A 500 POUND WEIGHT LOSS

Described herein is a thirty-five year old man who had been fat his entire life and who lost 500 pounds under metabolic ward conditions. His initial maintenance caloric level was estimated to be approximately 5,000 calories per day. After weight stabilization occurred he was given various 800 calorie formula diets for a period of 723 days. All urine was collected and periodic blood samples were taken. Weight loss was essentially linear with time and independent of the constituency of the diet. Based largely on urinary nitrogen loss data, it was estimated that only 5.8 per cent of his weight loss was body protein, the bulk of the weight loss being fat tissue. This observation was confirmed by repeated respiratory quotient measurements which indicated nearly exclusive oxidation of fat as metabolic substrate. © 1969.