MY 600 LB LIFE Randy Statum remade in new before and after photo gallery
When viewers first met him, My 600 Lb Life‘s Randy Statum was on the verge of physical and emotional collapse. Like his fellow Season 4 castmate Gideon Yeakley, Randy’s obesity placed an almost impossible strain on his family. But the man whose daughter once told him he was “too fat to be a father” has shed even more weight since his episode aired — and Randy looks amazing in his latest before and after pictures.
The My 600 Lb Life Randy Statum episode was bleak even by the show’s standard
As is the case with so many of My 600 Lb Life‘s participants, Randy’s weight problems stemmed from his childhood. Atypically, though, Randy’s early years were happy — he developed unhealthy eating habits in order to maintain a competitive athletic advantage.
“For as long as I can remember,” Randy said, “I was bigger than everyone my age. I was athletic because my dad would coach a lot of the youth team sports, and he would tell me to eat as much as I wanted so I can get big and use that size on the field.”
Randy also explained that he felt some pressure to live up to his father’s expectations, especially when they became his family and friends’ expectations, too.
“Everyone expected me to be the big guy, and that’s what I was because I wanted my dad’s approval and I wanted everyone’s approval,” Randy added. “I would just always eat because I wanted to do well, and the bigger I got the better I could do,” Randy said, of his desire to be a star athlete.
Randy’s size grew in proportion to his age. He weighed 180 pounds by the start of sixth grade, and 300 pounds by his high school graduation. Unfortunately, Randy’s weight gain didn’t stop there. By the time he married his first wife Danielle, at age 26, Randy weighed 400 pounds. And he reached his peak weight of 640 pounds by the time the cameras started filming his My 600 Lb Life episode back in 2015.
Randy gained weight at first — then fought back with a vengeance
It’s not uncommon for My 600 Lb Life participants to put on weight at some point during their initial dieting. Randy was no exception: to his surprise, he gained 15 pounds over the course of an early month.
But Dr. Nowzaradan helped Randy realize exactly how dire his situation had become. “It’s very simple,” he told Randy, who was at the doctor’s office with his father. “Your heart is failing. It could give out tomorrow, a week [from now], or [in] three months.”
Weight loss, Dr. Nowzaradan said, was Randy’s sole option. “The only way to stop that is to lose weight so your heart gets strong again. You do that, you get surgery; if you don’t, you’re not going to be alive this time next year….If you want to live, lose the weight.”
Fortunately, Randy was listening. By the end of his episode, Randy had lost enough weight to be approved for gastric bypass surgery, which in turn helped him shed further pounds. All told, Randy finished his episode weighing about 350 pounds, meaning he lost approximately 45% of his total body weight.
So what’s the latest on My 600 Lb Life Randy today? The show’s cast members are forbidden from disclosing their current weight on social media, but we can tell you that Randy looks fantastic in the latest photos he’s made public. Here’s a little Randy Statum photo gallery to help put things into perspective — the first shot is from February 2015, just as filming for Randy’s episode was getting underway:
Randy shared the next shot in May of 2017, or just over a year *after* his episode had aired. Though it’s only from the chest up, it’s clear that Randy has kept all his weight off, and likely lost even more of it:
Randy’s sister Danielle shared the next photo this past August. The family pic features Randy standing up in the rear left corner — and looking even better (and happier!) than he does in the above pic:
Finally, here’s the most recent photograph that Randy has made public. He shared it just a couple of days ago, and looks even happier still:
He doesn’t generally offer public updates, so we’re not sure whether Randy is filming for a Where Are They Now? episode. However, you can stream Randy Statum’s first My 600 Lb Life episode here, via TLC.
(Photo credits: My 600 Lb Life Randy via Facebook)
John Sharp is a Starcasm’s chief editorial correspondent-at-large. Tips: E-mail at john@starcasm.net or send on Twitter at @john_starcasm.