"Maybe I felt that I deserved a reward" — The 6000 lb Diaries with Dr. Now star Sam explains why his weight loss slowed down

The 6000 lb Diaries With Dr. Now season 1 episode 8 premiered on Lifetime on June 30, 2025. The episode followed Sam’s journey as he began at 665 pounds, doing his best to reclaim a normal life with his wife and son.

In order to qualify for weight loss surgery, Dr. Younan Nowzaradan gave Sam a goal of losing 70 pounds in two months. However, when Sam returned to the office for a follow-up, he had only lost 30 pounds.

The doctor expressed some disappointment in Sam’s progress, noting that he had shown promising signs in the beginning. He confronted the patient about the same and asked why his progress slowed down in the second month.

The 6000 lb Diaries with Dr. Now contestant explained that after losing some weight, he got more focused on his main goal of going out to dinner with his wife. He felt that he deserved a reward for such hard work, and eating chocolate, a burger, and pizza felt "deserved" to him.

"I cut back and I dropped a lot of weight, but I was, like, more focused on the goal about going out with dinner with my wife. And I did that. And I think maybe I felt that I deserved a reward. I earned the chocolate or I earned the burger. I earned the pizza," he shared.

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The 6000 lb Diaries With Dr. Now star Sam's weight loss journey on the show explored

The 6000 lb Diaries With Dr. Now episode 6 featured Sam, who decided to change his life by starting his weight loss journey. Dr. Now asked him to drop 70 pounds in two months before they could go through with the surgery. However, he failed to reach his goal and was only able to lose 30 pounds.

Sam knew Dr. Now would be disappointed with his progress, and he was. During the follow-up, the doctor asked Sam what changes he had made to his eating habits. The 6000 lb Diaries With Dr. Now contestant shared that initially, he was doing very good—going to the gym five days a week, and also cutting back on his eating habits.

However, after losing some weight, he began to feel that he deserved a reward for his hard work and reverted to some of his old habits. Sam admitted that he had a "bit of a backslide", but he promised to get back to the progress that he had made.

Dr. Now later pointed out to his patient that he also hadn't followed up with his therapist and hadn't reached the target they had set for him. When he asked Sam what had happened, he reasoned that he was more focused on his family and felt that he was doing all right.

"I don't doubt that Sam may have more progress in the first month than he has now. But backsliding so soon is very concerning for me. It's not just about the amount of progress he needs to make, but consistently making the progress for just a while, that is what I need to see before I'm confident that he's ready for weight loss surgery," Dr. Now reacted in his confessional.

Later in the episode, after falling short of his weight loss goal, Sam said that he came back home determined not to make that same mistake twice. He admitted that he had a problem getting comfortable and slipping back into his old habits, so he said he had been 100% consistent with the diet.

"I also took to heart the importance of what Dr. Now said, and that's the importance of therapy. So I did the therapy goal and shared the three hardest cases, and I'm surprised how good it felt," The 6000 lb Diaries with Dr. Now contestant added.

In the end, he promised to continue working hard until he reached his ultimate goal of having a normal life with his wife and son.

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The 6000 lb Diaries With Dr. Now season 1 episodes premiere every Monday on Lifetime.