The true story of a man who survived without food for more than a year

Picture this: a man goes an entire year without eating a single bite of food. No snacks, no meals, not even a sneaky chocolate bar. Sounds impossible, right?

Apparently, not.

Meet Angus Barbieri, the legend

First things first, let’s introduce our protagonist: Angus Barbieri, the man, the myth, the legend. Angus wasn’t some wild adventurer stranded in the wilderness, nor was he a contestant on a reality TV survival show. 

No, this was 1965 Scotland, and Angus wasn't fighting off grizzly bears or hunting wild boar. He was simply… trying to lose weight.

Angus, a 27-year-old man, weighed in at about 456 pounds (207 kg). That's more than double the average weight for most men, and his doctor told him that if he didn’t do something about it, he'd be living on borrowed time. 

So, Angus decided to try something that sounded crazy even back in the day: a medically supervised fast.

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The doctor’s prescription: “Just drink water”

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I think of going on a diet, the idea of not eating for an entire year seems a tad extreme. 

But hey, Angus wasn’t one to shy away from a challenge. His doctor, Dr. David R. G. H. Watson, apparently saw something in Angus and prescribed him a fast. The rules? Absolutely no food for as long as he could handle it. Just water. And a daily vitamin supplement. 

The fast that (almost) never ended

As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, Angus began shedding pounds at an astonishing rate. He went from 456 pounds to 180 pounds over the course of 13 months! Can you imagine that? 

That's more than 270 pounds of pure willpower, water, and vitamins. He looked like a completely different person by the end of it.

During his year-long fast, Angus didn’t just disappear from the world. He went about his normal life, working, living, chatting with friends. 

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A medical miracle or just really good luck?

While Angus’ fast was undeniably successful in the sense that he didn’t starve to death (obviously), it was also closely monitored by medical professionals. His blood pressure was regularly checked, he was carefully observed by doctors, and he kept up with his vitamin intake.

So, while it’s true that he didn’t eat food for more than a year, let’s just say it wasn’t your average "no-carb, intermittent fasting" routine.

As far as medical experts are concerned, this kind of extreme fast isn’t something anyone should try at home, or anywhere, really. Most people wouldn’t survive the first few weeks. So, let’s not get any ideas. This isn’t your typical “I’m going to skip breakfast and feel super proud of myself by noon” sort of situation. This was a rare, supervised medical event, one that probably made even the bravest doctors sweat a little.

What happens when you don’t eat for over a year?

What’s the deal with not eating for a year, anyway? Surely, something must have gone awry with Angus’s body, right? Actually, he didn’t suffer from any significant long-term health issues other than, perhaps, a slight obsession with water. 

His body entered a state called ketosis, where it burned fat for energy instead of carbohydrates, and it adapted over time.

But here’s the catch: after a year, Angus’s body had pretty much used up all its fat reserves. At this point, his body was in full-on survival mode. 

When he eventually started eating again, doctors had to reintroduce food to avoid shocking his system. 

Fast-forward to today

Fast forward to 2025, and we still can’t quite wrap our heads around how Angus managed to survive for over a year without food.

Angus died in 1999, but his legacy as the man who pulled off the longest fast in recorded history lives on. 

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