"I'm what is called morbidly obese. I am at least 200 pounds over weight. My question is, do I need to eat more calories because I am a larger person than average?"



Here's my answer:

Our body has what is called "homeostasis" - this means that it doesn't like change. Your body will try to preserve your current weight. Now, here's the tricky part in your situation: Your body wants to preserve your CURRENT weight (350 pounds for example). But what YOU want to do is "preserve" your IDEAL weight (150 pounds for example). Right now, you may not realise it, but you are a "normal person" (with ideal weight) covered in 200 extra pounds of weight (mostly fat).

From a survival and "functionality" standpoint, what you want to preserve (and what you want to convince your body to preserve) is the 150 "normal" pounds that are mainly comprised of your muscles, skin, bones, internal organs and yes, some amount of fat that any healthy body must have.

From a nutritional standpoint, you don't really need to eat THAT much more. You basically need to eat the amount of food that will nourish and support your "normal" 150-pound self (remember? The one that is covered under the 200 extra fat pounds). What about the rest of the 200 pounds of fat? I think you will agree that you DON'T want to "preserve" or "support" that. Think of it as an "external organism" that you need to make "starve" so you make it "collapse" and get rid of.

Ok, enough of the theory. What do you need to do in order to lose the extra 200 pounds of fat?

First of all, don't cut your calories TOO much. Remember: You need to be able to preserve your "150 pound normal self". When you cut calories too much, your body thinks: "Hey, what's going on here? Is there not enough food? Let's try to preserve the fat (since it contains more calories and energy than anything else) and get rid of the muscle mass". It's weird how are bodies think sometimes but it's true. In situations of starvation, our muscles are considered "expendable" and our fat not.

Now, it may be helpful to look at the situation as a boxing match:

On the right side, you have the "home town hero" who weighs 150 pounds - and is the underdog called "LEANMUSCLIMUS".

On the left side you have "200-pound world champion" "FATSO" who is arrogant and nobody likes.

I've watched the movie "Rocky" too many times, huh?

Ok, we need to help our 150-pound local hero defeat the 200-pound evil champion.

As your normal self becomes healthier and stronger (with proper nutrition and exercise), he will burn more and more calories even at rest. Many people make the mistake of concentrating on the fat when what they need to do is focus on the lean muscle mass. Trust me, if you increase your lean muscle mass and keep your body in good shape with exercise and nutrition, it will get rid of the fat for you.

The "good news" in your situation is that you have many pounds to lose. This means that you will be able to start losing weight initially FAST. Remember: The more pounds overweight you are, the easier it is to lose weight initially.

Start eating properly and exercising - you should start seeing results almost instantly. Results will fuel your desire to keep going and losing more and more weight in the process...