My 21 Y/O Fiancee's Metabolism is Absolutely Horrible and I Don't Know What to Do

chicken little, 500 calorie days would be typically just 1 chipotle bowl and that’s it all day long

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Alderaban we don’t have splurge days. On cheat days, she’ll have 2 meals and maybe eat 1900 calories of mostly crap

If she eats 1800 to 2300 calories a day, I think she would gain 2 to 3 lbs a week

Flapping it, we had a mexico trip a few months ago where she ate 3500 calories a day for an entire week

Watchful eye of fiancee? Shes asking me for a tummy tuck. She desperately wants to lose weight. This is is not just me

flappin it, whenever I have done any sort of extended hardcore weight loss cycle, I’ve lost tons and tons of weight very easily

If ate like her, I would be 6% bodyfat in a few months I believe

howie, she keeps asking me for a tummy tuck. She desperately wants to lose weight, it’s not just me

we tried multiple months of eating healthy 1300-1500 calories healthy and she didn’t lose weight

We had a mexico trip a few months ago where she was eating like 3000-3500 a calories a day for an entire week so she had that to reset her metabolism even if you believe calorie adaptation is a real thing

Honestly, all judgements aside, you didn’t answer my question at all. I believe you’ve tried other things. Do you believe that, having exhausted some other options, 500 calorie days are a correct, or sustainable, or effective way to go about this? You seem to have some knowledge about these things, I’m just wondering why you’re letting her do this. I can’t think of a scenario where that’d be a good idea.

As for the 6% bodyfat thing, we have some pro bodybuilders on here who got sub-10% bodyfat, and their diets looked nothing like that. I don’t think that’s a viable way of getting to that point. On paper perhaps, but I’d doubt it.

Seriously though - sorry if I sounded judgemental, I’m sure this is stressful for both of you. I’m just trying to wrap my head around the reasoning here.

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What you are describing is a physical impossibility. The laws of thermodynamics simply do not permit a 200# individual to consume 1300-1500 cals/d for “multiple months” and not lose weight.

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I don’t mean to harsh on you brother. Hopefully you two can manage a healthy and sustainable approach.

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Eye dentist so you think she’s simply not recording or counting her calories correctly?

Is there any other scenario here that’s a possibility? Any other condition?

I should mention she has a decent amount of muscle. She should be burning 2500 calories per day very easily

Flappit I don’t know

I wish I had an answer. I do know I spend lots and lots of time with her and she consistently eats a tiny fraction of what I eat and I’m much lower body fat

Yes. As I said above, we’re talking about violating the laws of thermodynamics. What you’re suggesting is tantamount to saying she drives her F150 fifty miles a day, but only has to fill the gas tank once a month. It’s just not possible.

There are a few extraordinarily rare (as in ~1/100,000 people) medical conditions that come to mind that could conceivably produce this situation, but her normal labs argue strongly against such a possibility. That said, if you’re convinced she’s accurately counting calories, you should certainly consider a proper medical evaluation.

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Eye dentist - For a few weeks, she was losing weight during the week and gaining it back over the weekend. I wonder if she was really eating that horribly

The weird thing is I’ve seen her cheat meals. She’ll eat a bit of garbage and stop it pretty quickly

My cheat days Saturday are 4500 calories of garbage and I don’t gain weight

Is there any reason why her daily calories burned would be that far below avg?

Well, I ran the numbers for you in my first post. If you want, we can assume she’s a unicorn riding a unicorn and say she’s an 8 cal/lb/d person. That would put her maintenance cals at ~1900/d, and she’s losing about a pound/week on the 1300-1500 cal/d intake you mentioned above.

I think you can see we’re closing in on an uncomfortable/awkward truth about her intake.

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Well there could be some calories that were overlooked, like oil when cooking with a pan, or liquid calories, sweeteners, condiments, dressing, sauce etc

You’re saying she is tracking her calories. Perhaps she is doing it wrong!

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IDK what’s going on with your fiancee, but to put things into perspective:

I’m a 5ft 0, 90lb girl that eats 17-1900kcal/day NOT counting the 10+ servings of veggies consumed or little bites lick tastes I probably take while cooking but am not tracking. I also have a cheat day a week where I push 3000. I have not gained any weight despite eating like this for over 6 months

I also struggled with an eating disorder in the past and have ongoing hormonal issues, so it’s not like my metabolism is in tip top shape either.

As @EyeDentist and others have repeatedly pointed out. The most likely answer is that your fiancee is (knowingly or not) consuming significantly more calories than she is reporting (misjudging serving sizes, not tracking oils, mindlessly taking bites during the day and forgetting).
When you see hoof prints, think of horses, not zebras, and certainly not unicorns

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Here’s another idea: prep all her food for a week and see what happens.

Also, the show “Secret eaters” (on youtube) might provide some insights

Anna that’s great advice. Thanks

Overall great advice in this thread. I’ll have a sitdown conversation with her

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So I went to her parents house and today is cheat day

I’m eating 4 times what she’s eating, per the normal