How fat can a person actually be?
I'm working on a story where one of the characters is obese and housebound, but I need some real medical facts as to how big someone can be before they can't walk.
The character is a female in her early fifties and so far I've made her about 60 stone / 840 pounds. I've been able to research the medical conditions and physical problems that come with morbid obesity, but am having trouble finding any real-life case studies.
So, does anyone have medical knowledge in this area? Is 840 lbs too fat to walk? Would it be possible for them to survive without 24 hour nursing supervision? If anybody has any useful information or links to some good sites, I would be very greatful. Ta.
This is the problem I'm having. Hard to picture how big that would actually be. And she also needs to be able to fit on a couch. A large couch, mind.
I know yo9u probably want quick answers -- but read this entire thing:
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity[/url]
and then do some math.
If you are writing a story you want to be an expert anyway, right?
Typically, if the person is not athletic, 350-400 pounds will start to hamper their movement. 500 would keep them housebound, and anything over 500 would make it difficult to move. Most extreme housebound fatties are in the 700-900 range and have helpers who come in to feed them because they can no longer move on their own
[url]http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=2799700&page=2[/url]
check for stories on people like Michael Hebranko
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_obese_humans[/url]
A girl I knew in high school had a supermorbidly obese mom. I'm unsure of her actual weight, but she could walk unaided short distances. She used a cane for that. She could drive, too. I guess it's an individual thing, but she's the heaviest person I've in real life.
She owned a wheelchair, but apparently didn't use it -- it was a regular-sized wheelchair and sitting in it would have been uncomfortable. The layout of the house wasn't really wheelchair friendly, either.
I did see her leave the house at least long enough to walk to her van.
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_obese_humans[/url]
A BMI chart
[url]http://www.coastalobesity.com/printable.asp?u=/redesign/Weight_Loss_Surgery/Why_Weight_Loss_Surgery.asp[/url]
[url]http://www.naaso.org/news/20020226a.asp[/url]
¬ The Magician's Secret
k, so I've been looking around a bit because I am curious to know a bit more myself. Now, think about it, if this woman is 840 lbs and she is.. say, 5'2" tall, that probably just equals dead. Thats a BMI of over 150. if she my height, 5'10" that is just over 120. Any person with a BMI over 40 and super obese over 50.
I think that, no matter the height, 840 is a bit much. The morbidly obese can become housebound for more reasons other than the inability to walk.
So, I think a lot of it depends on her circumstances and the effects you decide the weight has had on her body rather than the weight itself. Though I can't seem to find the point were weight=death. The record holding fat woman seems to have been about 1000 lbs, but I think one can become housebound in the 700lb range.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
The inability to walk is more due to muscular atrophy than the inability of human bones. There's a whole Pandora's Box of weight-related horrors you can get into even without going into the upper limits of human weight:
[url]http://www.vituperation.com/2004/08/13/one-of-the-forgotten/[/url]
This 4'10", 480 lb. woman became fused to her own couch after years of sitting in her own waste.
[QUOTE=Spike;1070886]The inability to walk is more due to muscular atrophy than the inability of human bones. There's a whole Pandora's Box of weight-related horrors you can get into even without going into the upper limits of human weight:
[url]http://www.vituperation.com/2004/08/13/one-of-the-forgotten/[/url]
This 4'10", 480 lb. woman became fused to her own couch after years of sitting in her own waste.[/QUOTE]
That is absolutely horrific. I can't believe that anyone else lived in that house.
And yes, the bones them selvescan take a good bit, but the joints cannot. Knees and hips become pretty fragile after years of extreme weight.
And her BMI was about 100, if that gives any perpective.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
Bloody brilliant! Thanks everyone. This is exactly what I needed. I've spent hours trying to trogg through the depths of the web for relevant material and didn't come close to what you guys have given me.
I really want my details to be accurate, no matter how simply I allude to them within the story. Also, these specifics will effect parts of the plot, so need to be accurate.
I've only recently discovered this site and I'm amazed at how quickly and enthusiastically my first thread has been responded to. Again, thanks everyone for the interest and contributions, it'll make some grim bedtime reading.
There's this episode of Nip/Tuck off the third season, I think, called "Momma Boone" where this huge bitch literally is COUCHBOUND. Maybe that can help you out a bit.
[URL=http://www.tv.com/momma-boone/episode/431150/summary.html]http://www.tv.com/momma-boone/episode/431150/summary.html[/URL]
I saw a thing on TLC about a man who was a little over a half ton. Heres a video on him.
[URL=http://www.flicklife.com/d80e40d0c4a48954e2ff/World_s_Heaviest_Man_1225_Pounds.html]Hes 1225 pounds[/URL] Or at least was before he started losing weight.
[QUOTE=Jill's Tit;1071045]There's this episode of Nip/Tuck off the third season, I think, called "Momma Boone" where this huge bitch literally is COUCHBOUND. Maybe that can help you out a bit.
[URL=http://www.tv.com/momma-boone/episode/431150/summary.html]http://www.tv.com/momma-boone/episode/431150/summary.html[/URL][/QUOTE]
That episode was based on the above mentioned case of the actual couch woman.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
I can't say I have medical facts, but I'm pretty that 840 pounds is DEFINATELY house bound. But I think its also a little close to the collapse of the entire skeletal system.
I'm no expert, thats just a guess.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica