Joe Wexler’s weight loss journey has been shown on TLC’s My 600-lb. Life , where he confessed to living on a 10,000-calorie diet that left the 31-year-old man tipping the scales at 770 pounds. Although he is now successfully losing weight, he was apparently astonished that his former diet would not help him lose weight.
In a related report by the Inquisitr , an obese woman was considered disabled for welfare purposes, and now she is hoping she can have a $15,000 fantasy wedding in a castle . In a different case, heavy machinery, including a crane and truck, were required to move a 1,000-pound man to his new home.
In the case of Joe Wexler, he says has been a larger guy his entire life. During his childhood years, bullies teased him for his weight and he had difficulty making friends. As an adult, his health problems only became worse.
“I have a very slow metabolism due to my thyroid being under active and even with proper medication it is not enough to help me lose the weight,” Wexler explained on his GoFundMe fundraiser page. “I have been pretty much home bound for the last 10 months because I can’t walk far enough out my door to go anywhere not to say anything about driving my car, which is impossible, now. In short I am in a world of hurt and pain.”
Joe claims doctors told him it was medically necessary to have weight loss surgery. Unfortunately, his health insurance company would not cover the surgery at first, and he claimed diet and exercise were not helping him lose weight. He also hurt his knee in a fall, which made exercise even more difficult.
“I’ve been in and out of the hospital 10 times in the last nine months,” Wexler explained. “I can’t go up and down the stairs. I can’t even get behind the steering wheel of a car anymore. I’ve been homebound and it’s very lonely. I feel like a prisoner inside this body. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. I am living the nightmare. One that I wish very much I could wake up from.”
Based upon TLC’s My 600-lb. Life , his biggest struggle was figuring out that eating 10,000 calories a day based upon a diet of ranch dressing and ice cream simply would not work.
“Just about everything I eat is bad for me,” he lamented on the reality show, according to inTouch . “I had no idea.”
After realizing that a 10,000-calorie diet simply would not do, he worked with a nutritionist and went to the gym for the first time ever. After living on a more balanced diet he was able to drop down to 652 pounds, and he was also approved for gastric bypass surgery.
“Words can’t describe how I feel,” Joe said. “For the first time in a long time, I feel like I have hope.”
[Image via TLC]