The reality TV series, My 600 Lb Life, has recorded no less than 10 deaths since it started in 2012.
The show has aired on the TLC television network since 2012.
Each episode follows a year in the life of morbidly obese individuals, who usually begin the episode weighing at least 600 pounds (270 kg), and documents their attempts to reduce their weight to a healthy level.
Patients are placed under the care of Iranian-American Houston surgeon Younan Nowzaradan (often referred to as simply “Dr. Now”), who first has them attempt losing weight on their own by following a strict diet, and then depending on the patient’s progress may offer gastric bypass surgery or sleeve gastrectomy to further assist in weight loss.
This series was originally a five-part miniseries involving four morbidly obese patients.
Because of its popularity, new episodes were filmed, including a “Where Are They Now?” retrospective in Season 4 that follows up on previous patients to track their weight-loss journey months or years after bariatric surgery.
In Season 1, patients were filmed over a period of seven years (2004–2011).
Beginning with Season 2, patients were filmed for only one year. In Season 8, certain patients’ stories were filmed for only six months.
Beginning with Season 5, new episodes began filming as 2-hour episodes instead of 1-hour.
This was previously done with Melissa’s Story (split into two parts) and Lupe’s Story.
Recap episodes titled under “Supersized” and “Extended”, which include additional facts and footage respectively, also aired during the season.