Kicking off Season 7 of My 600-lbs Life was Octavia Nichelle, also known as Octavia Gahagans, a native of Kansas City, Missouri. In Episode 1, we met Octavia, who weighed 692 pounds at the time of her visit to “Dr. Now’s” office in Houston. Like many other participants on My 600-lbs Life, Octavia’s weight negatively impacted her quality of life. She alleged that all of this started when she was molested by her stepfather at a young age.
Octavia also claimed that her stepfather was abusive towards her mother, which drove Octavia to find solace in binge eating. By the time she was 20, she weighed roughly 500 pounds. At the age of 25, Octavia lost her mother and was forced to take care of her younger sister alone.
When she signed on to Dr. Nowzaradan’s program, Octavia weighed 692 pounds, which led to serious issues with mobility. She stayed committed to Dr. Now’s limited diet and exercise regime, then after bariatric surgery, continued to deploy a healthy lifestyle. Whereas most weight-loss surgery candidates suffer a relapse shortly after, Octavia eventually lost around 230 pounds.
This would take her weight down to around 450-ish pounds. Octavia currently runs a Facebook page called “The Life of Octavia,” where she updates her followers as to the goings-on in her everyday life since her appearance on the TLC’s reality TV show.
Octavia as a social media superstar
As of September 2023, Octavia has 11.3K followers on Instagram and her Facebook page has 12K followers. Ever since her time on My 600-lbs Life, which was back in 2019, Octavia has elected to remain in Houston permanently to run a small business named Chains and Crayons, which allows her to sell custom-made jewelry.
She will often post motivational quotes to encourage others on their own weight-loss journeys. In October 2022, she shared numerous pictures that showed her sister Desire getting her Bachelor of Science degree in Health Administration.
Fans of My 600-lbs Life continuously shower Octavia and her family with an abundance of praise, especially when any of them reach a big milestone in life, such as Desire’s graduation.