My 600 Pound Life?
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People who weigh that much are retaining gallons and gallons of water. There's no real way for viewers to estimate how much of their weight is excess water and how much isn't.DebTavares wrote: »Just out of curiosity, how many calories would you have to eat per day to maintain 600 lbs?
Their actual body may just need the same calories a 450 pound person needs in order to maintain that 600 pounds.0 -
I'd be interested in this too.DebTavares wrote: »Just out of curiosity, how many calories would you have to eat per day to maintain 600 lbs?
I was watching a show one night and the girl was whinging that it was so hard to sit there and watch her family eat take away and how she wanted to eat what they were eating. My initial though was 'please, if you only ate what they ate you wouldn't be so much fatter'.
But thinking about this, it might be that she cannot eat what they are because her metabolism is low. But still it would have to be over 2000cal. It is not that hard to eat under that.
The denial and the enabling get me though.
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I've heard Dr. N say they were eating anywhere from 6,000-10,000 cal a day. He never seemed to buy it one bit whenever a patient attempted to argue otherwise.0
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Just watched Marla. Wow, that woman was so RUDE! When the physiotherapists came and she refused to even look away from her laptop. Rolling her eyes and sighing, with the people who were trying to help her. Sorry, but she was just a spoiled brat and I don't expect that she will be successful at all.0
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DebTavares wrote: »Just out of curiosity, how many calories would you have to eat per day to maintain 600 lbs?
I would say 6000-7000 daily to maintain, and then another 3500 calories on top of that for each new pound they are gaining.....roughly
Edited to add, on top of all this, most of them are bed ridden, so their daily calorie burn just from living would be pretty low......0 -
People who weigh that much are retaining gallons and gallons of water. There's no real way for viewers to estimate how much of their weight is excess water and how much isn't.DebTavares wrote: »Just out of curiosity, how many calories would you have to eat per day to maintain 600 lbs?
Their actual body may just need the same calories a 450 pound person needs in order to maintain that 600 pounds.
I find it hard to believe that 150 lbs. of any of these people's bodies could be (retained) water, without there being some kind of lethal kidney dysfunction or other serious issue.
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Edema and lymphedema are common symptoms of severe obesity. Some of them lose 100-150 pounds in the first week after surgery, much of which is just water weight from what I understand.
I find it hard to believe that 150 lbs. of any of these people's bodies could be (retained) water, without there being some kind of lethal kidney dysfunction or other serious issue.
People who weigh that much are retaining gallons and gallons of water. There's no real way for viewers to estimate how much of their weight is excess water and how much isn't.DebTavares wrote: »Just out of curiosity, how many calories would you have to eat per day to maintain 600 lbs?
Their actual body may just need the same calories a 450 pound person needs in order to maintain that 600 pounds.
Carol Yager lost 520 pounds in 3 months on a 1200 calorie diet during one hospital stay.0 -
There was one this season who had such terrible lymphatic drainage issues she had to have pneumatic compression therapy even after losing weight. Others have had 60+pounds of soft tissue masses removed from legs, which do have a great deal of fluid.0
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Okay, let's assume, then, that 150 lbs. of excess fluid is common among people in this weight range. So then what we're saying here is that the body does not need to move that bulk (whether it's water or fat), that there are no blood vessels throughout the area, and so on, and therefore, an individual of 600 lbs. is only eating the amount of calories that a 450-lb. person would eat, yet is remaining, overall, 600 lbs.? Because that was the original argument here.
And if that is indeed the argument and if it is decided it's valid, okay then, how many calories would a 450-lb. person need to eat (let's assume a female, 5'5" as a midway point), age, say 35, sedentary (obviously) in order to maintain 450 lbs.? Because again...that was the original question.
Anyone know?
ETA: We should also, generally, assume not maintenance calories, but gaining calories as obviously, the person did not wake up 600 lbs. from a previous night's 120 pounds or whatever. In most of the cases on the show, people say they are not only at the weight they're at but are gaining. They'll give examples: 300 lbs. at age 18, 400 lbs. getting married at age 25, 480 lbs. after pregnancy at age 30, "gave up" and "stopped dieting" a few years later (and then continued to gain from there) and so on. And they often say they're afraid because they can't stop gaining even now. Some will also gain weight during the time Dr. Now has asked them to lose pre-surgery.
Some seem to be very surprised by the numbers on Dr. Now's scale as they stopped weighing at Weight X. They may assume, for example, that they're now 550 lbs. but the scale will say 625 lbs. or whatever. That too shows steady eating over, not at, maintenance all the way on the climb upward and possibly continuing even at starting (on the show) weight.
This obviously isn't true of every single member of the show nor am I saying it has to be indicative of every single person alive who currently weighs 600+ lbs., but it's not been rare on the show, either.0 -
I just plugged in some random data (5'8", female, 40 years old, 600 lbs) and it says it would take about 4k calories to maintain that weight. Which is less than I thought.
I remember Dr. Now mentioning someone had to be eating 6-10k/day but I think that was when the woman gained 17 lbs in a month.0 -
Well, the doctor frequently comments about large blood vessels, but that's not an answer to your question.Okay, let's assume, then, that 150 lbs. of excess fluid is common among people in this weight range. So then what we're saying here is that the body does not need to move that bulk (whether it's water or fat), that there are no blood vessels throughout the area, and so on, and therefore, an individual of 600 lbs. is only eating the amount of calories that a 450-lb. person would eat, yet is remaining, overall, 600 lbs.? Because that was the original argument here.
And if that is indeed the argument and if it is decided it's valid, okay then, how many calories would a 450-lb. person need to eat (let's assume a female, 5'5" as a midway point) in order to maintain 450 lbs.? Because again...that was the original question.
Anyone know?
I ran it through a TDEE calculator with a 35 year old woman who is 5 feet 6 inches tall and little or no exercise. At 450 pounds she would need to eat 3307 calories for maintenance and at 600 pounds she would need 4093 calories.0 -
SnuggleSmacks wrote: »Nope. To me, shows like this smack of schadenfreude porn. I can't get entertainment out of the misfortunes of others. Plus, reality TV is the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of television.
This! X 1000.
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DearestWinter wrote: »I just plugged in some random data (5'8", female, 40 years old, 600 lbs) and it says it would take about 4k calories to maintain that weight. Which is less than I thought.
I remember Dr. Now mentioning someone had to be eating 6-10k/day but I think that was when the woman gained 17 lbs in a month.
Well, I edited above, should not do that as people may be posting in the meantime, but...many of these individuals report a continued gain, so the person may be eating over maintenance anyway. I didn't actually consider that when I was initially asking the question.
Thanks for the info.
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Lourdesong wrote: »Lourdesong wrote: »ladybarometer wrote: »I tried to watch it. Not only was it scary to me, but I feel like it would be an easy place to get to if you didn't get things under control as soon as you admitted that you have a problem with addiction to food. From what I've seen, those folks are surrounded with unsupportive family and friends, and deep psychological issues WAY beyond what would just be weight related. The episode I was watching, the husband was over endulging and rubbing the joy in the 600+ pound wife's face. He like her obese, so he wanted her to stay that way - that is so selfish. No matter how sick you are, or how tired you are of being a certain size, it is really tough to resist temptation when someone is literally waving it in your face and telling you how awesome it is to eat so freely. It actually made me realize that there are several ways and reasons that these people got to the weight that they are at. I feel almost like it's more of a mental illness that needs to be treated, rather than attacking the weight first. Like I said, there seem to be much deeper issues with the people this show document and without curing the cause, you can't cure the symptom.
This seems like a chicken/egg problem. And I don't see how anyone could think it's a smart idea to go couch in therapy instead of losing hundreds of pounds that is physically killing a person.
eta: esp when there's not much evidence that therapy has any impact on weight loss being successful.
Basically if someone gained a bunch of weight because they were kidnapped, then the idea is to help them deal with that. Not just hey, here's a smaller stomach, especially since all they have to do is eat a little bit of food all day and could still not lose weight
Wasn't she enormous at that time, as well? Regardless, this poster was talking about Zsalynn's (sp?) story, and all of her problems could very feasibly be due to her weight, not her weight is due to her problems. She reeled in her crappy husband on a fat fetish website and she was part of some fat pride crowd. And she didn't get the strength to kick the fetishist she was married to to the curb until she changed her momentum towards losing pounds instead of piling them on.
As well, I keep seeing this idea that people need to go get their head examined and sort through issues BEFORE they do anything about their weight problem, and that ONLY THEN can they shed pounds. The last thing people need is another reason to fart around, especially one that sort of sounds legitimate like working with mental health professionals. I haven't seen anyone who is so insane yet where their mental health ought to take precedence over their obesity problem. It's stupid.
No reason why dealing with the mental issues couldn't be concurrent with their weight loss efforts. I think what's stupid is playing whack a mole with their life because they're ignoring the fact that people lose and gain weight ALL THE TIME. It's just like when these folks would rather take a pill or 80, or walk around all day with oxygen. They're not fixing the real cause of their issue, that is the 100-600 lbs of excess weight. Heck some of the participants have had weight loss surgery before and are looking for this intervention again. I just don't think there's anything remotely normal about eating your way to 600 lbs, especially considering that obesity related difficulties would have started way beyond that point. Wasting time with a therapist for two weeks or so at the start of the process as a check box item to facilitate long term success seems like a no brainer to me. Or at least offer them that option and have them decline it
Personally I don't see what the rush is. I'd rather spend a little more time and do it right, than gloss over important details and risk being right back where you started.
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Oh, also: let's keep in mind that not all the people depicted in the show are 600 lbs. Marla was something like 780 lbs., wasn't she? So even giving the benefit of a doubt of the extreme of 150 lbs. edema as suggested here, she'd be (per the suggestion here as well) eating at maintenance (assuming she wasn't continuing to gain) for 630 lbs...not 450.0
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Couldn't they weigh them on some sort of suspension device? They said they had no starting weight for Marla because she wouldn't stand up
I liked the fact that she was exercising but I think she might need some heavier weights! also, more getting up... 0 -
It would be so easy to eat that many calories if you were bed-bound and found comfort in food.Oh, also: let's keep in mind that not all the people depicted in the show are 600 lbs. Marla was something like 780 lbs., wasn't she? So even giving the benefit of a doubt of the extreme of 150 lbs. edema as suggested here, she'd be (per the suggestion here as well) eating at maintenance (assuming she wasn't continuing to gain) for 630 lbs...not 450.
A 6-piece chicken strip box from DQ has 1260 calories just in that little box. It might take 2 or 3 of those boxes to fill the enlarged stomach of a super obese person who's not trying to lose weight.
If all you have to do all day is watch TV and eat fried food, I can easily see getting 6K to 10K calories a day.0 -
Damn. I don't do the DQ six piece, but the four piece, Yep! Wonder if this will turn me off it any
I also thought the chicken strip, bread, and sauce of your choosing snack looked delicious. Those chik Fil a sandwiches aren't much different than this
3000-4000 calories, wow. I've definitely done this. See that's another thing. Many people aren't eating the same amount everyday. So are some days like 8-10000 calories, and others more like 2-3000 and the whole thing just averages out?0 -
Yes I was surprised at how low it was for maintenance. I've certainly had days (usually involving nachos) where I've hit 3k. A bit scary to think about.0
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Couldn't they weigh them on some sort of suspension device? They said they had no starting weight for Marla because she wouldn't stand up
I wondered that too. I know they had a suspension scale at one point because they weighed somebody with it last season. Maybe they thought she was too heavy even for that.
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