Christina Phillips lost 537 pounds — and lives in constant fear of gaining back the weight. “Lately, any time I see the scale go up, I tend to freak out and I will stop eating for a couple days,” an emotional Phillips revealed on Wednesday’s episode of My 600lb Life: Where Are They Now? “I still see myself as 708 pounds … and people are staring at me. It makes me not want to leave the house.”
When TLC began chronicling Phillips’ journey in 2014, she tipped the scale at 708 pounds and was nearly immobile. Today, the 25-year-old weighs 171 pounds. But she still views herself as morbidly obese. “When I look in the mirror, I don’t see what everyone else sees,” she revealed on the show.
During a check-up with her doctor, Houston-based gastric bypass surgeon Younan Nowzaradan, Phillips confessed that she was living off of 400 calories a day.
“That is far below what you should be getting,” Dr. Nowzaradan explained. “You should double that at least. You’re going from one extreme to the other. They’re both unhealthy.” He noted that her concave collar bone indicated that she didn’t have enough body fat — and ordered her to see a therapist.
In TLC’s update, Phillips shares that her loving boyfriend, Shane, and surgery to remove excess skin on her arms and legs has helped boost her confidence. “I’ve been working to be OK with who I am,” she said. “I’m grateful I can do normal things … I’ve been learning that the number doesn’t matter as much, and the priority is that I need to be healthy.”
