Today we’d like to introduce you to MC Solomon.
MC, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I am a 20-year-old overweight singer with a dream, born and raised in Dallas, Texas. I pray I inspire other people, whether that be through my music or in my life. I have struggled with weight my whole entire life. I’ve been through it all: bullying, counseling, nutrition classes, fat camps, the newest fads, and even the Lap Band. But NOTHING has ever worked. Why you ask?
I was never ready.
This past year, I’ve had many struggles with my Lap Band. I finally came to terms that I needed to have it removed. While in the process of figuring that out, I began to learn more and more about the gastric bypass. I wondered what made it so successful. I followed many accounts daily, waking up and going through hundreds of social media platforms to find out how it was so successful and what the downsides were.
These past three months have been the hardest of my entire life. I was studying abroad through Berklee College of Music in Valencia. The original plan was to go back to Spain and live with my best friend, studying, traveling around the world, kicking butt in school, and having a great time. I firmly believe that God had bigger and better plans for me. Two days before my flight was leaving for Spain, I met with Dr. Davis, a brilliant gastric bypass surgeon from Baylor University Medical Center. After that meeting, it was as if the stars finally aligned. I now fully understood what I had to do. God was giving me a second chance at life.
I have stayed home this semester and decided that I am getting the gastric bypass. The reason this is different from any other time is, that this time, i’m not changing because of someone else. I’m not changing to feel happier, or to change my physical appreance. Yet, I’m only bettering myself. I am going on a life long journey, to figure out who I am.
People frequently ask me who are you? And I’ve come to terms with the truth… which is, I don’t entirely know yet. I know that I am MC, I’m not changing who I am, but I want to go on this journey to find out more about myself and more of who I am becoming.
I want to be healthy: mentally, physically, and emotionally. I want to be motivated and finally I can say that I am. For the first time in my entire life, I can honestly say I’m happy. I’m genuinely happy, proud of my journey and so excited for my future. I know it is going to be very hard, but life isn’t easy.
I have gone through many many tests, met with psychologists and nutritionists. As opposed to the lapband, I am very prepared for this. During the past two weeks, I have been on a liquid diet (hence the protein shake video) and have lost 21 lbs.
I hope that we can all go on this journey together. I don’t want this to be a one-day blog. The one thing that would’ve helped me this past is to have realized that I am not alone. By doing this blog I will keep myself accountable and hopefully inspire those around me. I will be releasing more music, along with many videos on Instagram and Facebook. I promise to document this entire journey so that we could not only see this together but in the end be the best we can. We all have our own issues, so let’s come together as one and figure out how to solve them.
Throughout these few months, I have learned a lot. My favorite realization: I am writing a book. I am writing my own book and will continue to do so until I die. Today is the first page of a brand new exciting chapter. I am sure there will be bumps in the road, and tons and trials and errors, but without making mistakes, we will never learn to succeed. As my mother reminds me every day, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” Let’s ALL choose to LIVE today and continue to write our book.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road to becoming a healthier and better me has been anything but easy. I have had to work very hard to overcome bullying, and with the route of gastric bypass, I have had to overcome MANY haters, including hate from best friends. Going through any journey, and overcoming any addiction will be difficult. My first bullying encounter began when I was in the 6th grade. My house was “tp”ed and the boys that rolled me decided to write “FAT ASS” in MASSIVE letters on my front walk way with shaving cream. Little did I know, then that those words not only physically would stain my sidewalk for 7 years, but would also emotionally scar my heart. After middle school, I transferred to HPHS. There, I was extremely bullied.
At the age of 14, I felt like I had hit the lowest point in my life. The summer before 9th grade I lost 60lbs, at Fat Camp. I walked into HP confident, and sadly and quickly all of my confidence was thrown away. I started to get letters, emails, and even texts, reading, “your mom named you MC after McDonald’s.” “You wouldn’t have lost weight at the holocaust.” One day, I even walked into my theater class and someone in the class had turned in a paper with my name on it for a character analysis. The assignment was to pick someone from TV that we believed related to us, to my own disbelief, someone had turned an assignment as me saying I was most like“Fat Albert”. The paper had listed 10 reasons why I was just like that character. As if it couldn’t have gotten worse, I began to have my books and binders stolen, and placed back into my locker with “fatty” “ugly hippo” “whale lard” “hideous” and more – smeared, and smothered across nearly every page. I felt like dying. I felt like giving up. My mom changed my life. She really saved me. She would take me out almost everyday at lunch and take me to go do something fun, whether that had been going to Harry Hines and buying beads to make jewelry, to even going to eat at Zoe’s and listening to me talk and ramble on, she was/ is amazing.
Later that year, I transferred for my sophomore year into Booker T. Going to Booker T. changed my life because it made me 100000% sure that I was meant to perform, and share my story with other people through my music. I was blessed enough to have performed with Darius Rucker, Aloe Blacc, and Foreigner at The Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium, Gexa Energy Pavilion and even had the chance to sing at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Performing and music kept me focused, it kept me sane. Over the years, my weight kept packing on. While I did have my music, I still struggled to find myself, I was not like anyone else, and that really bothered me. After high school I went to Berklee College of Music and going into my freshman year had lost 70 lbs by eating healthy, and working out. I was doing so well, and then of course, something happened. I tore my meniscus. I had to go to 8 months of physical therapy, and finally had knee surgery. Knee surgery reallllllly set me back. I got back to Boston and on crutches was shoved down the stairs, “You are going to slow” he said. Once again, visuals of HP flooded my head, and I started to feel myself giving up. I went off to Spain in the fall of 2016 to get out of the mess I felt like I was in. I met my BEST friends, Jackie, Abby, and Sierra, and finally felt like I had a voice again. My best friends, teachers, and school director Clara Barbera made sure I felt so at peace, and that with all of my knee problems, I was healthy and okay. The fall semester at Berklee Valencia impacted me heavily, I feel like that semester was when I finally decided to grow up. I came home in January and remember sitting in my seat and seeing my stomach pushed against the wheel. I freaked.
At that point in my life, I weighed 331lbs. and FINALLY, I knew, I knew, it was time. It was my time to make the change. I had the gastric bypass March 29th, 2017. March 30th – the day I was supposed to be released, I could not drink water. I physically was unable to move more than 3-4 steps and did not want anyone to touch me. That day came and went, and the following day I started to throw up blood. Soon after, we started to do tests to figure out what was going on, and by April 3rd, I was undergoing YET another surgery. I had a very life-threatening blood clot. My doctor said it was the biggest one he had seen, and it was the size of a deflated football. Dr. Davis saved my life.
Two weeks later, I was re-hospitalized for bad complications. Long story short, by month two I was finally healthy. I then began to post about my journey, and I posted my first ever dancing video. I was so proud of myself. I started to see amazing comments and was realizing that not only was I able to change my life, but more than anything I was able to help and inspire others to change theirs. Two days after the post, I received my first negative text about my journey. It tore me to pieces, not only because of the message that I got but because it was from a close friend telling me that I looked stupid. It took a while, some much-needed self- love, and help from Dr. Mell, but I finally I learned to brush it off. I spent the summer at Septien, singing, dancing, and finishing my first single with my incredible producer, and co-writer Remington Rafael, and with help from Mike Manning, and Linda Septien, got more inspiration to keep writing. 8 Months flew by and before I knew it, I was almost 2 times the size smaller than I had been in March. I posted my first BIG transformation picture, and for the first time ever, it blew up.
Within one night, my picture had over 8,000 likes and was on the top of the explorer page. It was reposted by Fitandfiesty, and other incredible transformation pages, and even featured on The Daily Mail. I received hate on that picture too, but I finally was at a point where I believed I could laugh it off. January 18th, I opened my Instagram and saw a post. A post that was the most hurtful, horribly evil post you have EVER read.. about ME… and my transformation. “She paid money to lose the weight and pays for her followers and likes” There was obviously much more, but this post killed me. I failed to mention, this post was written by a dear friend. It broke my heart. I cried for a while, and could not figure out the answer. I was at a loss for words, I didn’t know how to react, and it was at that moment that I thought back on my journey, and accidentally stumbled upon my notebook.
“Why am I making a change??
For ME.”
“Why am I going about the name MClivinit?
I am MC, and this journey is mine. I am going to be living my life to figure out how to be the best me that I can be. Who is MC- well I don’t know yet. I need to live my life and figure it out. I want to help and inspire other people, but in order to do that I must love myself.”
Reading back on that one again reaffirmed how much this journey meant to me. For the first time in my life, when I decided to have the gastric bypass, I was the one making a change. I was not losing weight to look prettier, or for someone else, rather be healthy, to find myself, and to finally get healthy for myself so that I could help other people.
The truth about my bullying over the years: It HURTS, it has been horrible, it has nearly killed me..but I am not dead yet. I am living. Let’s be really honest.. we have ALL said things that we have not meant to say. We have all talked badly about someone we love, and someone we have never met because we are not perfect. Does that make it okay? NO, but let’s learn from our mistakes. I have learned sometimes, people say things because they are going through something we will never understand, they might have just had a bad day, and even worse.. (shocker) they might just not like you. Everyone has an opinion, no right, no wrong, but your opinion of yourself is what matters. If what someone is saying about you is true, and it is bad, change it. If it is not true, then believe in yourself, and keep loving yourself, YOU are on the right track. To the people that have bullied me, and challenged me – Thank you. To those that have supported me – Thank you. To those that love me – Thank you.
One year and almost 2 months later from surgery, I have lost 150lbs, gained a ton of insight on how to love myself, and those around me, and most importantly never forget why I am doing this.
Please tell us about MCLIVINIT.
What do I do? I try to show people what it is like to be vulnerable, open, and to LIVE your life fully.
Who am I? I am MC, I grew up in Dallas, and began singing and performing at the age of 5.
Growing up, I was always told I would never make it in the music industry, and NOT because of lack of talent, yet for the sheer fact that I was a CHUNK. My life revolved around food, family, and music. While there was more of me to love, and I had amazing support and love from my family, I grew up hiding my pain of being heavy by eating, and acting like I was someone I wasn’t.
My slogan used to be: an overweight singer with the dream of inspiring others with her story. As the beginning of last year began, I remember looking down at my stomach and realizing, I was being suffocated by a donut of fat, and it was not only emotionally killing me, BUT physically killing me. I was unhealthy.; I didn’t know where to turn, but at that moment, I knew, it was time to make a change. This change was a change that FINALLY I decided to make by myself. After 3 months of many many doctor appointments, I finally passed the tests and had gastric bypass surgery. My motto went from overweight singer too, a singer with a dream of inspiring others with my story, through my music.
Growing up I struggled with bullying, REALLY bad bullying. I struggled with finding myself. I always pretended to be someone I wasn’t, I was scared. I was worried about what other people would think about the real me. When I would be myself, many people wouldn’t care. People would just judge me by the 331lbs. that I weighed. It was very difficult. I am known now for not only being a singer, for being MCLIVINIT. I have always wanted to share my music with other people, but now, I can finally share my music with a true story and meaning behind it. I have lost 150lbs in the past year and three months. Since the day I had gastric bypass surgery, I have posted my TRUE honest and at times painful journey. I know, there are SO many weight-loss social media accounts, and many people that blog about their journey. What sets me apart from them? While I could be posting the best pictures, the most easy and perfectly edited workout videos, and amazing meal preps, I chose to show people the reality of a journey. I try to bond with all ages, and people that are overcoming addictions whether that be, a person, drug, and even food, I wanted to show YOU that yes overcoming something is HARD, but you are no longer alone. I chose to post pictures of my extra skin, even though it is VERY hard for me. Posting on my instagram, keeps me accountable for my actions, and helps me realize that I also am not going thru this alone.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would have taken many more before and after pictures. I would have worked out MUCH more than I did so that in the long hall I would have toned muscles, and less skin. I would have written more, i.e.: personal journals, poems, and songs. I would have tried to forgive like I want to be forgiven. I wish that I had learned what I have learned only in the past year, years ago.
Contact Info:
- Website: mclivinit.com
- Phone: 214-533-6608
- Email: marycatherines08@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/mclivinit
- Facebook: facebook.com/mcsolomonmusic
- Twitter: twitter.com/mcsolomonmusic
- Other: youtube.com/mclivinit
Image Credit:
Christina Wood, Holt Haynsworth, MC Solomon, David Solomon, Alison Wood, Lauren Solomon, Jean Phillipe Salon
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