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The article is wrong in that the body can not supply all its energy needs from burning fat. AFAIR while fasting/starving
First you burn up what's in your gut and blood (doesn't last long).
Then there's a reserve that keeps you going for a few hours and in particular helps you do endurance sport-type activities.
Then you start burning fat, but some of the particles the brain needs can not be made from that, so you have to break down a comparatively small amount of other tissues as well - mainly muscle.
Therefore a very fat person can still die of starvation while being fat - the body breaks down tissues other than fat in a careful order, to keep you alive and able to move about etc. as long as possible, but eventually you die of heart failure.
As the article says he had vitamins and yeast and stuff - presumably that supplied the particles the body can't make from fat.
Edit: By the way people wonder 'where does all the mass go when someone fasts/starves', and surprisingly most of it is exhaled. Once you are into the fat-burning stage your breath smells a bit like rotten fruit from ketones, a byproduct of the fat-cracking process.
First you burn up what's in your gut and blood (doesn't last long).
Then there's a reserve that keeps you going for a few hours and in particular helps you do endurance sport-type activities.
Then you start burning fat, but some of the particles the brain needs can not be made from that, so you have to break down a comparatively small amount of other tissues as well - mainly muscle.
Therefore a very fat person can still die of starvation while being fat - the body breaks down tissues other than fat in a careful order, to keep you alive and able to move about etc. as long as possible, but eventually you die of heart failure.
As the article says he had vitamins and yeast and stuff - presumably that supplied the particles the body can't make from fat.
Edit: By the way people wonder 'where does all the mass go when someone fasts/starves', and surprisingly most of it is exhaled. Once you are into the fat-burning stage your breath smells a bit like rotten fruit from ketones, a byproduct of the fat-cracking process.
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