Why would anyone strive to become super morbidly obese?

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   ladyweightposted 9 years ago

   Why would anyone strive to become super morbidly obese?
   
   I was watching a program on Discovery Chanel where one woman stays home and eats non-stop while her enabling husband works to feed her. She wants to become super morbidly obese to immobility. I found this rather shocking. Why would someone want to become super morbidly obese knowing the health risks and drawbacks associated with this condition?

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2. 89

   Patty Inglish, MSposted 9 years ago

   I can't say for sure without seeing and speaking with the person and maybe not even then, but she's controlling those around her who are waiting on/serving her. I don't know if that is her intent. Is someone trying to make her do something she does not want to do and immobility is the way out?
   
   Some therapists hold that those who want to be so big have a need or desire to control more space around them, like a kingdom -  or to be bigger than other people for power's sake, but those people still want to walk.
   
   A woman I knew became morbidly obese so that she would not have to work, grocery shop or do errands for her family, drive a car (did not want to ever be asked for rides), and several other reasons. She also did not want to ever visit others, but insisted that people come to her place, like the man in the Russian novel who never moved from his sofa.. She became life-threateningly ill, addicted to narcotics, and ruined her life, because of immobility from obesity.

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      bethperryposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I think there is a lot of truth in your answer.

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      ladyweightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Patty. I love your perspective, makes perfect sense. For the most part, the human mind is pretty mysterious.

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I recall the Russian couch dweller's name - Oblomov, also the name of the novel. He felt if he stayed in bed, or on a chair/sofa with both his doors open, everyone would come to him; they did. The story satirized 19th nobility as lazy/controlling.

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   junksellerposted 9 years ago

   You say that as if we were rational creatures, but we aren't, and why do we do anything? Even simple things like shaving legs and tweezing eyebrows. Extend that to the whole gamut of beauty efforts, from the gallons of lotions and potions we use to the seemingly infinite procedures, and you are talking about an enormous amount of time and resources that ultimately make little sense at all.
   
   Sometimes that goes to an extreme. Intentional obesity is certainly an example, but that could be very similar to anorexia or bulimia, both of which are devastating eating patterns that a lot of people die from. I tend to lump plastic surgery into that category as well. Slicing up one's body to insert sacks of foreign material so that one has bigger boobs is dangerous and non-sensible. Still people do it all the time.
   
   It could also be fetish-based. Some men like large women. Or, it could be similar to men who pretend to be babies who desire being completely taken care of. It might be related to BDSM and have elements of bondage, control, submission, etc.
   
   Anyway, I guess my point is that even though this specific case is unusual, the underlying mental issues probably aren't. We as a society need to do a much better job of letting people know that they are fine just the way they are.

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      ladyweightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Good points for thought. There are so many reasons for this behavior that only someone in that situation would be able to explain their motive for our understanding.

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   mikejhcaposted 9 years ago

   A person I know likes to be treated like a king. He wants people to serve him. He does not want to do things himself. Being weak and obese helps him get what he wants. So he does not want to lose weight. If he got in better shape then people would expect him to do things for himself.
   
   Being over 70 pounds overweight and really weak from not exercising enough gives him more control over other people. At one point he was supposed to temporarily use a wheel chair while he got in better shape but he liked the wheel chair too much. It gives him more control over other people.

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