I asked and she just posted a reply. She states that if she eats more than 1000 calories a day, even while doing all this exercising, she “balloons up”.
I have a close friend who suddenly went hyperthyroid several years ago, and nearly died as a result.
She was extremely healthy, and naturally lean and strong and athletic (a marathoner who’s other primary hobbies were biking and hiking). Within a matter of a few weeks - before she even knew what was wrong with her, or that anything was wrong with her - she suddenly found herself unable to exercise, but still managing to burn through almost all of her body fat (she became quite literally emaciated), and making a good start on burning through her muscles (including her heart). It took her many years to recover, and she’s still nowhere close to her previous exercise level.
So was googling “obese” and “thyroid” and came across multiple hits to the story of the 1,000 ob woman accused of murdering her nephew:
Store is here
Hijacking my own thread somewhat, I was puzzled by this comment:
"Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino has argued that incarcerating Mayra Rosales would be impossible because the county jail does not have a cell large enough to hold her or medical staff equipped to handle her medical needs."**
Wait a minute here. A 1,000 pound person is huge, no doubt. But she is no huger than four 250 lb people and there are plenty of those walking around. Are they actually claiming they have no jail cells big enough to hold four 250 lb women? This just doesn’t make any sense. Even if true, so what? Knock a wall out between two adjoining cells and stick her in there. Why does she get to stay home, watching TV and stuffing her face when everyone else on trial for murder is in the slammer?
Re her medical needs: So does she have round-the-clock medical care at home? What special medical needs does a hypothyroid person have exactly?
Broken Hoe - 4 250-lb people usually sleep in 4 beds, sit on four chairs, etc. A 1000-lb person needs special equipment to sleep, raise and lower themselves and often special toilet considerations. She is literally imprisoned in her own body. However, being incarcerated may be the one thing that would save her life.
I’m formerly hypothyroid. My usual body temp is around 96 and I’m often cold. If I’m at 98.6, I’m running a fever. I had my thyroid removed last year and am solely relying on my thyroid meds to keep me going. My weight hasn’t changed all that much, though. Probably because I’ve been on thyroid meds for many years.
StG
OK. But she has these things at home then? Bring it all in with her. I just don’t see what the big deal is, hire a contractor to knock out a wall, widen a door and replace the cell toilet with whatever she’s using at home. Yeah, a hassle, but (shrug), ya gotta do what ya gotta do. She belongs in jail, not home scarfing Little Debbies, and killing toddlers.
I can’t help but suspect that perhaps she’s making all this crap up in order to avoid losing her access to huge amounts of junk food. Who is currently bringing it to her? If she were jailed, she would be forced to eat a controlled diet.
It certainly would be interesting to see how this thyroid problem affects her weight once she’s on a strict 2,000 calorie a day diet…
- Not all parts of the body are 98.6, that’s just the core.
- You have to consider inertia of temperature and volume. A heated stockpot of water will take much longer to dissipate than a big shallow skillet of water.
- IIRC, most humans burn off -vastly- more than what physics says it would take to maintain temperature. Most of us are very inefficient. So, yeah, there’s a long, long way to go before you hit the metabolic floor.
Strangely enough, I find it easier to maintain weight when I’m not an active runner then when I was training for a marathon. Body temperature often measures in 96 range and I’m small enough that I often go into underweight territory. They say you should burn 100-150 per mile while running, I definitely didn’t burn that off. 60 per mile at best. It royally sucked to go on a 5 mile run and come back starving and training myself to not to eat even an apple.
The body has a number of mechanisms for maintaining body temperature, including sweating and the dilation/constriction of capillaries near the surface of the skin. I would expect someone with a low metabolism not to sweat much and for their capillaries to constrict, thus conserving heat energy.
What puzzles me about the person quoted by the OP is that hypothyroidism is treatable. It’s a serious condition that can cause a lot of problems other than weight gain. IANAD, and I don’t know whether there are reasons that someone wouldn’t respond to the usual hormone therapy.
try having a normal body temp of 94 - 95. Only way I managed to prove it to the navy doctors was to go in and get my temp taken for a freaking week when I was demonstrably not sick. Then and only then did they grudgingly admit that I had a low temp and a note was put in my file that if my temp is 98 or greater I was febrile.
sigh
And for what it is worth, my thyroid is purportedly running on all 6 cylinders despite losing half my hair, low body temp, rough scaley patches on my skin, sensitivity to cold and heat, fatigue and gaining over 150 lbs in 3 years without a change in diet or activity … oddly enough, mrAru is on meds for losing his hair, rough scaley patches, the funky fingernail thingy, sensitivity to cold and heat, fatigue and weight gain. :rolleyes:
that accused murderer woman is from my county. i hate to think my tax money is going to go to providing her with her 40 fried chickens a day. and would you believe that her attorney is now saying that she has a “thyroid” condition–she used to be a lithe 250 pounds! maybe something like a pituitary tumor could cause such a weight gain, but not hypothyroidism. she can’t get out of bed, yet she can surely bash open a baby toddler’s skull with one of those 300 pound arms! :mad:
While some people might lie about them, thyroid conditions are not some nebulous diagnosis. Thyroid and thyroid-related hormone levels in the blood can be tested easily.
awldune - True, but most people with thyroid conditions (like me) don’t weigh 1000 lbs. You can only blame so much on hormones.
StG
Yes, obviously. If your thyroid is causing you to gain/lose weight, you need to adjust your meds (easier said than done, I know from experience).
I was just reacting to how many people seem to perceive it as some “imaginary” condition when in fact there are conclusive medical tests.
oh no! i’m a registered nurse with over 25 years experience! i am well aware of lab values in thyroid profiles. the point was that a person is not going to get to 1000 pounds due to thyroid malfunction. there are other metabolic abnormalities such as pituitary tumor or genetic causes such as prader-willi syndrome. i certainly did not mean to offend. 
I’m going to play devil’s advocate here and suggest that maybe she either isn’t being completely honest about her diet/activity or you’re making a poor assumption. The first possibility is obvious, but the second may be less so.
Purely anecdotal, but I’ve seen plenty of people at the gym who will use the treadmill for 30 minutes, but walk at a speed slower than a normal pace (like 2 mph), and so while 30 minutes may be a hundred to several hundred calories for most people, it may be significantly less for people that use it like that.
Similarly, I’ve seen plenty of people on the circuit training clearly doing significantly less weight than they can handle, doing few reps, and taking large breaks between sets. I’m not talking about people doing something that looks weak compared to what I’m use to seeing, I’m talking about people doing something like lat pulldowns with 20 lbs which, when accounting for the weight of your arms, is possibly barely, if any, harder than raising and lowering your arms, and doing it for only 6-8 reps.
Before doing any sorts of calculations based on her activity, I’d want to have a lot more information about the intensity at which she is training. That said, based on your numbers, I’d agree that it’s hard to believe she’s not losing weight without some very serious other problems, not to mention any extra muscle mass she gets from weight training or raised heart rate from the cardiovascular training. However, as others have stated, if those numbers are off my more than a little, it’s well within the realm of possibility that it could be covered by hypothyroidism or similar conditions.
Yeah, she might have a thyroid problem, but it’s much more likely that she is just full of shit about her diet and exercise.