Tammy Slaton is celebrating a major milestone in her weight loss journey.
In an exclusive PEOPLE clip from Tuesday’s episode 1000 lbs. SistersThe 37-year-old is at home with her brother Chris when he suggests Tammy try sitting in the front seat of the car now that she’s lost so much weight.
“We’re going to try and put you in the front seat today, are you up for it?” Chris asks.
“Yes,” he reluctantly answers. “I’m just not sure I’ll be able to… fit between the door and the console.”
“The last time I sat in the front, it was probably 15 or 20 years ago. But I’m willing to give it a shot and see how it goes,” says Tammy.
Chris then jokes that he’s going to “squish” her in the car and that they’re good as long as the door can be closed. Tammy hesitantly goes outside and uses her walker to get to the car. Her attitude completely changes when she can sit in the front seat and fasten her seat belt.
Tammy Slaton.
Diana King
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“I did it!” she says with a big smile.
“When Tammy actually realizes that she’s in the chair and she’s ready and the door can be closed, you can tell that the little battle she just had made her feel great, because even at 16 she couldn’t sit in the front seat buckled in,” Chris says in the recording. “And now it’s like Gray Poupon, honey!”
“Sitting in the front seat, it’s like a whole new world,” adds Tammy. “You experience everything from a different point of view. Instead of being the second person who saw things, you are the first person,” she said with a laugh.
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Tammy Slaton.
Diana King
Tammy recently opened up about that accomplishment—and several other milestones she’s accomplished after shedding 440 lbs., down from her peak weight of 725 lbs. She had bariatric surgery in July 2022 and now weighs 285 lbs.
“One of the big changes I’ve gone through this year is probably a small one for most people,” she tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “But for me it was huge.”
“Just to be able to walk without a walker or to be pushed by a wheelchair, and there is no oxygen. I don’t even sleep with him at night anymore,” Tammy boasts. “Back then you could fit in a regular vehicle, the front seat, and then the belt buckle, and now you don’t need to use an extender. So just what seems insignificant to some people is huge to me.”
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dr. Eric Smith, medical director of the Kentucky Bariatric Institute, has treated Tammy throughout her weight loss journey and even recalls the moment she told him she could buckle up in the car.
She admits she wants Tammy to continue to celebrate those victories that aren’t on the scale, rather than the number on the scale.
“I remember the first time I got a picture she sent me of her riding in the front seat of a car with a seat belt on, things we can take for granted,” Smith tells PEOPLE. “It was a huge achievement for her to come to my office in the back of a van with the seats removed because that was the only way they could transport her.”
“As for Tammy, I told her not to get so caught up in the number. Enjoy the ride there. I want her to enjoy what we call those victories without scale, being able to be more mobile on her own,” he says. “I’m proud of her for those weight or number goals, but what I’m most proud of are the goals she’s achieving to actually live a healthier and happier life.”
For more on Tammy Slaton, pick up this week’s issue on stands Friday.
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Source: HIS Education