Death by starvation.

[slightlv]

11. It's not unhealthy to the extreme to water fast that long,

but once you get past 3 days of fasting, the urge to eat is pretty much gone. That makes it much easier to stay on this type of diet. Having fought weight all my life, until I turned a senior citizen, I know what it's like. You lose 20 and gain back 40. You grab tight on to every new diet that comes along, hoping this one will be the one that works for you. Meanwhile, people make fun of you, kids are cruel, and you can't stand to go clothes shopping so that demoralizes you even more.

And you're right, it's not as simple as calories in/calories out. I do wish people would understand that. How much you weigh is a conglomerate of different aspects. Genetics do play a large role in it, as does the Nature/Nurture concept so many people talk. But there's so many different hormones that affect people in different ways. What works for one person probably won't work for the person standing next to you, who is your height and weight.

I will always believe the giant food corps set us up for this. Between Big Food and Big Pharma, it's a money making game for everyone but those of us who need to lose weight. How much money have we pumped into doctors, pills, exercise clubs, etc., through the years. If only I had 1/10 of what I'd spent over my lifetime.

In the end, I lost weight through no work on my own part. I was diagnosed with lupus and fibro, and from them, I lost 150 pounds. My heart aches for anyone going through something like your friend went through. But understand it's incredibly hard to open up to anybody about your body issues, especially women, because so much of what's thought of as "desirable" and wanted is tall, thin, and leggy. If you don't fit the ideal, you beat yourself up over it -- inside and out.