From the archives: This story was last updated in June 2019.
Fifty-one-year-old Milla Clark’s eating nearly left her five kids without a mom. She knew they depended on her, and she was ashamed. Her desire for food was unshakable. It was the first thing she thought of in the morning and the last thing she thought of before bed.It was the thought that she might hurt her kids that sparked a desire to make a change.
As for her bed, Milla never got out of it. Weighing 751 pounds (approx. 341 kg), she was bedridden, unable to do anything for herself whatsoever, let alone stand up.
Milla’s five children, four of whom were adopted and one biological, had to help her with everything from washing herself in bed in the morning to helping her do the cooking—again, in her bed. It was humiliating for her, and above all else, it was “miserable,” to use her word.
“I have been trapped in these four walls for more than two years,“ she shared via TLC. ”During that time, I have not stood one time. All I can do is eat and sleep.”
The Clark family, from Fayetteville, Tennessee, was featured on TLC’s program “My 600-lb Life,” which chronicled Milla’s incredible weight-loss journey that took her from misery to determination to utter triumph. It was a difficult fight, but Milla was able to lose an incredible 595 pounds (approx. 270 kg) over the course of three years.
Milla had struggled with her weight for her whole life. Her mother didn’t know how to show her children love any other way except by feeding them well. After Milla’s high school graduation, when she met her husband-to-be, Elroy, she weighed 400 pounds (approx. 181 kg).
She weighed 500 pounds (approx. 227 kg) after she gave birth to her first son, and she weighed too much to safely try for another child. This led them to adopt four more kids, who came from drug-addicted parents.
Then, Milla developed a lymphedema (a large, excruciating, liquid-filled, swollen mass) on her leg, and that completely immobilized her. Compounded with her already excessive weight, it was more than enough to send her into a downward spiral of eating to feel better, only to gain more weight and be totally bedridden, without a sliver of hope.
When Elroy began to suffer from a heart condition, Milla knew that she had to overcome her obesity. And that led her to seek help from the man who would steer her on her weight-loss journey: Dr. Nowzaradan.
First, they had Milla shipped off to Houston, Texas, where the doctor would see her—the journey was a monumental effort in itself. After consulting with Dr. Nowzaradan, they first had to tackle removing the lymphedema from her leg with surgery. But she would have to lose 100 pounds (approx. 45 kg) first—that was tough. So, she went on a controlled diet and ate what the doctors gave her until she got used to it. In a month, she had lost 50 pounds (approx. 27 kg).
Then she went home, and with the help of her kids, sticking to her diet, she lost the other 50. For the first time in her life, Milla felt she had hope.
Milla had the lymphedema removed from her leg. Then, she was faced with her second big challenge: she would have to successfully put all her weight on her legs and stand up for the first time in several years before she would be able to have the weight-loss surgery.
It would mean more dieting and exercising, not to mention the terrifying act of shifting her weight over her atrophic legs, which often scared her into defeat. At first, the challenge was too much to overcome. The thing that pushed her past her limits was the doctor-prescribed, daily trips outside that made her see what she was missing out on: the sun and playing catch with her kids.
She successfully stood up with monumental effort and then had her surgeries.
Several surgeries helped bring Milla under 200 pounds (approx. 91 kg), though she was left with significant scarring afterward from massive amounts of skin removal. Afterwards, she had to have both knees replaced, and she was finally able to stand without a cane or a walker.
Miraculously, Milla’s three-year journey eventually led to her dropping down to 155 pounds (approx. 70 kg), making her the most successful patient on the show and earning her a well-deserved hug from Dr. Nowzaradan.
