What would a person have to eat to weigh 700+lbs?

Whale omelette washed down with a vat of pepsi?

I can honestly say that the idea of a “whale omelette” made me want to throw up.

I don’t think that only over-consumption of calories is the explanation of morbid obesity but obviously it doesn’t help.

@janbb I’m sure that inactivity is a factor, and I would imagine that there are other physical factors… almost definitely diabetes, that make it more likely that a person would become so obese.
However, I know people, diabetics even, that only get up out of a chair or a bed to go to the bathroom… and they don’t gain weight in that way. You would have to consume a certain number of calories, because at that weight, you must burn a crazy number of calories just by being still.

@ucme don’t forget the Old Bay seasoning.

Everything.

I remember reading how Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps ate 4,000 cals a meal….

Phelps’ diet – which involves ingesting 4,000 calories every time he sits down for a meal – resembles that of a reckless overeater rather than an Olympian.

Phelps lends a new spin to the phrase “Breakfast of Champions” by starting off his day by eating three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise.

He follows that up with two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes.

At lunch, Phelps gobbles up a pound of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayo on white bread – capping off the meal by chugging about 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

For dinner, Phelps really loads up on the carbs – what he needs to give him plenty of energy for his five-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week regimen – with a pound of pasta and an entire pizza.

He washes all that down with another 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

@Cruiser wow!

My aunt used to weigh more than three hundred pounds and she did not lead a completely sedentary lifestyle. Mostly, it was because she ate fast food for almost every meal. If she had been completely sedentary, I would imagine that she would have weighed even more if she did not move.

That being said, a person who weighs that much probably lacks the ability to burn calories in the most basic of weighs. For example, we actually burn a lot of calories in our sleep because we are moving around so much outside of the REM cycle but someone who weighed that much probably would not move very much in her sleep or walk around very much or do much of anything physically. Also, when someone is sedentary, their metabolism will slow way down so every calorie counts for more.

I would think it would take a lot more than 5000 calories considering that an average diet is around 2000 – 2500 calories. For those of us who enjoy food, we have to make a effort to stay below that. Heck, the #6 dinner at most Tex-mex restaurants are likely to approach 5000 calories on their own.

@KatawaGrey I can actually grasp how a person could weigh 250–300-350lbs. 700lbs is extraordinary, though. Shit, my dad weighs 300lbs, and he is far from sedentary.
I suppose I should have used a different subject line, because my question was more around trying to grasp what a menu might look like for someone that is actually consuming 5000 calories or more per day.

@Cruiser That is legendary. I am trying to gain weight and my target caloric intake is about 2,800. Compared to Phelp’s diet, that is nothing.

Two Denny’s Grand Slam Breakfasts. (1590 cals)
Lunch at Chili’s with a Texas Cheese Fries with Chili and Ranch appetizer, followed by Jalapeno Smokehouse Burger w/Ranch. (2100 cals + 2180 cals)
A light dinner of 1 lb. steak and baked potato (large, fully loaded) (about 1800 cals all together)

(I have seen people eat two grand slams at one sitting, and also have a lunch like that.)

That’s over 7,600 calories a day without even getting creative. And I did not include snacks or soft drinks or milkshakes with real ice cream and whole milk.

I don’t think it would be that hard. For instance, a Jimmy John’s Italian Night Club sandwich clocks in at 948 calories. Despite what the pictures look like, the sandwich isn’t that big and I could easily eat two of them. That would be 1,896 calories just for lunch. Throw in drinking, say, four or five cans of soda a day plus snacking on chips or whatever I think 5,000 calories could be hit quite easily.
So…

Breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts
Sausage, egg & cheese on bagel – 690
large coffee with cream & sugar – 240 (estimated)
Bavarian Creme donut – 270
Breakfast total: 1,200

Lunch at Jimmy John’s
Italian Night Club Sandwich – 948
Bag of potato chips – 160
8oz Dr Pepper – 100
Lunch total: 1,208

Dinner with Stouffer’s
Family size Lasagna Italiano (I could easily eat one by myself) – 1,250
8oz Dr Pepper – 100
1 pint Ben and Jerry’s Banana Split ice cream – 1,000
Dinner total: 2,350
Total for the day: 4,758
That’s not including snacking on things throughout the day. Toss in a couple of Ring Dings or Twinkies and you’re at the 5,000 mark.

Since overweight people tend to do things like eat a “family” size frozen dinner (I really don’t understand how you feed five people with one of those) or a pint of ice cream in one sitting, I don’t think it would be too hard to do this on a daily basis.

If you’re on a 2,000 calorie/day diet you’ve blown it by lunch time with this menu.

@zenvelo & @mrentropy you guys are awesome.
I guess it is hard for me to wrap my head around 5000 calories, being the type of person that habitually forgets to eat. There are days that I barely break 1000 calories, and I don’t even realise until the end of the day. 5000 calories suddenly looks very easy to do. Not every day, but, I guess when you factor in the quality of food… particularly restaurant meals, if you’re eating the entire portion, it makes it easier to visualize.

I count calories without even thinking about it too. It works like a charm. By counting calories you automatically factor in fats and sugars rather than calculating them separately. Trying to be too specific gets confusing and one would probably give up.

Man…a dozen eggs and a slab of bacon for breakfast?

Two triple quarter pounders and 2 large fries for lunch?

Two large all meat pizzas and an entire order of cheese breadsticks for dinner?

Snacking non stop on chips, candy and pop in between?

I can’t fathom it!

@Dutchess_III I agree. I think it is very difficult to imagine consuming so much without eating all 3 meals at a restaurant and ordering the fattiest thing on the menu, that is why I was hoping for sample menus. Really puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?

Yeah….I consume the most calories of the day at breakfast ‘cause I don’t eat after 4. To that end I made a toasted bagel…well, two of them (one bagle split) It’s a buttered bagel, throw it on the grill, and you crack an egg in the middle, then flip it over and smother it with cheese. Mega calories and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to eat both of them! Sure enough, I managed to get through 1½ only, and I’m done for the next several hours. I guess an obese person would eat 6 of them at a sitting? frow up!!

About 8500–9000 calories a day.

I know football players and other extremely active athletes who eat 5000 calories a day, and that’s to maintain their weight, BUT they are very active too!

Reading the daily food intakes of extremely obese people (700+ lbs) is amazing that anyone can actually eat that much day after day. It involves eating one or two extra large pizzas fully loaded with meats, eating huge amounts of snacks, washing it down with gallons of fully sweetened soft drinks, eating two huge meals worth of food at every meal. The important part is they are completely sedentary, too.

A while back I did a 7 day bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles for charity. It was fully supported, we rode about 90 miles per day, and camped out every night. I estimated I was eating about 6,000 calories a day, but I lost 7 lbs that week.

Your question made this story in todays paper jump into my mind honey. I admit to being a bit chubbier than I’d like but the idea that anyone would get big and just keep getting bigger, rather than some day getting out of bed and thinking “bloody hell, what happened?” and taking steps to address it, its just frightening. Lack of mobility can be a factor, in my own case I used to run everywhere before the arthritis, and now I can barely walk without being in so much pain. Certainly though, a person’s diet must be the biggest contributing factor I think. I see family shops at work going through my checkout, and it’s not unusual to see 30+ microwave meals in a single shop. That just can’t be healthy. Does no one cook from scratch anymore, I often think to myself. It’s scary.

@JmacOroni Actually, I think eating pizzas (several at one time) is a common diet of many extremely obese people.

Sad as it sounds, a lot of these people wash down their food, with more food.

@bunnygrl Wow. But…that was a rag magazine, which kind of explains a lot. I can’t imagine anyone being stupid enough to admit to how much gosh-awful amounts they eat, then, in the same breath try to say it’s genetic!

@SpatzieLover This guy was carrying around 900lbs worth of fluid. My gosh, I don’t even think that I knew such a thing was possible.

@JmacOroni It is mainly because their blood is as thick as butter. Their liver becomes fatty and their kidneys stop cleaning. It’s a truly vicious and tormenting process they put their bodies through.

Most of these people do not become this way on their own. Many of them have enablers bringing them McD’s, cheap pizzas, etc right to their bedside.

I definitely understand the loss of kidney function involved, and I know how much weight people can lose through dialysis…. but 900lbs, I honestly wouldn’t have thought such a thing was possible. Shocking and sad.

@JmacOroni Have you ever gone to Body Worlds or to a like exhibit at a science museum?

The cross section of the severely obese body is horrific to look at. The skeleton has almost no muscle to protect it, and it appears as if the fat is swallowing the inner body.

No, I have never heard of that. It sounds like a good way to motivate myself the next time I want to lose 10lbs. :\

Now you’re killing me, because I want to find a photo of what you’ve described, and I can’t seem to find one. My curiosity is going.

@JmacOroni I could find every other BodyWorlds photo but that one. I did see body scan of overweight vs. regular, when looking for the image. That is no where near what they show at BodyWorlds.

This one was at the end of the exhibit in a coffin like glass bed. I have never seen so much fat. It made the skeleton look tiny. Even the feet were encased by it.

@SpatzieLover woah, guy #12 on the list from the first link you posted with the World’s heaviest people is from a town only a few minutes from here. My in-laws actually live there.
Thanks for the photo, even that is fascinating.

I am going to have a salad for lunch….

@JmacOroni If you have a local nurse/doctor or science store, they will have a model you can hold of 5lbs of fat I wish I had one to keep in my kitchen. It definitely is a prospective changer.

This thread turned out to be way more motivational than I had anticipated. heh.

Yeah @JmacOroni. I’m never eating again!!

Now I’m watching “Fat Head” on Netflix and it turns out that for gaining weight it’s more than just the calories.

@mrentropy this could be an entirely different discussion, but I don’t think the factors involved in obesity and weight gain are researched nearly enough. The hormonal aspects and the brain chemistry involved. You always hear “eat less move more,” which is great advice, no doubt, but they ignore the part where the fat cells in your body are churning our hormones that make you fat. And will continue to do so even if you are successful in losing weight. The big picture isn’t nearly so cut and dry.

@JmacOroni We’ve had some raging arguments about the causes and treatment of obesity in the past here. I tried to link to one but couldn’t find the ragiest.

@janbb I’ve probably been involved in at least one, but now you’ve made me want to go back and read some.

@Dutchess_III there is a very famous family in the UK called the Chawner family. They’ve been all over the papers, they’ve had their own TV series, three of them to date, the latest one was this one, where they had absolutely every single chance to lose the weight and surprise!! lost a bit and then whacked it all back on again (and more). You can also find out a bit about them at the BBC here There is an interview on you tube here. I watched the last series on bio, and well now I know a bit too much about them and am still creeped out to be honest. There were a couple of things revealed which… well shouldn’t have been. Enough said, but this family were not backward about the fact that they’d decided to become media celebs and were using their weight as a career springboard.

They do sum up what is so wrong with the UK right now. Everybody wants to be famous. I’m old enough to remember when famous people became famous because they had a talent, not because they turned themselves into some kind of freak show…. for details see any of the z list celebs who’ve come out of the Big Brother house and then make a career out of falling out of clubs (after making sure the required paparattzi are present to catch it of course) and flashing their wotnots at the cameras. <shudder> there is not enough yuk in the whole world.

@bunnygrl for a while I was completely obsessed with Supersize vs Superskinny, which is difficult to watch here in the US, and I’m not sure how popular it is in the UK. I could not get over how openly people would go on television, in their gutchies, and discuss the absurdities of their own diets. Just kind of reaffirmed what you were saying about people wanting to do anything to be famous, and using weight as a springboard. It isn’t quite the same, but I don’t think that attitude would be nearly so open here in the US. The closest thing we have is the Biggest Loser, and that isn’t even as revealing as the UK shows I’ve seen about weight loss battles.

@JmacOroni There is a new version of supersize vs superskinny starting soon on tv here honey but its a version looking at obese vs extra skinny children, don’t even start me about just how exploitative that is. You can read about it here

I agree with you honey, to go on tv (in your undies) for that 5 mins of fame is just…. well ick.

Kids! Oh gosh, that’s too much. :\

I know honey. Like I said… ick. It’s just wrong.

@bunnygrl That family…that just pisses me off.

@Dutchess_III I know honey, and it is a very premeditated “we ARE going to have a career from this” attitude. They even said as much, on camera, in the Bio programme. They have a grown son (also very large) who refused to take part in any of it, but is referred to occasionally in the show.

I hadn’t realised their story had reached US TV too, you can see it here

2.8 people weighing 250 lbs. OR, 4 people weighing 175 lbs. Guess it is one way to work on the overpopulation issue.

Here’s how i get to 5000…

Breakfast at IHOP
– double stack of pancakes with butter and syrup, 6 pieces of bacon 16 oz OJ = 1290

Coffee break – Danish and diet fruit smoothie = 435 calories

Lunch – at In & Out
– 2 double doubles, chocolate shake, fries – 1395 calories

Break – coke, Milky Way = 290 calories

Dinner – grapefruit, skinless chicken breast (140 grams) and 1 piece whole wheat dry toast, water (I’m on a diet) = 390 calories

TV snack – 1 PInt Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough Ice Cream = 540

Talk about feeling guilty for having pizza for dinner!

Dring lots of milkshakes :) Shit at 1200 calories a pop it shouldn’t be too hard!

Mc Donald’s “Big Breakfast”
Starbucks big coffee
Large energy drink
Small bag of chips
Candy bar
2 Taco Bell Burrito Supremes
2 Taco Bell Taco Supremes
32oz soda
Candy bar
Small bag of chips
Panda Express 2 item entree
16oz soda
Fried cheese wontons

3 beers
Small tub of ice cream
Bowl of cereal & milk
½ a frozen pizza
12oz soda

I’ve seen 250lb people eat this way, day in and day out for years but they also work 12–15hr days and are on their feet constantly. I imagine if they were stay at home folks and in front of a computer or tv most of the day or sleeping then they’d reach over 500lbs quickly.

@mrrich724 seriously? 1200 cals for a milkshake? I mean thats seriously scary!! I suppose they are pretty sweet, so I’d an idea they must have some sugar but thats over half an adult woman’s daily allowance….. something to think about indeed. Scary stuff…

@6rant6 LOL! Ain’t that the truth. Occasional fruit smoothies, diet coke and fat free ice cream (yuck!) thrown in for good measure!

@bunnygrl 1200 is too high, I think. I’m thinking more along the lines of 150 calories in sugar (sugar = 100 cals/tablespoon) and 200 (ditto) in fat. Throw in another hundred calories for every squirt of Other Syrup (100 cal/tablespoon) you throw in. Also, up the cals if you have nuts (high calorie those are) and another 100 for whipped cream. (No, you don’t really have to count the cherry which is probably about 10 because of the sugar it’s soaked in.) Of course, if I weighed 700 pounds I’d forgo Other Syrup, nuts and the cherry (ESPECIALLY the cherry) so I could lose weight, see.

@bunnygrl, I would have thought 1200 calories for a milkshake was stretching it, but according to this list of the ten highest calorie fast food items the White Castle Chocolate Shake – Large (Louisville region) is an impressive 1680 calories.

So @mrrich724 must have been having the diet version at 1200.

Actually from that list it wouldn’t take too much imagination to figure out a way to get to 5,000 calories and skip breakfast and dinner altogether!

I think it would take more than 5000 calories to weigh that much….

@Dutchess_III you are probably right.
@6rant6 but how big is the large milkshake? The “large” drink size from most fast food places is like drinking from a bucket. lol.

@JmacOroni It’s 44 ounces. So it’s like WAY less than a gallon.

Well, drinking ⅓ gallon of milkshake still sounds extreme. How many ounces in a gallon? 120?

….Edited myself!

@JmacOroni
Cup -8
Pint -16
Quart -32
Gallon 64

So 44 ounces is not even ¾ of a gallon. Barely two sips and a gulp.

But a lotta calories! I want a milkshake…

I’m confused by what you just wrote, but I just Googled and there are 128oz in a gallon.

I am confused to. Are we talking about a gallon of milkshake??

A gallon of milkshake has the same amount of ounces as a gallon of water.
It’s not like a pound of feathers versus a pound of lead :D

I know that @mrentropy. I’m just trying to figure out how we all ended up with a gallon of milkshake! Are we supposed to drink it all or what? How did we get here?

@Dutchess_III I asked how big a large milkshake was from White Castle. I said a large drink from fast food places is like drinking out of a bucket. He said 44oz, I thought there was about 120oz in a gallon.. and I said it is like drinking ⅓ gallon of milkshake.

O! So we only have to drink ⅓ gallon of milkshake! Well, I can manage that, I think. A gallon is…a bit out of my capabilities! And since there are, as you said, 128 oz then 44 oz would be about ⅓ of a gallon. I seriously want a little milkshake! But I’m laughing too hard to drink it right now!

@mrentropy O! And also! No, a gallon of milkshake is NOT the same as a gallon of water because if you fill up a gallon jug with milkshake and then let it sit/melt, it will wind up to be less than a gallon, and WAY less than a mile!

@Dutchess_III thats still pretty scary. I suppose if you break down all the components of anything, even a harmless looking milkshake, the way that the calories can really stack up is pretty worrying.

@6rant6 WOW!! that is some kinda chololate shake!! Much as I love choccie I don’t think I couold face that much of it all at the same time and, since its a “drink” this would be used to wash down a meal?? at 1680 calories?? <shudder> no wonder folk get so huge. That’s just irresponsible of the fast food places, maybe there should be some kind of legislation in place to stop this happeneing, or maybe to force places to put their calorie content as well as prices next to items in their menus??

The UK government have been discussing a fat tax that could be added to high calorie foods, to deter folk from buying too much of them, I don’t know if that would work.

EDIT: I’ve found this story from 2009 of a local council trying the idea out.

OT, but, I totally disagree with a fat tax.
I’m a smoker, and they tax the everloving shit out of me… but I still smoke.

@bunnygrl You know what? I’d rather there be LESS government telling me what to do all the time. If people want it, people ask for it, people buy it then how is it irresponsible of the restaurant to make it? I’m so sick of people deciding that people shouldn’t make their own decisions, that people shouldn’t be responsible for their actions and that it’s up to the government to legislate more dumb laws to save us from ourselves.

The government should worry about government stuff, like getting rid of corruption, managing to balance a budget, and things like that. Not what Joe Blow can or can’t have for lunch or watch on TV or whatever else.

@bunnygrl If you’re counting calories it’s imperative that you break everything down to its individual components. You’d be amazed….

I agree with @mrentropy. We’ve turned into a nation that wants to blame everything and everyone but ourselves. Spill hot coffee on yourself because you’re a clutz? Sue McDonalds. Got fat? Sue McDonalds. That’s ridiculous.

@Dutchess_III If a milkshake melts then I don’t know if it can scientifically be considered a milkshake anymore. Knowing what most “milk“shakes are made of, I think it’s just industrial sludge at that point.

Well, then a gallon of milkshake is NOT equal to a gallon of water!

Well, calorie-wise, not even close. lol.

Noooo nooo no! Now where near close! Water good. Milkshake bad. I seriously gotta get me a milkshake now!

That reminds me… Was anyone able to get a Shamrock Shake this year?

Me me me. I had one two weeks ago.

I absolutely agree re government minding their own beeswax. What is sometimes referred to here as the “nanny state”. If folk want to abuse their bodies they will, and thats that. Thing is though because we have the NHS it costs everyone else through their national insurance contributions to treat all the fat related diseases, and I mean it costs a LOT, and add to the mix that there aren’t enough people paying in to cope with the ammount of folk drawing out of it (much like the benefits system too actually) well it all means that I honestly do believe that both systems will end in my lifetime, with a huge crash.

As @JmacOroni wisely says, smokers get all heck taxed out of them, it doesn’t stop anyone smoking. So how is it dealt with? who knows. Certainly takes more brain power than I have to figure it out.
huggles honeys xx

edit: @mrentropy what is a shamrock shake please?

A Shamrock Shake is a green milkshake from McDonald’s that they only put out for St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not even sure what the flavor is supposed to be, but they are really good. I get one every year.

How many calories are in four tablespoons of sheet rock dust? I seriously need to know. Is a gallon of sheet rock dust the same as a gallon of Shamrock milkshake?

@JmacOroni The Shamrock Shake are mint.

The Shamrock Shake is a semi-mythical shake because it’s not served in all McDonald’s. In fact, it appears to be getting harder to find every year. There’s even a website devoted to helping people find them.

And I’ll go with @SpatzieLover that it’s supposed to be a sort of mint flavor.

@mrentropy We had them at every McD’s by us—I don’t shop at McD’s, however I saw kids/parents around town drinking them…and signs posted at all of our local McD’s that had them

@SpatzieLover For the love of humanity, let shamrockshake.com know so people can take their trips to get one. They don’t sell them near me (calling a McDonald’s and asking about them can give you humorous results, too) and, well, I don’t like them anyway.

@mrentropy I’ll have to let them know that Milwaukee ‘burbs are never in shortage ;)

Shamrock shakes are not milk shakes. They are shakes of milk like products.

@JmacOroni Yes, of course, you are right. There are FOUR quarts in a gallon, and 128 ounces. Sorry.

@bunnygrl You wrote, “As @JmacOroni wisely says, smokers get all heck taxed out of them, it doesn’t stop anyone smoking. ”

I think you’re wrong. I know people who have quit in part because of the cost of the habit. They don’t break it down into cost of cigs and tax. It’s just expensive.

We always have the shakes here, too. I don’t eat McDonald’s food, but I definitely get my Shamrock Shake every year. I don’t care what is in them, they are awesome.

Many thanks everyone <hugs> I hadn’t heard of a shamrock shake, maybe we don’t get them in the UK? mint though…. I love minty things :-)

@6rant6 I haven’t any idea exactly how much cigarettes are honey, not a smoker, (born with bad lungs so I spend a good amount of time struggling to breathe so the idea of anything that might make that harder to do…. never appealed.) I hear customers complaining about how expensive they are though, as well as how hard it is to quit. Something else I don’t have an answer for.

A McFlurry has 600 calories. . . a McFlurry isn’t even half the size of a milkshake! I’d guess it’s more like a third of a shake!

This is the question I was searching and searching for and it just popped up in a sidebar. I think it is the ur-Fluther discussion on obesity.

I love Chipotle burritos or rather I liked Chipotle burritos until I found out my non meat burrito still has over 900 calories! Who doesn’t like cheese quesodillas? Well if each tortilla has a little more than 300 calories plus whatever cheese you put in and maybe some sour cream or guac on the side… I’m a little person who thinks 1 tortilla folded over means 1 quesodilla and I’d like to eat two of those cut up into triangles. Whoa. For some people that would just be a snack of 1000+ calories.

@Neizvestnaya yeah, but again, those burritos are enormous. Would you actually sit down and eat the whole thing? If I go to Chipotle, my sister and I split a meal. The portion sizes from restaurants and fast food places are a little crazy. It is crazy when you think about how many calories are in certain things, though, that is definitely true.

@JmacOroni: I also cut them and make into two meals but truth be told, I’m much rather have 310 calories of something more substantial than a flour tortilla. I now save my calories for something meaty or cheesy and delicious.

I hope that didn’t come off as judgment. I don’t care what you or anyone else eats, if you can eat the whole burrito, go you. lol. I didn’t realise that it could have come off that way at first, so just clarifying. Sorry if that is how it sounded. That was meant to be a comment about the portion sizes, but, the burritos from Chipotle really are enormous!

Wow for any of you to make judgment it is so bad!!!! Not everyone can be a toothpick…it is so hard to lose weight and then when there are people like you making fun of people it is very sad!!!! Get a life people and stop worrying about what a person eats or doesn’t eat…if you have never been obese then don’t try to put yourself in that other person’s shoes…there’s a lot of factors that come into being obese, not just food!!!!!!!!!

Nope. It’s just food, @lve69. You don’t see obese people in starving countries.