Jennifer and Marissa Jess, as well as Liz Evans, have all appeared on TLC’s hit reality series My 600 Lb. Life in the past, and are once again the subjects of tonight’s “Where Are They Now?” episode.
Jenn and Marissa, a mother-daughter duo, were introduced during the season 6 finale, while Liz appeared earlier on during the first half of the same season. Tonight’s episode will feature all three women and check back in on their lives, their weight loss progress, and how far they’ve come since they last featured on the show. You can read the synopsis for tonight’s episode below:
“Liz has gone from being bedbound with lymphedemas on both legs, to standing and walking, but old fears are about to threaten her progress. And if Jenn and Marissa can’t get along as mother and daughter to lose weight, they’ll have to proceed apart.”
In a 2018 episode of the show, Jenn, who was 42-years-old at the time, had reached 636 pounds, while Marissa, her 26-year-old daughter, was 573 pounds. Marissa served as Jenn’s caregiver, bathing, feeding and taking care of her mother, who struggled to walk on her own. The two decided to head to Houston to seek out the help of Dr. Younan Nowzaradan (Dr. Now), hoping the gastric bypass surgery would help kick-start their weight loss goals and get them on the right track.
We learned during their My 600 Lb. Life episode that both women had suffered greatly throughout their lives, which contributed to their weight gain and unhealthy eating habits. Jenn was sexually abused by her step-father growing up and later ended up in an abusive relationship with her second husband, who beat her frequently. Marissa had also dealt with her own share of abuse and bad relationships throughout her short life, and both Jenn and Marissa decided to make a change and focus on leading a healthier lifestyle.
Both women have succeeded in losing hundreds of pounds between the two; Marissa often updates her social media pages with progress photos and memes about her time on the show (see below) and looks much thinner than she was in 2018. Jenn also appears happy and healthy, judging by her Facebook page, which she periodically updates with her own progress photos (although she has been relatively quiet lately, which is expected with the new episode of My 600 Lb. Life about to air).
During her season 6 episode, Liz Evans also made the effort to shed a staggering 353 pounds before her surgery. Liz had dealt with childhood trauma that led to her over-dependence on food; she revealed on the show that she was molested when she was only 6-years-old. Her father also dealt with drug addiction, and Liz admitted that, by the time she turned 10, she was using food as an outlet for her pain.
Her weight gain led to significant lymphedemas in both legs, which left her bedridden and unable to move around on her own. Not only was she attempting to lose the weight for her gastric bypass surgery, she also needed surgery on her legs, so she went through a vigorous round of physical therapy for months before she was ready to go under.
“It’s been really hard on me. They have been doing exercises with me, but I haven’t been able to stand just yet,” she said during the episode. “I have been able to start to sit up and get to the edge of the bed, which I feel is good progress because that has been more than I have been able to do in a long time.”
After many ups and downs in the hospital, Liz was finally able to get the surgery on her leg. Unfortunately, she ran into a few bumps along the road and fell back into some old, bad eating habits when she returned home, but she is working hard to overcome her issues and is seeing a therapist to keep her on the right track, according to TLC.
However, tonight’s episode synopsis says that “old fears” will come back and threaten Liz’s weight loss journey, so fans are crossing their fingers that she will be able to overcome whatever issues she might be facing so she can continue to lose weight and lead a healthier lifestyle.
Tune in tonight at 8/7c to catch TLC’s newest segment of My 600 Lb. Life: Where Are They Now? to see Jenn, Marissa and Liz’s progress update.
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