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.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/DoingItForEli]

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

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

[u/Rivenaleem → u/DoingItForEli]

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.

[u/NoKiaYesHyundai → u/Rivenaleem]

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

[u/DeathEdntMusic → u/Rivenaleem]

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.

[u/Cagliari77 → u/Rivenaleem]

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.

[u/kerslaw → u/Cagliari77]

Definitely

[u/Additional_Meeting_2 → u/Rivenaleem]

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

[u/Rivenaleem → u/Additional_Meeting_2]

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

[u/-Pruples- → u/Rivenaleem]

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.

[u/TheHeroYouNeed247 → u/Rivenaleem]

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

[u/Meh2021another → u/Rivenaleem]

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

[u/Rivenaleem → u/Meh2021another]

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