Where Is Lacey Hodder From My 600-Lb Life Now?
At their core, the stories featured on "My 600-lb Life" arguably aren't about weight loss but rather about pain. Deep, gnawing pain that can't be measured in pounds yet harms lives on a devastating scale, driving some people to turn to food for what is ultimately false solace. Pain was something that Lacey Hodder of Bay City, Michigan, knew all too well. "Lacey's Story" aired in Season 7 of the TLC series. In the opening moments, we learn that she lives alone. And loneliness, it seems, is an old friend.
Hodder inherited a pattern of binge-eating from her mother (who would later undergo gastric bypass surgery) as a young child. Food was something they shared before her parents spent more time away at work. Then food kept her company when she was alone at home. When her weight made maintaining active friendships difficult, food filled the social void in her life. When her parents' marriage frayed and fractured, Lacey used food to cope with it as well as her father's furious outbursts. And when her dad left, food was still there.
"Food helped me get past some of the hardest moments of my life,” Lacey recalled in the episode. But by the time she was 29, it had made daily life hard to navigate. When she met the renowned Dr. Now, she had reached 691 pounds and had a dire outlook on what looked to be a short life if nothing changed.
A social media butterfly emerges from the cocoon
Lacey Hodder underwent the opposite of a Kafkaesque metamorphosis. As recounted by The Cinemaholic, Hodder followed Dr. Now's prescribed diet, walked regularly, and lost 105 pounds in two months. But just as the challenges faced on the show go deeper than pounds and ounces, so too does the progress. She was sent to a therapist to address persisting psychological roadblocks before she was mentally ready to take the next step: gastric bypass surgery (via TV Shows Ace).
Per In Touch Weekly, following her procedure, Lacey lost 150 more pounds and gained a newfound love of life. Seeing the world through more optimistic eyes, she launched an online support group in 2019, reportedly calling it "a safe place where people from all over can come [together] and help each other on their journeys to a healthier life."
Her individual journey is going at the speed she chooses. In a March 3rd Instagram post, she described buying a yoga mat in a moment of inspiration and wanting to adopt healthier habits "slowly but surely at my own pace." Her account brims with images of dogs, dazzling sunsets, and the beach. She describes herself as a "baby vegan" and "wandering Aries," suggesting her journey isn't just metaphorical.
Understandably, people reach out to Hodder for advice, with some even advising her to give tips on weight loss. She addressed the matter on Facebook, writing, "I still struggle everyday with this. Being bipolar makes some things a little harder. Everyday is different." However, she urged people to help each other progress: "Lets inspire each other to keep going and being the best person we can be today. Even if yesterday sucked." After all, as the wandering Aries undoubtedly recognizes, health – much like life – is about the journey, not the destination.