‘My 600-lb Life’: Where is Melissa Marescot now? Here's what she is doing after being disqualified for surgery
“If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible,” Paulo Coelho once said and these words stand true for Melissa Marescot — whose journey is all set to be chronicled on ‘My 600-lb Life’.
Melissa's tale on the TLC show had viewers pinning down one too many hopes, especially since she appeared to be full of zest and showed zero self-pity in the trailer. She is one of the very few people who've appeared on the show that needed little to no assistance in order to carry out their basic day-to-day activities. On the show, many people have been helped to take a bath by friends, family members, partners or caregivers... but Melissa was different.
So did she lose the weight and was she qualified for surgery? That's a different story.
Did Melissa Marescot make the right moves?
Melissa Marescot did have her issues and she weighed a whopping 592 lbs when she was introduced on the show. But, the Florida native — who lives in Fort Lauderdale — impressed viewers with her grit. Determined to change her life, her dedication was unmatched when it came to facing her issues head-on and reaching out for a solution.
Unlike many others including Cindy Vela from the previous week's episode who was just not ready to step out of her comfort zone and make a trip to Houston to visit Dr Younan Nowzaradan aka Dr Now for a consultation, Melissa booked her flights, packed her bags, and was ready to see the bariatric surgery specialist. She did have her best friend Shay for support during this trip, but Melissa held the reins and was making moves in the right direction in order to improve the quality of life that she was leading.
What happened to Melissa Marescot on 'My 600-lb Life'?
Melissa struggled with food addiction. It weighed hard on her and the pain was visible in her eyes as she ate lasagna sitting in front of the mirror. There wasn't much that she could do to stop herself. Melissa grew up in an abusive home and the trauma doubled up when her father walked out on the family. Tragically, she ended up being pregnant at the age of 15. After an abortion, she dropped out of school and fell into a cycle of mental stress and depression.
Her parents' death acted as a wake-up call for her and she decided that it was time to address that her relationship with food was not healthy and something needed to be done to put an end to it. That's when she decided to visit Dr Now for help. With the help of exercise and a strict 1,200-calorie diet, Melissa reportedly shed many pounds. However, she couldn't get to the cut-off mark.
How much weight did Melissa Marescot lose on 'My 600-lb Life'?
Melissa's excessive weight did cost her a lot of things including social life, jobs, and friends. She was completely isolated and overwhelmed with sadness, however, she did snap out of it soon and decided to get better. After making her way to Dr Now's clinic, Melissa was told that she would need to lose 60 lbs... but she didn't have a big timeline to do so. Dr Now gave her 60 days where she had to prove to him that she was ready to get this surgery by sticking to his program. She was put on a controlled calorie diet and given certain exercises to help expedite her weight loss. However, she only managed to lose 44 lbs and weighed 548 lbs by the end of the two months.
Dr Now was not very impressed with whatever weight Melissa had lost. He was angered at the fact that she didn't work hard enough because he was sure that if she had stuck to the program, she could've easily lost 100 lbs instead of 60. Melissa admitted that she did work hard but couldn't stick to the diet every day and ate things that she shouldn't have.
Where is Melissa Marescot now?
Melissa Marescot told Dr Now that she was ready to recommit to the program and drop another 40 lbs in the next two months and also agreed to start therapy to address her food addiction. Dr Now acknowledged that she was a driven person and decided to give her one more chance and referred her to psychologist Dr Paradise to help her further. Melissa was doing great by the end of the episode. She was getting out more often, showing up at a public pool near her house, and doing her exercises. She still didn't want to be seen by other people but was slowly working her way up to unlearn all of that social awkwardness.
Everything was looking great for Melissa till she fell off her diet wagon once again and couldn't keep up with her promise to Dr Now. Sadly, she didn't end up reaching her goal weight. Dr Now tried talking to her and even gave her an option of getting her surgery done in Florida but Melissa just couldn't get back on track with the program and didn't qualify for the surgery. Although her social media pages — including Instagram handle @blessedmel — are set to private, one photo does hint that she has lost a bit of weight than what she had when she was on the show.
Catch new episodes of 'My 600-lb Life' every Wednesday at 8 pm ET on TLC.