Is my friend on steroids?
thelostbreed02
Posts: 87 Member
So I'm afraid to ask my friend because she was very obese/chunky before and then I didnt see her for like nearly a year, maybe 3/4 of a year but anyways she came back and she looked as skinny as the average Korean or Japanese woman. Later I found out she went super low on calorie deficits and ate very little. However now, she eats out almost every day, every meal maybe and it seems like she eats wayyy more than even before she was fat!! Every Instagram story for her updates like 6 times per day with 6 different big course meals. I'm talking cheesecake factory meals with an extra cheesecake, buffets, barbeque and more!
I'm afraid to ask if shes on some drugs or steroids that turns food into nothing? Is there even a drug that does that? Or is it something else that basically made her from fat and endomorph to a hardgainer/ectomorph?
I'm afraid to ask if shes on some drugs or steroids that turns food into nothing? Is there even a drug that does that? Or is it something else that basically made her from fat and endomorph to a hardgainer/ectomorph?
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Replies
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Are you watching her eat the food or just seeing it on instagram? It's not uncommon for food instagrammers to not actually eat the food they post.23
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Isn't there some Instagram or YouTube thing where people record themselves eating obscene amounts of food to entertain other people?
I wonder if it's that2 -
Steroids dont do that.27
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I think you're confused as to what steroids do. Steroids to not increase your metabolic capacity (how many calories you burn daily). What steroids do is they actually shorten the recovery time between heavy lifting, allowing you to train harder and more frequently which allows your muscles to grow larger, but it still requires you do the work in the gym.13
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Here's my guess:
1. She probably doesn't eat as much as you think. If she was actually eating 6 meals a day that were 2000 plus calories, no amount fo exercise, illegal diet pills, whatever, would keep her weight off. She is probably eating a lot less than you think.
2. She is probably more active now than she was when she was obese, so she has a higher TDEE from exercise which allows her to eat more than she used to and still maintain her weight.
This is not the first post I've seen from you regarding the issues of steriods, which has me concerned. You do not need any special substances to lose weight or get in shape. You just need a diet with a reasonable calorie deficit, exercise (not for weight loss, but for fitness goals if you have them), and most importantly, patience. I am not sure if you have the first two, but it seems like you may be lacking the last. This is a slow process. I have lost 33 pounds and greatly improved my fitness level/all around look, but it's taken 8 1/2 months to do that. It didn't happen overnight and I didn't starve myself or take any supplements to do it. Just the three things I've mentioned.34 -
Does this friend really exist or are you making assumptions about people online in the hopes that you'll find some magic method so you can do it yourself?23
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She could be photographing the food, but not eating it all. She could be bulimic, i.e., eating it and making herself throw up before most of it was digested (which would be a very, very unhealthy, very dangerous thing, so we'll hope it's not that). She could actually be regaining some weight, and it just isn't obvious yet. You don't know.
About the only (reasonably healthy) thing that will let a person eat lots, and not gain, would be doing lots of endurance exercise, and making it a point to move as much as possible in daily life. Even then, there's a limit someplace.
There is no pill or supplement or anything like that, that would let a person eat massive amounts, way beyond their calorie expenditure from daily life + exercise, and avoid gaining weight. If there were such a substance or strategy, everyone would do it. The people who know the strategy or sell the drug/supplement would be advertising it, and making lots of money (even if the thing were dangerous or illegal). (There are lots of "weight loss solutions" advertised that demonstrably don't work, and the people selling them make lots of money despite that.)
Other than possibly being concerned that your friend is doing something unhealthy, why does it matter? What helps us lose weight and be healthier is focusing on ourselves and our own best strategies, not on other people. I can understand why you'd be interested if you think she has a magical secret, but I'm quite certain she doesn't.
BTW, the whole somatotypes thing (endomorph, ectomorph, etc.) has been debunked: Not a real, science-based thing. It's true that some people have higher or lower calorie expenditures than others, even at the same body size and activity level, but the range is fairly narrow. For such matched people to be more than a low number of hundreds of calories different would be very, very unusual indeed. It's not thousands of calories different, in any practical scenario. Similarly, a few people have noticeably more or less genetic potential to add muscle mass under like condtions, but most people fall in a narrow range of potential. If you read "hardgainer" stories here, very often, a disinclination to eat (forgetting to eat, feeling full fast, having lots of food dislikes so eating less, etc.) can be part of the picture.8 -
A lot can change in a year. You've mentioned a lot about her calorie intake, but what about her calorie output? Is she tall? Did she get surgery? Did she eat the entire meal or save some for later? Does she do a lot of training? The fact is-- you don't know how she maintains her loss.
For example, I work in a office with a lot of ladies. I've lost about 40 pounds overall since I was first became acquainted with them and have a ways to go. They see me eating meals of creamy french soup, gourmet mac and cheese, cornbread casserole, and honey garlic 'chicken' with rice and vegetables. They see me eat cookies, cake, donuts, candy, and pie. It's a rare day that I don't have at least one snack smothered in peanut butter.
These ladies are constantly shocked that I'm losing weight. They don't see the 1+ hours of walking dogs each day, the swimming, going running at 4 am, carefully measuring my food, or making fruit/veggie substitutions in my favorite foods. They don't see me cooking for hours on Sunday to prepare for the week, drinking 3 liters of water a day, or doing squats and pushups every time I go to the bathroom. They don't see anything but my intake and that isn't the whole story. If one of them suggested I was taking drugs to lose weight, I would be hurt and angry.
TL;DR- Be happy for your friend and consider why you would be so willing to assume the worst of her. Use this as a chance for some self-reflection so you can figure out why her success has brought out this side of you. And remember that you don't know how she maintains her loss. Drugs are probably not the reason.16 -
If there was a drug that turned food to nothing, most fat people would be on it. Steroids don't do that anyway. It's possible to be able to eat more when you're then than when you're fat if you drastically increase your activity level, it's also possible to photograph food and not eat it, or have a few bites and be done. Being obsessed with food and updating instagram with food stuff 6 times a day clearly signals something wrong is going on. Food deprivation does that, so she may be slipping into some kind of eating disorder. There is also a possibility that she is rebounding and may put on weight again.7
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HereToLose50 wrote: »Isn't there some Instagram or YouTube thing where people record themselves eating obscene amounts of food to entertain other people?
I wonder if it's that
They're called mukbangs. Done by overweight, obese, and normal weight people. According to Le Google, some are like professional eaters, some purge, for some this is a version of OMAD.0 -
Somatotypes were created by a psychologist in the 1940s in an effort to associate human "temperament types" to his made-up scientific-sounding classification of people based on body size and shape. It was a spectacular failure since it's foundation was in eugenics and proposed you could determine a person's intelligence, morals, ethics, and social value/worth based on how they physically looked. It had zip all to do with weight loss and ease thereof or what one should eat in order to achieve it.14
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If this person is a "friend", why not compliment her and ask for some advice, instead of worrying and being suspicious of her behavior? When I lose weight and am asked for advice, I'm usually honored and willing to tell them what worked for me. Maybe, it will help you to focus on yourself, instead of her.12
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Weight loss surgery, drugs like cocaine/meth, ADD/ADHD (?) meds; diseases like IBD/UC or Crohn’s, cancer, anorexia/orthorexia, stress, PTSD, lots of other conditions... any number of real things, or not. But HCG or steroids?? Unlikely.3
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It's not steroids. If it was, a whole bunch of people would be taking whatever magical steroid that was! And i'd have heard of it and been taking it myself because I would LOVE to eat as much as I can pack into myself without the side-effect of getting fat LOL.
Others above have given sound advice - if you know her personally, ask her about it (not ask if she's on drugs, ask what she has done to lose the weight and keep it off) - what @jean133mjg said above.
There is no magic pill. There is hard work.
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I think you're confused as to what steroids do. Steroids to not increase your metabolic capacity (how many calories you burn daily). What steroids do is they actually shorten the recovery time between heavy lifting, allowing you to train harder and more frequently which allows your muscles to grow larger, but it still requires you do the work in the gym.
That's not exactly what anabolic steroids do either. They'll induce hypertrophy even without stimulus ("the work") - 600mg of testosterone with no training was shown in an experiment to cause more muscle gain than a training program run by another test group.3 -
OP, most likely thing is she isn't eating that food. Are you sure the pictures are even supposed to be meals she's eating and not just reposts from others?1
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RelCanonical wrote: »Are you watching her eat the food or just seeing it on instagram? It's not uncommon for food instagrammers to not actually eat the food they post.
I sometimes go out with her and I do ask her friends about her unusual weight and metabolism. All of them confirm that she does in fact eat the food and always gets a Sprite on the side5 -
magnusthenerd wrote: »OP, most likely thing is she isn't eating that food. Are you sure the pictures are even supposed to be meals she's eating and not just reposts from others?
She does.4 -
New_Heavens_Earth wrote: »HereToLose50 wrote: »Isn't there some Instagram or YouTube thing where people record themselves eating obscene amounts of food to entertain other people?
I wonder if it's that
They're called mukbangs. Done by overweight, obese, and normal weight people. According to Le Google, some are like professional eaters, some purge, for some this is a version of OMAD.
She doesnt do omad
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You want her instagram? Search for it 😂 if you want I'll do itMaxematics wrote: »Does this friend really exist or are you making assumptions about people online in the hopes that you'll find some magic method so you can do it yourself?
[edited by MFP Moderators]6 -
RelCanonical wrote: »Are you watching her eat the food or just seeing it on instagram? It's not uncommon for food instagrammers to not actually eat the food they post.
She does eat it aall3 -
well, if she's eating it all and is still thin and all that, chances are she's vomiting it all back up again when people aren't watching. I can't think of any other way that she would be maintaining her skinnyness if she's not working out like an athlete, or just taking photos and not eating it.
Have you seen her eat it all at every meal?
She's not on steroids. I know. I have used steroids and it didn't magically make me an eating machine with no consequences. I didn't want to say that because taboo topic but hey. Such is life. People do things that other people don't like/agree with etc. But i'm not ashamed to admit it. And other people I know who have used different ones to the one I used also were not turned into eating machines without consequences.
I wish it HAD turned me into an eating machine without consequences LOL! How wonderful that would have been!11 -
thelostbreed02 wrote: »
You want her instagram? Creep 😂 if you want I'll do itMaxematics wrote: »Does this friend really exist or are you making assumptions about people online in the hopes that you'll find some magic method so you can do it yourself?
I never asked for her instagram so I don't know why you're calling me a creep. In fact, I'd argue the only creep here is you for making a post about your so-called friend on the internet and even offering up her instagram in the first place.
In your initial post you don't even really seem concerned about your friend; you seem more curious about if it's possible to eat that way and not gain weight hence why I asked what I did. In looking at your replies to others, I'm still unsure if there's a friend. You go out with her, you've seen her eat like this, etc. but you mentioned the instagram first and foremost rather than actually spending time with this friend and seeing her eat it all. You seem more like a teenager who is being easily swayed by what you see on social media rather than a concerned friend.17 -
Unless you are seeing her eat all of these foods in these 6 times a day instagram posts ( you would have to be spending all day every day together for that?) then you dont really know what is going on for her.
She may be bulimic, she may not actually eat all of everything she posts, she may be very active.
If you are spending so much time with her why cant you lightly ask? - of course she may or may not answer honestly - if she is wanting to create an illusion with the photos or if she is embarrassed about being bulimic.
But no way we can answer any more accurately on an internet forum.
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I have a friend that posts lots of recipes and talks about the large volume of food she eats. One day, she totalled the amount of calories she eats during the week: 900 calories. (more on the weekend...but maybe 1600).
I went to dinner with her once. She ordered a steak, mashed potatoes, all saturated in gravy. She ate maybe a third of the meal and gve the rest to her husband. She ordered a dessert and split it with 5 other people.
Your friend isn't eating all of the food.12 -
Maxematics wrote: »thelostbreed02 wrote: »
You want her instagram? Creep 😂 if you want I'll do itMaxematics wrote: »Does this friend really exist or are you making assumptions about people online in the hopes that you'll find some magic method so you can do it yourself?
I never asked for her instagram so I don't know why you're calling me a creep. In fact, I'd argue the only creep here is you for making a post about your so-called friend on the internet and even offering up her instagram in the first place.
In your initial post you don't even really seem concerned about your friend; you seem more curious about if it's possible to eat that way and not gain weight hence why I asked what I did. In looking at your replies to others, I'm still unsure if there's a friend. You go out with her, you've seen her eat like this, etc. but you mentioned the instagram first and foremost rather than actually spending time with this friend and seeing her eat it all. You seem more like a teenager who is being easily swayed by what you see on social media rather than a concerned friend.
I don't think she meant to call you a creep. These days it means to check out (stalk) someone's social media accounts without them knowing.5 -
It is none of my business and unless she wants to ask for your advice it is none of your business. This seems like an attempt to gather negative gossip material under the pretense of caring.24
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Maxematics wrote: »thelostbreed02 wrote: »
You want her instagram? Creep 😂 if you want I'll do itMaxematics wrote: »Does this friend really exist or are you making assumptions about people online in the hopes that you'll find some magic method so you can do it yourself?
I never asked for her instagram so I don't know why you're calling me a creep. In fact, I'd argue the only creep here is you for making a post about your so-called friend on the internet and even offering up her instagram in the first place.
In your initial post you don't even really seem concerned about your friend; you seem more curious about if it's possible to eat that way and not gain weight hence why I asked what I did. In looking at your replies to others, I'm still unsure if there's a friend. You go out with her, you've seen her eat like this, etc. but you mentioned the instagram first and foremost rather than actually spending time with this friend and seeing her eat it all. You seem more like a teenager who is being easily swayed by what you see on social media rather than a concerned friend.
I don't think she meant to call you a creep. These days it means to check out (stalk) someone's social media accounts without them knowing.
Yeah I've seen that referenced here before. It's still pretty twisted as far as I'm concerned....
As far as the OP goes..if she's really a friend then you talk to her like one. Let her know your concern and be straight up with her. EDs are nothing to screw with, and if she's in the middle of dealing with one, you might be doing her a favor before she does more harm to herself.12 -
thelostbreed02 wrote: »magnusthenerd wrote: »OP, most likely thing is she isn't eating that food. Are you sure the pictures are even supposed to be meals she's eating and not just reposts from others?
She does.
How do you know she does? I don't think I could state something so definitively without personal or professional observation of it.8
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