My 600-lb Life follows the lives of eight people — each weighing over 600 pounds — through their year-long journey as they collectively try to lose thousands of pounds.

Each 60-minute episode tells the powerful story of one morbidly obese individual. Many are home-bound, relying on care just to live day to day. They make the courageous decision to undergo a dangerous gastric bypass surgery in an effort to save their lives and change their world forever.

Their motivations for making the drastic change vary. Some do it for their loved ones, others to be productive members of society, but all of them have one thing in common — they want to be free from a life trapped in a body. My 600-lb Life documents the life-saving, but traumatic, experience of surgery. It’s about the ups and downs of struggling with addiction and dependence, the transformation from being completely dependent to gaining a sense of self-worth, and the inevitable positive and negative impacts their journey has on personal relationships. High-risk surgery, addiction, fear, pain, helplessness, victory, pride: Their stories are as much about heart as they are about weight loss.