, screaming, vitriolic bitch from morning till night". Once he saw that she was determined to fail, and blame him for her failure, it was the last straw. I don't blame him one bit. And Maja will say "Christian abandoned me!" every five minutes until she finds another patsy. As I said upthread, I'm highly skeptical of her version of events wrt her dad. I'd be interested to hear his side.

That scene was extraordinary.

Considering she was painting her mother as a bad person with whom she had a difficult relationship, I was shocked that she called her weeping and screaming to force her to interject herself in an argument with her partner. I fully expected the "bad mother" to balk and tell her to handle it herself. Alas, she joined forces with Maja to beg Christian to prolong his agony living with Maja, for Maja's sake. I was in disbelief.  Both women acted like Christian's purpose in life was to suffer in Maya's service. Mom did acknowledge that living with Maja couldn't be easy (a moment that revealed a lot about the dynamics between her and her entourage), yet brushed it off. Everyone must serve at Maja's pleasure!

Maja held her nose up in the air, defiant, her arm stiffly extended and holding the phone high towards Christian. She let her mom abuse him verbally on her behalf, while he was cowering silently against the cabinetry with no escape. It was very uncomfortable to watch. Christian has tremendous self-restraint. While there was no physical violence, the physical and verbal intimidation was dialed up to 11.

2 hours ago, Hellga said:

Another (slightly crackpot) version:  her family paid him behind her back to take her to Houston so at least she won't be able to stop by.  It's way easier to disconnect a phone call than to push 700 pounds of resisting flesh out of one's living room! 

The mom did mention something about Christian having been homeless, and receiving help. It was vague, but I got that same feeling that Maja's mom was somehow partially supporting the household, and was using this as leverage. Perhaps that's why mom felt entitled to badger Christian into "supporting" Maja until Maja succeeded.

[Carolina Girl]

4 hours ago, Pepper Mostly said:

I am skeptical of her version of events pertaining to her dad.

That makes two of us.  I'm sure her version of Christian the Terrible LEAVING her is far different in the telling than we saw in the viewing.

One of these days I'm hoping to be home (I live on the W.C.) in time to Chat Live while the show is airing.  As it is, I wasn't able to give it the thorough viewing I would have wanted.  But I did notice about halfway through, the expression on Christian's face.  All I could think of was "Dude has checked out."  This woman did nothing but cry and blame everyone else.  I had high hopes when she came back after the two months and had lost the near 100 lbs.  - I'm like "great - this isn't going to be one of those episodes where the subject takes 6 months to lose 50 lbs.  But no.  The needy bitch probably cheated like mad - you DON'T lose only 9 lbs. in a month when you're that size if you're following the 1200-calorie a day diet and fall off the wagon a couple of times.  This is never getting ON the wagon to begin with after the initial push.

The thing that pisses me off the most about many of these subjects is the fact that they become so annoyed at people who are not willing to completely uproot their lives for the sheer joy of taking care of their needy asses for a year.  "My Mother WON'T come!!!"  Your mother has a life.  I can only imagine how trapped Christian must have felt being stuck in Texas with all of his friends and family far away, with an unappreciative blubbering asshole who blamed everyone but the Houston Astros for her failure.  

And frankly, you have the diet.  It's 1200 calories a day.  You do this for a year, you are going to lose probably half your weight, with or WITHOUT WLS.  

[SunnyBeBe]

I don't intend to diss someone who is in emotional turmoil, but, I had to laugh when I heard her going off so loudly in the doctor's office.  OMG....I might have called 911 and said there was a domestic issue going on and it sounded dangerous.  Seriously, I've never heard that kind of commotion from INSIDE the doctor's office before on this show.  

I like the way most patients, including this one go into the therapy session saying, I might be totally dysfunctional, come from a chaotic background, have horrible relationships with family members, am anti-social,, etc.  but, that has NOTHING to do with my obesity and overeating. lol 

[Snarkastikate]

As far as nasty goes, this horrible woman beats every other patient in this show, hands down.    I can totally imagine her being physically abusive to Christian.  She's really mentally off balance, really scary angry, nasty, then crying the next minute.  I don't buy her story that her husband left her because she couldn't have kids ......of course that's a lie.  He left her for the same reason that Christian left:.  he couldn't take her abuse any longer.  Do you see how she tells everyone she meets that her "spouse" left her?  Yeah that came as a total surprise, right Maja?   I must have heard her say at least 6 times that they were fighting A LOT. She was even screaming at him in Dr Now's office, wowza!  Yup it's all his fault you're a disgustingly fat nasty failure, right?

Think about it.....if this is how she acted in front of the camera crew, can you only imagine how she acts when NOT in front of the camera?   

[Pepper Mostly]

4 minutes ago, Carolina Girl said:

The thing that pisses me off the most about many of these subjects is the fact that they become so annoyed at people who are not willing to completely uproot their lives for the sheer joy of taking care of their needy asses for a year.  "My Mother WON'T come!!!"  Your mother has a life.  I can only imagine how trapped Christian must have felt being stuck in Texas with all of his friends and family far away, with an unappreciative blubbering asshole who blamed everyone but the Houston Astros for her failure.  

Maja is a perpetual victim. The people at the airport "LIED" to her. The car rental company was ruining everything. Her dad "abandoned" her. Her mother "won't" move to Texas. Christian "ruins everything". Not only does she blame everyone unfortunate enough to wander into her orbit for every little bump and ruffle in her life, she does so in the most extreme terms. Her mother "won't" move to Texas? She's elderly. She's had a stroke! That she would even ask or expect it is laughable. Maja is 33 years old, she's not a teenager.

And her butter won't melt in her mouth act at the party for the homeless kids didn't fool me, and I bet it didn't fool the volunteers there. I'm sure they've seen their share of phonies and posers.

5 minutes ago, Snarkastikate said:

I can totally imagine her being physically abusive to Christian. 

She certainly used her height and size to intimidate him.

[fonfereksglen]

1 hour ago, Tatortot said:

What is "Live Chat"?

Check out the thread list below entitled Maja, Live Chat!  or something like that.  It is insane fun.

Edited February 21, 2019 by fonfereksglen

[AVM]

8 minutes ago, Toaster Strudel said:

That scene was extraordinary.

Considering she was painting her mother as a bad person with whom she had a difficult relationship, I was shocked that she called her weeping and screaming to force her to interject herself in an argument with her partner. I fully expected the "bad mother" to balk and tell her to handle it herself. Alas, she joined forces with Maja to beg Christian to prolong his agony living with Maja, for Maja's sake. I was in disbelief.  Both women acted like Christian's purpose in life was to suffer in Maya's service. Mom did acknowledge that living with Maja couldn't be easy (a moment that revealed a lot about the dynamics between her and her entourage), yet brushed it off. Everyone must serve at Maja's pleasure!

Maja held her nose up in the air, defiant, her arm stiffly extended and holding the phone high towards Christian. She let her mom abuse him verbally on her behalf, while he was cowering silently against the cabinetry with no escape. It was very uncomfortable to watch. Christian has tremendous self-restraint. While there was no physical violence, the physical and verbal intimidation was dialed up to 11.

The mom did mention something about Christian having been homeless, and receiving help. It was vague, but I got that same feeling that Maja's mom was somehow partially supporting the household, and was using this as leverage. Perhaps that's why mom felt entitled to badger Christian into "supporting" Maja until Maja succeeded.

Maja's Mother ask Christen on the phone  wouldn't he help a homeless stranger on the street,He answered NO ! He was fed up with her bullshit..

[dahling]

What a super weird episode.  Girlfriend lost virtually 100 lbs in 2 months and then effectively quits? How could she fit in that little green clown car she drives but needs a mega-SUV rental? Where does her money come from? Chrisshun? I am bringing this up specifically because on the show when she was berating him for leaving she said something about him leaving right before the rent was due. Did she have no money after he left? I just don't get it.

As far as taking sides in the Maja/Chrisshun throwdown, can I just hate both of them? There was not one moment Chrisshun seemed to even approach "liking" her, from the first minute we saw him. Was there a really long time between when he applied for the show and when they got accepted? Because he was clearly over it. She is a hose beast and he is a nasty, sulky man child. But oh, that fight in Dr. Now's office. "Mooooooooooom, Chrisshun's ruining everything!"  That was one for the ages. 

[Kid]

2 hours ago, IvySpice said:

Right. Maja has a personality disorder big enough to fill her gigantic body. She's vacillating between terror of abandonment and driving everyone in her life out the door. Christian is her whole source of happiness or the whole reason she's failing at life. Her father may be the one who created this monster, but we don't know. She's just not a reliable narrator.

I suspect borderline personality disorder.

[Mothra]

3 hours ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Bingo. That's why Maja called her mother, in hysterics. The whole family probably ganged up on Christian and made him feel like shit. I think his reaching out to Dr. Now was a last ditch attempt to save the relationship. I can see him thinking "maybe if she can lose some weight she'll be happy and won't be such a raving, screaming, vitriolic bitch from morning till night". Once he saw that she was determined to fail, and blame him for her failure, it was the last straw. I don't blame him one bit. And Maja will say "Christian abandoned me!" every five minutes until she finds another patsy. As I said upthread, I'm highly skeptical of her version of events wrt her dad. I'd be interested to hear his side.

Yup.  Maja said that Christian invited her to move in with him early in their relationship--and I'd like to hear his version of that--and I think that he soon regretted his generosity.  He hoped that if Dr. Now could help her lose weight she'd be happier and easier to live with, so he made the appointment and went with her.  His questions at the first appointment revealed a lot--that he doubted she could lose 100 lbs in two months *and* he wanted her to know that other people had done it.  I think when he heard about the 1200 calorie diet he knew she would fail (just because he never saw her eating, he knew she was eating) and decided to give it until the next appointment to break up with her.  When he learned that she had actually lost almost 100 lbs and still looked the same, I think it dawned on him that this was going to be a really, really long process and she would never make it.  It might have been the first time he realized how fat she really was, to have lost almost 100 lbs and still look the same.  He was pissed at her initial success because he'd been counting on failure to ease his way out of the relationship.

I hope when he returned to Portland he took whatever remained of her stuff out of his apartment and took it to Grandma's garage.

Besides (maybe) not driving, does Christian have a job?  He never mentioned that as a problem for spending a year in Houston.  It didn't seem to me that he had any kind of obvious disability that would prevent his working, and that was an OK apartment he had.  Were they both living on parental largesse?

[Snarkastikate]

I think Christian realized that being homeless again was better than living with this vile harpy.  And Mom sounded a tad resentful that she was working 2 jobs, but I'm fairly certain she was helping to support this ungrateful whale.  Frankly I don't buy ANY of her sob stories about how horrible her family is.  Or the husband who divorced her.  And I agree with those who think uprooting yourself and moving clear across the country for at least a year is an immense sacrifice.  I don't think I would be able to do it, nor would anyone with a decent job.  (Those who don't work find the whole deal easier, of course).  

[Tabbygirl521]

3 hours ago, Hellga said:

I totally get Christian's checked out look and behavior.  He has been down that road a billion times before, and he knows she will fly into a rage no matter what he says or does.  It's easier to just wait it out and expend as little energy as possible in the process.   When you deal with someone like that, you react the first dozen times or so and then you realize that there is no point and you just treat them as a weather event - nothing you can do just wait for it to pass.   The only question I have for him is why he moved to Texas with her instead of breaking up back in Portland.  My two hypotheses:  when she focused on losing weight she actually behaved decently and he thought maybe she has seen the light of day and wanted to help, or she and her whole family ganged up on him and guilt-tripped him into going with her.  Once he saw that she was hell bent on being a nasty fat bitch, he cut his losses and hightailed it. 

I think he wanted to be sure she actually moved to Houston because it was the only sure way to get her out of his apartment. I’m sure he also hoped she’d succeed but he also knows her well enough to realize that was unlikely. Still, why rock the boat prematurely? He probably raced home, gave notice to his landlord, and adopted a new identity. 

[Toaster Strudel]

12 minutes ago, AVM said:

Maja's Mother ask Christen on the phone  wouldn't he help a homeless stranger on the street,He answered NO ! He was fed up with her bullshit..

Thanks for the clarification, I misheard.

Except it's even worse pulling at heartstrings LOL. He's done enough for her!

[Kid]

1 hour ago, TwirlyGirly said:

I don't feel a bit sorry for Maya. She's going to continue to blame everyone and everything for her overeating behavior until the day she dies; prematurely, no doubt.

You are a better person than me Twirly Girl!  I do not feel a shred of sympathy for her. This woman is malignant, she’s toxic.

I did feel sympathy for Sean,  for example.  But not this one.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Kid

[Tabbygirl521]

2 hours ago, Hana Chan said:

How many sandwiches did she order at the fast food place during the opening? I tuned out after three....

We see a real common denominator in a lot of these cases. They're not just eating a lot. They're eating a lot of cheap, highly processed foods with little real nutrition and a shit ton of fat, calories, sugar and sodium. We don't see much in the way of vegetables or fresh fruit or even rich food that's high quality. I've never seen one of Dr. Now's patient's crying that they gained weight because they couldn't resist the log of herbed Chèvre or that they deserved an entire portion of Oeufs à la neige.  It's all fast food crap...

I had to laugh at this because I have to force myself not to eat a whole Costco-sized wedge of Cambozola when the opportunity comes up. Your description would totally be me if I ever stopped resisting. 

[TwirlyGirly]

I'm curious about something.

It's obvious to me why someone who is immobile participating in Dr. Nowzaradan's program needs to have a friend/relative/partner move with them to Houston for the duration. In addition to continuing providing physical care,  it also allows the enabling behaviors to be addressed (because its always been the primary enabler that accompanies the Pounder).

But with someone like Maya, why in the world would she need someone to stay with her at all, let alone for an entire year? Once it was established by Dr. Nowzaradan Christian wasn't enabling Maya, and she was able to move around and care for herself, why not allow Christian to go on his merry way back to Oregon?

I'm making this observation as if Maya had managed to continue to lose weight and had qualified for surgery. Why would Christian wanting to leave disqualify her? Surely a nurse or health aide could be provided for her for a few days after being released from the hospital, if necessary.

See, this is something that really irks me in regards to protocols in place for some treatments/medical procedures. Often there is no willingness to evaluate the patient's individual circumstances, and make adjustments based on common sense to accommodate them, even when those accommodations don't jeopardize their safety, or the effectiveness of the treatment.  

Edited February 21, 2019 by TwirlyGirly

[TwirlyGirly]

34 minutes ago, Kid said:

You are a better person than me Twirly Girl!  I do not feel a shred of sympathy for her. This woman is malignant, she’s toxic.

I did feel sympathy for Sean,  for example.  But not this one.

I said I *don't* feel a bit sorry for Maya! So we're on the same page...😉

[readheaded]

42 minutes ago, Mothra said:

Yup.  Maja said that Christian invited her to move in with him early in their relationship--and I'd like to hear his version of that--and I think that he soon regretted his generosity.  He hoped that if Dr. Now could help her lose weight she'd be happier and easier to live with, so he made the appointment and went with her.  His questions at the first appointment revealed a lot--that he doubted she could lose 100 lbs in two months *and* he wanted her to know that other people had done it.  I think when he heard about the 1200 calorie diet he knew she would fail (just because he never saw her eating, he knew she was eating) and decided to give it until the next appointment to break up with her.  When he learned that she had actually lost almost 100 lbs and still looked the same, I think it dawned on him that this was going to be a really, really long process and she would never make it.  It might have been the first time he realized how fat she really was, to have lost almost 100 lbs and still look the same.  He was pissed at her initial success because he'd been counting on failure to ease his way out of the relationship.

I hope when he returned to Portland he took whatever remained of her stuff out of his apartment and took it to Grandma's garage.

Besides (maybe) not driving, does Christian have a job?  He never mentioned that as a problem for spending a year in Houston.  It didn't seem to me that he had any kind of obvious disability that would prevent his working, and that was an OK apartment he had.  Were they both living on parental largesse?

He didn't seem self-supporting given that his mother had to send him a bus ticket home.

[fonfereksglen]

5 minutes ago, TwirlyGirly said:

I'm curious about something.

It's obvious to me why someone who is immobile participating in Dr. Nowzaradan's program needs to have a friend/relative/partner move with them to Houston for the duration. In addition to continuing providing physical care,  it also allows the enabling behaviors to be addressed (because its always been the primary enabler that accompanies the Pounder).

But with someone like Maya, why in the world would she need someone to stay with her at all, let alone for an entire year? Once it was established by Dr. Nowzaradan Christian wasn't enabling Maya, and she was able to move around and care for herself, why not allow Christian to go on his merry way back to Oregon?

I'm making this observation as if Maya had managed to continue to lose weight and had qualified for surgery. Why would Christian wanting to leave disqualify her? Surely a nurse or health aide could be provided for her for a few days after being released from the hospital, if necessary.

See, this is something that really irks me in regards to protocols in place for some treatments/medical procedures. Often there is no willingness to evaluate the patient's individual circumstances, and make adjustments based on common sense to accommodate them, even when those accommodations don't jeopardize their safety, or the effectiveness of the treatment.  

A caregiver is needed post surgery.  She was not remotely eligible for a home healthcare assistant, since she was not disabled.  

[Delete]

It took a lot of effort not to turn off this episode. Maja is a self-entitled loathsome bitch! The proof was in the deep fried pudding when she called Mummy after verbally attacking Christian in the doctor's office, and Mummy begged him to stay and put up with her. Yeah, she knows what her daughter is like, and was probably grateful that she left Portland. I'd imagine the real reason she left Dr. Now's program because she can't get someone down to Houston to support her. Also, I felt the volunteering was a ploy to look more caring, and sympathetic on camera. I don't believe for a second that she returned to continue volunteering unless she was given a sceptre  and crown and was made Volunteer of the Universe. I don't give a hot damn about how things turn out for Maja.