How Is Chrystal From 'My 600-lb Life' Doing Now? Was She Able to Get Surgery?

Those who regularly tune into TLC's My 600-lb Life often finish each episode wondering: How is that person doing today? It's difficult not to become emotionally invested in the weight loss journeys of the morbidly obese individuals featured on the series. You're rooting for them for two hours, and then the episode just stops without a neatly-wrapped-up conclusion — because oftentimes that's the reality of extreme weight loss.

So how is Chrystal Rollins from My 600-lb Life doing now?

Chrystal is a 39-year-old single mom of two daughters from Spring Valley, Calif.

"Life at my size has become a never-ending struggle. Just even breathing is a struggle," Chrystal explained at the beginning of her episode, which premiered on March 24, 2021. "I have to have oxygen on all the time because my weight has put so much pressure on my lungs; my lungs just can't handle my body anymore."

"But it's not just my lungs. At this point, it just feels like my whole body is falling apart," she continued. "I have high blood pressure, I have congestive heart failure, my legs swell, sometimes they leak water. It's hard to get out of bed sometimes. Sometimes I just want to stay there and not move."

Chrystal was raised by a single mom, and they lived together with her grandparents from an early age..

"I didn't get to see my mom a lot because she was working graveyard shifts at a donut store and she slept most of the day because of that," she explained. "So I was always craving her attention. I was around 5 or 6 then, and my mom would make it a point to eat with me whenever she could. So that became our thing, eating together, whether I already ate or not."

That's when Chrystal first started putting on weight — but things got even worse after her mom got married when Chrystal was 9, and they moved to another house with her stepdad and his kids.

"I was molested by a family member, and the horror of being molested was more than what I could deal with," she said. "And so that was one of the hardest times in my life. And through it, I just ate constantly."

Chrystal weighed 200 pounds by the time she was 12 and 300 pounds by the time she was 14; she was at 420 pounds by the time she graduated.

She also dealt with domestic violence with a romantic partner in early adulthood, followed by another abusive relationship with the father of her daughters. (Chrystal and her daughters were able to escape the violent situation, thankfully.) 

Chrystal weighed 611 pounds during her first appointment with Dr. Nowrazadan, aka Dr. Now; he gave her a goal of losing 60 pounds in two months.

"You need to get as much strain off your body as possible, and losing weight is the only thing that's going to do that," the bariatric surgeon explained. "And if you get to that goal and get off the oxygen, I will approve you for weight loss surgery. But as long as you need oxygen like that, your body won't be able to handle anesthesia."

Dr. Now also set Chrystal up with a psychologist, Dr. Matthew Paradise, in order to work through her childhood trauma, which caused her to seek out food for comfort. This included Chrystal finally telling her brother about his father molesting her all those years ago.

At her follow-up appointment with Dr. Now three months later, Chrystal had only lost 9 pounds. He again gave her a goal of losing 60 pounds in two months. When she called and asked for more time to meet the goal, he increased her goal to 90 pounds over three months.

Six months into her weight loss journey, Chrystal followed up and weighed in at 564 pounds, meaning she had lost 38 pounds. It was an improvement, but still not enough.

Dr. Now again advised Chrystal to lose 60 pounds in two months — or else potentially face hospitalization under controlled diet because her body was still under so much strain.

"Once again, I'm happy to see some progress with Chrystal and that she's moving in the right direction," the bariatric surgeon said. "But just like last time, it's not enough to prevent what's going to happen to her if she doesn't start to lose weight faster. So I will give her one more chance to do what she needs."

Eight months into her weight loss journey, Chrystal made a breakthrough in her weight loss journey. She weighed in at 498 pounds when she followed up with Dr. Now — meaning she had lost 66 pounds over two months and 114 pounds in total. Weight loss surgery was finally within reach.

"The next goal is to get her off the oxygen, which I don't think will take too long as long as she keeps losing like she is now," Dr. Now explained.

By the end of her episode, Chrystal was optimistic about her future.

"Dr. Now thinks it'll take me four to five months with how I am losing weight to get to where my lungs are strong enough for surgery," she said. "But my goal is to get where I don't need oxygen anymore in three months."

Unfortunately for those who hoped to learn about how Chrystal is doing now, her public Facebook profile doesn't currently have any updates regarding her weight loss journey. She did, however, upload a new profile photo in December 2020.

Hopefully, TLC and/or Chrystal will be able to offer an update on her weight loss journey in the near future. (We'll be sure to keep you updated if more information becomes available!) In the meantime, we wish Chrystal the best as she strives to live her best life.

New episodes of My 600-lb Life air on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on TLC.

If you need support, The National Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-800-656-4673. You will be connected with a trained staff member in your area. Or visit RAINN.org to chat online with a support specialist at any time.