Why Doesn’t Mukbang YouTuber Tzuyang Gain Weight Even Though She Eats So Much? A Doctor Explains The Reason

Why doesn’t mukbang YouTuber Tzuyang gain weight after eating servings of food that can feed ten people? A doctor gives the scientific reasons why.

Mukbang YouTuber Tzuyang | tzuyang/YouTube

Seo Jae Gul is a medical doctor who makes YouTube videos that address health topics people are curious about. One of his videos answered the question almost everybody wants answered: how do mukbang YouTubers not gain weight after eating a massive amount of food?

Seo Jae Gul’s “Very Curious Body Stories” | 서재걸의 아주 궁금한 이야기/YouTube

First, Doctor Seo Jae Gul talked about the size of a human being’s stomach and compared it to a paper cup and a 2-liter bottle.

Usually, the stomach is flattened to less than half the size of a paper cup, but when food comes in, it continues to open and stretches enough to hold up to a 2-liter bottle of bottled water.

The stomach can stretch to about fifty times its size; however, Seo Jae Gul emphasized that a stomach that has been stretched out for a long time doesn’t shrink back easily.

Then how come mukbang Youtubers don’t seem to gain weight?

Mukbang YouTuber Eat with Boki | Eat with Boki/YouTube

Seo Jae Gul clarified that the key is not to keep food in the stomach for a long time.

If you look at mukbang YouTuber Tzuyang, she doesn’t keep food in her stomach for a long time and sends the food she eats to the bowels right away.

— Seo Jae Gul

He compared it to pouring water into a jar with a crack at the bottom: people can eat food endlessly if they continue sending it down and emptying their stomachs quickly.

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This is why Tzuyang doesn’t gain weight.

The doctor explained that humans gain weight when the body stores food in the form of fat. On the other hand, if the food is sent to the bowels immediately, it doesn’t turn into stored fat.

We gain weight when food is stored in the form of fat in our bodies, but if the body doesn’t absorb the food and sends it from the intestines to excrement quickly—if it goes in through the mouth and leaves through the anus—there is no big change in our bodies. That’s why our weight stays the same. If may look like you’re eating a lot, but that means you’re sending that much out.

— Seo Jae Gul

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However, there is a side effect: if the food is sent out too quickly, the body doesn’t absorb the food well, including nutrients. Tzuyang has shared in the past that she doesn’t have healthy intestines, which is why she is often seen running to the bathroom while eating. According to Seo Jae Gul, this could be a signal that the intestine is not absorbing the food’s nutrients properly.

Your browser does not support video.| tzuyang/YouTube 

He also gave examples of different body types: first, he talked about Kim Dong Eun, a health trainer famous for her mukbangs. She is about 160 cm tall and weighs 52 kg, and is known to eat a lot but does not gain weight.

Kim Dong Eun eating on “Boss in the Mirror” | KBS

However, Kim Dong Eun works out a lot. Because she has a lot of muscles, her basal metabolic rate is higher than most people’s, which causes her not to gain much weight.

Kim Dong Eun | @kimdongeun_foret_official/Instagram

Another example Seo Jae Gul brought up is Hyun Joo Yup, a former professional basketball player and now a television personality known to eat a lot. He is 196 cm tall and has a big frame, so his stomach is already stretched out. This is why he can eat so much food.

Hyun Joo Yup eating on “Buddy into the Wild” | MBC

Although he can eat a lot, Seo Jae Gul noted that Hyun Joo Yup is the type to gain weight if he overeats because his body absorbs the food and doesn’t send it out quickly like Tzuyang. Neither does he have a lot of muscle like Kim Dong Eun.

Hyun Joo Yup | Korean Basketball League

Another reason people gain weight is because they ignore the warning signs their bodies send them when they’re full.

We have a ‘switch’ that suppresses appetite. If we fill 60% to 70% of your stomach, our bodies need to say, ‘You’re full! Stop eating.’ This is called satiety. That is when Leptin hormones come out. It makes you feel full. It takes about 20 minutes for the stomach to be full after eating, but if we eat in 10 minutes, we have no time to feel full. The food keeps coming in.

— Seo Jae Gul

This is why food fighters don’t get full easily—they eat a lot but also very quickly.

Your browser does not support video.Korean food fighter Lee Sun Kyung eating 50 hot dogs on “Star King” | SBS 

Every person has a different type of stomach with different metabolic rates, weights, digestion processes, etc. Doctor Sae Jae Gul emphasized the importance of knowing your body and doing what works for you.

We don’t know what’s going on inside our bodies when we’re happily eating. There are people who gain weight because they save up too much food and there are people who send out food because they vomit or have diarrhea. Don’t envy mukbangs and find out what type you are, and eat according to your type. Then you can have a healthy stomach.

— Seo Jae Gul

Mukbang YouTuber FRAN | FRAN/YouTube

What kind of stomach do you have?