ladbible homepage
ladbible homepage
  • Home
  • News
    • UK
    • US
    • World
    • Ireland
    • Australia
    • Science
    • Crime
    • Weather
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV
    • Film
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • Netflix
    • Disney
  • Sport
  • Technology
  • Travel
  • Lifestyle
  • Money
  • Originals
    • FFS PRODUCTIONS
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Citizen Reef
  • Videos
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Archive
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content Here
  • GAMINGbible
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • UNILAD Tech
UK man who fasted for 392 days set record after losing an unbelievable amount of weight
Home>News
Published 09:24 1 Mar 2024 GMT

UK man who fasted for 392 days set record after losing an unbelievable amount of weight

Despite his success, this shouldn't be tried at home

Lucy Devine

Lucy Devine

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover

Most of us struggle to go even a few hours without tucking into a meal or a snack, but one man from Scotland actually fasted for over a year.

Angus Barbieri weighed over 200kg when he visited the University Department of Medicine at the Royal Infirmary of Dundee in June 1965.

It's reported that Barbieri told staff at the facility that he wanted to stop eating altogether - in a bid to lose weight - and doctors agreed to monitor his progress.

Angus Barbieri weighed over 200kg.
Wikimedia Commons

Advert

According to Diabetes.co.uk, doctors prescribed multivitamins and yeast, thinking that he would probably be fasting for a few days at the most.

But they never anticipated Barbieri to go 392 days without eating, instead living on drinks such as tea and coffee, soda water and vitamins.

It's important to point out that this certainly isn't a safe or healthy way to lose weight and shouldn't be 'tried at home'.

Incredibly, apart from a low blood glucose level, Barbieri didn't suffer any ill-effects from the extreme diet.

He did only go to the toilet every 40-50 days, however, which must have been pretty strange.

When the Scotsman finally loosened his strict regime, he opted for a pinch of sugar or milk in his hot drinks, before breaking the fast altogether.

And the first food he ate?

A boiled egg with a slice of bread and butter, which apparently left him very full.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my egg and I feel very full," he told reporters.

According to a Chicago Tribune report, he had totally forgotten what food even tasted like after going a year without anything at all.

The fast proved to be successful, with Barbieri managing to keep the weight off.

His fast was also recognised by Guinness World Records as the longest fast ever recorded.

He broke records with his fasting.
Wikimedia Commons

Despite his success, Diabetes.co.uk explains that Barbieri's case is very unusual and shouldn't be recommended.

They explain that because Angus was so overweight, his body was more prepared to fast.

"For people of a normal weight, fasting for long periods can cause health complications, including increased strain on the heart, even with nutritional supplementation," they explained.

"Therefore, fasts of this length should not be attempted by anybody. They are from a time in the 1960s where long-term fasts were being studied with frequency, but there are other studies from this time where patients experienced heart failure and in some cases died of starvation."

Featured Image Credit: Wiki Commons

Topics: News, UK News, Health

Lucy Devine
Lucy Devine

Recommended reads

Holly Ramsay and swimmer Adam Peaty announce baby news six months after their high-profile wedding Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty ImagesJamie Lynn Spears reveals why she left Hollywood for 'the middle of nowhere'Frazer Harrison/ACMA2014/Getty Images for ACMKaty Perry makes subtle dig at exes including Orlando Bloom during showAlvaro Ballesteros/Europa Press via Getty ImagesWoman says she's a 'real-life vampire' due to rare condition that leaves her hospitalised after minutes in the sun(Supplied/Emily Richardson)

Advert

Choose your content:

12 hours ago
13 hours ago
  • (Supplied/Emily Richardson)
    12 hours ago

    Woman says she's a 'real-life vampire' due to rare condition that leaves her hospitalised after minutes in the sun

    She needs to wear full UV protection whenever she leaves her home

    News
  • Mark Smith/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images
    12 hours ago

    Norway's football team ship traditional food to its US World Cup training base to avoid eating American food

    Anything to keep Haaland happy

    News
  • Aphantasia is thought to impact 10% of the global population. (Jacob Wackerhausen/Getty Images)
    13 hours ago

    Millions of people have 'mind blindness' and don't realise it

    There a people out their who live with a condition called Aphantasia, which affects them on a daily basis and they don't even know it.

    News
  • Some people don't think in words. (Daniel Lozzano Gonzalez/Getty Images)
    13 hours ago

    This is how people with no internal monologue really think

    Cognitive scientist Johanne Nedergård has explained how minds without an inner monologue work.

    News
  • Who is eligible for £5-a-day weight loss pills as they launch in UK
  • £5-a-day weight-loss pill that 'shuts off food noise' could be coming to the UK
  • Man shares impact not drinking alcohol for 30 days had on body
  • Man who went eight days straight without sleep reveals his more extreme ideas as days went on