Intermittent Total Fasts and Obesity

Intermittent fasting can be an effective temporary therapeutic measure in obesity refractory to conventional methods of weight reduction. The patient is hospitalized for the initial 7 to 14 day period of total fasting. Then a low-calorie diet is allowed and the patient fasts on one day of each week. Later the periods between fasts are extended to two weeks and a month. Preliminary observations based on a series of 890 patients are presented. About half of the patients have continued to progress favorably in their weight reduction program since the initial fast and indoctrination.