(applauding) At 32 years old,
David lost 400 pounds
and transformed into a new man.
There is nothing, there is no reason,
and certainly I will not trivialize that at all.
Losing 400 pounds is a monumental undertaking,
it is a monumental achievement
and you should be proud of having done that.
I said, he didn't quite close the loop
and now he's tipping the scales at 648 pounds.
Now David says, in order to deal
with permanent weight loss
he has to deal with the underlying problems
because when you're using food
the way he's using food,
your fork can become a deadly weapon
and you need to understand why, take a look.
When I was six years old I was molested.
We would go to his house
and he would show me his sister's naked Barbie's
and then for some reason, you know,
ended up with our pants down and him touching me.
I remember my mom saying,
"Oh, why don't you go play with him?
"Why don't you go play with him?"
I'm like, "No mom, I don't want to go over there,
"I don't," I remember beggin' her
not to go play with that kid.
It only happened a few times but you're like,
"(beep) you gotta be stronger than that,
"you gotta be strong." (crying)
(sighing) Oh God, okay.
So, it just made me not want to make friends.
I started putting on a lot of weight
when I was around six to seven years old.
Growing up, at first a lot of the bullying
was physical, I'd get kicked, punched,
objects thrown at me,
I remember one time even dog crap was thrown at me.
Then when I got older, names and laughter,
and I just started, "You know, I'm just gonna eat.
"I don't want to make friends I just want to eat."
Even though it wasn't good for me,
it just made me happy, I guess.
So you have to look
at what's triggering the behavior.
And here, you could take him
and lose all this weight again
and if you don't deal with
what's triggering him to do this,
all you're doin' is puttin' him on a roller coaster.
And you hear, he was molested
and he was bullied and he felt rejected
and he felt marginalized.
And if you don't take away
all of that damaged personal truth,
all of the that damaged self worth and self esteem,
then he's going to continue
to retreat to this every time.
When these things happen to you early on,
being molested, being bullied,
it changed your self esteem,
it changed your self worth,
it changed your definition of who you are.
It wrecked it, it wrecked me.
And you never repaired it. Never repaired it.
So it's like, "Okay, I got a boat here
"and it's got a bunch of holes in it
"and I never patched the holes,
"I just got lighter so I could row faster.
"But I still got holes in my boat."
And then you get out there and pretty soon
that boat starts sinkin' 'cause you never
patched the holes in the boat.
You know, when I ask people,
"What the scariest thing they ever do?"
You would be surprised
at what the answer has been over the years.
The scariest thing they ever do
is not reach for something else,
it's not wanting something else,
it's getting it
and then being afraid they won't be able to keep it.
'Cause somebody will be at this level in life,
job wise or social strata wise, or something,
and all of the sudden they pop up
and do really great for awhile.
Now the pressure's on.
Like, "Can I keep this up?
"Can I hang in there and continue to do this?"
And that keeps them from ever reaching up there
to begin with 'cause they think,
"You know, if I do better
"I'm gonna have to keep it up."
And that's really scary
'cause people wonder if really,
"Am I that good or am I just masquerading?"
("Dr. Phil Theme Song")