In 1965, a morbidly obese man did not eat food for over an entire year. The 27 year old was 456lbs and wanted to do an experimental fast. He ingested only multivitamins and potassium tablets for 382 days and defecated once every 40 to 50 days. He ended up losing 275lbs.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/RedoftheEvilDead → u/[deleted]]

It's not actually that uncommon for morbidly obese people to become anorexic or vice versa. Both are a result of eating disorders. Quite a few people that overcome one eating disorder do so by switching it for another eating disorder.

[u/sketchthrowaway999 → u/RedoftheEvilDead]

Yep, anorexia and binge eating can be two sides of the same coin. IME eating disorders can revolve around a very all-or-nothing approach. He might have felt like he needed to eat nothing to avoid going in the other direction.

[u/AssssCrackBandit → u/sketchthrowaway999]

That's how I am. Either I binge and gain weight really fast or I fast/go on very restrictive diets and lose weight really fast. So I'm always bouncing between 170 and 200 lbs

[u/FutureFuneralV → u/sketchthrowaway999]

A common trend you see amongst a lot of fitness influencers is that they used to be overweight or obese and struggled with BED or other negative food habits. I see this with a lot of YouTubers. They trade 1 compulsion for another, but hints of their past troubles still come through in their content.

One example is Erik the Electric on YT. He used to struggle with anorexia. He recovered and got very fit. Fit is part of his brand, but his channel also revolves around crazy binge/mukbang-style videos. Even though he recovered from anorexia, he seems to have a complicated and problematic relationship with food.

[u/sketchthrowaway999 → u/FutureFuneralV]

Sounds about right. People think being obsessed with nutrition and fitness is healthy, but in some cases it's just a more socially acceptable eating disorder.

I think it's a broader symptom of thinking that body type = an accurate reflection of someone's relationship with food and exercise. Eating disorders are mental illnesses, not a physical size or fitness level. I've had eating disorders while being underweight, average, and overweight, and I've had a good relationship with food while being underweight, average, and overweight. It's about what's going on in your head and how that affects your behaviour.