Chitoka Light had not walked into her own living room in three years. Bedbound at 680 pounds, the 49-year-old set out to cover those few feet in an early episode of TLC’s Family By the Ton, the 2018 series that followed her and two cousins as they tried to qualify for weight-loss surgery.
For most viewers, the distance was nothing. For Light, it was the furthest she had planned to go in years.
A home that had shrunk to one room
Light’s daily life had narrowed to her bed and the short trip to her bathroom. That was the whole route, and for years she had gone no further.
The series put her in the middle of a family fighting the same problem. Light and her cousins Naomi Anderson and Drew Stewart, all from the Atlanta area, weighed close to 2,000 pounds between them when filming began. Atlanta bariatric surgeon Dr. Charles Procter Jr. guided the family. Naomi’s mother, Beverly, had surgery first, partly to show the younger generation it could be done.
Ten seconds at a time
Light didn’t attempt the walk cold. She trained with Robyn Smith at least five times a week, building the strength she needed simply to stand up and move.
At the start, she could hold herself upright for roughly 10 seconds. Session by session, that number crept up as she grew stronger.
The living room was a stepping stone toward something bigger. Her next target was fitting into a car so she could get to her doctor’s office and start planning surgery. For someone who can’t leave the house, an operation stays out of reach no matter how badly she wants it.
The promise behind every step
Light’s drive had a painful source. Her mother had recently died, and Light described carrying an unspoken promise to her: to keep going, not quit, and see the effort through to the end.
TLC’s own episode summary describes the same turning point. A family tragedy spurs her to become more mobile, starting with getting out of her bedroom.
She was frank that outsiders might shrug at the goal. A few steps out of her room, she said, might not look like much to some people, “but this is a huge challenge for me.”
Where Chitoka Light’s story went next
The living room was not the end of the line. Later in the first season, Light tried to walk outside for the first time in years. In another episode she pushed herself further than ever before, surprising even her doctor. The season built toward the day she had been working toward since that first 10-second stand: her surgery.
TLC renewed Family By the Ton for a second season in May 2018, after the six-episode first run. By then, the cousins had all had surgery and made major progress.
Season two, which ran into March 2019, was no victory lap. The family hit a rough patch once the early weight-loss momentum faded, and Light worked to get back on track. One of her last storylines on the show centered on losing enough weight to be approved for skin-tightening surgery.
