Welcome back to our TLC Reacts videos. Today we have extremes of body types. Let’s check this out!
Don’t have time to read this post? Watch the video here instead!
[Video begins with a woman named Rubi describing her situation.]
Rubi:
I’m 39 years old, and I have eight kids. Since the birth of my fourth child, my hips have tripled in size.
Doctor Rich:
So that’s pretty drastic! During pregnancy, the effects of the hormones on the ligaments and joints actually allow for the bony pelvis to widen a little bit and accommodate a delivery — and then that all just kind of comes back together (within a month of delivery). This isn’t that. This has nothing to do with the actual pelvic bones — it’s an isolated, consolidated fat collection at the level of the hip. It almost looks like a condition called a lipoma — which is a fatty tumor — but you wouldn’t have that just randomly on both sides of the pelvis.
Rubi:
I’m skinny up top, but then where my hips are, it’s wide. My hips feel like jello. They’re very wiggly. When I squeeze them, they move all over the place. It’s a really weird feeling. Before my first three pregnancies, my body was normal. After my fourth pregnancy, I wouldn’t lose weight from my thigh area.
Doctor Rich:
So in her particular case (as is common), she gained weight after pregnancy. But it looks like she’s gotten in the proximity of her pre-pregnancy weight everywhere else in her body — except for these two fat pedicles in her hips on either side of her body. I’d be interested to see what Dr. Yun, a plastic surgery YouTuber, has to say about this condition. In my mind, it seems like this is a plastic surgery case where you’d actually have to go in and remove that fat pad from either side.
[Second clip begins with a photo montage of a man with casts on various parts of his body.]
Kevin:
My name’s Kevin. I’m 27 years old, and I live in a suburb of Chicago. I don’t have any broken bones, but I’m addicted to putting orthopedic casts on my body.
Doctor Rich:
Come on, man…
Kevin:
“Casting” is putting a cast on myself. I’m perfectly fine, perfectly healthy. I like the feeling of the cast around me.
Doctor Rich:
Is he a… some kind of a person in medicine?
Kevin:
I’ve done two full arm casts, two full leg casts… I’ve done two full leg casts, and an arm cast. I’ve put on so many different casts. It’s ridiculous.
Doctor Rich [in disbelief over the full-body cast photo]:
A body cast?! Over his whole body except for his junk!
Kevin:
What I love about casting is that it just feels so amazing — so snug and so comfortable. It gives me this high that I just can’t really get any other way.
Doctor Rich:
Have you heard of Lululemon™? I mean, you can kind of get that snug sensation without wasting… There’s a term for this — transabled — when your body is fully capable of doing anything, but you pretend that you’re disabled in some way. I don’t know… I think this guy needs a better hobby!
[Next clip begins. A shirtless man with morbid obesity is in a hospital bed with monitors on his chest. His weight is listed as 735 lbs.]
Steven:
I’ve tried to stay on my best behavior for the past month. It’s ridiculous what I have to do to get people to respond around here.
[In a cutaway scene, on the hospital room phone]
I need somebody in my room immediately!
[Screaming at the nurse] I have been waiting. I want this light OFF!
Dr. Now [to Steven]:
So you seem like you have an issue getting along with hospital staff — and I’m not liking what I’m hearing.
Steven:
At times, you know, sometimes I get frustrated. I tell them, “If I act like a kid, I want you to treat me like a kid.”
Dr. Now:
How old are you?
Steven:
I’m 33 years old.
Dr. Now:
So it’s time for you to grow up. It seems like the nurses are getting agitated with your behavior. I don’t know what the particulars are, but you need to work on that too.
Steven:
Everybody has feelings.
Dr. Now:
Yeah, that’s true. I’m glad you realize that. Let me put it in plain terms. You came from up North — but this is Texas.
Steven:
Yes, but…
Dr. Now:
You’re going to have to shape up in Texas.
Doctor Rich [laughing]:
Yeehaw!
So this (obviously) is an unhealthy weight. When we look at weight classifications, 125 is normal. A 25 to 30 body mass index (BMI) is considered overweight. Over 30, and you then fall into the obese category. And then over 40, I believe, is morbidly obese. And so I’d be shocked if his BMI wasn’t north of 70 — and that amount of weight creates a tremendous amount of strain on your heart and virtually all organ systems.
(Actually, Brendan Fraser did a great portrayal of a morbidly obese individual in the movie The Whale!)
It appears there’s also some kind of a psychological disorder going on where he wants to act like a child. But just as a public service announcement — you DO have to treat your healthcare providers with respect (particularly the nurses that are really sustaining you)! You’re going to see a doctor maybe once a day, but the healthcare providers that are there really to help sustain and support your existence (your life!) are not there to wipe your a$$ (although sometimes they’re literally there to wipe your a$$!)!
But they’re not to be bullied, and as the doctor here at the end says, “We’re not doing that in Texas!”
These guys have a lot of work to do and a lot of calories to burn to get back to the ideal body size. You can burn a few calories too by reaching down there and hitting the subscribe button.
