# Can anyone become morbidly obese? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 31, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-become-morbidly-obese/458307 "2008-07-31T01:37:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-become-morbidly-obese/458307/61 "2012-11-13T04:47:26Z")
> [@danman](#): > > i have seen a lot of reality shows about the morbidly obese on tv. mostly shows from the usa. i am always astounded at the size of these people. i struggle to understand how a person could possibly become so huge. > … > it still leaves me wondering though about the little switch in your head that simply tells your belly it is full. i know there have been thousands of opportunities for me to gorge on food and rarely would i eat more than i need at the time. i simply don’t need more food. > > maybe that switch gets messed up by being encouraged to eat more at a young age and in later life it doesn’t switch your hunger off when it should. > > i feel sympathy for people that are constantly hungry. This is really the subect for another thread, but for me it’s mostly psychological. This is not an excuse – just a reason and something that is hard to overcome. Food is a companion and it’s faithful and I can afford to buy as much as I want. It doesn’t talk back or judge me and when I give myself permission to binge, it makes me high. Bingeing itself makes me feel alive even as I know it is bad for me. As far as how people let themselves get that way, it’s one decision or one day at a time. Of course I wouldn’t have wanted to gain a hundred pounds at a time, but that’s not the decision. The decision is this one binge this one day and tomorrow will be different. Part of it is what you mention – I was forced to eat vegetables and much preferred meat and starch and butter, and now I am a grown-up and refuse to put myself through eating vegetables any more. I have gained and lost so much weight over the years. Right now I am just happy to be relatively stable at 320 – given that it’s only a 20-pound gain over the past few years and in other years I would gain 100 pounds. Life is a struggle. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-become-morbidly-obese/458307/62 "2012-11-13T04:49:11Z")
> [@astro](#): > > The people that are so large they are essentially immobile need a “feeder”. [This is usually a relative or spouse.](http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/new_haven_cty/mother-son-evicted-due-to-obesity) I uses to blame those people – that the obese person wouldn’t be able to keep this up if they didn’t enable them. But the enabler needs to feel needed, they love the person, it makes the person happy, and that person can’t leave them. Makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-become-morbidly-obese/458307/63 "2012-11-13T04:59:26Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I uses to blame those people – that the obese person wouldn’t be able to keep this up if they didn’t enable them. But the enabler needs to feel needed, they love the person, it makes the person happy, and that person can’t leave them. Makes sense. Feeders get a bad rap, but what I see in all sorts of “how could their family let them do that to themselves?” medical conditions is that, by and large, the problem is one of _too much_ respect. No one will challenge Grandma that maybe eating a whole box of donuts instead of taking her insulin isn’t the best idea she’s had this week. No one dares tell Grandpa that he’d be better off taking his heart medicine. No one wants to be the one to make Mom cry by suggesting she go for a walk. I hear a lot of, “Well, it’s her choice, that’s how she wants to live.” It’s respect for patient autonomy, which is an ethic I do hold in very high regard, taken to the level of causing harm. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-become-morbidly-obese/458307/64 "2012-11-13T20:41:06Z")
If you can stomach it, drinking vegetable oil (pure fat) is a really easy and cheap way to consume 33,000 calories per day; [this 48 ounce bottle goes for $2.78](http://www.walmart.com/ip/Wesson-Pure-100-Natural-Vegetable-Oil-48-fl-oz/10291483) and contains 11,400 calories, so for just $8.34 a day you can consume 34,200 calories. Of course, your body may not actually be able to absorb that much fat (think olestra…) and you won’t be getting any nutrients, although you could take a multivitamin, fiber supplement and protein shake. ---
**Author:** ![solosam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@solosam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solosam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-become-morbidly-obese/458307/65 "2012-11-13T20:56:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Second was “Why do they let him eat like that?”. Story about my wife when she was a child. Doctor: “What seems to be the problem?” Her Mother: “All my child will drink is chocolate milk!” Doctor: “So stop giving her chocolate milk.” ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-become-morbidly-obese/458307/66 "2012-11-13T21:02:56Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > If you can stomach it, drinking vegetable oil (pure fat) is a really easy and cheap way to consume 33,000 calories per day; [this 48 ounce bottle goes for $2.78](http://www.walmart.com/ip/Wesson-Pure-100-Natural-Vegetable-Oil-48-fl-oz/10291483) and contains 11,400 calories, so for just $8.34 a day you can consume 34,200 calories. Yep, and this is why pouring corn or veg oil over feed is the cheap and dirty way to put weight on a skinny horse. Lots of calories and no off-putting flavor for very little money. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-become-morbidly-obese/458307.md?page=3)