The comic is mostly correct and a doctor probably did say some of it, but in the fattys grease clogged brain they put different implications on what he said to make themselves feel better and convince themselves it's okay to be fat then added absolute bullshit to make their "argument" make sense in their heads. 1) that's mostly bullshit. Having a seven year old eat like a butter golem is infinitely more reckless. I'd imagine this is the authors opinion not the doctor, from them drawing an incorrect conclusion from what was said. 2) that is correct, but they were too stupid to understand what it meant. That's why most diets "fail" and they throw up their arms claiming it's impossible. A diet isn't supposed to be a temporary thing. It's not something you do for awhile to reach a point then stop. It's supposed to be a lifestyle change. "But then you go back to the way you eat normally and gain it all back" No. Fucking. Shit. If you got fat eating a certain way, going back to eating that way will make you fat again. A diet should be a lifestyle change. It should be designed in a way you could live off it indefinitely, or at least have a future move you can live off indefinitely to maintain the healthy weight. Letting a 7yr old diet then put it all back on over and over is reckless but fatty didn't get what he was saying. The diet itself isnt reckless. 3) starvation mode is bullshit and probably fatty adding to what an actual doctor said, using some HAES Tumblr bs they read online. It's bullshit. Fat is stored energy. There are approximately 3500 calories (kcal) in 1lb of fat.  A calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise 1g of water 1 degree Celsius. Calories in food are measured with a calorimeter where basically you burn the food under a container of water and measure the temperature change, BECAUSE IT'S A RELEASE OF ENERGY. There are numbers that you can use to figure all this stuff out. 1kcal = 4.184 kilojoules of energy. Therefore 1lb of human fat is 14,644 kilojoules of energy approximately. Laws of thermodynamics are basically that you can't get out more than you put in (in extremely simple terms). Your body isn't going to absorb all the energy from the food you eat but you aren't going to get more than the calories you have in it. Watts = 1000x (KJ/second). So say you were to completely burn that 1lb of human fat in 1 second (impossible but for arguments sake) thats 14,644 kilowatts per second. It's not magical voodoo, they need to be able to show mathematically where that extra "starvation mode" energy is coming from. Then they need to be taken to a lab and vivisected so scientists can study how their body violates the laws of thermodynamics. That discovery would change everything in terms of humanity. Getting more energy out than you put in? A method to produce free energy from nothing that exists within our own body? Thats worth one dead fatty because that would basically solve most of the worlds problems. Or the more likely explanation is fatty is a liar and "starvation mode" is your body working more efficiently in crisis but you still aren't getting any more energy than you put in. Meanwhile calories in calories out still applies. 4) "when certain foods are forbidden you think obsessively about them which will cause you to eat compulsively" This is also known as addiction. The doctor was saying you're addicted to food.  "When heroin is forbidden from a heroin addict it causes them to think obsessively about it, and to compulsively use it once they have access to it again" GUESS THE ADDICT SHOULDN'T EVEN TRY TO QUIT HEROIN, HUH?! It's a more extreme example but you get the point. That person is living to eat not eating to live. They are addicted to the dopamine high they get from stuffing their face. In normal cases your brain rewards you for not starving to death in order to give you incentive to not starve to death in the future. You can become addicted to pretty much anything, but in these people's case they use the food as an emotional crutch Sad about being fat -> eat food -> get dopamine high -> no longer as sad -> wait until high wears off -> sad about being fat That addiction is your own fault and can be broken. It is an addiction but don't think that means I'm trying to say they deserve sympathy. No sympathy there. Although i do have sympathy for the child if you've taught a 7yr old to use food as an emotional crutch and gotten them addicted to it, taught them poor habits, taught them to use food as an emotional crutch, and ruined their bodies. The unhealthy relationship with food is from your addiction to it, not from the diet. It already existed from your own poor choices. Don't blame the cure for your affliction just because you want to stay a slob. TL;DR This person was probably told something similar by their doctor but they COMPLETELY turned around the meaning and implication and added in bs of their own to make it okay in their minds to be fat.