Bhaswati Borthakur
The TLC show ‘My 600-lb Life‘ showcases a variety of motivational stories about morbidly obese people’s weight reduction challenges. The show highlights a wide variety of these journeys, during which the people, who normally weigh 600 pounds or more, stick to rigorous adjustments for about a year. For the same, they are placed under the care of a prominent bariatric surgeon, Dr. Younan Nowzaradan, also known as Dr. Now, who provides patients with personalized diet and exercise plans.
Since its debut in 2012, the reality show has featured a diverse group of individuals as they overcome various obstacles on their journey to losing weight. While some people’s perseverance makes the journey much easier for them, others must go through a long process of struggle to get beyond these obstacles. One such individual was LaShanta White, who appeared in episode 16 of season 7. Now that she’s been away from the show for years, if you’re curious about where she is now, here’s what we found out!
LaShanta White’s My 600-lb Life Journey
In season 7, Kenner, Louisiana resident LaShanta White got her chance at a healthy and normal life with the help of Dr. Now. At 39 years of age, she weighed 662 pounds and was entirely dependent on her boyfriend, Jeremy “JT.” In fact, she couldn’t even move much around her home and spent most of her time in bed, needing JT’s help to even clean up, bathe, and help her cook food. Being a mother of four children, the eldest of them being 25-years-old and the youngest being 12, both of whom lived with her, she felt helpless for her children.
Because of her incapacitating lymphedema, LaShanta was also bedridden for about 3 years, which made her more desperate for some drastic change before she turned 40. Like most cast members, LaShanta had to suffer through her parents’ split when she was 9, which was a tough time for her. This was when she turned to food for comfort and found it to be her ultimate solace. This roughly continued through more ups and downs in her life, especially after she had her first child at the very young age of 14.
Having to grow up along with her child was already difficult, which become tougher as LaShanta had three more children. Thus, her guilt of not doing enough for her children crept in more, which again led her to increased food addiction. However, with her about to turn 40, she realized that time was passing by and she needed to get healthier soon to be able to be with her children. Thus, she made her journey to Dr. Now, who asked her to lose weight before approving her for weight-loss surgery.
LaShanta again had a tough journey to sail through, as both her mother and boyfriend were unsupportive of her efforts. While the former dismissed her, saying, “no mom wants no fat ass daughter,” the latter immediately commented that he was only attracted to fat women, endangering their relationship. Soon enough, JT really broke up with her citing her weight loss as the reason, which again devastated LaShanta and slowed down her journey.
As LaShanta was already struggling to lose weight, constantly hiding and stocking junk foods, this sudden blow completely derailed her process. Losing hope for herself, she said, “Without JT, I don’t have anyone to help me no more. So I’m really depressed about this because it feels like every time I try to turn my life around and get my head above water, it just feels like something’s there to trip me up and drag me back down.” So, how did LaShanta perform by the end and where is she now?
Where is LaShanta White Today?
LaShanta White remained in an unmotivated and confused phase for a long time, about 8 months, in her one-year-long journey. With JT gone, she had no one to take care of her food habits, which gave her a good chance to cheat on her diet and also feel miserable about her condition. Her financial state was also disrupted, which further halted her plans to move to Houston to get her surgery. Dr. Now, eventually, had to warn her and disapprove her for surgery when she could not live up to his recommendations.
This, however, came as a wake-up call for LaShanta, and hence, she diligently began to follow her diet and exercises towards her ninth month. By sticking to the plan, she finally managed to lose a whopping 133 pounds on her own and thus got approved for gastric bypass surgery. However, the doctor gave one condition before her surgery, which was for her to first regain her mobility. He asked her to exercise, get up on her own, and start walking slowly and then he would do her surgery.
Although it isn’t shown whether LaShanta ultimately got the surgery, her pictures on social media do suggest that she is now moving around and in a much healthier state. Her hashtags include the number 504, which again, suggests that she must have dropped her weight to that amount and is continuing her journey. She is also much healthier mentally and often posts makeup and singing reels and videos of herself. She is now also a proud and loving grandma while also making custom jingles, calling herself the “jingle queen.” Thus, as LaShanta moves forward to live a healthy life, we only wish her more success in the future.
Read More: Christina Phillips My 600-lb Update: Where is She Today?
