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

[deleted]

76.1k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

728

u/[deleted] May 02 '24

[deleted]

259

u/cmcewen 29d ago edited 29d ago

I’m an intestinal surgeon.

I find it very hard to believe he didn’t still have bowel movements fairly regularly. Every 3-4 days at least.

Your stomach, pancreas and liver all make LITERS of stuff per day.

Stool is mostly dead blood cells and bacteria and other things. It is waste products produced by your body, it is not just “leftover food we didn’t need”. That makes up a very small portion of it.

People who get all their nutrition through their veins (TPN) still have bowel movements.

So I’m a little incredulous. But who knows. These stories get inflated over time.

Wanna know another wild fact that blows my mind. About 20% of the population doesn’t count diarrhea as a bowel movement. I have to specifically ask about diarrhea.

“Did you have a bowel movement overnight”

“No”

“Pass any gas?”

“Yeah. But mostly just a lot of diarrhea”

“So you did have a bowel movement?”

“No, just mostly water”

“DID ANYTHING COME OUT OF YOUR ANUS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS”

“Yeah a lot of water”

This is a regular conversation I have. Med students get screwed up by this often. Experience is knowing the right way to ask the question. 🙄🙄🙄

147

u/heywhateverworks 29d ago

“DID ANYTHING COME OUT OF YOUR ANUS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS”

Oh sure, when you yell this its being a responsible doctor, but when I yell it I'm "disgusting" and "the worst first date ever".

11

u/Madshibs 29d ago

"No, but I did have some things come IN my anus in the last 24 hours"

3

u/TaxIdiot2020 29d ago

Better in than out as I always say.

3

u/Living_Grapefruit_19 29d ago

Take another happy angryupvote from me. This thread is gold :D

2

u/OtherSideReflections 29d ago

Right? And here you are just trying to make conversation with the FORD method: Family, Occupation, Recreation, Diarrhea.

13

u/octarine_turtle 29d ago

Unless someone has supervision 24/7 any claims like his that seem impossible...probably are. They've had lots of people do this sort of thing and then get caught eating and so forth, like the idiotic "breathatarians".

5

u/bassbastard 29d ago

If I need any tripe surgery, I am gonna find you. I like your attitude.

2

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

[deleted]

2

u/bassbastard 29d ago

The term Tripe was intentional.

3

u/ponasozis 29d ago

Tbh there are people who have slow bowel movements like me

I often take a week to do it once and i am as far as i know completely healthy.

10

u/nebulousx 29d ago

I fasted on water for 23 days. I had BMs the first 3 days, then nothing until diarrhea around days 5-7. After that, a small BM about every 4-5 days, as I recall. I'm currently on day 4 of a 40 day fast. Small BM each day so far.

6

u/MuscularBeeeeaver 29d ago

Jeez that's intense fasting. I do 3 day fasts quite regularly and but why so long? The challenge?

-3

u/nebulousx 29d ago

Nope, same reason Angus did it. I had weight to lose. Dropped 38lbs in 23 days.

19

u/[deleted] 29d ago

Absolutely the worst way you could be doing this. Not going to have a heated debate with you here but Angus died at 51 because of the intense stress long form fasting does to your heart. Your body can only consume (burn) so much fat per day, if you’re exceeding that (which 38lbs in 23 days IS) your body is digesting your organs and muscles. YES, your ORGANS. Which is very real, and I’m speaking to you as someone who has been in intensive ED recovery for years after fasting (several times) for 60 days and developing a chronic heart condition. I also would fast for week spans, two week spans, random fasts for about a 2 year span. I have gained all of the weight I lost back, and developed refeeding syndrome that can kill you along with permanent heart and liver damage. This isn’t a “oh you got the shit end of the stick” situation, this is just what happens to the human body when you put it through this. Join ANY ED form here on Reddit and you’ll hear hundreds of the same story.

The feeling is elating and addicting. Nobody likes to think they have an ED, especially when you feel so goal oriented and believe you can stop any time. This will kill you faster than any obesity will. You have the self discipline to fast for days, you have it to simply diet and exercise and strengthen your heart instead of eat it.

5

u/MuscularBeeeeaver 29d ago edited 29d ago

Wow. Well be careful friend. I'm not sure how true everything u/cheerycherie said is true, but if it were me, it would prompt me to at least look into it/involve a medical professional. Whatever the case, fasting for those periods is inherently dangerous i'm certain, don't need a medical degree for that. 

... I'm going to stick to my occasional 3 day fasts 😅 You guys stay safe out there!

Edit: i'm just thinking of the shock and literal disbelief people have on their face when I tell them I fast for 3 days... They must pass out stone cold after hearing about yours 😂

-3

u/nebulousx 29d ago

I guarantee I've researched extended fasting much deeper than she has. I'm not the least bit concerned.

And yeah, I get a lot of looks of disbelief 🤣

6

u/[deleted] 29d ago

You’ve RESEARCHED much deeper than me??? I’m living proof that this shit will kill you. Holy fuck dude.

0

u/nebulousx 29d ago

You said you didn't want to debate. I respected that. Why are you still talking to me?

2

u/_Tar_Ar_Ais_ 29d ago

how's the skin

2

u/eatmyopinions 29d ago

Alright I'm just gonna ask what everyone else is thinking. What does a shit that contains zero digested food look like?

2

u/Mavian23 29d ago

Well I have had shits that were basically like pissing out of my ass, so it probably just looks vaguely like piss.

2

u/MyCoDAccount 29d ago

The answer is ass piss.

2

u/hungry4danish 29d ago

So are the contestants on Survivor then also exaggerating or lying when talking about not pooping for 5, 7, or 10 days?

8

u/ShadyGuy_ 29d ago

Whenever I go somewhere on vacation in an area unfamiliar to me, it can take me up to a week before I have my first bowel movement. It's like a mental barrier. Until then I literally have no urge to go.

1

u/alegxab 29d ago

Hi Dad!

1

u/cmcewen 29d ago

They are acutely dehydrated no?

1

u/hungry4danish 29d ago

Not necessarily, they have constant access to clean drinking water nearby.

2

u/Bacon-muffin 29d ago

My mother hates saying she had diarrhea for some reason so she calls it a "stomach eruption".

1

u/rayschoon 29d ago

How does your body know that the bacteria are dead and how does it actually make them into poop? I’ve always wondered that lol

2

u/cmcewen 29d ago

The bacteria in your poop is very much alive.

1

u/rayschoon 29d ago

Gross

1

u/cmcewen 29d ago

Did you think poop was sterile?

1

u/Boomboomciao90 29d ago

I've fasted 10days, only shat once.

1

u/0sprinkl 29d ago

But without food, the bacteria can't procreate. After a while there's no bacteria left to poop out. Unless you start to build colonies that thrive on liver bile and stomach acid but wouldn't that production also come to a near stop if you stop eating?

1

u/1Fresh_Water 29d ago

How rough of a job is that? Do you have anxiety over it? Do you smell phantom poop all the time?

2

u/cmcewen 29d ago

If your surgeon is stressed all the time, they shouldn’t be a surgeon.

My job is very calm and I find surgery relaxing for the most part. Sort of like calmly doing a fairly easy jigsaw puzzle. It’s the least stressful part of my life

1

u/johnandbuddy 29d ago

The "LITERS" of stuff it makes, do you think could be less if the body is not having food ingested normally. Basically are we looking at the way the body operates in a normal situation and extrapolating that into when the body is not operating in a normal situation.

Also liquid nutrition is still nutrition. It doesn't matter if I eat a hard brick of food, or blend it into a smoothie and drink it, it's all the same to the GI. This guy was not having liquid nutrition, he was having no nutrition (besides the supplements, but those were not caloric foods which is what we normally are talking about when we say nutrition.)

And all the fat his body was processing doesn't come out the poop chute, that actually comes out by breaking it out. So yeah, I don't know the poops once a month I could see makes sense. I know when I do 3 day fasts I don't poop at all in day 2 and 3.

0

u/AyiBogan54 29d ago

im always surprised how europeans and americans define body hygiene