Mayra Rosales: TLC’s ‘Half-Ton Killer?’ On How Much Weight She’s Lost Now

On Wednesday night, TLC aired the documentary, “Half-Ton Killer?” which chronicled Mayra Rosales who, at over 1,000 pounds, falsely confessed to accidentally crushing her almost two-year-old nephew.

The documentary pulled no punches, and when Access Hollywood visited Mayra at her home base, she let Access know what she thought of the portrayal.

“When I saw that documentary, I cried the whole, the whole time I was watching it,” she said.

“They could not take me to the hospital in a regular ambulance,” she continued of how she got out of her house due to her weight at the time, 1000-pounds. “I mean… transported in a U-Haul.”

The humiliation of having to be cut out of her house and transported by 10 men ultimately saved her life.

Mayra, 31, is a fraction of the size she once was. She has lost 600 pounds, going from over 1,000 pounds, to 400.

“I’m learning to socialize again,” she said. “Now that I’m able to transfer to a wheelchair and I can go out, I can take a shower, and I’m able to go outside and enjoy a sunset, which I couldn’t do. Before, I was just in one position, all day, every day… I was alive before, but I didn’t have a life and now I do.”

Still far from her ultimate weight goal, Mayra resides inside a Houston-area nursing home where her diet is strictly monitored.

She wasn’t comfortable showing Access the transformation of her legs underneath her blanket, but there is a dramatic difference from when the documentary was shot.

“Now you can see where my legs, my knees [are],” she said. ”Before you could not [tell] if it was knees or pillow [beneath the blanket]. The skin before was stretched and now it’s loose skin… So it’s very, very different.”

Mayra did explain how she gained the weight in the first place.

“My family, we are, we’ve always been, you know, chubby,” she said. “My sisters and my mom [are] in the 200s, 220. I was too, and I noticed I began gaining weight, getting bigger. I didn’t know back then it was my thyroid and from the thyroid it got so big [that] I developed lymphedema, the swelling of your limbs.”

Since shooting TLC’s “Half-Ton Killer?” Mayra has had two surgeries to treat the massive growths on her legs, and through diet and exercise, she’s lost 600 pounds.

“It’s [a] high protein, low carb diet and steamed vegetables, no grease,” she explained. “I’m eating healthy food and everything is measured.”

Mayra also does 1-2 hours of physical therapy a day, which has resulted in her ability to walk again.

“I think it’s about 36 steps,” she said of how far she can go. “I began with two, three steps. Now I’m walking like half the hall, and my goal is to walk with no support.”

Once her body gets stronger and leaner, she will also undergo gastric bypass surgery. The goal is also to return home as an independent woman, into the arms of her husband, Bernie. As seen on the documentary, he spent years tending to her every need while she was in a state of immobility.

Due to his immigration status, he has been unable to visit her at the nursing home.

“We talk every night,” she said. “Even though he’s not with me at the moment, he’s still helping me.”

And she told us there is no resentment toward her sister, Jaime Rosales, who urged Mayra to take the blame for her nephew’s death, by falsely claiming she rolled on top of him.

“I did receive a letter and I answered her,” Mayra said of her sister, who is now in prison, for causing injury to a child. “We love each other. There’s no grudges, I don’t resent nothing,” she said. “It’s worth all that I’ve been through if I can help at least just one person, you know, they’re going through the same situation.”