Sam Fang
Last week’s episode of 1000-lb Sisters ended with some pretty dramatic cliffhangers: Tammy discovers she’s been gaining weight for the first time since arriving in the rehabilitation facility along with the teaser that Amanda discovers Tammy’s home has been broken into. ‘I Don’t Want to Taco Bout It’ deals with the aftermath of Tammy’s weigh in, as she now finds herself in a downward spiral, feeling defeated by this weight loss setback and having other bad things making things even worse for her mental state.
Tammy was so close to being approved for the bariatric surgery, but her nursing assistant is quick to remind her that it’s natural for her weight loss journey to have its ups and downs. Of course this is difficult for Tammy to hear, especially with how successful she has been since her close encounter with death. As long as Tammy is able to lean on her support system and remember how far she has already come, hopefully this setback will only be temporary and can keep her in good spirits regardless.
Compared to previous seasons, Tammy’s attitude now is such a remarkable change. Even with the setback and being told about how plateauing is normal, she seems determined and even realistic: noting how frustrating it is that whenever she gets close to her goals, something always pushes her back. In the past, this would have felt like Tammy making more excuses for her unwillingness to do what it takes, but with all that she’s committed so far this season, her frustration is real and warranted.
Meanwhile, it’s been a year since Chris had his surgery, and he’s set to have a checkup with his doctor and is hoping to be approved for skin removal surgery, tightening up his skin now that he’s no longer carrying around so much extra weight. His wife measures his actual waist size, and it’s down to 46 — down from 66 when he was at his largest size. He can now even fit both his legs in one side of his old pairs of pants.
Despite the large self esteem boost that comes from having the surgery and experiencing dramatic weight loss very quickly, the extra skin has taken its toll on Chris’s self image recently, as he still has to deal with the sweat and body odor from all the extra skin (that he calls ‘flying squirrel syndrome.’)
Dr. Smith wants Chris to be down to below 300 pounds, something that worries Chris — who doesn’t weigh himself regularly and fears his progress has plateaued after six months. After weighing in, he comes in at 299.4 lbs, much to his own happiness and Dr. Smith’s. Unfortunately, Dr. Smith explains that the plastic surgeons don’t look at the amount of weight lost as much as the fact that the weight loss has become stable — and Dr. Smith predicts that Chris needs to lose another 50 pounds before that will happen, and Chris hopes to have that happen in the next few months.
As for Amy and her husband, 1000-lb Sisters continues to clutch at straws trying to find something exciting for viewers surrounding her. This may sound mean-spirited, but it’s in fact a testament to how well Amy has done with her weight loss and in heeding doctor advice so far; even as the show premiered and tried to foreshadow her having issues with her upcoming pregnancy, she seemingly took the doctor’s advice and cut out the junk food she was craving (or, no doubt, the show would be focusing on that instead of wasting runtime on her and Michael trying to blow up a child’s swimming pool by mouth.) Still, it’s nice to see Amy’s success and just how normal her life is, allowing the show a temporary hiatus from the drama surrounding its other stars.
With that said, the pool quickly takes a backseat to the black cloud over Amy’s household: their dog, Little Bit, has just passed away at the age of 22. Little Bit was an important member of the family to all the Slatons, including Tammy, and Amy worries that the news of Little Bit’s passing may be another thing that makes Tammy want to give up on her weight loss.
After hearing about Tammy’s bad weigh in, Amy is apprehensive to tell her about Little Bit’s death, but she also doesn’t want her to hear the news from someone else and feel like Amy did not care enough to tell her. The family will also have a memorial service for Little Bit, with Tammy feeling the pain of not being able to be there in person for the memorial, as well as Amy’s pregnancy and Amanda’s divorce.
Amanda joins Amy and Michael for a mail delivery where they get some memorial keepsakes of Little Bit, from a canvas print photo to a stuffed pillow cutout in the shape of the dog. Amanda finds their grieving weird, finding comedy in the assortment of keepsakes they’ve chosen. This comes across very awkwardly; 1000-lb Sisters has dealt with some dark topics with a light sense of humor before, but never death like this. It’s hard to laugh along with Amanda no matter how absurd some of Amy and Michael’s Little Bit memorabilia is, especially when you see how much these things mean to them after the dog’s recent passing.
Before the memorial service, Tammy has a meeting with her counselor, Dr. Stapleton, and the rough week has taken its toll on Tammy. She’s not in the mood to talk at all, quickly snapping back into the bad attitude that inhibited her in the show’s previous seasons. Dr. Stapleton has a remarkable amount of patience with her, eventually getting to the root of Tammy’s frustrations — although when she does reach the issue of Tammy’s weight loss, Tammy shuts down completely.
“Please don’t analyze me,” Tammy demands, to which Dr. Stapleton quips: “That’s kind of my job.” Of course, the truth often irritates Tammy, and she turns the video call off without a word.
At the memorial service, most of the family seems a bit bewildered that they’re even attending a gathering for the dog, and Amy really wants everyone to be respectful for Little Bit’s memory. Tammy joins via video call, and the family takes turns reminiscing about Little Bit and the joy the dog brought to their lives.
After the memorial, Tammy asks Amanda to run by her house to get some more clothes and other basic items for her to have at rehab. When they arrive, they see the front door open, and realize that someone’s gotten into the house in the five months of Tammy’s absence. The show continues to tease this story line, with what aftermath is found in the apartment and breaking this news to Tammy being teased for next week – along with Amy being taken to the hospital.
Watch 1000-lb Sisters on TLC and streaming on Discovery+.
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