Woman who has to eat 5000 calories a day!

Options
Vailara
Vailara Posts: 2,454 Member
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2288359/The-woman-eats-5-000-calories-DAY-stay-alive-gastric-bypass-surgery-went-horribly-wrong.html

"Most people who undergo weight loss surgery expect to eat less after the operation.

But one desperate woman now has to consume up to 5,000 calories a day in order to stay alive, after the operation left her severely malnourished.

Pub landlady Julie Dunbar, 51, decided to undergo gastric surgery in an attempt to lose weight after tipping the scales at a hefty 20st 7lbs and suffering from a number of illnesses.

But she soon lost more weight than doctors expected and became dangerously malnourished - dropping a worrying 14 and a half stone in just 12 months.

She needed three operations and was even fed through a line in her nose to try and get nutrition into her fragile body.

Ms Dubar, from Leeds, was finally diagnosed a year later with Wernicke Encephalopathy, an illness resulting from severe malnourishment and a lack of vitamins and nutrients.

She now has to eat constantly throughout the day after doctors told her to consume as possible to ensure she gets the right nutrients to stay alive.

She eats a staggering 5,000 calories a day, including a two-egg omelette with 175g of cheese for breakfast, multiple packs of fruit pastels and jelly beans, at least 10 chocolate biscuits and a full main meal of chicken Thai curry, or shepherd's Pie."

Be careful what you wish for! It's like a scary mirror image of dieting! It must be very wearing to have to eat all that food every day, and she's so tiny! I was looking at her big table full of food and thinking that I'd hate to have to make myself eat that EVERY DAY. Cutting calories to lose weight is hard ... but so is the opposite. It's sad that food has become a chore to her rather than a pleasure. I thought this was interesting and I've put it in Motivation and Support because I suppose it gives motivation to cut calories in a more gentle way and avoid surgery.
«1

Replies

  • StheK
    StheK Posts: 443 Member
    Options
    This is a terrible situation. But I have to say that I would have ZERO problem eating 5000 calories a day.
  • Just2Bhappy
    Just2Bhappy Posts: 113 Member
    Options
    In a sick way i'm kinda jealous. I;m always hungry but if I eat more than 1,500 I gain weight. Yes I work out. To be able to eat and actually feel full with out gaining would be a dream come true.
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
    Options
    That's really an interesting article. Thanks for sharing!
  • ThePinkAlligator
    Options
    How utterly awful!!!

    Reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode where the world ends, allowing a bookworm to finally focus on reading - only to have his glasses break.
  • dinosnopro
    dinosnopro Posts: 2,179 Member
    Options
    I eat that much when I bulk......I know how she feels:sad:





    :bigsmile:
  • kikicooks
    kikicooks Posts: 1,079 Member
    Options
    This is a terrible situation. But I have to say that I would have ZERO problem eating 5000 calories a day.

    My thoughts exactly
  • annwyatt69
    annwyatt69 Posts: 727 Member
    Options
    I'd like to know how she can fit 5000 calories into a walnut sized stomach. As far as the malnourishment, yes we deal with that, but that is the reason for the intense regimen of multivitamins, calcium, iron, and B12 every day for the rest of our lives. Sounds to me like Ms. Dunbar had very poor medical care and/or did not follow medical advice. Too many people go into this surgery thinking it is an easy way out. They are more wrong than they will ever know!
  • dbkrantz
    dbkrantz Posts: 138
    Options
    Well, 5000 a day is just not possible, not on the long run at least.

    What I don't understand is that okay, she's mal nourished, but why doesn't she seem to eat a lot of vegetables? And can't anybody give her multi-vitamines or minerals? I know it's not the same but it might help.

    Oh, the dailymail, always finding the weirdest stories!
  • _noob_
    _noob_ Posts: 3,306 Member
    Options
    Well, 5000 a day is just not possible, not on the long run at least.

    I could do that without breaking a sweat...
  • CollegiateGrief
    CollegiateGrief Posts: 552 Member
    Options
    This is a terrible situation. But I have to say that I would have ZERO problem eating 5000 calories a day.

    My thoughts exactly

    It's sad that her health has been compromised. But other than the actual money it would cost, I have to say I would not really mind that problem.
  • _DaniD_
    _DaniD_ Posts: 2,186 Member
    Options
    Well, 5000 a day is just not possible, not on the long run at least.

    :huh:
  • KenosFeoh
    KenosFeoh Posts: 1,837 Member
    Options
    OMG! I'm not sure I could do this. 2500, no sweat, but 5000? I don't think so.
  • TylerJ76
    TylerJ76 Posts: 4,375 Member
    Options
    Well, 5000 a day is just not possible, not on the long run at least.

    Explain?
  • purpleipod
    purpleipod Posts: 1,147 Member
    Options
    The only way I could do that is if I rarely cooked for myself and ate out all the time.
  • SneakyWaff1es
    SneakyWaff1es Posts: 51 Member
    Options
    Well, 5000 a day is just not possible, not on the long run at least.

    I can eat 5000 calories in one sitting.
  • ChrisR0se
    ChrisR0se Posts: 1,855 Member
    Options
    To those claiming 5000 a day isn't possible. ..lol how do you think we got here?? Obviously if it was that hard American would be #1 in obesity.
  • stumblinthrulife
    stumblinthrulife Posts: 2,558 Member
    Options
    For the sake of Americans and other alien species, The Daily Mail is hardly considered a paradigm of journalistic integrity.

    So take the risk of blowing your sodium target and take everything found therein with a hefty pinch of salt.
  • devilwhiterose
    devilwhiterose Posts: 1,157 Member
    Options
    Why can't she drink some high-calorie meal-sub shakes instead of all the food? Might help her bill...?

    That's awful....she looks terrible, I feel bad for her.
  • OneDimSim
    OneDimSim Posts: 188 Member
    Options
    To be Clear on the Surgery performed it was DDS (it was NOT RnY gastric bypass) which is the most severe of them - typically reserved for those in the 50 and above BMI range.

    From the article:

    The operation, a duodenal switch with a bilo-pancreatic diversion, involves part of the stomach being removed, but leaves the valve that controls food drainage to be left intact, making it harder for the body to absorb nutrients.
  • marcuscross104
    marcuscross104 Posts: 57 Member
    Options
    5000 a day?!

    I am not impressed. I used to eat that or more daily by choice. And it was easy!

    Of course, I also at one point weighed 365 pounds!

    LOL