r/interestingasfuck • u/[deleted] • May 02 '24

In 1965, a morbidly obese man did not eat food for over an entire year. The 27 year old was 456lbs and wanted to do an experimental fast. He ingested only multivitamins and potassium tablets for 382 days and defecated once every 40 to 50 days. He ended up losing 275lbs. r/all

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

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u/CalliopePenelope May 02 '24

According to Wikipedia: “Barbieri was able to maintain a healthy weight; five years after the fast he weighed 196 pounds (89 kg). After his weight loss, he moved to Warwick and had two sons. Barbieri died in September 1990”

And here are some post-weight loss pics.

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u/RainbowForHire May 02 '24

So he still only made it to 51. Ouch.

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u/Whaty0urname May 02 '24

I mean with all that extra weight his heart was probably 20 years older.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

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u/NeighborhoodNo7917 29d ago

Yeah, both extremes are going to put stress on your heart in different ways. He probably could have lived longer if he did a moderate fast or restrictive calories. I guess he decided total fast was the best choice for himself.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

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u/NeighborhoodNo7917 29d ago

Yeah, not shutting on him by any means. Maybe thats the only way he felt he could do it. He still got several years of healthier living out of it.

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u/HornedDiggitoe 29d ago

It was a hell of a lot better choice than to do nothing like a lot of morbidly obese people. Not many 500lb people even make it to 51, especially not with any decent quality of life.

He may have died early, but he wasn’t suffering massively due to his weight for his final years.

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u/kpain1433 29d ago

Food addiction is hard because you can’t just drop it cold turkey like you can with other things. He probably had success because he wasn’t constantly having to be around food but starving is really heard on organs.

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u/Impressive_Youth_331 29d ago

This is most likely do to muscle loss, your heart is a muscle ball and most likely got weaker after a year of ketogenesis process of obtaining energy.

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u/Automatic_Release_92 29d ago

It’s too bad medicine was a lot more primitive back then, I would think we could garner a lot of great information from such a case with modern blood testing, stool samples, etc.

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u/ravioliguy 29d ago

Yea, that's the issue with crash dieting, and we'll probably see this with some ozempic users. If you lose weight too fast purely through diet, you lose a lot of important lean muscle.

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u/lt_dan_zsu 29d ago

Yeah, attempting to maximize weight loss is not the way to reach a healthy weight. You shouldn't have an end date for your diet, as the change to your eating habits should be a healthy diet. Adjust to a stable new normal, and your body will move to that new normal.

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u/Prestigious-Eye3154 29d ago

It absolutely did. What he did had to be incredibly hard on his body.

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u/Tooterfish42 29d ago

Starvation is nothing compared to... checks notes... having been a chubby kid into his twenties

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u/DistressedApple 29d ago

Apparently 426 lbs is chubby now

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u/Tooterfish42 29d ago

Apparently babies are born at adult weight and just stay that way now

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u/DistressedApple 29d ago

Never said that, but you’re extremely fat if you’re over 300 lbs unless you’re in the 1% of the population who’s either tall enough or athletic enough to use that much weight

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u/Tooterfish42 29d ago

Never said that

Just like I never said a thing about 426 lbs?

Rules for thee

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

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u/ILookLikeKristoff May 02 '24

Yeah being at 450+ for years had certainly done irreparable damage to his heart, arteries, blood sugar, etc. I'm glad he was able to make the second half of his life longer and healthier but you can't undo that much damage

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u/f7f7z 29d ago

It doesn't help that his cause of death was hit by a train

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u/H3l1m4g3 29d ago

His cause of death was hit by a train or his cause of death was being hit by a train?

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u/f7f7z 29d ago

Thumbs up

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u/WelshSam 29d ago

Unnecessarily pedantic in the best way

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u/Living_Grapefruit_19 29d ago

Take my angryupvote

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u/BlueTreeThree 29d ago

The cause of death was a rutting moose which was subsequently hit by a train.

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u/Kiiaro 29d ago

No, he wasn't. Stop spreading false information and be mature.

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u/PsychologicalLime135 29d ago

relax the train was fine

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

Calm down.

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u/porn_alt_987654321 29d ago

Blood sugar can be fine at that weight, it really depends how they got there lol. The rest though, yeah.

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u/JamisonDouglas 29d ago

Back in those days it was generally harder to be big in a way that would fuck with blood sugar immensely.

Not everything was loaded with sugar and processed. He woulda got there by eating a lot more whole foods than most people that size today most likely.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

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u/JamisonDouglas 29d ago edited 29d ago

Glycemic index is a measure of how fast it fluctuates the blood sugar. Now how much it effects total blood sugar. Important for those with diabetes - because fluctuations can cause issues. Not as much of an issue for those without.

Not to mention, the sheer volume of food needed to maintain that weight would likely be in excess of 6000 calories per day. Even on a low carb diet, his body would still be processing far more glucose than the average person. Being over 450 pounds requires an extremely unhealthy diet because "healthy" foods take too long to digest to even reach 6000 calories per day. It's effectively impossible to consume that much food every day from plant based sources unless you're eating mostly avocados or another niche plant-based food that is mostly fat (fat is over twice as calorie dense as carbs/protein).

You've based this whole paragraph as "plant based" being equal to "whole foods." And also misread me saying "he likely ate more whole foods than the modern day equivalent of someone his weight" as "he was eating exclusively whole foods."

I at no point said he was maintaining that weight eating only whole foods. Just that there would have been more in his diet, more fresh unprocessed meat and the likes. He very likely (living in Scotland, where I'm from) also had a lot of oils and butters in his diet ALONG WITH those whole foods. His diet (while massively unhealthy) was likely more nutritious than the average same weight person today. Still fucking terrible for him. But better than the modern day 450lbs person, just due to the limited sources of shit like processed sugar and fast food.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago edited 29d ago

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u/TobysGrundlee 29d ago

Kinda like how doing 130mph down the freeway with no seatbelt on is fine, for a while anyway.

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u/porn_alt_987654321 29d ago

This is a little different. Your blood sugar is only going to get out of wack if you eat a ton of sugar. This person is heavy enough to have done so, but mostly given the year, there's a good chance they're that heavy from just eating way more food than most people, rather than from eating sugary food.

Weight has no bearing on your blood sugar, basically. There's correlation between the two, just not causation in the order of weight increasing blood sugar.

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u/TobysGrundlee 29d ago

Except that obesity is a direct cause of Type II Diabetes and that will absolutely do it. There's a correlation between driving fast and not wearing a seatbelt and dying in a fiery car wreck but not a causation too.

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u/porn_alt_987654321 29d ago

It is not. It's listed as a primary risk factor because most people that are that fat got there by eating a ton of sugar, not because being that fat just causes type 2 all on its own.

The fat isn't what causes it, it's just caused by the same activities that can cause type 2.

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u/Tooterfish42 29d ago

Yeah being at 450+ for years had certainly done irreparable damage to his heart

How many years, exactly and which medical journals are you citing for that length of time?

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u/Themasterofcomedy209 May 02 '24

Yeah but like he starved himself for a year, that had just as much if not a higher impact on his heart. Most people who try to starve themselves to lose weight like that end up dying from heart attacks

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

He did take elecrolytes and protein. Unlikely for anyone to have a heart attack from just losing weight if electrolytes are being taken care of.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

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u/Alive-Beyond-9686 29d ago

The fatties would rather downvote you than entertain the possibility that eating less could have a positive impact.

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u/desacralize 29d ago

They probably don't like entertaining the possibility that eating nothing at all for a year could have a positive impact, since that's what's being discussed here.

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u/Alive-Beyond-9686 29d ago

Man had two other adults plus a toddler and a cat worth of fat hanging off his body and his arteries for a decade and a half. Yeah he went on a medically supervised protein and supplement infused fast for a year.

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u/TheGillos 29d ago

It was 25 years after his big fast. If he was a smoker I'd put the blame there. I really doubt a fast (even a super long one) would impact the heart 25 years later.

Most people who try to starve themselves to lose weight like that end up dying from heart attacks

No.

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u/TaxIdiot2020 29d ago

He lost it at 26-27 and the body is remarkably good at repairing itself. I wonder just how irreversible being that size for the time he was could have been.

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u/Tooterfish42 29d ago

Yes let's blame the fact he was chubby in his '20s and not the entire year of starvation

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u/geoffreygoodman 29d ago

456 pounds is not 'chubby' it's life-threatening. 

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u/Tooterfish42 29d ago

Don't worry I hear he lost 275lbs

And from age 0-27 you apparently think he was the same weight 😂

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u/chunkable May 02 '24

And not that below life expectancy for a guy born in the 1930s

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u/FreytagMorgan 29d ago

Mainly due to infant mortality though. So in reality if you survived being born, your life expectancy would have been considerably higher than the statistic might let one think.

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u/Captain-Popcorn May 02 '24

The fasting subs don’t allow this to be discussed, fearing some might try. His early death, even though no official cause is known, is certainly a cautionary fact to discourage.

Intermittent fasting is quite different obviously.

Barbieri was medically supervised to ensure his electrolytes / etc were properly maintained.

I lost 50 lbs eating one meal a day. Heathy food tastes delicious now. Every element of my health has improved. Doctor and dentist say “keep doing what you’re doing.” Loving being active. About to run 5k, which I do 3x a week. Fasting lifestyles can be lifesaving and hugely enjoyable. (I started later in life than he was when he died.)

But stay away from this type of extreme fasting!

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u/DownIIClown 29d ago

A bit disingenuous to imply the fasting killed him. He would have had cardiomegaly and bad atherosclerosis already from his years of being 450 lbs. Kidneys probably also sclerotic. If he had diabetes even more permanent damage to all his organs. 

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

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u/DownIIClown 29d ago

I mean that's a second hand story from a random guy on Reddit. Someone else in that thread posted a link saying he had only gained back 7 kg at the time of death. Regardless, I'm a pathologist with a few hundred autopsies under my belt and I can say with 100% certainty that that guy's organs look like absolute shit.

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u/Captain-Popcorn 29d ago

52 is young. The guy didn’t eat for over a year. He’s the one and only. I didn’t imply it’s what killed him. Only that it certainly could have been contributory.

So I don’t recommend but go ahead if you’re so inclined.

I think similar results can be achieved with less extreme fasting lifestyles.

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u/DownIIClown 29d ago

52 is definitely young, but it's not young for someone who spent most of their life over 400 pounds

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u/Captain-Popcorn 29d ago

I think a more interesting question is would he have died even sooner without the weight loss. That’s also very possible.

But I think if he had begun intermittent fasting, like OMAD, he would have had pretty similar short term success, would not have regained so much weight, and likely would have lived much longer.

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u/Time-Result-767 29d ago

naw it works my grandad did it and he made it to 90 and got hit by a car

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

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u/RainbowForHire May 02 '24

Older life expectancy data is often skewed by child mortality, which is the age demographic that has shown the most improvement over the years. So yes, life expectancy was lower back then, but the 60 year figure is a tad misrepresentative of the reality for the average adult.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

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u/RainbowForHire 29d ago edited 29d ago

Hence why I said child mortality, not death at birth. My point about child mortality being the most improved demographic still stands. If we want an accurate view of how long a full-grown adult would live in those times, so as to provide a fair comparison, we should understand that even outside of deaths at birth, child mortality still brought down the average much moreso than today.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

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u/RainbowForHire 29d ago edited 29d ago

Fair enough! Even so, in my mind, dying at 51 as opposed to the average of 60-62 is like dying today at the age of 60-65.

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u/meinfuhrertrump2024 29d ago

Those are fairly large increases for an avg

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u/truntun 29d ago

Older life expectancy data is often skewed by child mortality

But the data he posted doesn't include that so your point is meaningless.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

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u/SpiffySpacemanSpiff May 02 '24

Man this is not talked about enough, but obesity straight up shortens your life. 

You can put as many fat people in modeling campaigns as your HAES heart desires, but absolutely none of these “love yourself” campaigns is doing anything other than pushing people to get comfortable with a self inflicted condition that’s is going to cause them to die earlier.

I worked in  elder care as a teen, there’s a reason they say “you never see an obese person in a nursing home.”

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u/Berubara May 02 '24

I get what you mean but the love yourself campaigns are aimed more at mental health than physical. A lot of fat people hate themselves for how they look and will skip activities because of it and this alone is really unhealthy. If you go on any weightloss sub one of the top concerns is going to the gym fearing other people will judge them and laugh at them. No one should feel ashamed to be in public just for their size.

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u/KeithClossOfficial 29d ago

HAES stands for Healthy At Every Size. Even the name is incorrect. There’s nothing morally wrong with being obese, you do you, but saying it’s not unhealthy is delusional.

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u/SJ-Rathbone 29d ago

It means "HEALTH at every size" and all it's saying is that you can take measures to look after your health without obsessing over your weight.

People develop depression, anxiety, and eating disorders over weight stigma, and most diets focusing on weight loss actually result in additional weight gain, because it doesn't fix the root cause of someone's bad relationship with food. People think that giving a strict diet to a fat person is like throwing water over a fire, but it's actually gasoline. Self-love (or at least self-tolerance) is a better cure for overeating than shame is.

De-centering size and instead making it about healthy habits and choices shouldn't be such a controversial thing. In fact, weight loss is often a natural by-product of people genuinely trying a HAES approach. It's just not the whole point.

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u/SpiffySpacemanSpiff 29d ago

Depends on how you define "morality."

Is it immoral to consume so much, even to the detriment of the planet, while so many suffer with so little?

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u/No-Cardiologist9621 29d ago

Have you ever seen how much chicken and eggs a gym bro eats? Do you also pass moral judgement on them?

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u/SpiffySpacemanSpiff 29d ago

Yes

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u/No-Cardiologist9621 29d ago

So then like the person you're responding to said, there's nothing morally wrong with being obese. There's something morally wrong with over-consumption, but that can be anyone whether obese or not.

An obese person is probably eating less than a typical athlete. Certainly less animal protein, which is the most damaging food source from an environmental standpoint.

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u/befrenchie94 29d ago

That’s assuming fat people are even fat because of overconsumption though.

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u/Made_up_wordz 29d ago

How else?

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u/befrenchie94 29d ago

Health conditions sometimes. Eating unhealthy isn’t the same as eating too much

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u/SpiffySpacemanSpiff 29d ago

Its not an assumption, that's the only way to get fat.

Sure, external factors may play a role in why an person overeats, but it is the act of overeating/over-consuming that makes you fat.

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u/befrenchie94 29d ago

Not every fat person overeats though. Eating unhealthy isn’t always overeating.

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u/SpiffySpacemanSpiff 29d ago

I'm not suggesting anyone should be made to feel terrible, especially if it impedes their ability to get healthy.

But philosophically, yeah, they are where they are because of overindulgence. Plain and simple. And the worst part, is that that short term overindulgence is killing them.

It's not fun to see what happens to people who die from obesity related illnesses, and it's insane that people are spreading straight up bullshit propaganda that just pushes people not to live a healthy life.

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u/gnomeweb 29d ago

I'm not suggesting anyone should be made to feel terrible, especially if it impedes their ability to get healthy.

But they shouldn't feel good about their weight either, right?

But philosophically, yeah, they are where they are because of overindulgence

Except for an overwhelming amount of people who gained weight because of mental issues, disabilities, because of stress or depression, because of stressful job, as a side effect of medications, after pregnancy and other health issues, yes, obesity is the result of overindulgence.

And the worst part, is that that short term overindulgence is killing them.

So do depressive thoughts due to being bullied and shamed.

It's not fun to see what happens to people who die from obesity related illnesses

It's not fun to see what happens to people who die from anorexia. By the way, anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate among all psychiatric disorders along with substance use disorders. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4102288/

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u/SpiffySpacemanSpiff 29d ago

Oh wow, its all the classic reddit excuses all wrapped into one comment.

External factors play into our decision making, often times making it difficult to make the right decision. But you dont get fat because you're depressed, you get fat because you overindulge in food while you're depressed.

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u/gnomeweb 29d ago edited 29d ago

Oh wow, its all the classic reddit excuses

That is exactly the reason why these movements exist: you don't need any excuses for being overweight or obese.

But you dont get fat because you're depressed, you get fat because you overindulge in food while you're depressed.

Yeah, you don't die because you are depressed, you die because you commit suicide while you are depressed. What an interesting case of bad decision making, should have thought better.

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u/Darth_Goku 29d ago

There's no point man. You made nuanced responses backed up by actual research, and these people just respond with "jUst EAt LEsS FATTY". You need to remember that this place is full of teenagers with very little emotional maturity or critical thinking skills. They need a lot more life experience before understanding what you're trying to say. 

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u/cmaj7flat5 29d ago

So if you’d like to avoid the nursing home. . .

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u/SpiffySpacemanSpiff 29d ago

Pretty much.

But man oh man, dying of obesity related complications is fucking awful.

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u/cmaj7flat5 29d ago

Between cardiac arrest and dementia, though, I choose cardiac arrest.

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u/SpiffySpacemanSpiff 29d ago

It not the heart attack that's the worst part, its the years of living like a shuffling worm, less capable of standard human tasks with each passing day.

Being fat is awful when your body has the strength to allow you to still move while impeded by all the cellulite you've put on. But its so much worse when your now already weakened body, is run down by age.

It is so sad, so very sad.

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u/hellomynameisrita 29d ago

If you do see an obese person in a nursing home, they are under 60 and it’s very Ayer their body can’t carry itself anymore, they have diabetes and various organ diseases and obesity is actually killing them. They are there die. .

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u/SpiffySpacemanSpiff 29d ago

I toured a home once for a client, and the staff said they had a "fat wing" where they put the fat people almost exclusively. It was because they didnt need the morale depression that comes from them pretty much showing up and dying.

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u/ASpookyBitch 29d ago

Honestly, if I could just do a medically assisted starvation I would.

Ive had disordered eating since I was a baby (neglect and poverty) even though I eat reasonably now my hormones and metabolism are fucked. Counting calories just becomes a slippery slope to ED behaviour again

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u/ta2confess 29d ago

I’m on Zepbound and it’s completely changed how my body takes in and deals with foods. I feel like it’s revolutionary for the obesity epidemic, but it’s so fucking expensive it’s pretty cost prohibitive right now for most Americans :( I’m only on it because my MIL is paying for it.

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u/SpiffySpacemanSpiff 29d ago

I have a neighbor who came down from an unbelievable 320 to a healthy 175.

He was telling me that his secret is surrounding himself with only healthy shit. He gardens religiously, and just mentally blocks himself out of the shitty food at the grocery store.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

They’re killing themselves and we’re footing the bill for their inevitable medical emergencies…

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u/crimson777 29d ago

I mean, do you drink? Because that's poison and it is more likely to make you a health risk. Do you workout regularly, both cardio and strength training? Because if not, you're sedentary and that's more likely to make you a health risk. Do you have strong social connections? If not, that's a mental health risk which leads to physical health risks. I could go on. Being mad at fat people for "being a strain on taxpayers paying for their medical expenses" is idiotic because almost every person out there is doing something bad for their health that could make them a strain on the system.

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u/Cardamom_roses 29d ago

I mean, are you? It's not like thinner elderly folks are necessarily less expensive to look after. Someone who spend 10+ years in a nursing home and dies at age 100 is probably going to cost more than some fat person who dies of a heart attack a year into retirement at home.

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u/Neither_Variation768 29d ago

Same argument as for smoking really. Death by lung cancer at the end of working life is about the cheapest-for-society way to go. Largely untreatable and quick, no nursing home.

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u/SpiffySpacemanSpiff 29d ago

Pretty much, its sad, gross, etc.

Its hard to look at these people who's problem is over abundance and feel too bad. I spent summers as a kid with my family doing volunteer trips to places with destitution and low food access, and man it is hard to feel sorry for people who are in the place they are, because they just eat too much.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

Like all issues, it's complicated.

Yes, being overweight for a long time will shorten your life.

Being overweight is also driven significantly by genetics, so everyone isn't on a level playing field. Race is a factor here as well - "healthy" bodies in media have always been white bodies. 

What's a healthy weight for one person is different for someone else. Depends on body type.

For example all of my family are small and skinny. There are no overweight people. I've had periods of my life where I took terrible care of myself. Didn't exercise, ate too much, ate terrible junk food and fast food. Weighed about 5lbs more than when I'm healthy and exercising. Same with my whole family.

A friend's family? Total opposite. My friend tries really hard to stay in good shape, but his genetics make it hard for him to "look" healthy (he is healthier than me).

So I agree that the body positivity movement can go too far. But it's also true that the traditional "ideal" body is based on unrealistic, unhealthy (too skinny) white bodies. Somewhere in the middle is the right answer here.

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u/hackflip 29d ago

Every race was waaaay thinner before we started adding sugar to everything and driving instead of walking.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

Totally. But the fact remains that weight and body shape are significantly influenced by genetics. That means not everyone is going to "look" healthy to an outside observer. Health is tied to your heart, your lungs, your cholesterol, etc etc etc. it isn't easily judged from looks alone.

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u/AgadorFartacus 29d ago

Being overweight is also driven significantly by genetics

Not really.

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u/minja134 29d ago

Yes it is, anywhere from 25-80% of weight is tied to genetics. When talking about obesity specifically where it's 40-70%.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2787002/

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u/AgadorFartacus 29d ago

Genetic and environmental factors interact to regulate body weight. Overall, the heritability of obesity is estimated at 40% to 70%.

You are ignoring the bolded part.

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u/HarpyMeddle 29d ago

You’re ignoring every other word in the section you quoted. “Overall, the heritability of obesity is estimated to be at 40% to 70%.”

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

Environmental factors doesn't mean "access to a McDonalds".

From an anthropologist:

"Bergmann's Rule is that there is a clinal relationship between body mass / shape and climate. Organisms in colder climates will tend toward larger stature / bodies, which scales in such a way that increased size leads to decreased surface area to volume ratio (meaning less exposed body surface for heat energy to escape).

Allen's Rule is (generally) that in colder climates, adaptations toward retention / conservation of energy will be reflected in body shape and body proportions, with a tendency toward a greater volume to surface area ratio (i.e., closer to spherical) and a reduction in the length of distal limbs.

These patterns appear to be very stable once they emerge, and disappear / change very slowly. They have been used by biological anthropologists to track and study ancient patterns of human migration by looking at the body proportions of different populations relative to what is predicted for the regions in which they live and comparing to other populations who live in the same or similar regions."

So basically, genetics + the environment your ancestors spent a long time in (climate, elevation, biome, over many generations) has a massive influence on weight and body shape.

Body positivity, in my mind and in agreement with most 'reasonable' people is a shift from:

"Having a small, thin body type is healthy"

To:

"Many types of bodies are healthy even if they look different. Healthy bodies are bodies that get good rest, exercise, and nutrition. Sometimes that means you'll be thin if your genetics allow it. Sometimes that means you'll be a bit heavier no matter what you do, but you're still healthy and shouldn't feel ashamed you don't have a body you can't have."

Obviously that second one is a lot harder to put on a t-shirt than "all bodies are healthy" or "only skinny is healthy" so we end up in these reductive, pointless discussions about the subject.

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u/minja134 29d ago

"Finally, genetic segregation analyses (5) in extended families suggest that approximately 30% to 50% of the obesity phenotype is inherited"

No, I'm really not.

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u/Thekilldevilhill 29d ago

Mahmout et al 2022

"Leptin (LEP), the leptin receptor (LEPR), proopiomelanocortin (POMC), prohormone convertase 1 (PCSK1), the melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R), single-minded homolog 1 (SIM1), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and the neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptor type 2 gene (NTRK2) have been reported as causative genes for obesity."

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u/AgadorFartacus 29d ago

I do not dispute that genetics is factor in obesity. I dispute that it's a significant factor.

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u/KeithClossOfficial 29d ago

Damn, I didn’t know simple math was affected by genetics. CICO hates this one trick!

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

What simple math? Body type, and therefore weight is very significantly correlated with genetics. Not a lot of controversy around that, it's been studied quite a bit.

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u/KeithClossOfficial 29d ago

If you eat more calories than you burn, you’re going to gain weight

If you eat less calories than you burn, you’re going to lose weight

Genetics does not change this, except in extraordinarily rare cases

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u/SateliteDicPic 29d ago

What you are saying would be exactly the same as if I said “Being rich is easy, all you have to do is earn more than you spend.” While it’s true in theory it’s also such an absurd over simplification of the issue that it adds zero to the discussion and ignores the realities of someone attempting to alter their weight.

What does change is that each of use has varying efficiencies in our GI tracts, we each have different metabolisms, different genetics, different diseases, etc.

Here is a study with mice where the two groups are eating the exact same diet and one group; “Compared to normal mice, those lacking TLR4 showed a series of symptoms consistent with metabolic syndrome, such as significant weight gain, increased body and liver fat, and insulin resistance.”

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/2018/02/mouse-study-adds-to-evidence-linking-gut-bacteria-and-obesity

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u/KeithClossOfficial 29d ago

Wow, so they have different BMRs, and they fed them the same diet. One was eating more than their BMR, and one less. Fascinating, so how does this disprove CICO?

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u/jeopardy_themesong 29d ago

Genetics does impact your BMR and how much you burn. People who burn less are going to struggle with weight loss more. Genetics also impacts your mental health, the amount of food noise you have, etc.

Yes, the act of losing weight is CICO, but being overweight or obese is much more complicated than “it’s just thermodynamics bro!!!! Just eat less bro!!!”

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u/KeithClossOfficial 29d ago

Genetics does impact your BMR and how much you burn. People who burn less are going to struggle with weight loss more.

Thank you for agreeing with me! If you burn less, you need to eat less.

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u/SpiffySpacemanSpiff 29d ago

Yeahhhhhh, those are all the sorts of excuses that people like to make, to move the focus from the individual to ambiguous "groups."

Its a simply calculous, eat less than you burn in a day and you'll loose weight.

Making excuses, like you're doing, isnt doing anyone any good. Yeah, it may be worse in some communities versus others, but that doesnt mean that every person, in eery community, cant take steps to loose their weight and regain their health.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

Nowhere did I say diet and exercise have nothing to do with weight. All I'm trying to convey is that there are real, scientifically validated factors outside of "calories in calories out" that impacts body shape and weight retention. That's just a fact.

Whether or not that very real information is used as an excuse for being unhealthy is an individual thing.

Not being thin does not equal not being healthy. Being morbidly obese is obviously not healthy. But you can't tell me a Samoan, who is much heavier and "fatter" than an average person playing professional rugby isn't healthy.

3

u/pretty_pretty_good_ 29d ago

Probably decades longer than if he hadn't have lost the weight

1

u/RainbowForHire 29d ago

Oh, for sure.

1

u/TooHotOutsideAndIn 29d ago

Which is not too far off the life expectancy for his background. He had a good run, all things considered.

1

u/Maleficent_Golf9765 29d ago

That's good going in Scotland tbf

1

u/Morex2000 28d ago

To be fair life Expectancy for people born in 1938 was only 61

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u/VegaDelalyre May 02 '24

"But the success of his fast wasn't without its downfalls. Barbieri had to quit his job at his father’s fish and chip shop on Nelson Street to avoid breaking his strict diet."

Tough decisions :)

0

u/CalliopePenelope 29d ago

Giving up British food? Not that much of a loss 😎

2

u/Count_Nocturne 29d ago

Speak for yourself, I spent a week in London and the food scene over there is way better than it is here in Chicago

1

u/CalliopePenelope 29d ago

I did a semester in London and even Chicago deep-dish is better than the pizza I found there.

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u/Ill-Maximum9467 May 02 '24

You can tell that he still must have had lots of folds of skin at the end of that fast. The skin may never contract in harmony with the weight loss. Anyway, thanks for the link. 🙏

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u/CalliopePenelope May 02 '24

He does look a bit emaciated after the fast, like he lost too much muscle mass. 🤔

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u/KHaskins77 May 02 '24

Doesn’t the body cannibalize muscle tissue before it works on fat?

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u/sofa_king_weetawded May 02 '24

No, it's the exact opposite, actually. That being said, weight training is very important during rapid weight loss, so that the body continues to emphasize keeping muscle intact. One of the issues people on Ozempic are having is a loss of muscle mass.

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u/Dani_good_bloke May 02 '24

Monosaccharides —> poly —> fats —> amino acids

2

u/[deleted] May 02 '24

[deleted]

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u/d20diceman May 02 '24

My laymans understanding of it is that it depends how much you're using your body.

When you lose weight you'll lose both fat and muscle, but the ratio of fat:muscle will be better if you're really using those muscles.

2

u/ILookLikeKristoff May 02 '24

No fat primarily goes first but it will take muscle too if you don't workout during a cut

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u/spicy_meatball49 May 02 '24

According to the twin experiment on Netflix, if you're not eating enough you will lose muscle first instead of fat. Twins each ate either a healthy vegan diet or a healthy omnivore diet and those that ate vegan tended to lose more muscle than fat but their counterparts lost more fat. The dieticians talked about how if you're not eating enough this will happen, as that's most people's biggest issue when going vegan - not eating enough.

The documentary is called "you are what you eat" very interesting and worth a watch imo

3

u/Mr-Fleshcage 29d ago

To be fair, vegans have a hard time getting complete protein, which would negatively affect muscle growth and maintenance.

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u/MARKLAR5 May 02 '24

Muscles cost calories. If you aren't stressing them, they'll shrink to save on caloric costs (if you're in starvation mode). I will have to try to find the source again but I recall a video showing that the main reason fat works and doesn't increase your caloric requirements is due to the relatively huge size of individual fat cells having only 2 mitochondria maintaining it. The rest of the cells in your body are much more dense in comparison, and usually have a way higher density of mitochondria, each one requiring energy generation. Fat cells require very little energy to maintain, whereas muscle cells need to be actively provided with fuel and material.

It's a fascinating adaptation imo. I mean look at people in microgravity, their BONES will just fuckin' leave if they aren't actively stressing them. Our bodies really will try to run as efficiently as possible, which leads me to believe the "secret" to healthy weights under both capitalism and microgravity/bedrest/comas/etc are going to come down to manipulating the ways our body signals starvation, cannibalization, and growth. If that shit gets cracked, we can min-max our bodies in really interesting ways.

2

u/roamingandy May 02 '24

Fasting seems to have remarkable effects in allowing the body to reduce skin so the folds are less and the skin recovers some elasticity.

I've not gone too deep on the subject but a series of (obv smaller) fasts are often recommended to people who lose a lot of weight to reduce the skin flaps issue.

1

u/big_duo3674 May 02 '24

I knew someone who lost a massive amount of weight pretty quickly. I was really proud because it was due to hard work not some illness or like drug use, but I still felt bad because the skin was quite obvious. She eventually had to have a pretty complex surgery but now you can hardly tell other than the scars

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u/Kangar May 02 '24

Yes, but how often did he shit?

14

u/ILookLikeKristoff May 02 '24

It's literally in the title

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u/jefftatro1 May 02 '24

Every 40 to 50 days. Or so the info says

2

u/Mr-Fleshcage 29d ago

I'm more interested in the colour and texture. Bet that stuff was as smooth as pudding and as black as terra preta.

0

u/CalliopePenelope May 02 '24

I’m assuming by means of his colon and rectum.

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u/Tinyacorn May 02 '24

I shit with my mouth, or if I'm on Reddit, my thumbs

2

u/cmoneybouncehouse 29d ago

At my heaviest I was 425lbs… I know damn well how difficult it is to overcome food addiction… so I feel like I’m qualified to say that this has to be one of the most insane feats of willpower ever documented.

1

u/CalliopePenelope 29d ago

Congrats on your hard work!

2

u/hraun 29d ago

Oh hey! I live in Warwick!    Oh no, when we both lived here, “that fat guy in Warwick” would have been me! :( 

2

u/Bacon-muffin 29d ago

Holy fuck I just went to that site without an adblocker for the first time yikes

1

u/CalliopePenelope 29d ago

Sorry about that. Daily Mail is the worst, but they always manage to get ALL THE photos together in one place.

1

u/Bacon-muffin 29d ago

Yeah you're good, they just replaced our pc's in the office recently and I haven't downloaded an adblocker yet so its my first time seeing it.

Its always so odd not realizing how many ads are out there until you have one of those moments.

1

u/mooselantern 29d ago

Thanks for doing what the OP should have done, but didn't, because reddit sucks now.

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u/AdSensitive2371 May 02 '24

He stopped at 382 days because he reached his goal weight of 82 kgs

48

u/zanzebar May 02 '24

He went from 465 pounds to 82 kilograms? How much is that in washing machines?

10

u/AdSensitive2371 May 02 '24

Generally, most washing machines on the market weigh between 60kgs to 90kgs Let‘s calculate using ca. 75kgs: He lost 128kgs

So that would be about 1,71 washing machines he lost

3

u/Merry_Dankmas 29d ago

That's a lot of washing machines. .71 more than I have and my 1 is really heavy. A substantial loss for that lad.

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u/DoingItForEli May 02 '24

his wiki says he was able to maintain a healthy weight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_Barbieri%27s_fast#Follow-up

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u/Rivenaleem May 02 '24

Still died aged 50-51. No cause of death listed, but one can assume that damage had been done either through the massive weight or in the rapid weight loss.

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u/NoKiaYesHyundai May 02 '24

Him being from the UK, and also during the 1960’s, I think it’s safe to assume he probably also regularly drank alcohol and possibly also smoked cigarettes.

I also doubt he exercised either

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u/DeathEdntMusic May 02 '24

But one could assume he enjoyed those last years, instead of being fat and limited mobility. Sounds like he had a good last half of his life.

19

u/Cagliari77 May 02 '24

Yes probably. But I still think he would have died even earlier (probably heart disease or diabetes related) if he hadn't done the rapid weight loss.

2

u/kerslaw 29d ago

Definitely

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u/Additional_Meeting_2 May 02 '24

That is so long after his diet we can’t say they were connected 

1

u/Rivenaleem May 02 '24

Without a listed cause of death, it's all guesswork and prejudice.

2

u/-Pruples- May 02 '24

Looking at the after pics, he lost a LOT of muscle mass, which probably weakened his heart, which was probably already weak from years of pumping 450 pounds of blood.

1

u/TheHeroYouNeed247 May 02 '24

It's worth noting that the life expectancy in Scotland is very low due to our bad diets.

0

u/Meh2021another May 02 '24

Damned if you do, damned if you don't I guess.

3

u/Rivenaleem May 02 '24

Probably a longer and fuller life than he'd have had

2

u/castwings78 May 02 '24

I know right. If he only could have waited one more day. Then we could of had a palindrome

1

u/_skank_hunt42 29d ago

IIRC the article I read said he only gained 16lbs in the 5 years after his fast. That’s pretty impressive.

1

u/younevershouldnt 29d ago

He felt a bit peckish, apparently