- 1,000-Lb. Sisters star Tammy Slaton has lost over 500 pounds.
- She could take a diabetes drug like Ozempic if her progress stalled, her doctor tells Women’s Health.
- Tammy underwent a transformation amid bariatric surgery and a healthier lifestyle.
1,000-Lb. Sisters star Tammy Slaton has made headlines for shedding over 500 pounds on her weight-loss journey, doing so by going to a rehabilitation center, undergoing bariatric surgery, and implementing healthier lifestyle habits. But according to her doctor, she could take a diabetes drug like Ozempic if things stalled.
“Let’s just say she had a residual medical problem that we couldn’t quite get her weight low enough to get rid of. There’s nothing wrong with considering, ‘Hey, we’re going to add this injection in combination with the fact that you’ve had this surgery,'” her bariatric surgeon Eric Smith, MD, tells Women’s Health. “If we felt like Tammy lost a significant amount of weight, but if she plateaued… it definitely could be an additional add-on.”
This season, Tammy has encouraged the possibility of skin removal surgery as she hits a number of milestones set forth by Dr. Smith. But if she wants the surgery, Tammy needs to continue to lose weight to minimize complications, he says. Once she’s officially plateaued (and her doctors don’t think she needs to lose any more weight), then she’ll be a candidate for skin removal.
So far, Tammy has continued her weight loss via a series of healthy habits, including prioritizing her mental wellbeing. But Dr. Smith says that he’s particularly proud of Tammy for maintaining her muscle mass throughout her health journey.
“As you lose muscle mass, the number of calories it takes to keep you at a new weight keeps dropping, so eventually, you can’t physically create a deficit anymore. You’re going to regain weight,” he says. “Even though Tammy’s a little bit limited on her activity, she has held her muscle mass steady during this weight loss.”
To do so, Tammy has incorporated non-processed foods into her diet, maintained a steady protein intake of 90 to 100 grams per day, and completed limited exercise, he says. (She previously told Us Weekly that she enjoys chair exercises, lifting weights, “running the bike,” and walking.)
Dr. Smith recommends that all of his patients get into resistance training to build their muscles. They should start off with bodyweight exercises before progressing to bands or heavier weights, he says.
“You first have to meet the patient where they’re at, and wherever we are now, we’re going to go above and beyond that in a reasonable manner,” he says. “When they start the journey, well before they’ve had surgery, I say, ‘Hey, just give me 20 minutes a day, three times a week where you do something above and beyond your normal daily activity.’ But I want it to be something that adds some resistance to your muscles.”
But Dr. Smith has certainly seen a transformation in Tammy over the past three years of working with her. His two proudest moments, he says, both revolve around moments away from the scale: First, there was when Tammy told him that she needed help to lose weight, agreeing to go to a rehabilitation facility.
Second, he says, was when Tammy walked into his exam room without her wheelchair for the first time.
“When she walked into the exam room, I may have struggled really hard to make sure the camera didn’t catch me well up,” he says. “I’d watched her be wheeled in so many times and struggle, and when she walked in and gave me a hug, it was just the coolest thing ever.”
1,000-Lb. Sisters airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on TLC.
Charlotte Walsh (she/her) is an associate news editor with Women’s Health, where she covers the intersection of wellness and entertainment. Previously, she worked as a writer at The Messenger, E! News, and Netflix. In her free time, she enjoys reality television, tennis and films starring Nicole Kidman.
