In the midst of the holiday bustle you might have missed a new TLC reality series called “One Big Happy Family.” The series centers on the Coles family of Indian Trail, NC, a family of four, all of whom weigh more than 300 pounds.
Meet the family
Norris, the dad, his 41 and weighs 340 pounds. He’s a stay-at-home dad who buys items at yard sales and sells them on the Internet to make extra money, and is basically disabled from injuries related to his weight. Mom Tameka, 36, weighs 380 pounds. She works two jobs, as a customer service rep for an insurance company and in a group home for people with developmental disabilities.
She says her biggest obstacle is not having time to exercise, and that she didn’t get really big until after she had her kids.
“Food for me, and for my family, I believe, is comfort,” she said in the first episode of the show. “It makes us feel good.” That statement is accompanied by pictures of the family sharing a meal of fried chicken wings, lasagna smothered in cheese, great slabs of white bread Texas toast and lettuce slathered in ranch dressing.
At age 16, daughter Amber weighs 348 pounds and says it’s hard to see her friends eat whatever they want without gaining weight. She’s a member of the school color guard says her weight makes it hard for her to keep up.
Shane, 14, weighs 308 pounds. “I’m fresh and no one had swagger like mine,” he says. “I’m one-of-a-kind.” He says he has associates rather than friends but it doesn’t matter to him.
Out on the town
The family visits a water park in the first episode of the series, where, as you can imagine, most of the patrons were significantly smaller than them.
Mom says her family members need to be proud of themselves and happy regardless of their size and that she’s going to “strut [her] stuff” regardless of what other people think.
After an inner tube ride the family enjoys a funnel cake covered in powder sugar while the kids reflect on their relationship with food. Shane says he was eating fried chicken before he had teeth, while Amber called food “my drug” and notes that her parents would give her food to make her feel better.
They wanted to go on a ride that required two people to share a tube but had a weight limit of 400 pounds per tube. People laughed at them; Amber said she just blocked it out, while Shane, who said he isn’t happy with his weight but is comfortable with it, said he’s not self-conscious but he is mad when people laugh.
Facing the truth
The family takes Shane to the doctor because his blood sugar had been high, and though he was supposed to be avoiding sugary sodas they found a can in his room the morning of his appointment. He weighed in at 336 pounds, meaning he gained 28 pounds since his last visit.
The doctor said he’s “on the road to developing diabetes” and needs to lose weight. In particular he needs to cut out sugary drinks and exercise daily. Shane says the whole family needs to make the changes together.
In the following episode, Shane wakes up early to swim laps, but “baby diva” Amber didn’t want to go to color guard practice just because her brother needed exercise. The parents went to practice with her to support her, but it wasn’t pretty.
Mom’s motivation
Mom says she’s going to motivate everyone to get healthier and they’re going to hate her but it will be better for everyone in the long run.
For dinner that night she made turkey burgers and vegetables cooked in the microwave. Dad called it “a hot mess” while Amber said her plate looked “green” and dad said it was “horrible” with no flavor. Shane, on the other hand, said it was great. Mom said it was a good first start in the family as a whole has to change.
Mom and Shane quickly outlined against dad and Amber, with Shane throwing food out while dad and Amber protested.
The truth gets uglier
Tameka goes to the doctor’s office with Norris because his blood pressure has been high. While the doctor lectured him about his weight, he says he was thinking about his favorite burger place, which is next door to the doctor’s office.
After that, the whole family went to the pediatrician’s office, where the family learned the hard truth about the kids’ health.
For Amber’s size, by age 18 she should only be 120 or 130 pounds, with a maximum weight of 180. She says she might have been 180 pounds when she was 11. With a body mass index of 60, she is classified as super obese (higher than morbidly obese). She says hearing that news was “scary” and that she “didn’t know it was that bad.”
The doctor says both kids have to make lifestyle changes in order to save their lives.
Norris says hearing about his kids’ potential health problems “like getting smacked in the face twice” and everyone seems to be scared straight, at least temporarily. They all vow to have each other’s backs in the process of getting healthier, and prove it by going on a walk together.
Amber says she’s worked hard to be “the perfect big girl” and she’s scared about what shall be without that.
The show airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern, with two half-hour episodes each week.
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