Many of us feel fortunate to have a strong bond with our mother. But how would it feel if your mom left you as a child and never returned? In this episode of True Life, you'll meet two young people who are hoping to reconnect with the mothers who abandoned them long ago.
Debra was taken away from her drug addicted mom and put into foster care when she was five. Now Debra's graduating from college and wants her mother to be present when she receives her diploma. Although her sister and friends are not completely behind the idea, Debra makes the drive from Sacramento to San Bernardino. It takes several days of combing the streets, motels, and shelters her mother has been seen at but Debra finally finds her mom at a motel room paid for by her uncle. Although she's hesitant to spend time with Debra and tries to get out of it, Debra is eventually able to take her mom out clothes shopping and back to her hotel for some bonding. Unfortunately, Debra's mom leaves when Debra brings up the idea of rehab. The mother and daughter meet up the next day to go back to Sacramento, but Debra's mom decides to stay where she is. She promises to attend Debra's graduation but doesn't show up. Still, Debra is happy to be surrounded by friends and family and claims she'll never give up on her mother.
Richard hasn't seen his mother since his parents divorced when he was a toddler. Although happy living with his dad, Richard yearns to know why his mom has chosen to stay out of his life. Knowing his dad won't like the idea, Richard attempts to track down his mom's number on the internet but comes up empty-handed. His father agrees to help but worries that Richard will be disappointed by his mother. After his dad puts him in touch with his uncle, Richard is finally able to get a real phone number for his mom. They do talk on the phone, but Richard's mom isn't terribly enthusiastic about the idea of him coming out to visit her. She cancels shortly before Richard's scheduled to fly to Florida and see her and then stops answering Richard's calls. Richard decides to wait a few months before reaching out to her again in hopes that his mom will be more receptive in the future.
What happens when you fall in love with someone you don't trust -- and every moment spent apart or every phone call that goes unanswered is cause for alarm? In this episode of True Life you'll meet two young couples whose mistrustful relationships have become so toxic that each day they spend together may be the last one.
Julie and Andrew are very much in love but also very skeptical of the other's fidelity. Now Julie's going to Mexico without Andrew and both are afraid that the other will cheat while she's away. Will this lack of faith lead to their undoing? Or will they learn to trust each other before it's too late?
High school sweethearts Shawny and Nikki are planning on getting an apartment together. But Nikki suspects Shawny is lying about looking for a job and about what he's doing at night when he disappears with his friends. Will Nikki decide to trust Shawny and move in with him? Or will she get fed up with his questionable behavior and move on?
They live in a state of constant paranoia. Can their relationships hold up? Find out next on True Life: I Don't Trust my Partner.
What if every time you shed unwanted pounds, you gained them right back? That's the frustrating reality for two-thirds of us who go on diets every year. On this episode of True Life we meet two young people with long histories of yo-yo dieting, who are doing whatever they can to lose weight and keep it off for good.
Morbidly obese Adam was so desperate to drop one hundred and forty pounds that he quit his job and school, isolated himself from family and friends and limited his food intake to four hundred calories per day. After meeting his goal weight, Adam succumbs to the urge to binge and consumes more calories in one sitting than he normally consumes in two weeks. Determined to find a way to be healthy and normal again, Adam goes out with his friends and family for the first time in six months. Unfortunately, a night of drinking leads to Adam binging once again and hoping it will be his last. He decides the best way to break the cycle is to stop his starvation and binging lifestyle. Hoping to make it a habit, Adam goes to lunch with his sister and then buys a normal amount of groceries and hopes for the best. Once again, he falls back to gorging then into starvation mode to get himself under two hundred pounds before heading to a resort in Mexico for his sister's wedding. Seeing him for the first time, Adam's mom is thrilled by how good he looks, but encourages him to take advantage of the all-inclusive resort they've paid for. When Adam takes her up on the offer, he ends up gaining eleven pounds in just three days and realizes that starving himself is equally damaging to his health.
Kinsey lost thirty pounds last summer by following a fad diet that she found on the internet, but gained all the weight back by winter. Now she's dieting again, but can't seem to stop giving into temptation. With her self-esteem at an all time low, Kinsey begins seeing a dietician to help her learn how to eat healthily, lose weight and keep it off. However, after five weeks on the plan, Kinsey gets frustrated because she's not losing weight fast enough. She decides to switch to the NutriSystem diet with her mom, but goes off it for a Valentine's Day binge with her boyfriend. Before heading to Spring Break, Kinsey begins exercising excessively and taking diet and water pills to help her drop the extra weight. Thrilled that she's dropped below one hundred and eighty pounds before leaving for her trip, Kinsey thinks that if she keeps it up she can be at one hundred and seventy by time she returns. Too bad she's going to stay with her grandmother and aunt, who love to cook delicious but fattening meals that Kinsey has troubles resisting. After choosing the family meal instead of her NutriSystem twice, Kinsey's aunt confesses the she feels bad for tempting Kinsey and that she wishes she had made efforts to lose weight when she was younger instead of succumbing to obesity. But she also warns Kinsey against dieting and exercising so extremely, otherwise she'll always be miserable. Kinsey vows to stop yo-yo dieting and just focus on being healthy, period.
