A middle-aged Latina woman from Illnois named Olivia (who refuses to reveal her last name) has been living in her parents' basement since her teens because of her extreme obesity. Things got so bad for the 440-pound woman who had relatives come over to the basement to bring her food, that she got trapped there during a flood. The tragic incident has served as a reality check and motivation for Oliva to finally lose the weight and change her life. And it's all being documented on season two of TLC's My 600-lb Life!
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Oliva had dropped out of high school her senior year because she was tired of all the bullying she faced for being one of the few Hispanics at her school and overweight. At just 12 years old she already weighed around 180 pounds. Apparently all the dysfunction in her family, including being sexually abused by a cousin at the age of 7, was what triggered her constant over-eating. "I grew up in an abusive house," she says on the show. "My stepfather was not sexually abusive, but he did hit us."
Oliva has been living in her parent's basement since, never EVER leaving the house. That is until a flood forced her out back in 2010. Not only did she lose everything, but she also hit a manic depression that triggered an attempted suicide by swallowing a handful of painkillers. Luckily, her twin sister was there to rescue her by calling paramedics and since then Olivia has vowed to try to lose weight.
She was inspired after seeing a TV program about an obese woman named Myra who managed to drastically shed the pounds. Myra had posted a message on Facebook looking for [TLC] castmembers with obesisty issues and Olivia saw this as her chance for change. "She said my life would be exposed–they would film everything I did. But I was willing to do whatever it takes. I had tried suicide and I wasn't going to do that again."
Olivia moved to Texas to live with her brother and have gastric bypass surgery done. Now weighing around 256 pounds, she's still disabled with lympedema in her legs, that has her in chronic pain every time she attempts to walk. Her goal is to slim down to 180 pounds. I'm am so inspired by this determined chica and I'm looking foward to seeing how she looks now!
Watch a preview of the show's new season below:
Image via TLC.com
