“Food was a comfort to me because when I would eat something and get full, I would feel comfortable and safe. I felt secure. And so, I just didn’t stop eating,” said Nicole Lewis, the star of TLC’s show ‘My 600lb Life.’
Lewis, who’s only 23 years old, hopes that she could afford to have a weight loss surgery in order to save her life and her two children. She started to be obese when she was sixteen. She claims that her parents’ cocaine and other substance abuse forced her to turn to food as a coping mechanism.
As her increasing weight began to cumber her down and limit her mobility, the trip to the supermarket became the most exciting activity for her every week. Her boyfriend, Charlie, would have to push her around the store, even though she can’t even fit into the scooters anymore.
Lewis, who’s from Marion, Ohio, said, “Even as a toddler, I remember food was what made me happy. When I was little, me and my mum never really got along, because she had a really bad temper, and would explode on me for things that I just didn’t understand.”
She continued, “And when that happened, I would always run to the garage, because my dad would be out there working on something. So, I would just sit with him, and he would give me a snack. And that was safety.
“I never wanted to leave his side, but my dad was a truck driver, so he was on the road a lot. And when he wasn’t there, all I had to run to was food.”
Lewis said that as her parents continued to get addicted and neglected her, she just became more attached to food. She had already reached 200 pounds by the time she turned fourteen.
She said, “And when my parents were doing the drugs, I would get so mad I would scream and holler at them, and they’d just ignore me, and I’d go and lay on my bed and just eat and cry for hours until I fell asleep.”
Lewis currently weights about 700 lbs. In order to take a bath and clean her whole body, Charlie had to hose her down on the porch because the bathroom had proven to be too small for her body to fit in.
Despite all of the problems that she has, Lewis hopes that through the show, she’d be able to lose weight and keep her children.
