My 600-lb Life kicked off its ninth season with Samantha Mason’s story. The almost 1000-pound TLC star revealed her dangerous relationship with food and her struggles to change her lifestyle.
The two-hour premiere also featured her journey to losing weight. Although struggling, Samantha managed to stick with her slim-down goals. But for how long?
Samantha Mason’s binge eating explained
Samantha Mason, also known as Vanilla Hippo, opened up about her life as a morbidly obese single mom on My 600-lb Life season 9. The 35-year-old internet star from Denver, Colorado has always struggled with her weight but she did find a way to use that to her advantage.
Samantha revealed that her binge eating has been quite helpful for her in terms of financial income. She’s been doing “fetish modeling” where she gets paid for eating to her heart’s content.
“I eat for people,” the My 600-lb Life star said. “I just eat what I want and they pay for it, as long as I film it. So that’s how I make a living and keep going, and it makes me feel appreciated so I’m happy to do it.”
However, her daughter, Bella, seemed to have mixed feelings about it. She said Samantha’s “self-image really improved after she started that modeling job.” However, she’s worried that things will only get worse for her mom.
Samantha’s drastic weight loss
Still, Samantha Mason knows that the risks of binge-eating outweigh the benefits she gets from it. She acknowledged the fact that her fetish modeling job is “unhealthy.”
At the time of filming, she weighed nearly 1,000 pounds.
This prompted her to seek help from Dr. Nowzaradan and she ultimately underwent gastric bypass surgery. Samantha seemed to be making good progress with her weight loss program.
Just a few months after the procedure, she weighed in at 627 pounds. And by the end of her My 600-lb Life episode, Samantha Mason dropped down to an impressive 496 pounds, meaning she had lost around half of her initial weight.
Will Samantha be able to stick with it?
Many are now wondering if Samantha Mason will be able to maintain her progress as time goes by. The My 600-lb Life cast member seemed determined to stay on the right track. But with all the temptations along the way, it will definitely be challenging for her.
It seems like the surgery made huge changes in her life and she’s willing to keep it that way. About two months ago, she confidently said she’s now loving her body like never before. Samantha also revealed she’s now free from her hanging belly after getting a major abdominal surgery called a panniculectomy.
She added that she now has more energy to do things on her own, proving she’s come a long way from her almost immobile state prior to losing weight.
All new My 600-lb. Life airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on TLC.