Woman’s Journey to a Stunning 500 Pound Weight Loss
EmailTo say Melissa Morris led a normal life would be far from the truth.
Weighing in at nearly 700 pounds, her life was anything but normal.
“I didn’t get up to make myself food. Somebody always brought me something,” Morris said today on “Good Morning America.” “I didn’t get up and cook. Somebody brought it to me.”
Morris, 37, had been overweight her whole life, but her weight began to creep up the scale after she met and married her husband, Chris, and the couple moved to rural Livingston, Texas in 2002, away from family and friends.
It took a bout of cancer faced by her mother to make Morris realize she needed a drastic change.
“My mom was sick with cancer and we went to Ohio to be with her,” Morris told “GMA.” “We went home [from the hospital] and my mom was sitting in her chair and she still had her bandages from her surgery and she looked up at me sitting in my chair and she said, ‘Can I get up and make you something to eat?’”
“I thought my mom is sick with cancer, my mom could die and she’s worried about whether or not she can get up to make me something to eat?,” Morris said. “I was done. I was done.”
In a desperate attempt to lose weight, Morris found a doctor who was willing to perform gastric bypass surgery.
On the day of the surgery, in January 2006, Morris wore a skirt that had been handmade using four yards, or 12 feet, of material in order to fit her body.
“It was tight,” she said of the skirt. “It fit tight.”
The surgery was a success and, one year later, she had lost more than 250 pounds.
Not having driven for over a decade, she passed her driver’s license test and gained newfound independence.
Four years after her surgery, she had lost more than 400 pounds and was hired by the clinic that performed her own gastric bypass surgery to consult with new patients.
“Everyday I look in the mirror I still see the 673 pound lady,” Morris said, of transitioning to her new appearance. “I don’t recognize the body that I have, but the face is still mine.”
While her health improved, Morris’s dramatic weight loss placed strains on her family life, particularly with her husband, Chris.
“It’s been hard,” she said. “He’s a caretaker, he’s always been a caretaker. He was so used to doing everything for me. I let him but, as I got skinny, I was like, ‘I don’t what you do that, I can do that.’”
“We are defining our relationship,” Morris said.
Morris’s weight loss and improved health did allow the couple to realize another dream, having a child. Their daughter, Allona, will turn two in May.
“She’s the great part,” Morris said. “She’s worth everything. She’s what I live for.”
Morris’s weight loss story is documented in the show “My 600 Pound Life,” premiering at 9 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 1, on TLC.
ABC News’ Cathy Becker contributed to this report.
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Many congratulations to this young lady, My wife , Carole, Has been down a very similar road, a little more than 4 years ago, she lay in a coma, at over 700 lbs. she now weighs 210, and is still loosing, and hoping we can find a way to get her skin reduction surgery.Whitch she badly needs. It’s a very hard road, and it can change a person in many ways. Best of luck, Melissa !
Posted by: Ron Sherlin | January 31, 2012 January 31, 2012, 8:42 am
i just saw the story on abc goodmorning america, i was so inspired and proud for Melissa. I have had friends that have lost weight and their marriages have not survived, but i have also lost a child, and both are so much alike as they both are a death. Sometimes the spouse gets so comfortable with the other spouse being dependent, that it is a threat when the spouse loses the weight and becomes dependent on themselves. please see that they get some counseling and hopefully he will see and she will too that this is a god given opportunity to make herself and their family and marriage better!!
Posted by: cyndi | January 31, 2012 January 31, 2012, 9:29 am
I watched this story and while I am proud for her health I can’t help but feel this isn’t sending the right message to America or to young children. It is almost as if this program was saying “You’re fat, we got a surgery for that.” Why not show people who have lost weight naturally with no surgery. My sister was 315 pounds and decided that was it, she has since lost down to 190 pounds and is still working on it, all naturally with healthy eating and exercise. She changed her life style instead of operating to fix a problem she had caused. I was disappointed with this coverage this morning and the message it sent.
Posted by: Jenny | January 31, 2012 January 31, 2012, 9:45 am
Oopsss. that comment was meant for Jenny…
Posted by: Diana | January 31, 2012 January 31, 2012, 3:07 pm
Jenny, congratulations to your sister on her weight loss, but I think ,maby, you should research morbid obesity, before you condemn the program, there are certain conditions, where all the healthy eating in the world can’t make a change, my wife has always eaten healthy, but her condition was due to a multitude of problems, eating was not one of them. Sometimes the surgery is needed, to make diet and exercise work, please don’t “judge” till you know the facts,
Posted by: Ron Sherlin | February 1, 2012 February 1, 2012, 2:50 pm
Cindy I totally agree with you. I’m happy for her and her weight loss, but again I also think it sends the wrong message. I lost 368 pounds naturally, with no surgery, just started watching what I ate, and started working out….
Posted by: Patrice | February 1, 2012 February 1, 2012, 3:49 pm