TLC reality star Tammy Slaton looks unrecognisable now after dropping around 440lbs.
The 1,000lb Sisters star weighed 725lbs at her heaviest recorded weight – almost 52 stone. But after going in and out of rehab to help her battle her addiction to food, she was finally approved for bariatric surgery. But she’s been hit with setbacks throughout her weight loss journey, including the death of her husband Caleb Willingham.
But Tammy is keeping her head high, and even dishing out weight loss tips. She doled out advice to one Instagram user: “You eat proteins, low carbs, no sugars, no pop, portion control!”
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She has also showed off her cooking skills, admitting: “Even though I can’t eat much doesn’t mean my family shouldn’t eat good and I’m finally able to show off my cooking skills just call me chef TT or chef TamTam!”
Daily Star takes a look into Tammy’s inspiring weight loss journey as she finally managed to shed more than half her body weight.
Rehab struggles
(Image: TLC)
Tammy spent 14 months in a rehabilitation facility in Ohio – shedding almost 300lbs along the way. Tammy had to abstain from drinking alcohol, smoking and vaping for nine months before she was able to return to her home state of Kentucky.
She initially tried to leave the facility early and lose the weight “on her own”, explaining: “I miss my bed. I miss my family. I think I’m ready to go.”
Tammy was mostly confined to a wheelchair but could stand for short periods of time using a walker. She was also reliant on oxygen tanks and forced to use the full back seats of cars if she wanted to travel.
(Image: TLC)
She confessed that she drank eight bottles of liquor a week at her worst, while battling depression surrounding her weight. She confessed to Dr Smith on the TLC show: “Drinking, smoking… I started vaping. [I drink] maybe eight bottles a week.”
The doctor responded: “Like fifths of liquor? Oh wow, Tammy. That’s a lot.” He later added in a confessional: “Tammy’s doing a lot of partying, which raises a concern for me. That alone is putting her in severe danger. She says she’s focusing on her mental health, which if that was true, I’m all about that.”
Tammy said the alcohol made it easier to eat junk food, confessing: “We don’t eat healthy, cause for me, if I eat something like pizza or pizza rolls the break soaks up the alcohol and the grease helps so we don’t get too hungover.”
Near death
(Image: queentammy86/Instagram)
After quitting rehab early, Tammy was forced to go back after she almost died, when her oxygen levels dropped and she “stopped breathing”. She was placed in a medically induced coma and was in septic shock.
She said: “I think me hitting my rock bottom has opened my eyes. I have to get better. This is my last chance. I just don’t understand why God saved me again.”
Tammy said she “could not breathe at all” and was “about gone”, when a blockage in her trachea prevented her lungs from getting oxygen. After being hospitalised, she claimed she had a “different outlook” on life.
Tragic loss
(Image: TLC)
While still in rehab and battling her own food issues, Tammy fell in love with her fellow patient Caleb Willingham. The pair tied the knot while in the facility together, but Tammy later filed for divorce as Caleb was refusing to stick to his diet plan.
Sadly, in July 2023, Caleb passed away aged just 40. Tammy’s sister Amanda told fans: “Please whisper a prayer for our family and all of Caleb’s family. Caleb Willingham is sitting at the feet of Jesus. Heaven got a good one!
“I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with him but the messages he would send helped me through so many dark times. I am so thankful for the love he showed my sister and all those he came in contact with.”
Tammy and the rest of her family attended Caleb’s funeral on the TLC show, dressed all in black.
End results
(Image: queentammy86 /Instagram)
Now Tammy. has shed an incredible 440lbs, and is down to just 285lbs – around 20 stone. She no longer requires an oxygen cannula to sleep, and can finally fit in a normal car seat.
Tammy admitted on the show: “The last time I sat in the front [of a car] it’s probably been 15 or 20 years. But I’m willing to try and see how it goes.”
Her brother Chris gushed: “When Tammy actually realises that she sat down in the chair and she’s good to go and the door can close, you can tell the little battle that she just beat made her feel wonderful, ’cause even at 16 she couldn’t sit in the front seat buckled up.”
(Image: Instagram)
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While Tammy giggled: “Sitting in the front seat, it’s like a whole new world. You’re experiencing everything from a different point of view. Instead of being the second person to see stuff, you’re the first person.”
She told People Magazine: “One of the big changes that I have gone through this past year is probably small to most people, but for me it was huge.
“Just being able to walk without a walker or be pushed in a wheelchair, and no oxygen. I don’t even sleep with it at night anymore. Then it was being able to fit in a regular vehicle, front seat, and then the belt buckle, and not have to use an extender now. So I mean, just what seems minor to some people is giant for me.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
