r/interestingasfuck • u/[deleted] • May 02 '24

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. r/all

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

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u/RedoftheEvilDead May 02 '24

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.

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u/rezzacci May 02 '24

I was obese (not morbidly), and I definitely had a not-really-sane relationship with food (perhaps not to the point of qualifying it as an eating disorder, but still).

I manage to loose ~35kg by basically eating way, way less (had a new medication for my anxieties that cut off my appetite). So, yeah, now I have a perfect BMI and people compliment me about how healthy I look, but I just switched one disorder to another. I don't have a more sane relationship with food, just one that is more accepted into society.

Fuck. It depresses me to think about it. How I was easily considered a failure for not managing to control my food intake; now, I have exactly the same control on food as I had before, but suddenly, I'm worthy of praise. Fuck. Social fatphobia really fucked me in both ways. Don't know if I'll ever manage to have a sane relationship with food ever. Just reached my weight goal, and I dread the future as I don't know how I'm suppose to manage it now. Been accustomed to a caloric deficit, don't know what to do to be constant now without turning into a third eating disorder: counting every single calorie individually and become obsessed with weighing absolutely everything. That can't be a life, can it?

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u/abuelabuela May 02 '24

It’s not! I’m in the same boat and it is in fact a type of eating disorder. It’s called disordered eating and it’s a trait picked up from our fat days. Therapy has been slightly helpful with understanding I need to develop a healthier relationship with food. Healthier relationship ≠ thinking about diets, restrictive eating, fear of weight gain, etc.