Since its 2012 premiere, TLC’s ‘My 600-lb Life’ has been showcasing the inspirational testimonials of several chronically obese individuals who seek help to lead better lifestyles. The people have sedentary lifestyles and depend heavily on food, and hence, frequently weigh around 600 pounds. These people take on the difficult challenge of preparing themselves for surgery with the help of Dr. Younan Nowzaradan AKA Dr. Now, who is prepared to assist them and create personalized weight reduction strategies for them.
The reality show, over 10 seasons, has presented stories of numerous cast members who have distinct personalities and backgrounds of history. Some of them have a harder time dealing with the stress of relinquishing their habits and adopting a healthy life than others. One such similar individual was Lacey Buckingham, who appeared in season 10, episode 5 and dealt with multiple struggles throughout her journey. Thus, fans must be eager to find out how her life panned out after the show. If you’re curious to know about her too, here’s everything we found out!
Lacey Buckingham’s My 600-lb Life Journey
Lacey Buckingham appeared on the show in season 10 as a 36-year-old Kennewick, Washington native, and weighed 593 pounds. Lacey lived alone with constant pain all over her body and also suffered from multiple diseases, including diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. She can barely shower once or twice a week and needs the help of her boyfriend, Ricky, to get her cleaned and bring her food. They had only met before a month but grew pretty close and loved each other’s presence. Ricky cared about her and took care of her, although he himself was epileptic and suffered through sudden seizures.
Although Lacey loved him equally, food was still her first and greatest love. Her obsession with food began at an early childhood stage because of her strained relationships with her family. According to her, living with her family, which constituted her parents, older brother, and older sister, was mentally and physically exhausting. Lacey was a surprise baby (misplaced IUD) which made her feel unwanted and unloved by her parents, especially her mother, as compared to her brother and skinny sister. Lacey turned to food to suppress her low self-esteem.
In third grade, Lacey also had to suffer the horrific experience of being raped by a friend’s older brother, but she didn’t talk about it to anyone. This, obviously, made her eating habits worse and she gained 200 pounds by age 11. Around college, she began having hormonal problems, which is when her parents found out about her sexual assault. Since her mother didn’t believe her, their relationship became worse. Lacey started living in a college dorm and eating way more without anyone to control which shot her weight to 500 by graduation year.
Lacey took a customer service job but couldn’t work for long because of her weight. At 26, she got into online feeder relationships which involved men seeing her eat as much as she can and they would, in turn, take care of her monetarily. She ended those after a while and was happy with Ricky, for whom she finally decided to get help and lose weight. Lacey went down to Houston with Ricky and his sister Sharon, who already had doubts about Lacey.
On consulting Dr. Now, Lacey was given 2 months to lose 50 pounds and then move back to Houston for the surgery. Although she was enthusiastic at first and tried to follow everything well with Ricky’s help, she slowly began to slack a bit and missed a few doctor’s appointments. On knowing this, while driving to Houston for relocation, Sharon became furious and started verbally abusing Lacey for not working hard enough.
Lacey also manipulated her brother against Lacey and into moving back to Washington halfway through their journey. Eventually, Lacey called the police on them, saying they made her feel unsafe. They then left her at the gas station, moved back, and gave her all her household things to charity. Lacey thus traveled to Houston with a friend she met online to finally meet Dr. now again.
Lacey Buckingham is Focusing on Improving Her Lifestyle Today
On consulting Dr. Now again, Lacey Buckingham found she only lost 12 pounds, weighing 581 pounds, thus missing her goal. Considering her domestic problems which made her almost homeless, Dr. Now asked her to sort out those issues and lose 50 pounds so that she can be considered for gastric bypass surgery. Lacey, ultimately, couldn’t live in Houston for long and had to move back to her home, where she managed to get her old house.
Lacey’s church friends helped her get back some of her things like her furniture and she slowly began to follow the recommended diet again. However, she was extremely sad about losing Ricky and hoped to still have a chance with him later. It seems that her association with Sharon is strained forever as she considered the sister responsible for the failure of her relationship with Ricky. She also hasn’t given up on her weight loss journey and continues to follow it by herself.
Although Lacey once mentioned being in a relationship later and has put up a similar status on Facebook, it isn’t clear if it’s with Ricky or someone new. She remains positive for her future and is a firm believer and follower of Christianity. She also wrote along similar lines on Facebook, saying, “Please pray. For me, Lacey Buckingham. For mental and physical health and For making healthy decisions. Also to make a better life for myself. I’ve got to work on me for a while. Thanks for all support.” Thus, we wish Lacey that she reaches her goal weight soon and gets to live a healthy and happy life.
Read More: Is My 600-lb Life Scripted or Real?
