Diet soda. Tea. Water. That's bout it. Sweet tea is rare. Don't like all the sugar in it.

And what about weekends? Do you go out with friends sometimes and eat and drink?

Nope I don't go out at all. I don't drink alchohol...I don't eat out at fast food joints. Don't eat candy but rarely, say once a month a candybar? I don't eat chips, chocolate no McDonald's. Occasionally I'll have a bowl of vanilla ice cream. I crave the cold. So nope.

You might want to talk to a doctor. A loss of appetite could mean something else is wrong. I don't want to scare you, but it could be as serious as cancer. For my sophomore year of college and on, through my senior year, I was restless, couldn't sleep, was chronically tired, and gained a lot of weight. Then I found a lump in my neck, got it checked out, and I had thyroid cancer. Turns out the tumors on my thyroid made it stop working, which was responsible for all of the things that went wrong with me.

So go see a doctor, tell them what's going on, and they'll most likely do some bloodwork, run tests, and if there is something wrong, they'll take care of it.

O.o I had blood work ran about a year ago. Maybe two? I don't know. Something like that. And everything was fine. Medically. Now the depression was another thing. It was bad. I was to the point that I stopped taking care of myself. As basic as taking showers. The shower scared me and sent me into a panic attack. The depression let up about six months ago. So it's taking time to undo so much. Am I making sense? I'll consider going back to the doctor and having them test the thyroid and for different cancers. Thanx for the info though :-))

There are "standard" blood tests, and there are more specific tests - and I'd talk to your doctor about getting not only the standards, but as many screenings as you can (metabolic, vitamin and autoimmune tests).

The fatigue you're describing sounds pretty severe. That kind of fatigue does lower metabolism, because the less you move, the less you burn.

It's really very atypical to maintain 200 lbs on so few calories. If you up your calories, but it doesn't help you be more alert and active, you could see weight gain instead of weight loss. I'm not telling you not to up your calories - I'm suggesting that you document every single morsel for a few weeks, also write down how you feel each day, how much you slept (including naps), and what you did (chores, exercise....).

I'm suggesting all this, because you want to be able to take your journal to the doctor with you. When you tell a doctor "I don't know why I can't lose weight, I hardly eat at all," their first thought isn't that you have an unusually low metabolism, but that you're in denial (or fibbing) about how much you eat.

Having it in black and white (especially when the doctor sees that you wrote down EVERYTHING down to "one jellybean," or "one bite of mashed potatoes,"... ) helps the doctor see an accurate picture of what you're experiencing.

Telling a doctor you're "tired all the time," also doesn't really show the problem like seeing "slept 14 hours last night, took an hour nap in the afternoon."

Seeing a dietitian couldn't hurt either (bringing along your health journal to the dietitian also, because an unbalanced diet can also trigger or worsen fatigue).

Hang in there.

You aren't far off on the sleeping. I'll be in bed by ten, sleep till 11am and back down for nap at 1 or two pm, two hour nap then the cycle starts all over again. And barely functioning if I don't get a nap. Rather sucks lol

I've always thought that sleeping is the body's way of conserving energy. You don't need very many calories to sustain a sleeping body.

SusanB, I think you are right. I think it is totally possible for a person eating so low calories to maintain a high weight when not moving around. I know Kaplods mentioned that this is an atypical situation, but really it is not when it pertains to metabolic/endocrine problems.

I am thinking along the lines of homeostasis, where instead of allowing her to move around more and drop the weight, thereby expending very needed calories for her other body functions, she is simply being put to sleep by her own body. I believe this is what was going on for me until I convinced my body I would feed it, please let me move around more, I don't need those stupid naps on top of 12-14 hours of sleep.

And it thankfully responded.

I think the quality and timing of your food plays a part too. -microwaved stomboli from stoffer's and a chicken patty sandwich don't sound too nutritious. 1 meal a day and not much protein, no vegetables, fruit for fiber... and white flour pasta and bread I assume.

I'm becoming a fan of Jillian Michael's radio show, and she says she starts the girls on the Biggest Loser at 1200cals but it's all healthy foods spread out through 3 meals and 1 snack. She said just this on the last show... you can lose weight on 1200cals of oreos, and you can lose on 1200cals of chicken/fish and brown rice but the results will be different (chicken/fish and brown rice having better results)

This is great information. I, too, am morbidly obese from NOT EATING... I'm tired all of the time and seem to have a difficult time with breakfast and lunch... Lately I've been making a breakfast smoothie...and another for lunch...and then dinner with my daughter... I seemed to have more energy after beginning this regimen and the dark circles under my eyes seem better...

Anyway, it helps to feel that I'm not alone but still struggling to eat and cook... I'm trying to eat more whole foods and trying new foods seems to be helping as well...

Your metabolism has been destroyed. First, find out how many calories you need to maintain life by visiting one of the online sites. This will give you a good idea of where you need to start. Until your metabolism gets going, you need to eat small snacks every 2-3 hours so your body thinks it is not starving (don't go over your total calorie needs). I wouldn't even try dieting for at least a week - your body needs nutrition. Force yourself to drink no less than 8-10 8oz glasses of water everyday - not soda - water. Once you get your metabolism jump started, use a digital food scale to weight your food and keep an online food journal at Fit Day. It would be a good idea to visit a professional nutritionist or physician and let them also evaluate what is going on.

Actually, that's what I meant - it's atypical for a person without metabolic/endocrine problems or other health issues, which is why I suggested the thorough blood screenings, and the dietitian.

I suspected. I know "hibernation mode," very well. If that doesn't change drastically when you give your body more fuel, think about asking for a sleep study as well (if at all possible, not just screening for sleep apnea, but also for stages of sleep).

When I had my first sleep study done, it found that I stopped breathing about 90 times an hour, and I was virtually never reaching restorative (REM) sleep - so no matter how much I slept, I'd never wake up feeling rested.

That kind of fatigue can be associated with several health issues, and sometimes it can be a challenge, even for doctors to figure out, that's why the symptom log is really important.

I would recommend either buying or patterning your own journal after this book:

HEALTHMINDER Personal Wellness Journal (a.k.a MemoryMinder Personal Health Journal) Health Diary and Symptoms Log (Spiral-bound) by F. E. Wilkins


If you search for it on amazon.com and use the Search Inside feature (there's a link on the left side of the screen, just under the picture of the book - for this book, you're actually looking at the previous edition, which is the one I bought ), you'll be able to see the picture of the journal pages, and you can decide whether it's something you want to buy, or just use it for inspiration. I never would have thought to document the weather, and it turned out to be one of my major triggers for some of my symptoms.

Have you been to your doctor? I would get your lack of appetite and fatigue checked out. Are you on meds for your depression?

How long have you been eating nothing yet remaining overweight? Because starving yourself for any significant period of time will not keep you fat, it's pretty much against the law of thermodynamics. People eating at a massive calorie deficit do lose body weight -- at the beginning your body slows your metabolism (starvation mode) and your body will most certainly reduce your muscle mass along with fat (something you don't want to do) and other unhealthy processes that everyone should avoid will occur, but you will lose body weight.

But you simply can't stay fat from not eating very much for very long.