I wasn't just constantly gorging myself with food.
I don't believe you. I don't think she believes you, either.
All I hear is excuses.
[woman 1 sobbing] Somewhere in me,
there's just a little glimmer of hope.
I just wanna be a normal person.
[groans, sighs]
[man 1] You can't do it and then I just... Man!
[woman 2] If I don't make a change now
I'm scared it's gonna be too late.
[exclaiming in pain] No! It hurts.
[woman 3] I refuse to stop fighting.
I have to do this for my children.
[exclaims]
Your body is carrying the weight of three people.
-You want your mother to bury you. Is that it? -No.
That's what it's coming down to.
Life and death.
[William] It's hard to believe that I let my weight drag my life down to this point.
I am still mobile,
but sometimes
I'm in too much pain to wanna get out of bed
and sometimes,
I just don't want to.
Some days I don't feel like moving at all, I don't feel
like I can move.
It could be better to stay in bed
and play video games all day and just relax.
Kind of, you know, just avoid the world.
[groans]
I move slower than I used to,
but I still can get around pretty well.
Honestly, the most difficult thing about my every day
is getting up every day. Getting out of bed.
I feel like it's both physical and mental.
I do have pain sometimes, like, in my back when I wake up.
Like, my knees and my back and my ankles.
My ankles hurt really bad sometimes.
But some of that is also when I'm depressed.
Not wanting to do anything,
to where I just don't want any social interaction with anybody.
Taking a shower is a big challenge for me
because of my stomach.
I can shower on a bad day,
when I'm in a lot pain, I would say about 5 minutes.
Um, because it's hard to just stand there.
Bending over is a little difficult 'cause my stomach gets in the way.
Um, it's hard to be able to lift up my stomach and get underneath.
Sometimes I don't always get it as good as I could.
[straining]
It just makes me feel uncomfortable, like, I just
don't wanna be around people because it could stink and
I don't wanna worry about that.
I would say I have seen myself degrade as far as, like,
things are getting harder
and worse a little by little every day.
How fast I'm moving or how out of breath I get at times.
Um, sometimes, like I said, it gets worse.
I feel very limited knowing where I can go.
Mostly, I only go to the store.
The ability to breathe, I've noticed,
some days gets really bad to where I can only
walk maybe halfway and then I have to turn around
and go back because I'm too tired.
And then, sometimes just walking up and down stairs
or lifting things will cause the breath to go away.
So, my mom has started coming over
to help out with food and stuff.
-Oh, hey, Mom. -Hey, Willy.
-I thought I'd cook you some breakfast. -[William] Okay.
-Thank you. -You're welcome.
[William] Food for me is a drug.
A drug, a coping mechanism, something like that.
All right, I'm gonna make sure I make you enough.
[William] All right.
When William wakes up in the morning,
he's stressing about something
and he's trying to use the food to make it go away.
[sighs in exasperation] Oh, my gosh. Right now,
William is so dishonest with himself about his eating habits.
But...
I almost never see joy in him.
So, yes, probably partly my fault
because it was me giving him the food
because I wanna see joy in him.
But I... I really feel that
as a mother
you do the best of what you think you have available.
-Here it comes, Willy. -[William] Okay.
[Dorothy] There you go.
[William] When I'm eating my mom's cooking
even when I'm starting to feel full, I just can't stop.
I've always had a big appetite.
I think it's because growing up every day revolved around sports.
My dad left before I was born.
My grandparents were basketball fanatics.
And my mom made a living coaching Little League.
And we all got really close watching and playing games together.
[Dorothy] When William was a little boy
his attention span was about two seconds,
so you always had to be on your toes.
He'd run into trees 'cause he'd be so excited
playing with something that he wasn't paying attention where he was going.
[William] For the most part, my early childhood was pretty great.
But then around the time I was 7 or 8
my mom lost her job coaching Little League
and there weren't any other coaching jobs in the area.
So, she had to work out of state.
My brother and I were left with our grandparents.
And, I mean, my mom would come back to visit.
But when she was gone for weeks on end
and it was the first time I remember feeling really down.
And so, after I ate I would feel better.
and that's where my relationship with food first started to go south.
Middle school is where the trouble started.
I don't know if you would call it gangs
but it was people who had that thug mentality.
I went from being an athlete
to this moody kid with a wild temper.
Depending on what kinda day it was,
sometimes I'd be able to control the temper, sometimes I wouldn't.
If somebody felt like they wanted to fight, I would step in
and defend anybody,
especially if they were smaller
or not as athletic
or not able to defend themselves.
And then, I would go home and eat.
It was when I really first started noticing
there's something not right here.
There'd be days where I have felt differently than I normally did,
for no reason.
These periods would last anywhere from an hour
to several days at a time,
and I didn't even realize what it was at first
I just knew something was off with me.
And then,
that's when I was kind of looking at things
and realizing, hey, this could be depression.
I'd be fine and then all of a sudden
I'd feel really down and just not myself.
Do you want some more, Will?
[William] Uh, sure.
Then right around the time I started getting depressed
during basketball, I partially tore my ACL
to the point to where it's being...
basically being held on by strands.
So, I was immobile, on crutches.
My dream was always to play professional sports
whether baseball, basketball or football.
So when I couldn't really be active
and not be able to play sports,
not be able to workout, not be able to do anything,
it led to a really bad depression.
I started playing a whole lot of video games.
And I barricaded myself into a room
and didn't let nobody else in.
And that's when food,
it just kind of substituted everything.
My senior year my ACL healed
but the depression never lifted.
And then I just kind of got tired of just playing sports
and I just wanted to do something different,
and part of that was the depression.
'Cause I didn't feel motivated to do anything.
I didn't have a backup plan or anything like that.
I like the idea of being a positive influence on people somehow.
So after I graduated high school
I ended up transferring over to Job Corps.
Wanted to go to school to be a correctional officer.
Job Corps is great because it gave me a free place to live.
While I got paid to get certified
for both armed and unarmed security
as well as to work corrections.
And then, while I was finishing my studies
I noticed this fellow student who was overweight like me,
and we started talking.
And then it quickly developed into something where
we became very comfortable doing just about anything together.
So, then we dated for about three months and then
we just randomly decided to get married
and it was just kind of a spur of the moment thing.
It wasn't like a thought out process or
what the future holds... anything like that.
[Dorothy] She walks up, she goes,
"I'm William's girlfriend."
I was like, "Oh, no."
So, I tried to talk 'em into living together,
I tried to talk 'em out of getting married.
I said, "Living together, you'll get to know each other.
I don't think marriage is the right thing right now."
But nobody listened to me because her parents pushed for them to get married.
[William] We moved to Colorado
and I did work security for a little bit.
But I realized really quickly that security
was not what I wanted to do.
So, in terms of other jobs
customer service was what was available.
I even started looking at studying video game programming.
But just as I was doing that my marriage came to an end.
-Willy, are you ready to go to the grocery store? -Yeah, I am.
-What do you want? What are you gonna get? -Uh, I don't know.
Probably, some, like, chicken. Some...
Definitely get some soda. I think I'm out completely now.
[Dorothy] Okay.
[William] My wife and I were together for 5 years
and we no longer had those same feelings for each other
like, we loved each other there, but we weren't in love.
And I think we woke up one day realizing that
and so we separated, thinking maybe separation will work on it.
We tried to get back together
and it just did not seem like it was the right thing to do.
It was literally, "Here is the divorce paperwork.
Sign it, done. Okay, done."
I still had my job in customer service but starting over was hard.
Rents in Colorado were really expensive.
So, I moved back to Texas.
Staying in hotel rooms just to kind of make things cheaper on me.
And I was working the night shift from home.
The phone systems weren't working right for the overnight people.
But instead of addressing the issue and resolving it
they just kinda got rid of the people that were having the issues.
They just kind of got rid of me.
And then I moved out of my hotel room.
And that's when the depression started to creep up on me.
'Cause even when it's agreeable,
I mean, it's divorce, it's rough, it's tough.
It does take a toll mentally.
I just kept it all in and I didn't talk to anybody about it.
I turned back to junk food.
And I started playing a lot of video games
and not really being active
and just sitting there, and I noticed the weight was coming on
and wasn't going back off.
[Dorothy] The habits changed after his divorce
and he started using food as a coping mechanism
to hide his feelings.
And that's when I, kind of, just, I realized
I had a food addiction.
And it got to a point to where I didn't feel comfortable climbing stairs
because I was too heavy.
I joined the gym to walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes to an hour,
and they had a big TV screen
so you could watch a movie while you were walking.
But just, being the size I was,
it felt like I was being looked at and stared at.
Could've been a mental thing, um, but,
I didn't see any changes,
and so I just kinda stopped going.
And so it just kind of spiraled from there out of control up till now.
My depression, it's kind of,
something I keep close to me and I just, kind of, keep it quiet.
I'm just very blocked in.
Kind of, cut everybody out when I started gaining weight.
As I got bigger, I just kind of distanced myself from everybody.
I do have to have somebody drive me to the grocery store
because it is hard to get behind a steering wheel.
I mean, I wish I could go by myself.
Just because, I'm in my 30s, but...
life can be very challenging at this weight
because there's not a lot of places that are built or made
for heavier people.
So, it's harder to get places, go to the grocery store
and stuff like that.
[wheels rattling]
The main thing I can't stop myself from buying
when I'm at the grocery store is probably soda.
That's what motivates me to come down here.
I usually go through a six-pack of those
within a couple of hours.
There.
[breathing heavily]
As a parent, unfortunately, there's really no guidebook.
Did we teach them the right thing?
Did we do what we should've done as a mother?
Every child is different,
every need is different.
But at the end of the day, as a mother
it was my job to probably teach him healthy eating.
-Here's some cupcakes. -[William] Yes.
-[Dorothy] You got hotdogs already? -Yes.
I don't do a whole lot of vegetables.
Mostly, I cook meat up and eat it.
The thing that I enjoy most about food is the taste and the flavors.
I don't really find the way I eat different than anybody else.
But I do notice that people are staring at me.
It makes me nervous.
And then I wanna get what I need
and get out as quickly as possible,
before I start to get claustrophobic.
[machine beeps]
-Here you go. -Thank you.
-Y'all have a great day. -You, too.
Thank you.
[Dorothy] To see where he is now
and not being responsible enough to understand
the impact it has on his weight, his body,
the people that love him around him,
is devastating to me.
Shopping with William is like a crashing plane.
You can't stop it, you can't control it,
you have to just let it do what it's doing
and it's just...
It is heartbreaking
to know that you can't help your son.
-William... -[William] Hmm?
...I'm not going up the stairs,
-I'm gonna leave the bags at the bottom of the stairs. -[William] All right.
William has to stand up and take care of William.
He can't rely on Mommy to take care of William.
He can't rely on society to take care of William.
William needs to realize
"I have to lose this weight."
Not, "Oh, well, Mom will do this for me."
Or, "This person will do that for me."
He's gotta take charge
and once he loves himself enough to take charge
his whole world is gonna open up.
[William] I feel like life is passing me by.
I spend most of my day pretty much on the chair in my living room.
Sometimes, I go a month
without any depression issues
and then sometimes
it's there for several months,
straight through without a break
and that's when eating becomes, like, a way to cover a whole.
And I know that how I'm living right now
can't go on for much longer.
If I don't change,
my heart is gonna keep getting worse until it gives out.
But I'm also not ready to give up food
when I feel really down and depressed.
And I'll go through a gallon of ice-cream in a day
if I feel that down and depressed.
So, I don't know what I'm gonna do.
My situation is at a breaking point.
I need to get help.
My life right now, I feel like, when I'm depressed
it can get really bad so I spend most of my day pretty much in my room.
Just kinda sitting there.
But I know I need to get out because I don't wanna just
stuck in a bed or stuck in a house.
My biggest fear is dying at a young age.
So it does scare me.
It makes me want to get the help
I need to get this under control.
Right now, he's a prisoner in his own body.
This weight has the chains wrapped around him so tight,
he has no freedom.
It's just time for William to
do something to help William and to love himself again.
[William] So, today I'm gonna see Dr. Now
so I can get my life back on track.
I've been dieting already for the past few weeks.
And it feels like I'm moving in the right direction.
So, hopefully, Dr. Now will be impressed I got a head start.
But I'm definitely nervous for the drive.
It should be about 4 or 5 hours.
I think I can handle it all right.
But it's gonna be painful cramming myself in the car for that long.
And then when I get there, I'll have to weigh myself and see where I'm at.
I don't know how much I weigh 'cause I haven't weighed myself.
I don't wanna see those numbers on the scale. [chuckles]
I think I've lost 20 or 30 lb already.
[Dorothy speaking]
[William speaking]
[Dorothy speaking]
[William] I feel like my mom is more uptight about this whole thing than I am.
But I'm not gonna let her stress me out.
[Dorothy speaking]
[William speaking]
[Dorothy speaking]
[William speaking]
[Dorothy speaking]
[Dorothy and William speaking]
[William] We're finally in Houston and I can't wait to get out of the car,
because I'm in a lot of pain for being crammed for 4 hours.
[William speaking]
[Dorothy] Here we go, Willy.
[William] I'm glad we're finally here.
[car door opens]
[William] I guess I'm kind of nervous.
But I'm ready to be done with all this weight.
And I'm hoping today will be the first step towards that.
[door beeps then closes]
-[Dorothy] You look scared to death. -No. [chuckles nervously]
[Dorothy speaking]
[William] Yeah, I know.
[Dorothy speaking]
[William] Yeah.
[William] Mmm-hmm.
-[door opens] -William?
-[William chuckles] -[woman 4] Hi.
-[William] How you doing? -[woman 4] Good. How are you?
[William] I'm doing good.
-[woman 4] Please step up on the scale for me. -[William] Okay.
I really hope I lost some good weight
and I'm down under 600 right now.
Because I worked hard to start turning things around.
And if I haven't lost much after that,
it's gonna be really discouraging for me.
I've been dieting already for the past few weeks.
I'm really hoping that my hard work paid off,
and that I'm under 600.
[Dorothy] You did lose some weight.
[William] I didn't realize I lost that much.
[woman 4] If you'll go down the hallway to the left
room five, I'll let the Doctor know you're ready.
-All right, thank you. -[woman 4] All right, thank you.
[William] All right.
That's pretty good.
I was hoping it might be a little lower than that.
But my goal was to get under 600 by today
and I did that.
So, that's something I can feel good about.
And I'm hoping I can keep the trend going
with Dr. Now's help.
[Dorothy softly] Okay, Willy.
We're in it.
-You getting excited? -Yeah.
[knock at door]
-Come in. -Come in.
Hello. How y'all doing?
-[William] I'm doing great. How about you? -Good.
-So, you must be William. -Yes, sir.
Who's this young lady with you?
[William] That's my mom. [chuckles]
-Hi, Dr. Now. -[Dr. Now] How you doing?
-I'm fine. -[Dr. Now] Good.
Well, nice to meet you both.
So, William,
-you are what, 34 years old? -34, yeah.
Yup. Um, I've lost probably
20 lb or so in the last, probably, month or so.
[Dr. Now speaking]
Um, when I weighed myself
the highest weight that I know of was 620,
and that was a couple of months ago.
Okay. Do you work?
Um, I just lost my job so I'm looking for a new one.
I can't drive because my stomach gets in the way of the steering wheel.
And so, who takes you around
-when you need to go somewhere? -Uh, my mom.
-So, she's your designated driver? -Yes. Yes. [chuckles]
Yes, and mom would like to quit being a designated driver.
[Dr. Now] All right.
Um, I used to eat out a lot,
um, but I've started eating at home more.
Um, just because it does make me feel better
and I know it is a lot healthier as well.
Your mom isn't agreeing with you.
[Dorothy] He's not telling the whole story.
I'm finding out when he buys groceries, he's buying things like
frozen burritos, frozen hot wings,
um, ice-cream, chips, sodas.
So, he leave those out for me.
[chuckles] No, I haven't actually bought any of that stuff
-in probably two weeks or so. -Two weeks?
So, mom, you yourself
-are struggling with weight too, right? -[Dorothy] I am.
So, the whole goal is I'm gonna follow the same diet that you give him,
so I can support him
and I can also re-achieve my goals by helping him.
All right. So, how motivated you are to change?
I'm extremely motivated. I really wanna change, um, and get back
into a healthier weight so I can do more and have more fun.
[Dr. Now] Okay. Do either of you have any questions?
[Dorothy] Um...
One of my big concerns is his stomach is, like,
fire red and got sores on it.
And that scares me...
because I don't know what kind of infection he has.
[Dr. Now speaking]
[William] Okay.
Well, yeah, I see all these things.
That... that is a skin infection
from the sore you got.
[Dr. Now speaking]
[William] Okay.
-Can you lift it up? -Yeah.
[Dr. Now speaking]
And that is, um,
really problematic.
So, um, do you know you need to lose,
-uh, a lot of weight real quick. -Yeah.
And the weight you lose then this is gonna go down.
-Okay. -All right.
[Dr. Now speaking]
We need to get you some anti-fungal treatment
-and antibiotic for this infection you've got. -Okay.
-And, um, I'm gonna start you on some diet. -Okay.
I'm gonna get you to stick with a 1200-calorie day.
Have protein, low carb diet.
And also, I'm gonna give you some instruction for doing some exercise plan.
Why don't you an hour of exercises in the morning.
-And an hour in the evening. -Okay.
And that is gonna be all up to you to make those changes.
[Dr. Now speaking]
-Okay. -[Dr. Now] And after you lose,
uh, maybe 200 to 250
we can take all this extra skin that's hanging around...
-Okay. -...so you gotta have a normal posture
and be able to drive and do everything you need
to function on your own.
So I'm gonna get you the stuff and bring it to you,
-and, and we go from there. -Okay.
-[Dr. Nowzaradan] Okay? -Yes, sir.
-[Dr. Nowzaradan] I'll be right back. -Okay, cool.
[Dorothy] Thank you, Dr. Now.
-Dr. Now ain't gonna play with you. -[laughs]
Come in.
All right, so this is what I want you to read every night.
-[William] Okay. -[Dr. Nowzaradan] I'll give one copy to your mom.
And I'm gonna give you this book.
-And in chapter 12... -Okay.
-...there's exercises that you can do beside your walk. -Okay.
-Okay? All right. -[William] Yes, sir.
And if you follow all those instruction I'm giving you today,
Okay.
-Okay? -All right.
-[Dr. Nowzaradan] Any questions? -Um, no.
All right, so we'll see you in about eight weeks
and see what kind of progress you're makin'.
And in the meantime, if you need anything give me a call.
-I will, thank you. -Thank you, Dr. Now.
-I'll see y'all later. -[William] All right, thank you.
I think it went really well.
I think he gave me a lot of information
on how to successfully lose weight.
I think it's very obtainable, I mean,
I'm gonna probably have some slip-ups, I'm human, we all make mistakes,
but I'm gonna try my best to stay and do exactly as he says.
[Dorothy] I want this for him.
Sad to say probably more than he wants it for himself,
because I want my son to live, I don't wanna have to bury my son.
[sniffles] And that's what I'm afraid of.
I live in that fear every single day. [sniffles]
[William] I feel really ready for this.
I'm gonna start doing Dr. Now's whole thing, pretty much right away.
I'm not looking forward to the ride home,
but I'm not gonna use food to help me with my pain.
That's how committed I am already.
I wanna do this right, and I'm going to be a success story for him.
[William] It's been a week since I've seen Dr. Now,
and I've been doing the diet and all the exercises
since the minute I got back.
And I'm treating this like a whole new start to my life.
So, I decided I wanted a whole new look.
One that will make me feel just a little lighter.
So far it hasn't been easy, but I'm trying to work my hardest
and doing everything I need.
Dr. Now gave me a bunch of, like, arm exercises
and leg exercises and things like that
because can't really do push-ups or sit-ups because of my weight,
so he gave me other alternatives
to kind of help with the weight loss as well.
The exercising is hard.
Especially how much I'm supposed to do
according to Dr. Now's book.
But it's gotten a little easier since I've started, you know?
So, that's good and shows some good progress.
[breathing heavily]
The hardest part is all the walking.
It feels good to get outside my apartment,
but I get winded pretty quickly.
[panting]
[birds chirping]
Working out makes me more positive,
it makes me feel better about myself.
[continues panting]
I feel really good right now.
There's kind of an improvement from what I've been walking,
so it's gone a little bit further
each time I go out and walk.
And then when I'm done is when I get the most hungry,
and I end up wanting to eat more than I should.
Okay.
[phone dialing]
-[Dorothy over phone] Hello? -Hey, Mom.
-[Dorothy] Hey, what's up? -Uh, I'm hungry, can you pick up some salad?
[tiredly] I guess.
Just like a chicken salad with ranch.
-[Dorothy] All right. -All right, thank you, Mom.
[Dorothy] Yeah, no problem, you're welcome. See you in a little bit.
-I love you, bye. -[Dorothy] Love you, bye.
[William] So I know I'm trying my best,
and I'm trying to do the diet too.
I go over Dr. Now's book every day
and my mom's been helping me find healthier options that I can order.
[knocking on door]
-[William] Oh, hey, Mom. -Hey, Will.
I brought you some salads for lunch.
I just wanted to make sure you're eating healthy.
-Are you following your diet? -All right. Yeah, I am.
I just went for a walk earlier,
probably gonna go on a walk later on today as well.
Well, keep on that diet 'cause you got a long road to go.
Oh, I know. All right, thank you, Mom.
You're welcome. Love you.
-I love you, bye. -Catch you later, bye.
[William] The only issue with those meals
is the portion sizes are usually bigger
than what Dr. Now's book says.
But at the same time, it's hard to feel full on his portion sizes.
And so I'm just working on now more so focused on
the overeating as well as, um, the sweet tooth cravings.
But I've been working hard and it feels good,
like a sense of accomplishment.
And I'm hoping I show Dr. Now what he needs to see,
so I can move ahead without delaying
because I know I can excel with his program,
and I feel like I already am.
Hi, welcome in, what would you like?
A two-chicken combo.
Uh, with fries, okay,
and a second one of those, okay.
I got a new job at a restaurant
and I think Dr. Now would be happy with it,
because it keeps me active and it gets me out in the world.
Uh, your total will be $18.84.
I'm excited coming to work
'cause it gets me out of the house
and it kinda gives me that interaction with others.
-[cook speaking] -Okay, I got you.
I do have challenges moving around at work
just because it's small areas,
uh, so it's a little bit harder to maneuver.
I mean the most demanding task with work
is just being on my feet is the most...
is the hardest thing I have to do.
[male employee speaking]
-Okay. -[male employee speaking]
[William] A lot of times I do get really exhausted after work,
so I don't wanna do anything or don't have the energy to do anything.
-[male employee speaking] -You're welcome.
It does make it a little challenging,
but it's not too bad, it's not unmanageable.
Work is a big motivation to lose weight.
I'd be able to have my life back and be able to
do things outside of work too that I wanna do,
so lot of things that are kinda motivating me to lose the weight.
-How you doing? -[driver] Well, thank you.
Can you believe how nice it is out?
[William chuckles] Compared to how cold it was this morning?
I'm back in Houston with my mom to see Dr. Now,
and show him the progress that I've been making.
I've worked hard and I know it's paying off
because I feel smaller and have a lot more energy,
so I know I'm making progress.
But I have no idea if I'm at his goal or not.
William?
-[William] How you doing? -Hi, how are you?
-[William] Doing good. -Good.
[William] Losing 70 lb is a lot,
but hopefully I lost most of that
and I'll be down in the low 500s.
I'm hoping I am and I get approved for surgery today.
That would be the best.
[assistant] Okay, can you step on the scale for me?
[William] That's the step I need the most,
and I've worked really hard to try and make that happen by today,
so I feel like I deserve it.
And hopefully it's enough.
[William] I'm here at Dr. Now's for my first big follow up,
and I'm about to find out how much weight I lost.
At my last appointment, I was 592 lb,
and I was supposed to lose 70 lb today,
which means I should be down to 522 lb.
All right, we're gonna go to room five and then
-I'll let the doctor know you're there. -Okay.
[assistant] Okay.
[William] I guess technically, I lost some weight before I even met Dr. Now.
So if you include that, my weight loss is a little more impressive.
Any weight loss is good weight loss.
But I don't know if Dr. Now will see it that way.
-Well, you lost a little bit. -Yeah, I mean, this...
A weight loss is weight loss regardless.
-[Dorothy] But you need to focus on more. -[knocking on door]
-Hello, how y'all doing? -Good.
Good. All right, William,
it's been three months since I saw you,
-I thought you'll never come back. -[laughing]
-[Dr. Nowzaradan] And... -I'm busy with work, I got a new job,
so I've been working a whole lot.
You got a job? So what are you doing now?
[William] I work at a fast food place now.
[Dr. Nowzaradan] So you now work with fast food
and you lost the whole 12 lb in three months,
which will be 4 lb a month.
[laughing]
No, I mean, um,
I don't know, like, I know it's the soda,
'cause I haven't fully given that up, um,
I need to just give that up,
so I mean, I know that part of it.
But I'm also looking at other ideas for lunches,
so that way I can kind of help with the weight loss as well.
I'm gonna just keep going and keep trying to improve
and keep losing the weight.
Um, I mean, I've just try to
follow the diet a little bit stricter, a little bit better, um...
You think I'm gonna buy that you're doing okay
and pat you in the back and say,
"Do a little better, cut the--
a little bit more soda, you're gonna be okay"?
Mom, you were supposed to help him to do this.
So you tell me what's going on with him?
I don't think he puts enough energy into it,
enough thought into what he's puttin' in his mouth.
And the excuses are easier than the action.
A solution's gonna have to be he's gonna have to be
more focused on what he eats, and instead of eating
a hamburger or chicken nuggets at work, eat a salad from work.
So, basically follow the diet I gave him three months ago.
That didn't translate to any changes that is meaningful,
so why assume that this time he will go and do it?
I have no idea, Dr. Now.
[stutters] I ask him every single day what he eats.
Y'all are still acting like I didn't lose any weight.
Okay, if you lost 12 lb in three months
and you think that's a victory lap?
Twelve pound is nothing.
You should have lost that in one week.
And if that is how you're gonna approach this,
then we're done with you. There's nothing I can do for you.
Yes I didn't follow the diet to a T,
but I did change little things to where
I wasn't just constantly gorging myself with food.
[Dr. Nowzaradan speaking]
I don't know, I'm not the doctor.
I'm not somebody inside my body, I don't know.
I can't make sense...
Okay, okay, hold up, hold up.
Now that I see the scale, and I see how serious it is
to follow that diet,
like, it makes me want to follow the diet and stick to it
and be healthier and be more active.
Well, I don't believe you, I don't think she believes you either.
-[clicks tongue] I don't. -[William] And that's just gonna add
-more motivation to it. -[Dr. Nowzaradan] I don't believe him either.
All I hear is excuses.
[crying] You've been carrying this weight for almost 10 years.
Your body is carrying the weight of three people.
How long do you think your heart can carry this?
-[William] I know. -[sobbing]
-You want your mother to bury you, is that it? -No!
Well, that's what it's coming down to.
-Life and death. -I, I understand that.
[emphatically] No, you don't!
-Yes, I do. -You don't understand the hurt you put other people through
because you won't stop!
You won't listen to what people say,
you won't follow their lead!
People are helping you, right and left.
Everybody is sacrificing, trying to get you to a place
that you don't wanna go.
I've only been eating once a day.
-I've changed that part of it. -William, it's, it's--
[William] I have changed my eating habits,
but I haven't changed what I put in my body, fully.
-Watching my weight... -William,
stop defending your eating habits,
because nobody believe that.
-Okay? Nobody, nobody. -And that's fun.
Nobody, and you know, you can, you can say whatever you want,
the scale doesn't lie.
-And I didn't say it did, but like I just said... -[Dr. Nowzaradan] Will,
you know, you keep repeating,
"I made the changes, I'm eat only one time of day."
Argue that with the scale, don't kid yourself.
Don't bother come back next time if you haven't lost any weight.
-M'kay. -So, I hope you make the changes
and y'all take care.
-Thank you, you take care. -[Dr. Nowzaradan] All right.
Keep doing what you're doing, probably I'll bury you in another year or two.
Keep doing what you're doing.
So far, I don't believe that William has any intent to change his life at all.
[William] I don't necessarily agree with everything Dr. Now said,
but what I do agree on is I have to do better,
so that's what I'm gonna go and do.
No matter what, I'm gonna prove to everyone that I'm making changes,
and I'm gonna show them that I can do this.
I will do this. They'll see.
[phone notification rings]
-Oh, you got the extra virgin olive oil. -[William] Mmm-hmm.
[oil can hissing]
[William] Since my last appointment, my mom's been trying to
help me do better with my diet.
So, she's been coming over more,
helping me make healthier meals.
I think it's working because I'm feeling pretty good.
And I know Dr. Now wants me to lose a certain amount,
but I also know any weight loss is a good weight loss.
So, I'm gonna be proud of myself as long as I keep losing.
[Dorothy] Just put one tablespoon
-of the Picante sauce. -[William] I know.
So, I didn't put much cheese on because
-I was trying to keep the calorie count down. -[William] I know.
[Dorothy] So always keep in mind, again, how many calories you put in.
And you need to look at what he's asking you to do.
As long as I'm losing weight, I don't care if it's what anybody wants me to lose,
or if it's 5, 10 lb.
I'm still looking at it as any weight loss is weight...
is good weight loss, I mean...
[Dorothy] But I'm gonna tell you,
Dr. Now's given you a goal to meet.
And that needs to be what you concentrate on is,
"This is my goal, and I know I can do,
and prove everybody wrong that I can do it."
Not making excuse of, "Well, I'm on a constant weight loss,
so that's good enough." That's not good enough.
Sure it is.
I wanna see you out there living and not just surviving.
[William] Yeah, I know.
[Dorothy] It's just, I need you to work a little harder.
-I love you. -I know. Love you.
Yeah, let's clean up.
I know that William does not listen to what I say,
and he'll just sit there and nod his head and agree and...
He pretty much blows me off when I'm talking,
but I'm hoping his subconscious mind
takes some of what I'm saying in.
[William] Today with my mom, we talked about the weight loss journey,
um, kind of the expectations and things like that.
-So, that was a nice breakfast. -Yeah.
What's your plans for the day?
Uh, I might go shoot some basketball real quick
for a little bit before work.
Okay, so you're gonna get some exercise in.
Yeah. [exhales heavily]
It's been rough, um, 'cause there's some days where I, you know,
I don't wanna follow it, I wanna eat whatever I want.
All right, well then I'll probably head out here soon in a minute
-and let you have your day. -All right.
Well then, I'll see you in a little bit.
-[William] All right, love you, Mom. -So, get yourself up
-and movin'. -[William] I will.
-[Dorothy] Don't be sittin' on that couch too long. -Yeah, I know.
And I will talk to you later.
-[William] All right, love you. -[Dorothy] Love you.
[William] I think I'm doing good, I think it's getting easier.
Um, exercise isn't a problem or anything like that.
[exhales heavily, grunts]
[panting]
The exercises make me feel better
because it's more movement than I was doing,
so kinda gives me motivation to keep going.
Last time at Dr. Now's office was a disappointment,
and I'm making sure that's not gonna happen again.
This time, I'm balancing it all,
and I'm trying to find a happy medium.
And I'm gonna meet the goal that Dr. Now wants,
so I can move ahead with weight loss surgery.
[panting]
[Dorothy] So William, how have you been doing on your diet?
[William] I've been sticking to it closer.
[Dorothy] Closer or completely?
[William] Hmm, not completely, but a lot closer than I have been.
I still have cravings of different things.
Pizza, bread, things like that.
I think last week I did have, I did end up getting a pizza,
um, but then I ate it over, like, two or three... two days,
and then I threw the rest of it away 'cause I left it out.
Um, but before I would've, I would eat a whole large pizza at one time,
and this time I've kind of portioned it out a little bit better.
[Dorothy] But you gotta be sure to stay away from the sodas and the carbs.
[William] I know.
Me and my mom are headed back to see Dr. Now again,
and I'm hoping that today I get the result that I wanted last time,
and show Dr. Now enough progress to make him happy
because I've been trying harder.
But I have no idea what my loss is gonna be.
William?
-[William] How you doing? -Hi, how are you?
-[William] Doing good. -Hi.
[William] At my last appointment I was 580 lb,
and I was supposed to lose seventy pounds
to be down to 510 lb today.
And I'm really hoping I did that or at least got close.
What the heck? That doesn't make sense.
-And you're ready to go to room five. -[William] Okay.
I'm not sure how that happened.
It's almost like the scale's not working,
unless maybe it's the soda pop I've been drinking.
I cut back with pretty much everything except for that,
because that's the hardest thing to give up.
I don't drink it at home anymore,
but, I mean, at work it's right there.
I didn't think it'd make that much of a difference by itself,
but maybe it's not the right job for me to have after all
because there's a lot of temptation there.
If I've gained weight, then it makes no sense.
This is just really bad.
I'm not looking forward to Dr. Now's reaction.
[Dorothy speaking]
[sniffles]
[softly] You heart's carrying three people.
How long do you think your body's gonna hold up?
-I don't know. -[knocking on door]
Hello, how y'all doing?
-Good, how are you, Dr. Now? -Good, how about you?
I am doing good.
So, William, what's going on with you?
Um, I thought I was doing better, and evidently I'm not.
But, just seeing that scale is the eye-opener I feel like
I might have needed to realize that, "Hey, what I'm doing is not enough.
I need to do more, I need to push myself more."
Um, and, I mean,
I know nobody believes me because I've been saying it,
and so all I can do is show that,
"Hey, I'm serious about what I'm saying."
And just prove everybody wrong that,
"Hey, look, I've realized my mistakes and I'm changing 'em."
Yes, sir.
And that's kind of my next step, actually.
I'm actually gonna start looking for a new job.
Um, something to get me out of there.
[Dr. Nowzaradan speaking]
I would say with that weight gain that I've seen today on the scale,
that scale's kind of an eye-opener today with that weight gain.
There's no way you're putting in 1,200 calories.
You're eating at least 5,000 calories a day, at least.
[Dorothy] Deep down inside you don't believe what you're saying.
[Dr. Nowzaradan] You don't believe what you're saying either.
Because you've been so busy telling us what you think we wanna hear.
Well, he's a walking stroke right now.
His blood pressure's up,
he's carrying the weight of three people with one heart.
It's, it's just a matter of time if he don't do something quick.
[crying] And I'm gonna be burying him instead of living life with him.
And we've given you every opportunity
to change that in the past six months.
Nothing has worked.
So, I'm gonna give you one last chance,
and if we set up therapy, would you go to that?
-Yes, sir. -[Dr. Nowzaradan] Okay.
-Yes, sir. -[Dr. Nowzaradan] All right.
-Okay. Yes, sir. -[Dr. Now] Okay?
-Yes, sir. -So if you need anything, give me a call.
-Yes, sir. -[Dr. Now] Okay?
Yes, sir.
All right, I'll see you later.
-[William] All right, thank you. -Bye, Dr. Now, thank you.
[Dr. Now] All right.
[William] Well, I just gotta try harder, I guess, and do better.
That's all I can do and I have to make good progress this time.
It's just taking me longer for some reason.
But maybe therapy will help.
But either way, I gotta keep pushing and putting in the work
because I don't wanna lose this chance
and I need to make that progress.
[Dorothy] Are you excited or nervous to go see Dr. Paradise?
[William] Uh, kind of nervous just because I've never done
any kind of counselling or anything, or therapy so...
Are you afraid that you might have to face issues
you don't wanna face?
Uh, partially, yeah. So, but...
I'll do it, it is what it is, and it'll help, so...
You're gonna go on your own.
-I'm gonna stay out here. -Okay, that's fine.
I-- I know I need to do this one on my own
so that way I can get everything out, so...
[Dr. Paradise] William?
How you doing?
-I'm Dr. Paradise, come on in. -[William] All right.
-Welcome. -[William] How you doing?
I'm doing well.
So let's take you back to the beginning.
Where'd you grow up, William?
[William] Um, so I grew up in Austin,
and around the Austin area.
What was your weight like growing up?
Um, so it was up until,
I wanna say my sophomore year of high school,
I weighed, like, 90 or 100 pounds maybe.
-How tall were you? -Um, I wanna say, like, 5'5"-ish.
-I don't-- -So you-- You were a skinny kid.
[William] Yeah, I was really tiny.
-Not at all like-- -No. [chuckles]
So what'd you-- What'd you do after high school?
[William] Um, so I went to Job Corps.
-Sure, sure. I know about that, yeah. -Um,
and then I met my ex-wife.
And then we ended up getting married, uh...
We got married about six months after we met.
-[Dr. Paradise] Okay, so pretty quickly. -Yeah.
Okay, you know, usually, one-- one person's,
um, pushing for the divorce and...
-She more so was. -[Dr. Paradise] Okay.
Um, and I told her that if she wanted a divorce,
then she would have to file the paperwork
and pay all the fees and all that. Um--
So you thought by making it hard for her...
-[William] Yeah. Mmm-hmm. -...maybe she wouldn't divorce you. How'd that work?
Um, we got divorced. [laughs]
-[Dr. Paradise] Usually doesn't work. -Yeah.
Okay. How steady was the weight gain after that point?
Um, it was drastic.
It was kind of almost, like, it wasn't overnight
-but it seemed like it was almost overnight. -[Dr. Paradise] Okay.
Any contact with your ex-wife after that?
No, we've had no contact, um, since, ever again.
We've blocked each other on all social medias.
-[Dr. Paradise] Interesting. -Um, things like that.
[Dr. Paradise] Okay.
What's going on with your hand, by the way?
I cut it, uh, the other day.
Yeah, and you know, the reason I asked is that bandage looks very homemade.
-Yeah. [chuckles] -[Dr. Paradise] You know, it-- It doesn't look like
-a doctor took a look at that. -No, no, not at all.
-Right. -[William] I just, um...
[Dr. Paradise] I feel like that's a metaphor
for everything we're talking about.
You know, sometimes they say the way you do anything
-is the way you do everything. -[William] Yeah.
[Dr. Paradise] And I feel like you're--
You have these big wounds and you're putting, uh,
incomplete fixes on them and you're at risk of falling
-out of the program now. -Yeah.
Which could be fatal for you, right?
Um, your not getting the surgery
could-- could shorten your life by...
Plenty of, like, ten plus years at least.
-[Dr. Paradise] Right, okay. -Um, so I mean--
-So William, I wanna talk more about your divorce. -[William] Okay.
[Dr. Paradise] Tell me how it went down for you.
[William] So, um, it was literally on my birthday.
Basically, I got dropped off at the airport.
-Um-- -Wait, wait, I don't even understand.
So she took you to the airport...
-Without me realizing it. -[Dr. Paradise] So, so,
-"Good morning. Happy birthday." -[William] Yeah. Yeah.
"Uh, get in the car with me."
-[William] Mmm-hmm. -And then,
-hand you a ticket? -Uh, yeah.
-And then I-- -Packed-- Packed your bag for you?
Uh, yeah.
And then I flew back here.
-[Dr. Paradise] What? -Yeah.
-I can't even imagine what that's like. -[William] Like, I feel like
that's kind of...
what started the whole weight gain,
um, was, like, the shock of that.
So William, I'm-- I'm a little bit concerned
that earlier, we talked about your divorce
and it was like no big deal.
-And then I hear all this stuff later. -Mmm-hmm.
And I-- I feel like you're not always straightforward about stuff.
Um, yeah, I try to be as honest as I can
-with everybody, of course. -[Dr. Paradise] Okay.
-You know-- -Did you have something with Dr. Now
where he felt like you weren't--
You weren't truthful to him?
Um, with staying on track for his diet, yeah.
Okay, tell me about that.
[William] So, um,
I think it was the last appointment
or the appointment before, um, it was...
I told him I would stay on track with the diet
and I would cut back on soda.
And he didn't trust me at all
that I would do it, um...
I feel like people don't trust what I'm gonna--
what I say is the truth, um--
Well, but in that case, it wasn't the truth, right?
Like you said, did you--
Did you make it sound like you were following the diet
and then you gained a bunch of weight?
Um...
To me, I don't think I did. Like, I don't feel like I...
made it seem like I was following the diet
exactly 'cause-- 'Cause I mean, I've never...
I wasn't following exactly as it should be--
-[Dr. Paradise] You're kinda hemming and hawing... -[chuckles]
-...even as we're talking right now, aren't you? -Yeah, no.
-So I don't feel like I follow-- -Were you honest
about following the diet with Dr. Now?
I feel like I was, um,
I wasn't... Like, I told him I wasn't following it exactly
but I was trying my best to be as...
-[Dr. Paradise] Okay. -As close to the diet as I could.
-Um... -[Dr. Paradise] Who--
-Who, um, suffers for that, um, misrepresentation? -Me.
[Dr. Paradise] Yeah.
So William, I'm gonna have you do something interesting.
-[chuckles] -[William] Okay. [chuckles]
-I want you to create a journal. -Okay.
[Dr. Paradise] And what I want you to log in that journal
is this tendency to misrepresent things, right?
-Okay. -[Dr. Paradise] And I want you
to go back in your past and there's probably some examples
in your marriage and other parts in your life,
and-- And what I want you to write down is,
"This is what I was leading people to believe."
-This is not to make you feel bad about yourself. -Mmm-hmm.
This is to help you recognize 'cause we lie to ourselves
-more than we even lie to other people, don't we? -Yeah, yeah.
Over time, I think you're gonna embrace the truth.
You're gonna embrace-- embrace reality,
but I want you to put it down so you can see it.
-Okay. -[Dr. Paradise] Okay, good.
William, how have you stayed accountable over time
to the diet, to just... How do you...
What do you do to keep track of how you're doing?
Um, I would say communication with my mom.
-Um, 'cause she'll ask me what I'm eating and-- -[Dr. Paradise] Okay.
But-- But you don't really have a ticker other than your weight,
-you really don't have a way to keep track of... -[William] Correct.
...how healthy you're being. So what I want you to do
is set up some system with your mom
where she keeps some track of you-- of your
positive behaviors. And this is not just the food, not just the calories,
but I wanna know when you're exercising,
even when you're just choosing the right foods.
-[William] Okay. -That'll show up in the calories.
But some system that she helps you track
the number of good choices that you're making, positive behaviors,
and that you have some kind of running tally of that.
-Okay. -[Dr. Paradise] And then ideally, as you accrue those,
-we'll call 'em merits, right? -[William] Okay.
Some kind of token that you use to keep track of that stuff.
You can even, you know, have, like, a fish bowl
where she puts them in and you could sort of see the accumulation
-of the positive behaviors you're doing. -Okay.
Um, William, it was terrific to meet with you.
-Thank you for having me. -And I'm pretty clear
that if you can be honest with yourself,
-you're gonna get back on track, right? -Yeah.
First-- First step is being honest about what you're actually eating,
how well are you following the plan.
Um, that's the prerequisite to make any progress.
William, thanks for coming. Good to meet you.
-Good to meet you. -[Dr. Paradise] Take care, man.
-[William] Thank you so much. -[Dr. Paradise] You're welcome.
-Hey. -[Dorothy] Hey, how'd it go?
It went good.
[chuckles softly]
Things I'm gonna take from this is how to better myself
and how to move past any hurt or rejection or depression
and how not to supplement that-- those feelings with food.
[exhales]
[groans]
[William] I had another follow-up with Dr. Paradise
and he wanted to know what was taking me so long
doing some of the things that we discussed.
So I decided to get in gear and try some of it.
So today I did the journal entries, facts versus fiction.
What I was telling everybody else or myself
versus what was really the truth.
I know I tend to bend the truth a lot
out of fear of people being upset with me.
I definitely distort things sometimes with my mom.
I know I could've been more honest with Dr. Now.
So I'm trying journaling and also working on a goal board.
The goal board is gonna help me stay on track with everything, I think.
Writing down what I wanted to be accountable for, um,
so, like, the Dr. Now program, the exercise,
the no soda, kind of helps me
get to the point to-- that I wanna get to in life.
I do honestly wanna try and get better.
So I'm gonna do my best to make the changes I should
to improve myself and my life.
So after every month, the rewards kind of vary from what I want to do.
Um, like, after one month, it's like buying a video game,
it's going out somewhere to interact with others,
buying a new-- brand-new pair of shoes.
I'll get a token at the end of each month.
[chuckles] It's still a work in progress.
[Dorothy] Busy. How was your day?
[William speaking]
[Dorothy] What'd you eat today?
[William speaking]
Today, I've been wanting to have a conversation with my mom.
So we're going out to a cafe where we can
sit down and have an actual talk.
I see my mom all the time.
I tend to keep everything really surface level with her.
And it's actually hard for me to get into talking about deeper stuff.
So I'm a little nervous about how this is gonna go.
But I know this is the right thing to do.
It just feels like it's a bigger deal than it is maybe.
I don't know, we'll see how it goes, I guess.
Uh, I'm gonna do a strawberry banana smoothie,
-I'll do the larger one. -[cashier] Okay.
-[Dorothy] Thank you. -[cashier] Thank you.
[William] Mom, right here.
I know, you know, I've been telling everybody
I was following the diet
really closely and I really wasn't, you know.
It's just hard to change how I'm eating
and how I've been eating, like...
-Thank you. -Of course.
-Y'all enjoy, thank you. -Thank you.
So that's where the food journal comes in.
[William] Yeah, I know.
One thing I wrote down in there
was telling everybody I was okay when I really wasn't.
Just, you know, trying to mask it and hide it
was what I thought I needed to do.
I realize now doing it, like,
that doesn't help anything, that makes everything worse.
-So... -[Dorothy] Mmm-hmm.
-You need to talk. -[William] Yeah.
[Dorothy] Because when you hold things inside,
all it does is bring you into a depressive state.
[William] It's hard to talk about.
Um, I mean, when I was younger, you know, I felt alone.
Like, I mean, I-- You were always around but I always felt
secluded and just by myself a lot of times.
Oh, I'm sorry you felt like that.
If I had known, we would've addressed it then.
And while I was away, I've always been there
-for you to reach out to. -[William] Yeah, I know.
It was just kind of easier to keep the distance
and not have to own up to it then, I think.
But that can't fix the problem,
so you gotta quit doing that now.
-[William] Yeah. -As an adult.
Yeah, I know.
But I'm so-- I really am sorry I didn't know that.
[William] It's okay.
You know, I'm trying to get all these--
all these emotions out and everything out,
so, um, I created goal tokens for, like,
as far as like visual rewards,
like, for each week that I do something,
I get a token. But I'll give those to you
when we get back to my house. So that way,
every week, you can give me one.
And so that way, I can keep-- We can keep track
of how it's going and things like that.
-Well, I'm always here for you. -[William] I know.
And I'm looking forward to getting those tokens
-when we get back to your place. -[William] Okay.
It was hard to open up to my mom
but I knew it needed to be done as well.
I think she took it really well. All right, let's go.
[grunts]
Knowing William is now to a point where he can start opening up to people
and being William instead of telling people
what they wanna hear is just an amazing process for him.
And so it's nice to see him giving a reaction and trying to grow.
Looking back, I don't think William ever loved himself.
My hope is that he understands he's always
got someone to reach out to that's non-judgmental.
William's biggest thing is William needs to love William.
And when William loves William... [chuckles]
The future's his.
So I'm going to Dr. Now. I'm a little optimistic
about the, um...
the scale weight but I'm kind of excited to see where it is
and if I'm-- if I've lost any more.
Um, I really did try harder than I've tried before.
I'm planning to fess up to Dr. Now
about some of the ways I haven't been super truthful
about sticking to the diet.
That conversation will go a lot better though if I have a good weight loss.
William.
[William] I got my mom on my side
with the goal board that I created.
And this is supposed to give me one of my coins
if I could just get close to my weight loss goal.
So there's a lot riding on this one.
Most of all is believing in myself that I can actually do this.
Please step on the scale.
[William] If there's ever been a time that I've needed that boost
of confidence, now is the time.
Because I don't know how to go on
if I can't start reaching my goals.
[William] I'm back at Dr. Now.
Last time I was here, I was 598.
He didn't give me a goal that time
but told me to lose a significant amount of weight.
Seventy pounds was the original goal he gave me.
That means I need to be down to 528 today.
Your weight today is 588.
[William] I really thought I was doing it right this time.
So I don't know what happened.
I'm kind of devastated.
I just don't know what to do.
I'm starting to feel like I'm destined to failure with this.
William, William, William.
[knock at door]
-Hello, how are you all doing? -[William] Hello, Dr. Now.
[Dr. Now speaking]
So what's going on with you and what's happening?
So last night, I had a conversation with my uncle,
um, that made me realize there was more things
that I was hiding and holding on to
that, um, wasn't gonna make me successful.
Um, it's revolving around my grandmother's death
that I believe the family thought it was my fault.
Um, so and that I've been kind of, you know, hiding
and holding down and when I felt upset about it,
I would do whatever I wanted to
because it made me feel better. So I feel like
with that emotional breakthrough I had last night,
would allow me to be more successful
'cause I'm not holding on to anything anymore.
Well, but essentially, you haven't been truthful about your eating habit.
And yeah, that's another thing I've, um,
I've lied to everybody, um, saying,
"Yes, I'm following the diet" at beginning.
Um, "Yes, I'm following the diet, yes, I'm following,"
when truthfully, I wasn't. I realized that, you know,
I've lied to you, I've lied to my mom,
I've lied to my friends because I want to hide it.
And hiding it doesn't do anything.
It doesn't make anything successful.
If anything, it makes everything a failure.
Well, you know, essentially, William, you've been, uh,
untruthful to yourself as well.
Uh, so you just keep saying the same thing
and you believe in it
and keep repeating what is not factually correct.
And after you repeat it so many times to other people,
it become a truth for you.
So it doesn't matter, uh, how many times you repeat
something that is not correct, it doesn't become the truth.
So that is something that you need to work with the therapy and all that.
At this point, uh, there is not much we can do for you, uh,
unless you take control of your eating habit.
Uh, the question is, are you still working in the fast food industry?
Yes, sir, I am working and still working there.
Um, I have been applying for other jobs,
it's just nothing has come through yet.
Um, and I can't afford to just leave my job without another one
lined up and ready to go because of my bills and things.
So I have been looking, it's just nothing has come through.
Well, you know, that's gonna be an issue
that, um, you need to work on it.
Yeah.
And make the changes that we need to change your life.
Uh, otherwise, you know, it's a matter of time
and if anything happens to you if you go down the road,
your health is gonna be, uh, much more fragile.
And you're not gonna be able to pull through.
But if you continue with your therapy,
we, uh, maintain that for you.
And we get through to some point that you have also lose 70 pounds,
you come back and we work with you.
But until that point, everything is gonna be up to you.
Yes, sir. I will change, um, and I will show you
that I can lose that 70 pounds.
And I'm ready to lose this weight and finally get my life back.
Well, I wish you the best of luck
and if you lose the 70 pound, uh, we'll see you.
At the meantime, if you need anything, give me a call.
-[William] Yes, sir. -[Dorothy] Thank you.
-Okay. -[William] Thank you.
[Dorothy] The appointment didn't go the way I was praying for it to go.
I'm a little angry, disappointed. Until you get to a point
of losing 70 pounds, he can't do anything else.
So with the lack of progress over the last ten months,
we are done with William.
He had enough chances up to this point.
No more follow-up or check-ins.
But we never give up hope.
Maybe at some point, he will wake up
and turn things around. If he does that, we will work with him.
But I'm not very optimistic we're going to see him again
in the near future.
[William] I'm definitely pretty crushed but I can't give up.
So I'm gonna have to turn my life around somehow.
I think I can do it and I'm gonna push myself to do it this time.
So I gotta believe that I will come back
and I'll be able to get the surgery.
That's just how it's gotta be.
It's been a couple months since I last saw Dr. Now.
And even though I was discouraged at our last meeting,
I'm still trying and I'm pushing myself even harder.
At home, I've been stepping it up with my meal planning.
Before, my mom was doing a lot of it for me.
But now, I'm taking ownership of what I put in my body,
and that feels like a healthy step.
After visiting Dr. Now, I mean, just hearing
how he talked to me and how disappointed he was
as well as my mom, I just needed to get everything together
and focus even harder so I can lose the weight.
So I've been looking for a new job,
just trying to find anything online that I can do
that's gonna get me away from food and things like that.
But I've been able to quit soda lately
which honestly feels like the biggest deal out of everything.
I really wanna lose the weight and get back to having
my life back and being able to do things that I enjoy doing again.
[Dorothy] So what do you think about this
-beautiful weather today? -[William] It's cold.
-[Dorothy] Cold? It feels good. -[William] It's cold.
Me and my mom have been going on a lot of walks together
which has been pretty cool.
Some days, we talk about stuff, some other days, we don't.
-[Dorothy] I'm getting ahead of you. -[William] Oh, yeah.
But it's a nice routine and a healthy way
for us to spend time together.
-Let's go see the ducks at the water. -Okay.
I'm still going to Dr. Paradise
and keeping up with my therapy.
The whole process has made me realize
what a big challenge it is for me to stay honest about stuff.
Even with myself. So I'm trying to change that
about myself and how I operate.
[Dorothy] Come on, I'm making it faster than you
-and you're younger than me. -[William] Hmm.
William does get frustrated with me
because I do push him to try to walk faster
or walk longer. But it's all for his own good.
-Hey, I can push you in the water. -No.
[Dorothy] But it's all for him to succeed in life.
-There are lot of 'em. -[William] Yeah.
But even though I haven't really succeeded with this process,
I feel like something has awoken inside me
to where I really want it now more than ever.
-Are you ready to walk once more? -Yeah.
There's nothing left for me to do
but make the true William the healthy William once and for all.
And I can't wait for that.