This episode of Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition 2012 was an emotional journey into Nyla’s past. This was one of the more difficult episodes to watch because her progress was agonizingly slow. It was only after she faced her past that she was able to lose weight.
Nyla had been abandoned by her father at birth. She grew up with her sister and mother and was never told about her dad. Nyla had always wanted to meet her father and held no resentment against him. Her trainer, Chris Powell, is famous for getting to the heart of his clients weight problems. Like most obese individuals, Nyla’s problems were rooted in emotional trauma. Rather than taking her pain away with alcohol or drugs, she ate.
During the first and second phase of the weight loss treatment, Nyla had been doing poorly. She missed both goals and seriously considered quitting. Chris knew that he had to get to the bottom of her self esteem problems. Part of Chris’s weight loss plan was to hire a private investigator to find her father. Her took her aside and showed her a folder that had all the information on her father and his side of the family. She refused to open the envelope.
As the camera crew interviewed her after this scene, the producer offered her the folder again. This time she took it and read the contents. Unfortunately the news was not good. Her father had killed himself the year earlier.
Nyla broke down at the news. She had been living her life trying to gain his acceptance but it didn’t matter in the end. She was crying with Chris when she came to the realization that she did not want to end up like him. On a more positive note, the envelope also included letters from his family. These letters were telling Nyla that her father always loved her but he was scared of being rejected too. The family wanted to meet her and they grew very close. While Nyla never got to meet her father, his family filled the emotional gap she had.
After finally dealing with her family pain, Nyla had the opportunity to finally start losing weight. She started at 435 lbs. and had her final weigh in at 278 lbs. While she finished her one year plan, her journey was just beginning.
Check us out tomorrow morning for the full Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition recap.
