# How do the super obese physically eat enough food to reach their weight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 4, 2015, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-super-obese-physically-eat-enough-food-to-reach-their-weight/729952 "2015-09-04T23:29:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-super-obese-physically-eat-enough-food-to-reach-their-weight/729952/41 "2015-09-12T13:56:14Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > But here’s the irony: if they had been that disciplined _before_ they had the surgery, they could have loss all the weight they wanted. > > Obese people don’t have the mental discipline to lose weight, because no one is telling them they _ **must** _ stick to a strict diet. But after surgery, the docs tell them they _ **must** _ stick to a strict diet. After surgery they stick to a strict diet - because the doc says they have to - and hence they lose weight. Not all of them do - as already mentioned, some people still manage to gain back all the weight. Some have pretty horrific complications, sometimes even death, because they can’t keep to the necessary restrictions after surgery. It’s very true about weight loss - if it was easy everyone would do it. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-super-obese-physically-eat-enough-food-to-reach-their-weight/729952/42 "2015-09-12T21:48:39Z")
I worked with a guy who weighed over 700 lbs. He worked two physically active jobs totaling around 90 hours a week, plus at least two hours a day commuting to a ridiculous “suburb” that was built in the middle of nowhere during the housing boom. He loved food, he loved to eat, but he especially loved feeling totally thanksgiving stuffed all day every day. He had gastric bypass and lost about 400lbs in a year. He was in heaven because he could be bursting at the seams all the time and still lose weight. He stretched his stomach back out and before long an extra large meat pizza was just a light snack and he very quickly gained weight. Just north of 500lbs he injured himself while fishing (!?) and was unable to work at all for long enough that he was let go from his second job and I never saw him again. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-super-obese-physically-eat-enough-food-to-reach-their-weight/729952/43 "2015-09-12T23:45:23Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#): > > I worked with a guy who weighed over 700 lbs. He worked two physically active jobs totaling around 90 hours a week, plus at least two hours a day commuting to a ridiculous “suburb” that was built in the middle of nowhere during the housing boom. He loved food, he loved to eat, but he especially loved feeling totally thanksgiving stuffed all day every day. He had gastric bypass and lost about 400lbs in a year. He was in heaven because he could be bursting at the seams all the time and still lose weight. He stretched his stomach back out and before long an extra large meat pizza was just a light snack and he very quickly gained weight. Just north of 500lbs he injured himself while fishing (!?) and was unable to work at all for long enough that he was let go from his second job and I never saw him again. What was he like psychologically? Any other behaviors or lifestyle aspects that were out of the ordinary? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-super-obese-physically-eat-enough-food-to-reach-their-weight/729952/44 "2015-09-14T11:10:40Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Who was doing the sending? :eek: He was a gang member-his friends bought the chicken and sent it up to him-the hospital staff could not understand why the guy kept gaining weight. ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-super-obese-physically-eat-enough-food-to-reach-their-weight/729952/45 "2015-09-14T14:11:06Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Fat is even better. The numbers I’ve heard are thus: > > Protein: 4 calories per gram > Sugar/carbs: 6 calories per gram > Fat: 9 calories per gram The ratio is 4-4-9 [Protein: 4 calories per gram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_(nutrient)) [Sugar/carbs: 4 calories per gram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate#Nutrition) [Fat: 9 calories per gram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid#Energy_storage) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-super-obese-physically-eat-enough-food-to-reach-their-weight/729952/46 "2015-09-15T00:59:38Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > But here’s the irony: if they had been that disciplined _before_ they had the surgery, they could have loss all the weight they wanted. > > Obese people don’t have the mental discipline to lose weight, because no one is telling them they _ **must** _ stick to a strict diet. But after surgery, the docs tell them they _ **must** _ stick to a strict diet. After surgery they stick to a strict diet - because the doc says they have to - and hence they lose weight. Once you get THAT obese (bed-ridden, severe skin folds, can hardly roll over, etc), we’re talking serious eating disorders rather than just lack of discipline. It’s basically the opposite of anorexia. Because you really have to work to get _that_ heavy. That or else it’s a [fetish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_fetishism#Feederism). (Yes, it’s just as disturbing as it sounds.) ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-super-obese-physically-eat-enough-food-to-reach-their-weight/729952/47 "2015-09-16T16:58:27Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > But here’s the irony: if they had been that disciplined _before_ they had the surgery, they could have loss all the weight they wanted. > > Obese people don’t have the mental discipline to lose weight, because no one is telling them they _ **must** _ stick to a strict diet. But after surgery, the docs tell them they _ **must** _ stick to a strict diet. After surgery they stick to a strict diet - because the doc says they have to - and hence they lose weight. There’s quite a bit more to it than that. Yes, lack of discipline contributes - a LOT - to becoming obese. But once you’re there: our bodies are programmed to hold onto every calorie we can get because tomorrow we may starve. There are biochemical changes that happen when you get overweight, that make it hard to lose extra weight. And your brain becomes crazy obsessed with food. And, doctors _do_ tell people they have to lose weight. My father-in-law is 8 inches shorter than I am and weighs nearly as much as I do (yes, I’m obese). He’s got numerous health problems as a result and is still willfully clueless about food. Surgery does a couple of things. It physically enforces reduced calorie intake (though as noted that can be overcome), but it affects how much you can absorb from what you do eat, and also drastically affects the metabolism (I’ve heard that type 2 diabetes can basically reverse almost instantly, even before you’ve lost more than a couple of pounds). Plus, some of the post-surgery sequelae cause sufficient negative conditioning that it seems likely you’d develop an aversion to bad stuff (read about “dumping syndrome” - that might be enough to get me to swear off sweets and I’m a big-time sugar addict). Whatever the mechanism is, there’s a strong addictive component to the kind of eating that gets you that kind of overweight (and even my own “mere” level of obesity). Can’t quit the addictive substance cold turkey - imagine being told you had to take heroin every day - but just a little. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-super-obese-physically-eat-enough-food-to-reach-their-weight/729952.md?page=2)