Since when is giving up weight loss efforts when morbidly obese the same as being “healed” from an eating disorder?
Nobody stays fat without an eating disorder.
It keeps happening: Morbidly obese influencers on Instagram and TikTok claiming that they’re “healed” or “recovered” from an eating disorder.
But in order to maintain morbid obesity (at least 100 pounds overweight), these influencers would need to continue overconsuming food – and not just a little bit here and there, but on a near-daily basis at a significant level.
Nobody stays at 300 pounds without some form of overeating disorder.
Several medical conditions can lead to weight gain, but not 100+ pounds. It’s more like 20 to 50 pounds.
Hypothyroidism: In hypothyroidism or “low thyroid,” the thyroid produces insufficient hormones, leading to a slower metabolism.
This can result in weight gain, especially around the face and neck.
I say “can” because not all people with an underactive thyroid gain excess fat. My mother is one of them. She never overate, either, and eats only when hungry.
Treatment with thyroid hormone replacement can help restore balance and prevent further weight gain (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases).
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS): PCOS is marked by hormonal imbalances and insulin resistance, which often lead to weight gain, particularly in the abdominal area (Mayo Clinic).
Cushing’s Syndrome: This condition is caused by prolonged exposure to high cortisol levels.
Symptoms include rapid weight gain, particularly around the abdomen, face (moon face) and neck.
Treatment involves addressing the underlying cause of excess cortisol (Mayo Clinic).
Depression: Depression can lead to weight gain due to overeating or changes in eating habits (comfort eating).
Additionally, certain antidepressant medications, such as SSRIs and tricyclic antidepressants, can cause weight gain as a side effect (American Psychiatric Association).
Medications: Additional medications, such as corticosteroids and antipsychotics, can lead to weight gain due to their effects on appetite and metabolism (National Institute of Mental Health).
Diabetes: In type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance often leads to increased fat storage.
Medications used to treat diabetes, such as insulin and sulfonylureas, can also cause weight gain as a side effect (American Diabetes Association).
Prader-Willi Syndrome. Perhaps the most common genetic cause of obesity is PWS.
In PWS, one suffers from never-ending, extreme hunger, regardless of food intake.
The chromosome deletion affects the hypothalamus, making the patient continuously feel ravenous hunger even after eating large amounts of food.
The hunger drive is so relentless that food access needs to be supervised for anyone with PWS. If left unsupervised, they’re at risk of eating until their stomach ruptures.
PWS comes with low muscle tone, causing slow metabolism.
Those with PWS, including kids, can become super morbidly obese due to parents providing them with enormous amounts of food in response to their demands.
When morbidly obese people with PWS live in group homes where food access is controlled, they lose significant amounts of weight despite the low muscle tone.
Prader-Willi syndrome is very rare, usually accompanied by intellectual disability, affecting approximately only one in 15,000 to 25,000 live births worldwide (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development).
When you consider all of this information, it’s not logical to deduce that most cases of morbid obesity are caused by PWS, PCOS, side effects of medication, underactive thyroid, etc.
It’s logical to assume that any given influencer on TikTok and Instagram, who preaches “fat liberation” or “fat activism,” and is morbidly obese, maintains their size due to significant overconsumption of calories.
They may actually be on medications known to cause fat gain, or may have low thyroid or type 2 diabetes, but they are not 100+ pounds overweight due solely to these conditions.
In fact, having a condition that can cause weight gain is all the more reason to crack down on portion control of food, limit ultra-processed food and implement other proven, non-gimmicky approaches to long-term weight loss such as replacing juice with whole fruit, drinking only water with meals and taking up strength training to build lean, fat-burning muscle.
A morbidly obese “fat acceptance” influencer or follower is NOT recovered from an eating disorder, not any more than is someone who’s grossly underweight from anorexia nervosa recovered from extreme caloric restriction.
Deciding to give up weight loss attempts; deciding to eat without any mindfulness, planning or discrimination; choosing to avoid exercise and opting for a sedentary lifestyle – none of this is “recovery.”
These are poor, unhealthy lifestyle choices. Yet some very heavy influencers have convinced themselves – and unfortunately, their naïve fans – that giving up on trying to lose dangerous amounts of excess fat is equivalent to being healed or recovered from an eating disorder.
No, this isn’t about anorexia nervosa. This isn’t about someone who’s not even overweight who begins starving themselves and gets down to 80 pounds.
This is about women who’ve had chronic morbid obesity and attempted to lose weight via unsustainable approaches.
Then they tossed in the towel, called themselves healed because they quit trying to lose weight, and consider themselves recovered despite remaining in a morbidly obese state.
This is like an alcoholic who’s tried numerous times to quit drinking, only to fail time and time again, then decides the hell with it all, let’s just screw trying to stop drinking and instead drink all I want; then I’ll be recovered.
That makes no sense! How can an alcoholic be recovered if they’re still an active alcoholic – over-drinking day in and day out, frequently getting intoxicated? They’re not healed! They’re not recovered or “in recovery.”
Likewise, someone of enormous overweight is not “in recovery,” recovered or healed if they keep making the lifestyle choices that got them fat in the first place and are maintaining their obesity.
Can’t recovery be in the form of self-worth?
If someone who has over-eaten themselves to 300 pounds or morbid obesity claims to be recovered in the self-worth, self-confidence or mental health department, why are they still using massive amounts of food to cope in their daily lives?
Why is food still their drug of choice if they’re recovered from a mental health perspective?
Why do they continue to “eat their feelings”?
No, they are not recovered. But they often say they are to their followers.
All of the above questions are very fair.
The bottom line is that obesity, especially morbid, needs to stop being normalized by all of these 300, even 400 pound TikTok and Instagram influencers.
The irony is that many preach that “women are more than bodies,” or, “You are so much more than your body.”
But then their platform is chockfull of posts of themselves nearly naked and in seductive poses.
This sends the opposite message: Women ARE their bodies; no matter what your size, you too can be a sex object!
The madness needs to end.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness, where she was also a group fitness instructor, she trained clients of all ages and abilities for fat loss and maintaining it, muscle and strength building, fitness, and improved cardiovascular and overall health.
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