1000-lb Sisters: Season 4, Episode 4 Recap: ‘Icing on the Cake’

This week’s episode of 1000-lb Sisters finally tackles the aftermath of Tammy’s apartment being broken into after teasing it for the past two weeks. All of Tammy’s valuable belongings are gone — with the robbers even taking the kitchen sink! Misty and Amanda file a police report and wonder if it’s even worth it for Tammy to return to an empty apartment with nothing to her name.

With all that life has thrown at Tammy in the past five months, it’s miraculous that she’s remained so headstrong and determined to get the surgery. But with last week’s episode dealing with the death of Little Bit, as well as Tammy gaining a few pounds, it’s no wonder Tammy’s family is apprehensive to break the news of the robbery to her, fearing it will only make matters worse for her — quite literally the ‘icing on the cake.’

Amanda and Misty want to tell Tammy the bad news sooner rather than later, though, and they hope to take her for an outing to cheer her up after breaking the news to her. Amy is all too happy to not be a part of that, rationalizing that if she were to tell Tammy about the robbery, Tammy would become irate and nasty to her about it. Judging on the sisters’ history on the show, that’s a pretty safe assumption. Instead, Amy and Michael focus on the name of their son, whose due date is within the next month, and revealing it through a YouTube guessing game.

In the early days of 1000-lb Sisters, Amy and Tammy frequently made YouTube content together, even having meet and greets with fans of their social media content. With Tammy separated from Amy now, making content is a more tiresome process, and Tammy is not really in the mood for Amy’s game. Without filming any content, Amy choses to just reveal the name to a sour-faced Tammy, letting her know their son will be named Glenn after the characters from The Walking Dead and Friday the 13th, continuing Amy’s tradition of naming children after horror franchise characters.

With the slew of bad news surrounding Tammy recently, her more easy-going attitude has started to disappear, and it’s likely to go completely out the door when Amanda and Misty tell her about the robbery. Before that, though, Tammy goes for another weigh in. Tammy remains  cautiously optimistic that she will shed some weight, attributing it to eating healthy and more frequent exercise, and she has — back down to 560 and 10 pounds away from her goal to have the surgery.

Meanwhile, Chris is continuing his weight loss journey a year after his surgery. Having already lost 125 pounds, Chris is aiming to lose another 50 to be able to get skin removal surgery. The family is encouraging him to exercise by creating an obstacle course to allow for some fun and unusual exercise — complete with squirt guns to ‘keep him cool.’

Two weeks later, Amanda and Misty make a trip to see Tammy and plan to tell her about the robbery in person, including the loss of a family treasured quilt made by their grandmother, if they deem Tammy is in a good enough mental place to not be set back in her progress by the news. Tammy’s in good spirits, and she takes Amanda and Misty to meet her friends at the facility over a game of Pokeno.

They break the news of the robbery to her, and Tammy is upset but determined to remain positive, choosing instead to focus on staying on track. She’s ready to move out and get her own place and furniture, and looks on the bright side that her old clothes will hopefully not fit her for long, anyway. It’s a marked and mature change from her earlier attitude in the series, with Tammy even saying “I hope whoever took it needed it.”

Amy tries unsuccessfully to potty train Gage before her new baby is due, and later that day she feels pain in her lower body that sends her to the hospital. Luckily, the baby is healthy but the doctors are concerned about Amy’s gastric bypass potentially rupturing which can cause internal bleeding, infection and even death. Three hours and many tests later, Amy is discharged and diagnosed with indigestion from pizza — similar to a previous hospital visit where she ate too much Chinese food.

Before Amanda and Misty leave Tammy, Tammy wants to go for a weigh in to show them how much weight she has lost in person. She’s lost even more weight, hitting 534 and being well under 550, the requirement for her surgery. After three seasons of struggle and stubbornness, it’s nice to see Tammy finally taking strides and being successful in her surgery goals.

Next week’s episode sees Chris starting a garden for healthier eating, and Tammy having a consultation with her doctor while Amy and Michael head to the hospital for the birth of their son.

Watch 1000-lb Sisters on TLC and streaming on Discovery+.