Overweight but doesn't eat apparently - possible?

[Mozismyhero]

So, my DM is massively overweight. She is also diabetic. She says she doesn't eat, 'I've only had one piece of toast all day. I couldn't possibly eat all that (when eating out/at our house). And yet she doesn't lose any weight. Is that possible? Surely the weight would be falling off her if she didn't eat? Or do I just not understand diabetes?

AIBU to think that she must do it for attention and that she's secretly eating packets of biscuits and crisps?

If you look at genuinely starving people do you ever see a fat one?

To be fair it's a bit different with genuinely starving people, not least because in places where you're genuinely starving you're likely to just die should you develop a rare medical condition. You're certainly not likely to be given drugs to treat it instead of food. I'm not saying anything would make a genuinely starving person fat ...however kwashiokor for example is a form of severe malnutrition which causes fluid retention and a swollen "pot" belly which may appear "fat".

Ta1kinpeece comment about t1 and t2 diabetes - one being avoidable is factually incorrect and disproven old hype.

Metformin has known side effects of weight gain.

Generally it is hard to lose weight. Easy to put on weight. She may be consuming lots of calories without even realising.

As a type 1 diabetic, all my life, I had never needed to take much notice of weight, mine was always monitored and consistent, never counted calories.
But when I was recently asked to use MFP which logs all calories, I was shocked at how little bits added up.

what causes type 2 diabetes in lean/skinny/not overweight/ not obese people:
type2skinny

one of the side effects of Metformin is weigh LOSS. yes. But it also has a wide list of other side effects, including nausea and diarrhea.

this explains it:

Metformin acts in the following ways: 1) increases muscle glucose uptake by helping with insulin resistance so the glucose absorbed into your blood stream from carbs you eat attaches to insulin receptors and is delivered to cells for energy rather than remaining in your blood stream and 2) decreases glucose production from your liver.

When people are first started on Metformin, many experience a sudden weight loss, usually 5-10 pounds, then as your body adjusts to medication, the weight loss stops in most instances.

although Metformin is known to help with weight loss because it controls insulin levels, it can work in the opposite ways as well. If you have stable sugar levels it may trigger your brain to tell you that you need to ingest sugar because it acts as though you need to eat more (or cause signs of low blood sugar) to stabilize levels, then the liver dumps out more glucose and insulin resistance is exacerbated.

so lets acknowledge that this is in fact very complicated.

Lots of medications can cause weight gain, but you do also have to be eating. There are no medications that can conjure weight from nowhere! Fat is not a substance that can just appear from nowhere.
Certainly medications can make you put on weight when you are eating amounts that you would not put on weight without the meds. But you do need some fuel to turn into fat; no medications can alter the laws of phsyics.

This is of course true. We cant blame the hormone insulin for everything! Food is still the issue here. And how much we all choose to consume.

The fact remains that if the OPs mother in law wasn't overeating, she wouldn't be overweight.

It's as simple as that.

Anecdotally-I was prescribed high dose steroids for an autoimmune condition and banged on 2 stones in a few months. They were stopped a month ago-I have already lost a stone. I am totally unaware of having changed my eating patterns at all but I think there must be subtle differences. I had a fat face and three chins.

Diabetes means you easily gain weight but it's almost impossible to lose. I do have treats but have gained two stone since becoming a Type 1 diabetic. Cut her some slack and make sure she's eating sensibly as starvation mode will make her get even fatter.

"80% of T2 diabetes is preventable"
As per Diabetes UK
www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zwfg82p

T1 and T2 are very different diseases.

and T3 is the scariest of the lot

My daughter started with weight issues around 4 years of age.
Theres no 'silver lining' with PWS! Its a life threatening Syndrome full of complexities and dangerous scenarios. What an idiotic thing to say!
Yes it is extremley rare and very often is not diagnosed until a little later in life although now days it is sometimes easier to detect at birth.

Definitely a secret eater. I'm more than a bit overweight and believe me, it takes a lot of calories to maintain this body!

I wonder if it really is this complex. I would genuinely be intrigued to see an experiment where a number of people with different weights/shapes/health variances were put on a desert island. Would those claiming "not to eat but can't lose weight" really not lose weight? At what speed would they lose it compared to a naturally slim person?

I have absolutely no doubt that those on some medications may find it more difficult to lose weight but I just can't believe that food intake does not also influence this.

I tend to agree happydays. In the vast majority of cases they'd all lose weight, especially if they were having to hunt/ fish/ forage for their food.
There are some medical conditions and treatments especially corticosteroids which make people retain weight, but for most people the reason they're overweight is they're eating too much and not using their bodies enough.

I do have treats but have gained two stone since becoming a Type 1 diabetic

Isn't T1 the one you have all your life, you can't become it later? Isn't that T2?

No you can get T1 in later life. Theresa May got it a few years ago.

There's a sort of insidious belief that if you have diabetes as an older person you brought it on yourself....

T1 is rare. T1 is not preventable. T1 is normally diagnosed in childhood but sometimes much later.

T2 is largely preventable. T2 barely existed 40 years ago. T2 is now the most common form.

T3 has only recently been identified. Its the worst of the lot.

Sil is a bit like this. Mostly it's because she doesn't like healthy, properly cooked food (that she is served in public) so she pushes it around and then goes home and eats crap.

Is it possible she doesn't eat much at meals but picks all day instead? Because if I'm honest, the biggest people I know eat that way. It really is mindless eating. Your brain barely registers all the nibbles and your stomach never gets to the point of being full so doesn't switch off its hunger signals. Plus snacky foods tend to be carb-heavy so set off the insulin rollercoaster.

The best way to eat is to make it a treat for the mind and body. Set the table, plate it up nicely, turn the tv off and eat slowly with a knife and fork, enjoying each mouthful. Being really conscious of what you are doing and feeling.

It is a mind trick but it really does work.

I am like this. I only have 1 meal a day and never finish it. Give me a pizza and I'll throw the last few slices away after eating it for 3 days as my only food. It's not magic though, I just hate water and am allergic to most sweetness meaning the only thing I drink is chocolate milkshakes (nesquick powder) and Coke.

More than 60% of my calories come from what I drink and when I cut back on those drinks I start loosing weight. I'm currently slowly dropping my weight but it's a battle as water makes me feel sick if I have more than just a sip of water and I can't switch to diet versions/cordials and pure juice is just as bad as the Coke.

Alcohol also has a lot of calories and most people don't really count what they drink when figuring out what they ate that day. It could be a case of your mother drinking her calories.

So much ignorance spouted on here

There are numerous conditions and medications that can cause weight gain.

I know someone who put 4 stones on in 2 months....purely oedema from an undiagnosed heart condition. No diet in the world would have stopped it.

And type 2 diabetes is influenced by genetics, ethnicity, age and even gender. Not just lifestyle. But don't let facts get in the way of hoisting up those judgypants

It is possible to be overweight and hardly eat because that's me. I eat only one meal a day sometimes I don't even manage that I can go 3 days without food and because I work nights and I'm constantly running round work the weight just falls off me but I seem to have hit a brick wall and stopped losing weight.

Thats not the same thing as putting weight ON while "not eating".

And I suggest you either do not actually go 3 days without any food OR you're very ill. Because you'd be in hospital if that was true.

There are numerous conditions and medications that can cause weight gain

With eating, yes, not without. Can someone who believes that you can put on weight not eating anything please explain what they think that weight would be made of?

My super fit bil developed type 2 diabetes after contracting compilabactor! Sorry can spell it.

Thyroid.
I've been hyper and hypo with an unhappy little condition called hashitoxicosis.
Put on a stone in a fortnight lost a stone in a fortnight.
Lost weight while eating for England, put on weight while eating very little.
Oh and I nearly died.
But blimey - fat people they're just a bunch of lazy liars aren't they!