The reality show ‘My 600-lb Life’ on TLC showcases the inspiring tales of morbidly obese people who strive to alter their lives and typically weigh more than 600 pounds. They go through a difficult process of strict diets and exercises to lose that excess weight. Dr. Younan Nowzaradan, often known as Dr. Now, is a well-known bariatric surgeon who assists with the process by developing personalized treatment plans for each patient and assisting them in becoming suitable for weight-loss surgery.
Since its debut in 2012, the show has seen several patients with their struggles and triumphs. While some progress through the process more easily, others have a far more difficult path ahead of them. One such contestant with a roller-coaster journey was Lee Sutton, from season 6 episode 1. He had a tough time sailing through the process, which is why the viewers must be curious to know what happened to him.
Lee Sutton’s My 600-lb Life Journey
Lee Sutton, a native of Houston, Missouri, first appeared in season 6 in 2018, when he weighed around 714 pounds. He lived with his girlfriend, Rena Kiser, who was also struggling with morbid obesity and weighed around 549 pounds. Thus, they joined the show together after spending years dealing with multiple health issues and the inability to move and perform tasks themselves. Since Lee weighed more and needed support, even walking and sometimes breathing, he was more dependent on Rena and even required help with bathing.
The pair could barely move anywhere and only went out of their homes to get food and groceries. They originally met at a bariatric rehabilitation clinic 11 years before appearing on the show. As Rena went there to assist her brother, Lee was her brother’s roommate who became enamored by Rena’s kind personality. They started interacting, felt a connection, and soon began dating. However, the facility did not permit this for patients, and they were not even allowed to hold hands or display any emotion. As a result, they decided to leave the recovery center together.
Since then, even though their relationship has grown deeper, Lee and Rena have struggled to manage their dietary habits, falling into a cycle in which they both gain weight regularly. Like many other contestants, Lee had dealt with weight gain since a young age. Sadly, his parents separated when he was only 2, and Lee began living with his father. However, once his father remarried, the family had a total of 8 kids. On the show, Lee said that at the age of 9 or 10, he was sexually abused by an older cousin for 3 years. This took an obvious toll on his mental and emotional health, and he turned to food to deal with it.
Lee also stole food and found other ways to get food when he was forced to cut it down because of his increasing weight. Consequently, Lee gained weight to the point wherein he already weighed 500 pounds by the age of 17. Nonetheless, when he realized that his eating habits and health kept getting worse, and he had lost complete mobility, he went to get help for Dr. Now. According to his weight, Lee was recommended a strict calorie-restricted diet and exercises to lose excess pounds in order to qualify for weight reduction surgery.
However, Lee had a hard time following the diet as he frequently slipped into eating unhealthy food. In the episode, we saw Rena diligently adhering to the diet plan. However, Lee struggled to control his eating habits, which frequently resulted in outbursts of rage and frustration. Their relationship started to suffer as a result of him being perceived as continually venting his anger on her. He still managed to lose some weight and got approved for gastric bypass surgery, after which he lost a total of 303 pounds.
Lee Sutton is Doing Better in Life Today
Lee Sutton lost quite some weight and became 411 pounds from 714 pounds in the beginning. However, in his follow-up episode ‘Where Are They Now?’ in 2019, Lee was still struggling to cut out food as was recommended and only managed to lose half of what was set as his target weight for every doctor’s revisit. Dr. Now was evidently worried about his probability of gaining weight again if he did adhere to his diet more strictly. He also admitted to missing quite a few therapy sessions, which were recommended for his trauma and anger issues.
At one point in the episode, a spat between Lee and Dr. Now also culminated because of his instant bouts of anger stemming from the doctor’s inquiry about his irregular diet. However, with constant support from the doctor, Rena, his sister Cassie Laster, and his well-wishers, Lee did manage to lose more weight and brought it under 400 pounds. Apart from that, his relationship with Rena also became sour, as seen during the episodes, because of his frustrations. Although they did talk about getting married in the follow-up episode, rumors about their break-up did the rounds soon after that.
In a series of posts in 2019, Rena claimed that Lee was unfaithful to her. Calling him a “cheater” and “extra baggage” in a now-deleted post, she also changed her relationship status to “single.” Then followed Lee’s post, a picture with another lady, indicating everyone to believe and criticize him for allegedly cheating on Rena with a married woman. He also went ahead and changed his status from “single” to “in a relationship” on May 29, 2019, leaving fans wondering about him and Rena.
However, Rena again changed the status of her profile to “In a relationship” on June 13, 2019. After making her announcement, Lee dispelled the allegations by posting a photo of the two sitting happily in a park. Post that, although there was another instance wherein rumors about them having broken up began swirling, their pictures said otherwise. Besides, Lee’s social media profile has a clear declaration of Rena as the love of his life and her brother, Michael, being assigned the status of brother-in-law.
Since there hasn’t been any confirmation about their current status, one can only assume that they are happy together, away from the limelight, choosing not to make any updates public. Taking everything into consideration, we can infer that Lee is doing much better with his weight loss efforts and is making the most of his new-found health. Well, we respect their choice and only wish them happiness, and Lee a steady weight loss progress, as he continues his journey.
Read More: Is My 600-lb Life Scripted or Real?
