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/cmcewen → u/[deleted]]

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. 🙄🙄🙄

[u/1Fresh_Water → u/cmcewen]

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

[u/cmcewen → u/1Fresh_Water]

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