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?

...or perhaps she's concerned?

Yes, that's possible if medical issues or denial is the problem.

My DM eats around 600-700 calories per day but is overweight due to the medication she takes for life threatening conditions.

Okay but how does this actually work? As I understand it, the body cannot produce energy to store as fat out of nothing. Even if pills cause water retention/slow metabolism, one must still be overeating by definition to gain fat. This is what I've always read/understood but open to being corrected if anyone can explain otherwise?

I used to work with someone who constantly talked about how she didn't have a sweet tooth, wasn't really "into food", but was morbidly obese and never seemed to lose much weight. I guess it was a defense mechanism but she constantly made a point of talking about it and turning her nose up if people were offering biscuits/chocolate, it was really odd.

Yes this was me!
I suffer from PCOS which after a bit of digging i found that it has some links with blood sugar problems and where i literally wasn't eating it was sending my blood sugar all over the place causing constant gynae problems and weight gain even though i was genuinely only eating 600 calories a day.
Starting eating lots of small meals and it's sorted the problem.

it may not be the quantities she eats, but the when and what.

i am a size 26. i can often go all day without eating, as i don't often eat breakfast and will just have a cup of coffee about 10am, then will also skip lunch.

It means i'm only eating one meal of an evening about 6pm, but then i will sit and snack of an evening.

So, when i tell people i don't eat all day, i am telling the truth... but the issue is that my body is retaining fat because i'm essentially starving it for 21 hours, so when i do put food in, it hangs onto the fat/sugar for dear life.

I am aware this is whats going on, so right now i'm trying to make myself eat breakfast and a little lunch and stopping the snacking after dinner.

Thyroid disorders cause weight gain, yes, but not because it changes the calories in/calories out ratios needed, it's because low thyroid can make you "flat" which means you move less in micro ways, and also makes you crave sugarey type stuff because you feel like you need an energy boost.

The cal in cal out requirements are the same for everyone

there is a medical condition that makes you put on loads of weight and its called underactive thyroid condition
you can be eating 1200 calories a day and still pile the weight on has she been tested op

weight gain even though i was genuinely only eating 600 calories a day

How? Where does the fat come from? What is it converted from? I'm not having a go, I'm trying to understand what people are saying.

weight gain even though i was genuinely only eating 600 calories a day

How? Where does the fat come from? What is it converted from? I'm not having a go, I'm trying to understand what people are saying.

it also really doesn't matter when you in in terms of cal ratios

The only reason why eating late will make you fatter is because if you haven't eaten all day then by evening you are more likely to eat the wrong kinds or wrong amounts of food

it's still cals in cals out..

People who gain weight from evening eating are just eating more than their daily allowance in the evening. If they were eating all their required cals in the evening they wouldn't gain weight

myfitnesspal can be a real eye opener!

ilove I haven't looked into the science of it but it's definitely a thing - seen it first hand. I imagine it's something to do with the medication "telling" the body to store away energy but inhibiting it from using those stores. A bit like in pregnancy where your body knows its first priority is to redirect nutrients to the pregnancy and you'd have to be literally starving before your body would rob them away from it to sustain you; perhaps it's a bit like that?

there is a medical condition that makes you put on loads of weight and its called underactive thyroid condition. you can be eating 1200 calories a day and still pile the weight

only if you're using less than 1200 cals a day.
Which is possible with low thyroid because of how "flat" it makes people

But it does not make actual calories more "fatty"

The thyroid and weight gain

Because patients with an underactive thyroid tend to have a very low basal metabolic rate, one of the most noticeable symptoms of hypothyroidism is weight gain and difficulty losing extra weight. (Sometimes an overactive thyroid can mimic an underactive thyroid by causing weight gain, although this is less common). A minority of women with hypothyroidism don’t gain weight. The difference arises from their individual biochemistry, the quality of the calories they consume, and how they use those calories.

Often the “metabolic burn” continues to fall as calories are reduced when dieting. That’s why some women with low thyroid can have weight gain even when they severely restrict calories. In order to fix your metabolism, you have to understand your entire health picture, not just your thyroid.

I can see how it's possible. I did a VLCD several years ago, there was a whole month about 4 months in when I literally lost nothing.

From calories in vs calories out, it shouldnt be possible to only eat 600 calories a day and not lose weight, but it happened.
I have a diagnosis of PCOS so maybe that was why, but it definitely happened.

I often feel like calories in vs calories out is often said by people who are naturally slim and who have lost weight by following a low calorie diet.

it's still cals in cals out..

Cals in cals out isn't a perfect model of who the body metabolises food btw, it's very approximate. There can be quite a lot of varying factors for example eating sugars with fat gives you instantly raised blood sugars which prompt the body to retain the fats. Eating the same sugar and fat with fibre means the sugar takes longer to travel through your system so is absorbed more slowly NOT giving you the blood sugar spike - so you don't retain the fats in the same way. Same food calories, different outcome.

Well I doubt she's eating nothing, but from my own personal experience I gave up sugar about 6 weeks ago - not hard core, I still eat fruit and bread, but just chocolate sweet things that sort of thing - as I'd been having some strange physical symptoms and there is a history of late onset diabetes in the family.

Well despite not reducing my calorie count greatly - I do like nuts - I've lost half a stone, and the amazing thing is I've stopped being hungry all the time.

Two things must have been happening:

1. Either I was eating a lot more sweet stuff than I thought and/or
2. My body really doesn't like sugar and it was responsible for more weight gain than the actual calories that I consumed.

I think it's a combination of the two. I probably was eating over my daily calorie limit, but also the sugar was responsible for real highs and lows in moods, tiredness level and hunger.

Sorry I'm a bit evangelical about this as it's so worth trying if you can't shift weight. Thing is people try to make an industry out of it by Davina selling books and people with their sugar replacements. If you aren't going hard core then there are plenty of things you can eat.

I think it's far far more complicated than some are making out.

I have been big and small.

For me it was a combination of things

Low activity because of mobility issues/being disabled
Eating not too much but the wrong foods because I couldn't stand to cook or use knives or lift pots etc.

So at my biggest I ate nothing except one microwave macaroni and 1 or 2 pieces of dry toast in a day on a regular basis.

It doesn't sound like much (although it is unhealthy) but due to inactivity it was my whole daily allowance in one tiny meal!

Two things must have been happening:
1) Either I was eating a lot more sweet stuff than I thought
and/or
2) My body really doesn't like sugar and it was responsible for more weight gain than the actual calories that I consumed.

3. the sugar you were eating was causing you an increase in appetite, so when it came to other meals you were eating larger portions without realising it

My MIL says this all the time... then goes on to finish everyone else's left overs. She also consumes a large number of calories in alcohol.

Mil was obese she used to eat crap though and lots of it she was obese when i met dh and when her sons lived at home mounds of food were put on plates latter years she ate takeaway chips and crisps to fill up so yes it is possible to pile weight on over the years and not shift it

Mil would also eat left overs as she hated food waste

rookie - perfect example of my previous post!

Yuck - also see previous post - she needn't necessarily have been eating "more than she realised".

It really is more complex than just calories. They're just a guide.

If you consume less than your body needs to stay alive, you will lose weight.
It really is as boring and simple as that.
people who think they are eating very little would be shocked if they had an independent observer adding up their true intake 24/7

She would also say oh i have not eaten today

My Mum is the same and I genuinely believe she isn't a binge eater. She's partially sighted and can't walk far so either her brother or I do her shopping. She doesn't have visitors apart from us and has no access to the internet so isn't having anything else delivered. I do wonder if she's got a thyroid problem but I have no idea if she's ever been tested.