Original subtitles

[Lucas] Throughout my life,

my emotions have been a very big struggle.

[woman crying] Somewhere in me

is this little glimmer of hope.

I just wanna be a normal person.

[grunts and sighs]

[man] You can't do it, and then I just get mad.

[woman 2] If I don't make a change now,

I'm scared it's gonna be too late.

[straining] No!

You're making me hurt!

[woman 3] I refuse to stop fighting.

I have to do this for my children.

One, two... hang on.

Are you okay?

[Lucas] I dread waking up in this body every morning

because these days, it's just too difficult for me to face.

My body hurts

and the stuff I have to go through

just to have a normal day

is painful on every level.

And so I live in despair.

At the size that I'm at now,

I could still get around,

but it's difficult.

I feel pain in all parts of my body

and I'm exhausted all the time.

My parents built an outdoor shower for me

but I can't get the water to go all over my body

'cause I'm too big,

so that doesn't work for me.

And the only shower I could fit in is at my sister's place,

so I have to go there to get cleaned.

I'm too big for chairs, hallways, doors,

bathrooms, toilets, my bed...

I'm too big for bathtubs.

My family has a compound here in Conroe, Texas

Basically, they're just little buildings that we've purchased

and then everybody has their own little personal space.

So, I sleep in the building next to my sister's.

And then my parents live in the bigger unit.

But my life has become just one challenge after another.

By the time I get to my sister's front steps,

my breathing has gotten pretty bad,

my muscles are burning.

I feel like I'm moving a whole pile

at the line of scrimmage in football,

but it's just the fat on my body.

And that's not even the main event yet.

Getting a shower,

that's a workout by itself.

I'm thankful I can still clean myself.

I could picture a time where I can no longer do that

and it's a pretty scary thought.

Every part of my body is heavy,

so lifting my arms to clean myself

is just as hard as lifting my legs to walk.

And the pain from the weight of my belly

pulling down on my legs and back,

it's a lot.

I get anxiety about slipping over and falling.

By the time I get done,

I still have to dry off and get dressed.

I do it sitting down 'cause there's no way I could stand for it.

And the exertion from that can be difficult.

I'm going to start swearing again,

but I sweat pretty much all the time anyway.

Once I'm dressed, then it's time to move on to something much happier,

something that brightens my day every day of my life.

Food.

Food is the highlight of my day.

It always gives me something to look forward to.

And while I'm cooking, I make a lot of it

because I have to feed my sister's kids,

but also because the more food there is,

the longer I can stay in that place food takes me to.

Food is my happy place, and kind of always has been.

It's been there for me ever since I was a little kid.

I was born at Conroe Regional.

I don't remember exactly tales about my weight,

my height or anything like that,

I just do know my mom says I was a difficult baby.

The way my mother describes it

was everything was stressful for me.

And I think the reason was

because the household, growing up,

was very chaotic.

I have six brothers and sisters,

but I'm the only one with the combination of parents that I have,

so all my siblings are either half- or step-siblings.

Most of the time, our parents were unhappy parents.

They broke up and got back together a few times,

so it never felt stable.

They separated after I was born,

that's when she met my sisters' father

and she conceived my two little sisters, who are twins,

Jessica and Maegen.

So, the twins have a separate dad.

Even though they refer to my dad as their dad a lot of the time,

he's actually their step-dad.

In fact, I remember being up there, the hospital,

and I remember seeing my dad there,

at the window, he was waving at us

and he was showing the girls off.

But their dad wasn't there.

And I was just, like,

"I don't know how to handle this. I don't know what to say."

So that was weird.

But after that, when the girls came home,

I had a tough time with them at first.

I guess I was just jealous of them,

just that they got more attention than I did.

So what I did when I felt that way is to go eat.

And when I was eating something good,

I could just focus on how good it tasted,

and that's how I got myself to feel better.

I don't think my parents watched what I ate.

I don't recall if they ever cared

about how much I weighed when I was a kid,

because I was neglected.

I didn't understand at first.

I was questioning myself, you know,

"Do my parents love me?

Do they care? Am I doing something wrong?"

I don't know if that contributed to how everything feels.

I just know I didn't want to be around my parents when I was a young kid

because I just, I don't know, it was just stressful.

[Sheryl] Through all the struggles that he's had through his life,

I guess it started when he was four.

He had two sisters all at once.

And he was the object of our attention

until twins came along, newborns.

And now he wasn't getting hardly any attention that he was used to,

and he had to learn to deal with that.

My life was stressful, family was stressful,

school was pretty stressful.

Elementary school, I was made fun of for being big.

My teachers didn't like me.

I think it was mostly because, I think growing up, I was just very hyper,

I always had a hard time focusing.

Whenever I felt neglect from my mom and dad,

or I had teachers that just didn't like me,

and if I was sad or scared,

I always ran to eat food.

Food made me feel full,

it made me feel satisfied,

and it made me feel happy,

like I didn't need to be sad anymore.

And yes, it made me gain weight.

When I was 10 years old, I weighed 160 pounds.

Now, he didn't over-eat,

but he would have seconds.

And that was when we started noticing

that he was a very hyper child.

Basically, he was hyper.

We had to put locks at the tops of the doors

because he would sneak out at the age of three

and I would find him on a busy highway

with people going 90 miles an hour.

Three years of age.

Terrified me.

[Lucas] Fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade

was at the private school.

I felt out of place.

I felt like, you know, maybe I didn't belong.

I did look to food for comfort.

And so, I do recall going from age 10 to age 12, 13,

I did gain about 100 pounds, close to it.

So going onto junior high,

I weighed about 250 pounds,

and it was just increasing over time.

I think I was 11 or 12 years old,

and my mom and dad got back together,

they did get married.

And then, I think the next year,

eighth grade, they divorced.

That was really, really difficult on me.

After the divorce,

I wanted to hate somebody

and I wanted to love someone.

I didn't know who to choose.

I did turn to food to ease the stress.

[Maegen] Me and my brother Lucas,

when I was younger, we didn't really have much of a relationship.

I guess I could say that Luke kinda got left on the back-burner a lot.

I do remember when my mom and stepdad split,

it hurt him really bad.

My mom and my stepdad,

they've had at least three separations

in our lifetime.

Literally can't get married again,

and if they happen to divorce in the state of Texas, it's...

They've reached their limit.

But basically, anything that's emotionally traumatic for Lucas

causes him to binge eat

and not take care of himself.

And it really does affect us emotionally.

[Lucas] My weight increased to 300 pounds.

When I hit high school,

that's when I started playing football.

And my coaches were my impact factor.

They were the ones that pushed me.

Going into sophomore year,

I weighed close to 400 pounds

and this coach just told me,

"Hey, if you wanna be playing football with us,

you gotta lose the weight."

And I was like, "I have to do it."

[Glenn] I don't remember him over-eating.

When he played football, he was big.

So big, the coach made him lose weight to play football.

And he did that, did that very successfully.

He dropped 100 pounds.

He had his mind set to play football.

And the doctor gave him a diet to stay on,

and he'd done it, he'd done good.

He was a go-getter.

Junior year, I lost 75 pounds.

I went from 375 down to 300.

And then on my senior year,

I dropped another 50 pounds.

And I was around 250, close to 240,

and I had never felt better,

it was the best time in my life.

Ready for prayer.

- God is good. - [together] God is good.

- God is great. - [together] God is great.

- We thank you for our food. - [together] We thank you for our food.

- Amen. Thank you, Jesus. - Amen. Thank you, Jesus.

[Lucas] But then football season ended

and we were no longer required to work out.

That's when the success turned into a failure.

I didn't stay on my regimen and I just gained it all back.

That's when I got into my addiction to videogames, as well.

I remember graduating weighing about 320 pounds.

After high school,

I moved in with my brother in Corpus Christi

and I started working at a pizza place while going to college.

And in that pizza place, I would be given free pizza almost every night.

And it became a downward spiral after that.

I started gaining a lot of weight.

Going to college, I went from 300 to 400 pounds

and then 500 pounds going into my 20s.

I was actually really close to graduating,

but my dad wanted me to drop out of school and learn a trade.

And he's been a machinist most of his life,

so I tried to go into machining.

Problem was, it's not something I really enjoyed.

[Glenn] What he wants to do,

he's not been able to do it.

He likes videogames

and that's... I guess that's fine.

But I grew up being a part of the Vietnam War.

In our mind frame,

you can't push reset and start a new game.

You had to live your life.

All right, y'all ready, you can clean up

and then we start school, okay?

- [both] Okay. - Start cleaning up.

My next job was three or four years later.

I was working doing grocery delivery.

It was working at first,

and then things got really stressful

and it just got... [sighs]

it got really difficult to handle the depression and anxiety.

And so I had put my 30-day notice in

for being discharged medically and I crashed.

And fast-forward to...

Now I'm in my 30s and I'm at 600 pounds.

Okay, Junior, I want you to go get your books over here

and get set up right there, okay?

Grace, I want you to go get your books

and set up right here, too.

Make sure you bring the pencils, too, okay?

And then know that my weight

is contributing to my depression

and I still can't stop eating

because food is one of the only things

that makes me feel good.

I can't do this.

Yes, you can. Come here.

I have to clean it up, okay?

So, I'll do that.

At this point, I can't really get a job.

Or not a normal one, anyway.

Thankfully, my sister has been able to find work for me to do.

What does this mean?

I don't know, let me read it for you, okay?

"Patty Pig picks peppers to sell at the market.

Help Patty track her peppers."

Oh, okay, got it. That's easy.

[Lucas] My job today is I teach my little niece and nephew, with homeschool,

and then I also babysit them whenever their parents need me to babysit.

[Maegen] I had gotten the idea to employ my brother homeschooling my kids

mostly to help him kind of financially.

But seeing him spending time with his niece and nephew,

it makes me happy because beforehand they didn't spend any time together.

But he's very smart,

he retains almost everything he learned in school.

So, yeah...

He's the perfect candidate to teach them.

This letter, Grace, what's this letter say?

- G. G! - There you go, g.

All right, you wanna get the books for me?

- Yeah. - Okay. Thank you so much.

Okay.

Your mom's gonna be home soon

so y'all go ahead and watch some TV, okay?

- Howdy, bubba. - Hey.

All right, we'll go shopping at the grocery store.

[Lucas] I haven't been to a grocery store on my own for four or five years.

[Lucas pants]

At this size, the thought of falling over in public

is about enough to keep me from ever going anywhere.

Let's grab some of these.

- Oh, get those. - Cinnabons, all right.

Once I'm there, I can lean on the cart

or ride in the motorized cart,

but I wouldn't be able to come here without Maegen.

Can you grab some bacon? A couple of them.

- This one? - Yeah, let's grab about two more of those.

Even though I'm living with my family basically almost for free,

I don't like being dependent on other people.

It makes me feel weak.

Let's grab one of each.

And as much as I love my family

and I'm grateful for them,

I know that being dependent on them is part of the problem.

You want any chips?

Yeah, let's grab some of these.

But also because of the motions that go along with living with my family

are stressful.

And as much as I appreciate their help, it's difficult.

I don't tell my family this

because I don't want them feeling like they're responsible for it.

Where I live today has been a big factor of my increasing weight

'cause a lot of my stress and anxiety comes from them.

Whenever they stress me out, or they fight,

or they argue with me or something like that,

I have to go and eat something, and I hate it.

- Is this enough? - That'll be enough.

- All right. - Should be enough.

But hopefully that'll change.

Hopefully, I can take away the habit and do better coping,

because it really is on me

when I decide if I wanna eat or not.

- Thank you so much. - You're welcome.

Y'all have a wonderful day.

[panting]

[breathing heavily] Okay.

I'm not gonna be able to do anything tonight.

- That was a lot of walking for you. - Mmm-hmm.

[Maegen] Seeing my brother

trying to do things for himself

and being in so much pain,

it really breaks my heart.

Us watching him, my mom, my dad especially,

it's heartbreaking.

It's kind of devastating, almost.

- All right, good night, bub. - Good night, Maegen.

Given my current living and income situation,

I don't see myself being able to get out of this without outside help.

I know that how I'm living right now

can't go on for much longer.

I wake up hopeless

and desperate for something to change.

This feels like this is my last chance to turn my life around.

Otherwise, I'm stuck in this storage shed,

waiting to die.

- Hey, bub. - Hey.

You excited, you ready?

Yeah, I'm nervous. I'm pretty ready, though.

We got a drive ahead of us.

All right, let's get going.

Today, my sister Maegen is gonna drive me to Houston.

- Ready when you are. - Yeah, let's go.

So I can meet Dr. Now and try to get on the path

to having him do weight loss surgery on me.

I'm definitely nervous and scared of getting rejected.

But funny enough, when I woke up this morning,

I felt kinda great because today is really

just, like, the best day of my life

because it's basically when I start fixing my life

way it needs to be.

I'm ready to go see Dr. Now

and I believe he can help me out.

Because once I lose all this weight,

I'll be able to be more mobile

and I won't have to sit in the back seat of the car like this.

And I'll be able to do a lot more in my life.

I'll be able to move out, get a better job...

I'll be able to do a lot more.

So, when was the last time you actually weighed yourself?

The last time I weighed myself

I think I was 545 pounds

and that was back in 20... 2017.

You haven't stepped on a scale since?

No, I don't want to, I'm scared.

Hey, I don't blame you.

I lost all that weight, right?

And then I put it all back on in a matter of a couple months.

I haven't stepped on a scale since I weighted 135.

I just... I'm really... I'm still nervous, so...

You can do this. I've seen you drop

an enormous amount of weight for football, you know?

This is for your life, not just for some game.

This is... You're starting your life basically over.

[Lucas] A lot of my life, it's been, um...

There was times where I was so deep in a hole

where I just wanted to end it all.

And having my sister Maegen, she's like,

"Hey I'm here for you, I'm here to help you.

And I'm here cheering you on."

I'm ready.

I really am very happy I have that in my life.

Thank you.

- Doing good? - Just hot today, humid.

Yeah.

- Nervous meeting him too? - [sighs] Nervous.

Lucas.

[Lucas] I feel very nervous about what the scale's gonna say.

Because it's almost been five years since I've stepped on a scale.

Okay, you can step up on the scale.

[Lucas] I'm hoping that I haven't gained any weight.

That's I'm still somewhere in the mid-500's.

And that I'm not worse off than I've been thinking this whole time.

[suspenseful music playing]

Your weight is 619. You can step off.

- [nurse] And we're gonna be going to room five. - Room five?

Yes, sir.

I was pretty surprised to see my weight at 619 pounds.

I thought I was still gonna be in the 500's area, maybe in the high 500's.

And I'm over 600 and I'm well into it now and it's scary.

[knocking at door]

Hello, how y'all doing?

-Good. -[Lucas] Doing all right, sir. How're you doing?

Good.

- You must be Lucas, yeah? - Yes, sir.

All right, where you coming from?

We come from Conroe, Texas.

Conroe, Texas.

All right, and you are over 600 pounds, huh?

Yes, sir.

And you only 33 years old, huh?

- Yes, sir. - Okay. So, you've been overweight for a while.

Yes, sir.

- And, are you working? - No, sir. I can't work.

How long you haven't been working?

It's been over a year now.

And before that, what kind of job were you doing?

I was a pizza delivery driver.

That's unfortunate for your situation.

And got to the point that you couldn't do it?

Got to the point that I just couldn't do it anymore.

So, what is going on with your eating habits?

My eating habits is more related to my stress and my depression.

And when I feel stress or anxiety, I eat.

I tend to eat when I feel that, I snack.

And then during meals, I tend to overeat.

Could it be that you convince yourself that it's stress that's making you eating?

I try to convince myself to just find different ways,

but I tend to become addicted to certain things.

Like, videogaming or watching TV, sitting down and doing nothing.

Just trying to escape those things that cause me to eat, stress and anxiety.

So, it becomes very, very difficult.

I usually eat at home, for the most part.

But sometimes I do go get fast food.

All right, so what do you do all day?

Uh, I mostly help out the family by babysitting and teaching my sister's kids.

Um, but, most of the time, I'm sitting down.

And my activity is very, like, scarce.

I don't do very much.

And it's very, very, very little that we move around.

So, do you choose to overeat?

Or does somebody push you to overeat in the family?

I tend to overeat myself, I tend to choose that.

I don't... I don't think anybody really enables me.

- It's just me. - Is he telling me the truth?

Um, yes. Mostly, yes.

Mostly, huh?

We've already established a dynamic that the family feeds him.

So, are you all doing anything to help him lose weight?

We do. We have been trying for years to help him.

Do you all bring him food to eat, too?

I... I'll bring him lunch sometimes when he's watching my kids. Yeah.

So, you think you are helping him to bring him some food?

Or, is that because you are showing that you like him or you love him?

It's because I'm not gonna feed my kids and not,

you know, have food for my brother.

And if he's happy, he keeps doing what you want, right?

Um, no, I'm just trying to make sure he has what he needs.

All right. Lucas, do you have any goal in your life?

- Goal? - Yeah.

I would like to become an IT tech.

I would like to get back into working again as one of my goals.

Um, it's just that unfortunately I don't...

I can't work to make the money to go to school.

I can't afford online classes or anything like that.

I don't want to ask my family for the money to do something like that.

Okay. And, what are you willing to do to change all that?

I'm willing to change everything, sir.

[Meagen] Whatever it takes.

Whatever it takes.

To the point where even if I have to come up with different habits to...

To go through my anxiety, to go through my stress.

[Meagen] To be able to deal with it right.

To deal with it properly, instead of just going to something that comforts me.

All right, so, what we need to do is try to change your eating habit.

So the first step is gonna be that you have to discipline yourself.

- Okay? - Yes, sir.

What I wanna do is give you some stuff that I want you to start reading those.

And also gonna give you some exercise.

So I'm gonna bring you some instruction.

Want you to follow those things,

and I'm gonna give you four weeks.

And if you do that, I want you to lose 30 pounds in one month.

And stick with the health eating habits.

If you do that, then we're gonna be able to help you out.

But if you come back and you haven't lost any weight,

then there's not much we can do.

Because you're not gonna be able to tolerate any kind of surgery at this point.

- Okay? - Yes, sir.

All right, so, let me go get some stuff for you.

And bring it for you and we go over it, okay?

Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.

My biggest concern with Lucas is that he seems to have a dynamic of household

that encourage him to eat more.

He was delivering pizza which wasn't a great occupation for his situation.

But at least he was active and out on his own.

But now that he can't do that, he's become an in-house babysitter.

And I think the family maybe enjoys that dynamic with him.

Where they can count on him to stay at home.

And doing what they need all day, as long as he's like this.

So that is an issue, because they are enabling him.

And this is not helping him to be productive for himself.

All right, so, the first thing I wanted to focus on

is this, that I want you to read everyday.

It's a 1,200 calorie, low-carb, high protein diet.

That we will go over that I want you to start today, okay?

Yes, sir.

Then I also have some exercises for you

that I want you to do everyday.

It's gonna be up to Lucas to start to break free from the cycle he's in.

And the dynamic he has at home.

I gave him a goal to lose 30 pounds in one month.

If he sticks with the 1,200 calorie diet,

he can lose three times of that.

So, I gave him a very easy goal.

And, what I'm hoping is, that if he just takes the first step

to change his eating habits, in even a small way.

If he does then he will see that he will start to feel better

in his depression.

And how he feels will start to improve

as he slowly comes out of that cycle he's in.

That starts with his unhealthy eating habits.

So the bar is low for him to start to turn things around for himself.

But if he takes this first step,

it will get easier for him and we can help him.

So, you start doing that and then we're gonna see how you do in the four weeks.

- Okay? - Okay, sir.

And it's gonna be all up to you to make the changes that you need.

- All right? - Yes, sir.

- Okay, nice to meet you all. - [Lucas] Nice to meet you too, sir.

Okay.

Let me see that.

I think this is what's gonna help you drop the weight really fast.

- Mom and I are doing this with you. - Okay.

She may not be able to do the intermittent fasting

but she's definitely doing the diet.

[Lucas] I didn't want to say, "Oh, no, my sister's the one that gives me food."

Yes, on a regular basis we do, kinda, eat pretty bad.

But I feel like my family doesn't really enable me, it's more of me.

Cause I can make my own decisions, so I put it more on myself.

- This starts... - Today?

- Yeah. - [Lucas] Today.

- Today. - [Lucas] Today.

We gotta throw out all that stuff.

- No more temptations. - No more temptations.

- So. - Oh, my kids are gonna hate me.

- Okay, come on. - Oh, well.

- [Meagen] Good? - Yep.

I was really nervous when he first came in.

Dr. Now is somebody I don't want to disappoint.

He's someone who's gonna decide whether or not I'm gonna get the surgery.

I can definitely feel the, like, aura around him.

Where you can definitely see him being, like, a coach figure.

What he sounded like was what my coach sounded like,

hey, you need to lose this weight

or you're not gonna be able to play.

And for him it's like,

hey you need to lose this weight, or your not gonna get this surgery.

And it made me feel like, okay, then I'll definitely do it.

I feel motivated. Like I can do this.

Like I definitely can do this.

Missing Mars and you're missing Venus, so.

Um, Mars is right here. So, this is Venus.

[Lucas] The first few weeks of doing Dr. Now diet and exercise program,

basically getting control of my eating habits,

it's been a pretty big adjustment.

It's been a very tough challenge.

There were many struggles that I have encountered.

The good news is, most of the time,

I have the kids to keep me busy.

- I'm done! - [Lucas] Yay!

And I've been trying to throw myself into that.

And trying to push myself to do more with them.

We're gonna have PE. Y'all ready for PE?

We're gonna do jumping jacks and we're gonna play with the ball.

Okay?

I'll meet you guys outside, okay?

Days when I have to watch the kids,

it's actually difficult to get everything done for Dr. Now.

That I'm supposed to do, in terms of exercise.

[Robert] What a good day to do some recess.

[Lucas] So this week, I'm trying to combine it.

To where I get some exercise during the homeschool hours.

So today, I'm taking them outside with me

and getting my exercises in that way, as part of their PE class.

Come on, we're gonna do jumping jacks. You know how to do jumping jacks?

I think. Like this?

Like that. Can you do it for me?

That was pretty good. Try it again.

[Lucas] Okay, I'm gonna try it too.

Okay?

That's really hard for me.

We're gonna do 10 of those, all right?

One, two,

three, four,

five, six--

And it's going good.

eight, nine, ten.

Okay. Can one of y'all get me the chair over there?

[Grace] Play catch now?

Yeah, we're gonna play catch now.

- [Grace] Okay. - Hang on.

[Robert] I love this day!

- We're gonna have to stand up for this one, okay? - Okay.

[Robert] It's pretty hard for him to get up, it take a bit.

- Okay. - [Robert] Oh, wow!

These days I've been more tired than ever.

This is good exercise.

But it's a good kind of tired.

That feels like I've earned it.

Um, are you okay?

I'll be fine, man.

Just have to catch my breath.

I'll be all right.

Okay.

- All right, who's ready for lunch? - [kids] Me!

You. All right. I'll meet y'all in the house, okay?

- Yes, sir. - All right.

And there has been a lot of struggles

where I had to overcome the cravings.

Or the desire to go eat.

I'm trying to do the diet by making my own meals.

Hey, kiddos.

And not eating anything else that anyone brings in.

Because my family's still eating some bad stuff around the edges.

[Robert] When you're gonna play, mommy and I are gonna play chess.

[Grace] Chess.

But I've been counting calories the way Dr. Now said to in this book.

And I'm pretty sure I'm staying in my right range that I need to hit,

to get to the goal he gave me of losing 30 pounds this month.

Mommy's trying to remember how to set this up.

My sister has been showing me support.

And she's the one pushing me more than anyone to do Dr. Now program.

Serving size is 3 ounces.

4.5 ounces for nine pieces of chicken.

So how many calories is that?

That's 167 calories.

Are you good with that?

- That should be pretty good. - You can afford that?

[Meagen] Lucas has been doing really well.

I'm super proud of him.

I know how hard it is and seeing him overcome that is really great to watch.

In fact, he's been doing so well,

that he's getting better almost a little too fast for me.

Because it means that pretty soon

I'm gonna need a new babysitter

and a new homeschool teacher.

[Meagen] I'm still trying to figure out what move I'm gonna make.

And it won't be easy to find someone

who's as much of a natural for the job as Lucas's been.

It's been really great having him in that role.

[Meagen] Oh, that looks awesome!

It does, it looks really good.

[Meagen] So, I've known all along it is just temporary.

And now it's actually happening.

And we'll have to make some adjustments.

But, you know, we're all really eager for him to get better.

And seeing it happen before our eyes, is really exciting.

Having Lucas here at home he's been, sorta, like a fixture around here.

And it's gonna be hard to see him go

if he does succeed at this and achieve what he wants.

Which is to spread his wings and go out into the world.

Because he needs more than this, and I know it.

Junior, get Mommy a spoon.

Blue one? That's it.

Careful.

Meagen, I notice when I get... When I eat slower I get fuller faster.

Yeah, that's what I've been telling you. You gotta drink, take a bite.

And then drink a little bit.

Take a bite.

You know, it fills you up faster.

Yeah.

[Meagen] Over here, Grace.

We love having him here obviously.

It makes me so happy that he's here with my kids.

And he's a great babysitter. And homeschool teacher.

But I also know that he needs to get out.

And experience more of the world and get his life back.

So that he can be an adult and an independent person.

Because he's really never had that.

And I think he's been ready for that in his heart

since before his body has been ready.

And now his body is catching up.

So, we'll be sad to see him go.

But really, really happy that he's getting healthy.

And then he'll be around for a lot longer that way.

If he can keep up the good work.

[Meagen] Voilà

Lucas.

- Hello. - [nurse] Hello.

- How are you today? - [nurse] I'm good, how are you?

I'm doing good.

[Lucas] At my first appointment a month ago, I weighed 619.

- You can step on the scale. - Okay.

[Lucas] And Dr. Now told me to lose 30 pounds.

So if I did that, I should be under 589 right now.

And I really hope that I am, because I can't take a big failure right now.

Your weight is 590.

- [Meagen] Yay! - Yes.

[Meagen] Way to go!

- We're gonna go to room number five. - Number five? Got ya.

[Lucas] Off by one pound. And I think that's close enough.

I guess we're about to find out.

It's a good job.

[knocking at door]

Hello. How y'all doing?

Doing good, sir. How you doing?

Good.

All right, I see that you lost some weight.

Yes, sir.

All right, so what kind of changes y'all made in eating habits?

Uh, we have followed your plan, sir.

We have changed our diet down to 1,200 calories.

We have it down to 400 calories per meal.

Uh, we have a high protein diet, low carb.

Uh, low fats, some fruits but not high sugary fruits.

[Lucas] Right.

So you need to study the diet a little closer.

To make sure you don't eat sugary things.

And as happy as I am to see your progress.

The reality is, you haven't been sticking to just 1,200 calories.

Because you would have lost three times what you did, if you had.

So, nobody in the family is enabling you anymore?

No, sir.

[Meagen] We've been very strict.

Like, my mom and I are both on the same diet as Lucas, so.

I feel like it helps him to stay motivated

and it also helps him to stay disciplined.

Um, and it's been challenging.

But, you know what? I'm very proud of him.

And what he's accomplished so far.

Well, I'm glad to see the progress being made by all of you.

And that you all are working to change your dynamic of household.

So, how is your depression?

Now that you've lost some weight, do you feel better?

I feel... Actually, it's been pretty great.

Um, I still have moments where I struggle,

but I've been feeling a lot better overall.

All right, so you're on the right track.

But the reality is, if you did the 1,200 calorie diet

then you would have lost three times that.

So, what I want you to do is,

show me that you're gonna at least stick with what you're doing now.

By losing another 60 pounds over the next two months.

If you do that, then I will know you are serious.

And I will approve you for weight loss surgery.

You think you can do that?

Oh, I can do that, sir.

Okay. All right.

I'm encouraged with your progress. So, stick to it.

And then we'll see what we can do with you, okay?

- Yes, sir. - All right.

So, we'll see you in two months.

Yes, sir.

If you need anything before then, give me a call.

- [both] Yes, sir. - I will.

- All right, we'll see you then. - Yes, sir.

- I told you there was nothing to worry about. - You're right.

You've done a very good job.

- And we're gonna keep it up. - Yes.

I'm happy to see that Lucas has made some progress.

It looks like he's taking some initiative to turn his situation around.

And that's very positive, even if it is baby steps.

Now the question is, if he's gonna stick with it.

Or if this was a short term change for him.

But hopefully, giving him an easier goal to start will lead to him being able to

pull himself further out of this pattern of poor health

and depression that he's been in,

as he gains more self confidence with his progress.

But we'll see.

[Lucas] It was very nice to be able to talk Dr. Now

and to excitedly have news over the weight loss we had.

And it was just super exciting to talk about the goals we achieved so far.

It was a very encouraging visit for me.

I was very thrilled to hear that he was very proud of me.

I was actually very nervous to disappoint him because he, kinda, feels like a coach.

I did not want to disappoint my coaches when I was in high school.

And I don't want to disappoint my coach.

Next time I come I want to be at least 60 pounds lighter.

[Lucas] It's been a couple weeks since I saw Dr. Now.

I was really happy that I had lost weight.

And been successful in getting close to my first 30 day goal.

It felt so good to have Dr. Now be proud of my progress.

I don't want to disappoint him this time.

So lately I've been working even harder

to do everything that Dr. Now says.

But it's been more difficult this month.

I feel like my depression has lessen a bit.

Because I feel better about myself.

But the temptations are stronger when they come.

So as a defense against that, I decided to get out of the house more.

And find something to do that's not here.

So today I'm meeting, for the first time, with a trainer at a gym.

Hey, you wanna go to the gym today?

-Yeah. I can take you to the gym. -Cool.

- Don't forget your socks. - Yep

- Ready when you are. - Yeah, let's go.

Meagen has been supporting me really well.

She's trying to be more on the same page with what I'm doing.

And she feels she's pretty much all the way on board.

[Meagen] Let me move up.

[Lucas] So I'm feeling confident when I go see Dr. Now next month,

I'm gonna be at the goal he needs me to be at.

And he's going to approve me for weight loss surgery.

I'll see ya later, Meagen.

- Hey, Kimberly. - Are you ready to get some of that weight off?

Sit down right here?

- There ya go. - Okay.

[Kim] Okay. All right.

- So I'm gonna do some warm-up exercises with your shoulders. - Okay.

We're gonna do some small baby circles.

- Just some small ones, we're gonna count to 20. - Okay.

All right, so, whenever you're ready. Just stick your arms out.

- All right. - We're gonna do the baby ones first.

Okay? Just the little bitty ones.

One, two, three. Tell me when you feel the burn.

18, 19, now we're gonna go forward. Gonna do some big ones.

- Okay. - Big, one,

One, two--

Pushing myself physically is really hard.

But at the same time it feels good.

It takes me back to my high school days.

When people looked up to me for how strong I was.

I'm gonna try to get your arms out in front of you, so, we'll see.

There ya go. Kinda little bit far forward.

Two, go down.

Okay. Three.

Let's go to about right here and keep the tension.

Four.

Five, just a little heavier.

Feel the burn yet?

- Okay, good. - [grunts]

[Kimberly] Very good. Hit 'em. All right. Good stuff.

You're gonna bend those wrists, just like this.

- There you go. Up. - [breathes heavily]

Does it burn? Good.

Six, don't go too high.

All right. Yeah.

Feel lightheaded?

- It's getting there. - [Kimberly] Okay.

All right, well, we did a good job today.

That's what it's all about, right?

We're gonna do it again.

- Doing it again. - And again and again.

- [both] And again and again. - Gonna get you a water.

- I'll be right back. - Got ya.

[Lucas] My first workout in a couple of years.

It was tough, but I managed to push through.

I feel a little bit exhilarated and tired at the same time.

I would love to work with you more

and, uh, we'll see how far we can take it.

- [Lucas] Sounds great. - You in?

- Yeah. - [Kimberly] Let's get out of here.

-Okay. - Lucas did fantastic. I'm so proud of him.

He pushed, he showed the want that he wants it,

which is important 'cause sometimes people wanna get lazy

and they don't show the want.

I'm looking forward to working with him.

We're gonna get a couple days in a week,

and we're just gonna see how far we can take it.

Hopefully he's gonna be in here raising the whole house.

[Lucas] Today, I'm going to see Dr. Now.

I am very nervous about what the scale's gonna say

because I have encountered many challenges.

There were many temptations where I've seen my family had eaten in front of me.

Foods that I would've wanted to eat, but I cannot eat them.

I've had to sit there and say, "No."

I've had to do some exercises that were kind of uncomfortable for me.

I've had to do some walking.

Reaching that goal was my determination.

I know scales don't lie, according to Dr. Now,

but I worked really hard to lose the weight and I don't wanna disappoint him.

I don't wanna get any yelling from him, so hopefully I lost enough.

It feels really good to be doing well.

And I know it would feel awful to find out if I was way off.

Lucas?

- [Lucas] Hello. - Hello.

[Lucas] Because it would mean I'm not learning how to do this.

And that's the type of setback that's really hard for me to recover from.

Go ahead and step on the scale when you're ready.

[Lucas] I was supposed to lose 60 pounds by today

and if I did, I feel certain he'll approve me for weight-loss surgery.

[woman] Go ahead and step on the scale.

[Lucas] I'm at Dr. Now's to see where my weight's at.

At my last appointment, I weighed 590 pounds.

And Dr. Now told me to lose 60 pounds.

So if I did that, then I should weigh 530 or less today.

I'm just praying that I did that,

so I can get approved for weight-loss surgery.

[woman] We're going to room five.

[Lucas] Dang, that's short of the mark.

I'm still happy that I lost as much as I did, but that's too far off for me

to feel all the way good about it.

I just hope Dr. Now sees how hard I've been working and he goes easy on me.

But that's not good enough for me to feel very good right now.

Hello, how are you all doing?

Doing good, sir, how are you doing?

All right, you're down to 539, no?

- Mmm-hmm, yes, sir. - All right, that's great, so you've lost 52 pounds.

Over the last two months.

- Yes, sir. - [Dr. Now] Did you do any exercise?

Yes, sir, I work out at a gym and my trainer helps me work out two days a week.

Okay, that's good, so what is your goal weight?

My goal weight would be 200 pounds.

Ah, that's too high. Your goal weight is 167,

167?

Okay, then I will shoot for that.

So, that means that you gotta have 400 pounds to lose, huh?

That's gonna be awhile, but I got it.

All right, I think, realistically, the only way you're gonna get to that

is weight-loss surgery, okay?

So now that you lost weight and you stay focused,

uh, I'm gonna approve you for weight-loss surgery.

So we'll go ahead and run some testing on you.

And if everything looks good, we'll schedule you for next month.

So how does that sound?

- That sounds great. - Awesome.

All right, continue with your eating habit and weight-loss

and continue to lose what you're losing right now,

even tighten up a little bit more.

- Yes, sir. - [Dr. Now] Okay.

- All right, if you need anything, give me a call. - [Lucas] Yes, sir.

All right, I'll see you all later.

- Okay. - Yes, sir.

[Lucas] See you later, sir.

Yeah.

[inhales deeply]

[exhales deeply]

I've been very nervous.

Scared I wasn't gonna make it.

I'm encouraged to see Lucas continue to lose weight

in past few month and he has done a good job

in maintaining his eating habit and doing exercise.

So I think he's ready for weight-loss surgery

and I think he's going to do well,

but we still have a long way to go with him.

And I think the real hard work for him will start after surgery

because the key to his long-term success

is gonna be for him to keep working on changing his home dynamic

and becoming more independent.

And that's gonna get harder as time goes on,

but for right now, he's moving in the right direction.

And he's breaking out of the unhealthy cycle he's been in.

He's moving in the right direction.

And we'll see if surgery will help him maintain that.

And he's ready for this next step.

[Lucas] Today I got approved for surgery and I am very, very excited.

I finally reached a milestone that was probably one of my biggest milestones

I've had in a long time.

It felt exciting, at the same time it felt like a shock.

I did not reach the weight that he wanted.

I was off by seven pounds.

But I've shown that I'm capable of staying on track

and I'm staying focused.

I still have to continue losing weight, which is what I will be doing.

I will still be focused on what I need to do,

I'm not gonna go out and party,

I'm not gonna go out and just pig out or anything like that.

I'm gonna continue what I'm doing

because this is what I need to do.

And I've come too far to turn back now.

This first goal is just the first of many goals I want to reach.

So even if it feels like I finally made it,

I know I still have a long way to go.

And I'm not gonna waste any of this momentum.

I want to build on it to be sure I get where I wanna go.

So I'm gonna let myself enjoy this moment,

but not with food and only for a minute

'cause then I have to buckle down

and get ready for weight-loss surgery by losing some more weight.

I'm feeling pretty nervous about this.

But this is it.

Today's the day of my surgery and my brother, Kenneth, came through to take me

since our parents are working and I'm grateful that he's here for me today,

so I can share this moment with someone,

and so I don't have to be alone.

I'm excited for what this day means to me

and I'm proud of myself for making it this far, but I'm also a little scared

because anytime you have surgery, something could go wrong.

And even though I've been losing weight,

Dr. Now says there's still a risk factor because of how big I am.

- [Kenneth] You okay, dude? - Yeah.

[Kenneth] It's cold as hell in here.

[Lucas] Pretty cold.

- [Vana] Hi. - Hi.

My name's Vana, one of the nurses that's working here.

- I'll be getting you ready for this procedure, okay? - Okay.

Over the course of last week, me and my family

did talk about a lot of things about this surgery and how everybody's excited,

that even I should be excited that this is a whole big change in my life.

- [Dr. Now] Hi, Lucas. - Hey, Dr. Now.

How are you?

Today I'm doing okay.

All right, are you ready for your surgery today?

- I am ready. - So who's with you today?

Today with me is my brother, Kenneth.

Nice to meet you.

All right, we go ahead and get you started in a few minutes.

And surgery will be finished, you're gonna be in the recovery room.

Then after that, we get you up on the floor.

Later on today, you're gonna be able to walk and get some liquid, okay?

- Okay. - And if everything goes okay,

then maybe we send you home tomorrow or the next day.

- Okay. - [Dr. Now] Okay.

Any questions?

Uh, no, I think I'm good.

You're ready for it, huh?

- I'm ready for it. - All right, we'll get you fixed up shortly, okay?

- Okay, thank you. - [Dr. Now] All right.

- See you on the other side. - [Lucas] Yeah.

I feel very nervous, but at the same time I'm excited.

I'm excited that I've reached a big milestone in this journey that I'm on.

- I'll see you. - Okay, I'll see you later.

I'm ready for this.

I am very ready for this.

[Dr. Now] Today we are attempting to perform

a gastric sleeve procedure on Lucas.

Since his last appointment a month ago,

he has lost another 24 pounds

to get down to 515, so he has continued to make progress

and lose weight over the last four months.

In my two hands.

So I'm confident he ready for a tool like weight-loss surgery

because what this operation does is that it reduce his stomach by 90%.

Leaving a small, narrow tube that looks similar to a sleeve.

So the patient's food intake is physically limited

and the patient is less hungry.

So this operation will give them an opportunity to lose even more weight.

Okay.

But, ultimately, whether this surgery helps Lucas for the long-term

will be completely up to him and the choices he makes.

Okay, go forward. We can turn the room lights off.

[doctor] Room lights off, please, guys.

So first I'm gonna tend to fix his hernia as best as possible.

[Dr. Now speaking]

Then I will move ahead and attempt to do a gastric sleeve procedure on him.

And if we are able to complete that,

then I will give Lucas an important tool to help him continue to lose weight.

So this will be a big help to keep him on track, while we work with him

to get him to where he's able to maintain his progress for the long-term.

But my concern with that is not having enough time to do both surgeries.

If the situation with his hernia is too severe because at his weight,

this is a high-risk surgery.

And because of that, we want to limit the time he is under anesthesia

because it could start to put too much strain on his system if we keep him under too long.

So we'll have to see what's possible to do safely with him today.

Okay, I finished a portion of the hernia, so now I'm gonna complete the sleeve.

All right, we are almost done removing his stomach.

Lucas is really the epitome of resilience for us in our family.

Since I've been waiting here, I have reached out to my parents to let them know

that he went into surgery.

My mom has actually been really nervous,

and I would say that my dad has been nervous, too.

And I've been keeping him up to date as well.

[Dr. Now speaking]

[Dr. Now] Okay. All finished.

[Dr. Now] Lucas' surgery went very well today.

We were able to completely perform a sleeve gastrectomy on Lucas without any issue.

Fortunately, we didn't have any issues with anesthesia

or any complication with his surgery and everything went very well.

That's a huge lung stone.

Now that he has had his surgery,

Lucas is gonna be able to lose weight much easier with this operation.

For the next month, he will be on a liquid diet

and in that time, he should be able to lose another 30 pounds.

And after that, he should lose, at least, 20 to 25 pounds a month

until he gets close to his target weight, if he is staying on track.

But now, the real work is gonna start for Lucas.

So far, he's been taking small steps towards a healthier life.

But now it is important for him to start taking bigger steps

if he wants to keep his progress going

and make it last for the long-term.

And that's not gonna be easy for him because it means he's gonna have to work

to become even more independent.

To the point that may be uncomfortable for him because of how much

it will change the dynamic he has at home

and take him out of what's familiar for him.

But if he doesn't do that now, he's gonna risk slowly falling back into old habits,

to start going back in the wrong direction.

So the next few months will be very telling

because we will either start to see that Lucas is going to keep going

in the direction he needs and start to do better and better

or see his progress slow down and head in the wrong direction.

And if the latter happens, it won't be a good sign.

Hi, Lucas.

Hey, Dr. Now.

You waking up?

- Yeah. - All right, the surgery went very well.

Okay, you're in recovery room.

- Awesome. - Okay, so we're gonna get you upstairs pretty soon.

And let you rest and after four hours,

we can get you up walking around.

Okay.

And you get up and do some walking and you can have some liquid, okay?

- [Lucas] Thank you. - All right, everything went very well.

- Thank you so much. - You're welcome.

All right, I'll see you later.

I'll see you later, sir.

Okay. Take care.

[Lucas] It's been about two weeks since my surgery

and I'm feeling pretty good.

When I came home from the hospital,

I started staying at my mom and dad's place.

So they can keep an eye on me and make sure I have everything I need.

But it was only about a day or two that I really needed help.

And even after day one, I was able to get up and move around some.

The good news is ever since the surgery, my hunger's pretty much gone away.

But it's weird because I don't really like eating anymore.

And that was one of my favorite things before surgery.

It's like I don't know myself or something

or, like, being a different person,

but I know that it's good for me.

Dr. Now says I've already eaten enough food for the next four years.

So I guess that's enjoyment I've already used up.

It's been a little bit difficult because, at first, I wasn't able to exercise

and that's been my main thing to do to avoid the boredom.

But I've been able to start playing videogames again

and I think it's going pretty well

because I've only been doing it a little bit.

And my friends online have all been really supportive with what I'm going through.

And they're all real excited for me that I got weight-loss surgery.

My depression and anxiety are in pretty good shape, too.

Overall, I'm feeling pretty positive,

but it still feels like something's missing.

And I'm hoping that that feeling goes away

when I start eating real food again.

I just hope it gets a little easier

because this liquid diet is pretty rough.

[Maegen] So you excited about going

to see Dr. Now today after your surgery?

I'm eager to find out what he's gonna say today.

- [Maegen] Why? - I mainly want to know

what he wants to say about my progress.

[Maegen] I'm sure he's gonna be happy with your progress. I mean, everybody can see it.

I think he'll say that he's proud of you.

[Lucas] Me and Maegen are gonna go see Dr. Now today.

And I'm excited to see how much weight I've lost

because it feels like I've lost another good bit.

It's been two months since my weight-loss surgery.

The first month was hard because being on liquids for that long

didn't sit well with me.

It was a big adjustment.

The surgery made it so that I'm never really all that hungry,

so I never really feel satisfied.

- All right, you ready? - Yep.

But it's not a big deal to me because I don't want it that much anymore.

Now that I'm back to solid foods, I'm getting more used to it.

Food just isn't a big deal as it used to be and that's all there is to it.

So I'm trying to stay on track and stay focused.

Oh, thank you.

I've been able to start working out again, so that helps.

And I set some boundaries with my gaming,

so I could play a little bit and visit my old friends online,

but not sit there all day and definitely not eat while I'm doing it.

And the best part is I don't even want to do that

because being healthy feels good.

Lucas.

Okay, you can go ahead and step on the scale.

- [Maegen] Way to go, Luke. - Yay.

- It's fantastic. - Mmm-hmm.

- Okay, we're gonna go to room five. - Okay.

It's a little bit more than I expected.

Was pretty excited, pretty stoked about it.

But at the same time, I'm also ready for more.

I feel incredibly great actually, I feel wonderful.

I'm ready to see more drop off.

I've been eating right, make sure I stick to the diet,

making sure I stick to the routine,

make sure I don't break way from it, making sure I don't cheat,

making sure I say no to the things that I really want

and, uh, staying active, just doing what I can to stay active.

[knocking at door]

- Hello, how y'all doing? - Hey, Dr. Now.

I'm good, how are you doing?

- Good. - [Lucas] Yes, yes.

So, Lucas, how are you getting along?

- Doing pretty good, sir. - [Dr. Now] Good.

All right, you're down to 469 today.

Mmm-hmm.

So, actually, you're 150 pounds lighter than the first day I saw you.

Yeah.

[Dr. Now] So how you feel?

I feel wonderful actually.

- Has your depression continued to improve? - Yes, sir.

Great, are you able to do a lot more

- at this point? - [Lucas] Yes, sir.

I'm able to do a lot more than I used to.

I wasn't able to move around or lift weights as easily as I can now.

That's great.

Well, you're doing good and if you stay on track,

in about three months, probably getting 300,

and that time, we're gonna take a look and see what is the potential

for getting some extra skin off.

And you got this large apron of the skin hanging in the front of your abdomen.

The more weight that you lose, the more hanging it become

and sometime it become an issue whether you're able to do exercise.

And if that start being a problem,

then we'll look into the possibility of doing extra skin removal, okay?

- Okay. - And a year from now, you're gonna be 200 pounds

and much lighter, so how life is gonna change

from being a 600 plus pound to 200?

Life is gonna be drastically different.

- Completely different. - It's gonna be, I mean, amazingly different.

I can't wait. I really can't wait.

So what is your goal in your life?

My goal is I just wanna be able to get a job,

I wanna be able to move out of my family's house and get on my own,

I wanna be able to travel, I wanna be able to do a lot of things.

I wanna travel for the most part.

I really wanna get out, do a bit more than I used to.

And lately, I may have got the motivation to go back and check out some colleges

to see about going back to school.

And hopefully be able to get a job and move out.

Well, that'd be good. You have to pursue your dreams and be the best you can be.

- Yes, sir. - [Dr. Now] Okay.

Well, keep it up and you'll be able to do all of that soon.

I'm looking forward to that, too.

-I am, too. I think we all are. -Yeah. [laughs]

Well, I'm proud of your progress

and your family supporting you.

And I'm sure within a year, we're gonna get you under 200 pounds.

- All right, I look forward to it. - [Dr. Now] Okay?

All right, you all take care.

You take care, sir.

[Maegen] Told you he said he was gonna be proud.

- Yeah. - We just keep it up.

And don't let, you know, depression sink in, okay?

- Yeah. - [Maegen] You do have your support group.

You have a very good support group.

And we're gonna be with you every step of the way.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

So far, I'm encouraged by what I see from Lucas.

His recent progress could be a little better, but overall,

he's staying on track and still moving in the right direction.

And surely, he's committed

to doing what he needs

and to taking the bigger step that move him out of his comfort zone.

So I'm very proud of him

and I'm also proud of his family for the support that they are giving him.

They seem to be doing all they can

to help change the dynamic they have with him for the better

so he can live a healthier life.

So the vicious cycle he's been living under seems to be broken.

And I think, with the momentum he has now,

he's gonna keep doing more and more to achieve all the goals he wants

and stick to it for the long-term so he can live a healthy life

where he's able to pursue his dreams and the things he wants.

And I'm very proud of him for that,

and I'm excited to see what he accomplishes going forward from here.

[Lucas] Now that I'm in it to this point,

it's like the things that I had as goals, I'm ready to start doing them.

It's time.

It's time to start living the life I want,

and I'm really excited to make that happen.

I made some big changes but that's just the beginning.

I am just getting started.

These next few months are gonna be big.

[Lucas] Today, I'm going to a local community college

to see what kind of offerings they have for me

and to plan the next steps that I want to take

to start building the career that I've always wanted to have

but never could because I was too big and I couldn't get around.

- [Lucas] Hello. - [receptionist] How are you?

[Lucas] Doing good.

[receptionist] What can I do for you today?

- [Lucas] I'm here to see an advisor. - [receptionist] Okay.

[Lucas] I've always liked working on computers.

I always did pretty well in school, too.

The only thing that kept me back from pursuing a career like this was my weight.

So now that I'm getting that under control,

it feels like that I'm finally getting a shot to redo the stuff

that I messed up because of my eating habits.

[receptionist] They'll be up here in just a moment.

- Okay, thank you. - You're welcome.

- Lucas? - Yes, sir.

How're you doing, Lucas? My name is Brett, I'm an advisor here.

[Lucas] Nice to meet you.

- You wanna come and talk about classes? - Sure.

[Lucas] How is your day today, Brett?

[Brett] I'm doing all right, how are you doing?

[Lucas] Doing pretty good.

[Brett] Yeah?

[Lucas]

Part of the time, I felt like my life was over.

But all it took was the love and support of my family,

Dr. Now's help, and some hard work.

And it feels like, now, I've got my life back.

And I'm so happy for that.

I wouldn't wish being that size on anybody,

and I never want to go back to being like that.

But I do know that my experience as a 600-pound individual

definitely makes it easier for me to be grateful for the life that I have.

And never again will I let myself forget how it felt to be hopeless.

All right, class is over.

[Lucas] Because that's always going to remind me

to be grateful for the life that I have.

And now, I'm ready to start giving back.

Hey, Kimberly.

What's up, Lucas? It's so good to see you.

How are you feeling?

Uh, I'm doing pretty good.

Your shorts about to fall off of you.

- My shorts are fixing to fall off. - [Kim] That's awesome.

- That's the whole point, isn't it? - Yeah.

Let's just start today with a little bit of lifting.

Okay.

The other day, I had a bit of a setback.

Not with my eating. I still haven't wanted to eat that much.

It was with my video gaming.

I was on a mission with some of my friends.

And it turned into a really long quest doing some raiding.

And I forgot about something I promised Maegen I would do.

And she got really upset, and rightfully so.

And it was the first time in a long time that I really messed up.

And my behavior had a negative effect on someone I cared about

because I was playing so long and I lost track of time.

So over here, we'll do some ball slams real quick.

Okay.

It made me think about going back to the way I was.

And it really scared me.

So today, I'm gonna work out extra hard with my trainer.

Because I need to feel like I'm in control of my journey again.

[Kim] Control your breathing, and we're gonna shoot it back up.

Perfect. All right, you know what to do with that bad boy.

Okay.

Control your breathing and just stay leaning forward, okay?

- Okay. - There you go.

[Lucas] I still have way too much to accomplish and far too much to do.

And I need to prove to myself all this is not just temporary.

But I'm making permanent changes to my life

that's gonna last me till I grow old.

[Kim] Very good.

You ready to do some triceps.

- Yes, I'm ready. - All right, let's get it.

[Lucas] I gotta remember that this is a process.

It's not like flipping a switch that always stays on.

I'm gonna have to work at it.

When you've lost 175 pounds or more,

you want to celebrate, you want to relax.

And then you remember, "Oh, I still have more than 250 to lose."

And it's like, "Man, I gotta keep going."

Four, there you go.

[Lucas] So it might be a slow pace because it's a marathon.

But there's no slowing down and there's no stopping.

[Kim] Perfect. Eight, come on.

[Lucas] Surgery was just the beginning.

And no matter how well I've done so far, I still have a long way to go.

- [exhales] Okay. - Very good.

- Great job. Great job. - Yeah. Thank you.

You didn't lose too much strength.

I mean, everything looks good.

- You feel good? Okay. - I feel good.

I also was worried about if I was losing my muscle.

- I don't wanna lose my muscle. - We're gonna get started back next Tuesday.

- So I'm all ready for it. - Nice.

- Amazing. I love you, man. - Love you, too.

- We'll see you next week. - Okay.

[Lucas] Today was a really good day to come back and work out.

Starting next week, I'll be coming back to the gym two to three times a week.

That way I can get fit and have my life... Get my life back together.

Okay.

[Lucas] It hasn't even been a year yet

and it's awesome to see how much my life has changed.

My sister has been hiring a baby sitter

and that has freed me up to get my own real job,

and I'm really enjoying that.

Hey, John. I'm here, man.

Hey, good morning.

Hey, so what we got, this one came in Sunday.

It's, uh... It's having issues with Halo, the new one.

So we're gonna swap out some video cards.

- Okay. - And see if that fixes the problem.

- Got you. - You need any help, you just let me know.

- Got you, so you want me to start with the 8 gig first? - Yes.

Okay, yeah. I can do that.

[Lucas] Lately, I've been feeling great.

I make a big effort to find time for myself.

And even though I'm still living at the homestead,

I'm still making sure I protect my time and space and keep it for myself,

so that I can keep making the steps that I need to be healthy.

And I haven't been feeling depressed nearly as much.

I struggle some, but it's a lot better now.

Dr. Now says that if I keep losing weight,

when I get in the 300s, I should be able to get skin surgery.

And that'll take a lot of weight off, too.

And he hopes that I'll get there in the next few months.

Then after that, if I keep losing,

he says my target weight should be within reach within the next year or so,

as long as I keep everything going in the right direction.

And that sounds just incredible to me

when I think about on how I used to be not that long ago.

All right, John, I got the 8 gig in there.

[John] Okay.

[Lucas] And I'm gonna go out to lunch.

Okay, great. I'll call the customer to come pick it up.

[Lucas] All right, cool.

You know, my dad doesn't like the video games I play

because of the way you die and come back to life.

He says that's not right because that's not the way it is.

And I used to think he was just being old-fashioned.

But since I've been on this journey,

I kind of know what he means now.

Because when I was 600 pounds, it was like I was almost dead.

And now that I got my life back,

I can see just how precious it is

and how my dad might think that dying over and over in a video game

is the wrong idea to send about how important life is.

I still disagree about the gaming.

But I can see his perspective more now.

I had a good, productive morning at work.

And right now, I'm on my way to the park to have lunch.

A morning of work and lunch at the park was not possible a year ago.

I really like the fact that I can be outside and mobile now.

Now that I'm out in the world and I joined the workforce,

I might be too tired to get out of bed some mornings.

But I remember what it was like when I had no job and no hope.

And then I'm up and going and ready to face the day

because I got a whole future ahead of me now.

I'm not just facing one day, I'm facing all of them.

Even the days when the sun is not so shiny and bright,

I'm okay with it because I'm alive and I'm so grateful for that.

And now that I can, I want to do it all.

I want to travel and see the world a bit.

And I wanna go to South Korea where the technology is great.

I wanna meet new people, and date, and maybe have a family of my own.

I know that it won't all be easy

and some days, it will be harder to face my demons than others.

But now that I made it this far,

I feel ready to take on just about anything.