TLC documentary "I Eat 33,000 Calories a Day"

Has anyone seen a documentary on TLC called "I Eat 33,000 Calories a Day"?  It was on last night.  It was about two men and two women who are extremely obese and are addicted to food and eat anywhere from 12,000 to 33,000 calories a day!!!!  Just watching them eat made me sick...just thinking about it now makes me sick...makes me not wanna eat at all.  I felt bad for them because it's an addiction just like any other, but at the same time, when you are so big that you are bedridden, you gotta realize you have a problem.  I don't know.  I was just wondering if anyone else has seen it and what your thoughts are.

I don't think I've seen that specific one, but i have seen a few documentaries about obesity and food addictions.
BLAH they're eating habits are terrible.
What bugged me in one, was there was this guy who either had to lose weight or die...
So he started losing weight, which was really good!
And he lost 100lbs and was still losing or something.
But he was still eating KFC and all this junk food!
He considered these Cheese Puffs to be a "Good Protein Snack"...
It's just annoying because it isn't a healthy way to lose weight.
It's not a life style change, its just a "Here and now" fix.
When he's down to an "OK" weight, he'll just gain it all back because he hadn't REALLY done anything to fix his healthy.
But i guess he at least did something... still annoying though.
Most of those documentaries bug me now, so i don't watch them often.

Yeah, I kind of used it as a motivator to not eat...lol...I had just finished off some ice cream and had went a little overboard on some snack mix I had made (in my defense I hadn't eaten much all day and I was a little upset).  Anyway, it definitely kept me from eating anymore...lol.  But like I said, there is part of me that feels like it's an addiction like anything else, but I don't feel all that sorry for drug addicts or alcoholics, so I don't feel this should be any different.  I also saw a show called "The World's Largest or Fattest Man".  The guy was over 1,200 lbs.  He looked like Jabba the Hutt.  Anyway, he went on the Zone diet and managed to loose over 300 lbs in a year.  But the problem is that right now his mom and girlfriend prepare his food because he is bedridden.  I wonder if the minute he can actually start walking and get his own food if his habits will revert back to what they were before.  I also wonder how someone gets in that situation to begin with.  I mean, at some point you gotta realize you have a problem.  I hope I am not offending anyone here.  I know how hard it is to lose weight or break a food addiction, because I have been there myself.  But all I had to do was look at pictures of me at 200+ lbs and to realize I had to do something about it.

From someone who use to be 600+, and is now 475.  Screw YOU!!!

Shouldn't folk that finish off a case of beer and a fifth of Jack everyday realize they have a problem?????

How about someone who just traded their car for a couple oz's of coke?  Shouldn't they have a clue???

Oh, and how about those smokers out there?  We've only known smoking causes all sorts of problems for 45 or 50 years now.  Shouldn't they have a clue?

At least one of you had the guts to mention other addictions.

And none of you have a clue as to how those folk ended up as they are.  No knowledge as to any physical or mental problems.  No clue as to what they had to endure as children.  Just condemn them just on first glance.  Real Noble.

At the risk of being thrown under the bus...

Duke.. Congratulations on all your hard work to get from 600 to 475 must be a daily lifestyle change.  Keep up the new life.

OK BACK TO THE INSULTS AND FIGHTING!

Ummm, I was by no means condeming or judging and I congratulate you on your achievement.  You're right I don't know what caused these particular people to be in the situation they are in.  It could be a physical ailment, I have heard of a disease where people simply don't feel full and they just constantly overeat.  It could also be emotional, who knows.  I am a self confessed emotional/stress eater.  However, I am a little tired of the "I had a horrible childhood story."  That same story was used by Ted Bundy...does that make killing and raping women o.k.?  I watched my father beat my mother as a child, but I don't hate men for that.   Anyway, that wasn't my point to begin with.  For the record, not one of the cases documented in this show mentioned anything about traumatic childhoods or any physical ailment, just that they loved food and couldn't get enough of it.  And one guy wasn't apologetic or thought it was a big deal at all.  As a matter of fact, when confronted with all the food he eats in a day, laid out on the coffee table, he was like "that's it?"  It was over 13,000 calories laying out on the table.  Once again, I was not trying to offend anyone, I was just wondering if anyone had seen the show and what their thoughts were. 

...unfortunatly i have seen that show, it made me feel so sick! Watching those people eat is a purging mechanism in itself! Just kidding, but the way they shovel food into their faces, with it dripping down their chins and them barely even chewing it, is enough to make anyone vomit! There is no way any of those people got that way by eating lots of vegetables, no siree bob. They resorted to anything and everything processed, fried and packaged, and with all of the chemical, additives and addictive substances in those "foods" no wonder they couldn't stop. Yes, I know it is an addiction just like anyother, but please people when you can't even walk, get help!!!

I really liked this show. I was not really aware of people having an "addiction" to food, but this show was an eye opener. It shows how food can be the same as alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. People use it as a comfort to fill a void in their lives.

The only part that bothered me was that the one woman at the end of the show had basically resigned herself to the fact that she had a problem and couldn't do anything about it. She stated she "tried every diet out there" and as soon as she said that even I knew she would continue to fail. Hopefully, she will see the light that it is lifelong commitment to a healthy lifestyle...

Very interesting, to say the least.

you know what i don't get - how can they afford it?  that's the equivalent of me eating in one day what i normally eat in three and a half weeks.  if i spend $50 a week on food, this would be like spending over $5000 a month.

if my math is right, which is somewhat doubtful

you get more calorie bang for your buck with a pizza than with a spinach salad...so my guess it that their cost does not coordinate with yours (or mine).

Yeah, they did mention that the average family spends like $87 a month on groceries and these people were spending like $300 a day.  Or something like that, I don't remember what was said exactly, but it was a lot.

Edit to say:  I meant the average family spends $87 a week.  Although they may have said pounds...I think it was a British documentary.

no doubt it's ridiculously expensive...i can't afford to spend $300 on groceries a month (and that's dollars...not pounds)

aasil, you're giving me more credit than i deserve if you think i eat more spinach salad than pizza ;-)

I saw that show last night. I had to leave half way though, but the 2 people that I saw both had food addictions. The black guy and the british chick. I felt so bad for them. Because I could really relate to what they were saying. Now I wonder if that could be me in 20 years.

I am underweight right now. But I feel the same way about food that they do, I just stop myself. The way they describe food... the taste, the smells, they don't want it to ever stop. I think the only thing limiting me from eating $300 worth of food in one sitting, is the the lack of $300.

I don't know how they afford it. The black guy (i hate calling him that but I didn't catch his name) couldn't even get out of bed. Which means that someone has to bring him cooked food. His family, although it's not their fault, is enabling him to continue this lifestyle. The only reason he got out of bed, was because the TV people had set up and entire days worth of food that he eat. That's all the motivation he needed.

You know, I was thinking... if his family stopped feeding him crap and only let him live of veggies and fruit for a while, he'd lose weight (duh) But I'm afraid that if he could walk again, he would go back to the junk food.

Other than the money factor, HOW THE HELL DOES ALL THE FOOD FIT IN THE STOMACH? years of stretching perhaps. But If I ate all that food I don't think I'd be able to poop. Or breath.

By the way, when I left half way through the program, it was to get a pizza. Little Caesar's hot n' ready ;-) But I decided to stop after 2 large slices. I just couldn't sit there eating junk after watching that show.

I guess I just can't wrap my head around it..... I just don't understand how they get to that point in the first place.....

are there NO friends/family to help before it gets to the point when they are bed ridden, or is it the friends/family that make it possible by not being able to say no to the person?

If I got over 200 lbs my loved ones would throw me into a locked room with a bathroom but no windows and give me veggies and grilled chicken (etc) and water only until I smartened up.  And they would know they have full permission to do that.  Same would apply with drugs or any other addictive substance. 

Screw what the person wants, you keep people close to you ALIVE first, happy second.  Can't be happy when you're dead.

dammit pgeorgian, you know what i was trying to say.

on that note, pizza for lunch does sound good...

Actually in the case of the black guy, (I'm black so I can get away with it...lol...j/k), his family mentioned that if they didn't feed him, he would just get delivery.  He had devised a mechanism to get the food through his bedroom window.  He would drop a bucket down with the $$$$ and the delivery person would put the food in it.  So his family felt it was best if they just cooked the food for him...not that it stopped the delivery.  But yeah, I am along the same line as you fmjess...I know it's an addiction and I know addiction because I have had family members with drug and alcohol problems, but I just don't understand how when you hit 300 lbs, you don't realize it's a problem then...why does it take you to hit 600 or 700 or 1200 lbs you realize, oh shit!  I have a problem!!!  And yes, the same goes for other addictions...I guess rock bottom is just different for everyone.

to be honest, at some point, i think i would just kill myself.

They are killing themselves...just slowly...with food. That's why it's so sad...

right, i know that.  i'm just saying i would speed up the process.

I don't see why this is any stranger than anorexia or bulimia. Instead of NOT eating, then DON'T STOP eating. There are loads of peeps on here who eat very little, or struggle very much to eat more.

Why some people seem to think the fatties are some sort of morally deprived people with no self control is beyond me. Anorexia or bulimia is much stranger in the world than eating.

And there are just as many reasons some one overeats.

The people on that show are extreme cases of obesity, just like there are people who actually starve themselves to death. Willingly? I don't know. I've never had anorexia, nor am I obese.

You could just as much say that the anorexics should just get over themselves or whatever and start eating like normal people.

It's not that easy, I guess.

Just IMO!

And for guy who lost like a zillion pounds already CONGRATULATIONS! My guess is you've got a pretty stiff upper lip to loose all that!