Supersize vs. Superskinny: Exagerated?

I've always thought its exagurated with some of the super skinnys. Having had an eating disorder and living off anything between 100-700cals and working out, i was still never as thin as any of them so they really must eat a lot lower that whats made out. Fair enough that everyone's bodys are different but 1500ish cals and underweight, really?

Yeah. In my eating disorder days, I ate 800 or less calories and I got to a low weight, but I was not as thin as some of the people on there.
I would have thought that the body would adapt to 1500 calories?
I'm 110-112 lbs and 5'8 and I maintain at 1,600 at a sedentary level according to various online calculators. Seems low, though?

Totally coincidentally, I'm actually watching this right now - and I'd never noticed until you pointed it out. The "superskinny" guy on this episode skipped both breakfast and lunch every day of the week, and only ate dinner on four nights out of seven - yet they've somehow calculated an average of 1,200 a day? Would really like to see their numbers!

I watched that episode earlier on today! Either he had really high calorie dinners or the figure was made up! Hmmm...

Quite often the "skinnies" are men who would need to eat 2500 to maintain a healthy (and lots more if they exercise), so that's quite low. Remember, they're not actually losing weight, they've maintained it for a while so remain skinny on maintenance for their size. It's also seldom full meals, just crisps and chocolate in some cases. I saw one where the "skinny" ate just 350 calories noway

I know from previous experience that when you've eaten a low amount of calories and you begin to eat a normal amount, you gain weight so quickly. I think that if you were at such a low weight and you were putting 1,500 calories into your body, your body would seize the opportunity and store it as fat? I'm by no means correct, but I've read in quite a few places that this is correct and I've had experience of it, too.

I think sometimes it's more a problem with what they eat, rather than how much - yes, 1600 calories a day sounds fine, but if it's all in toast and tomato ketchup, then they're not getting enough of the nutrients they need. They very rarely seem to eat a balanced diet. The bone scans and whatnot tell them that they're going to get osteoporosis at an early age, etc. It's not so much super-skinny as super-skinny-and-super-unhealthy.

Isn't it about the quantity rather than quality of calories when it comes to weight gain? I thought that calories were calories and that they acted the same no matter what source they were from?

I've only really dipped in and out of this show but one episode was two women - one who was tall and very curvaceous while the other was skinny and petite.

The skinny woman ate very little, insofar as she picked at her food and often ate meals which were nutritionally lacking and sadly this is what she was feeding her kids.

The large woman ate nutritionally rich food, only she ate a whole dish of lasagne and not just a single portion.

I could identify with her as I too loved my food and would eat 2x and sometimes 3x as much as I should at any one sitting.

Yes!! I saw this episode too! Although the larger woman's meals were healthier, the portions were all wrong! :-)