Drink only beer for 46 days, no food?

[Keltest]

16 pounds in a week seems extremely high. Like, unbelievably so.

Typically weight lost in that manner is mostly water weight. He's probably constantly hovering around dehydration. I don't know how hydrating his type of beer is, but from my understanding many modern beers require more water to process the stuff in them than they actually have. Assuming he doesn't kill himself, he will probably get most of it back within a few weeks of returning to a normal diet.

[Iruka]

Turns out, he is not the first to try this in recent years.
A guy from Iowa did it with homebrewed beer. He reported a total weight loss of about 25 pounds.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Typically weight lost in that manner is mostly water weight. He's probably constantly hovering around dehydration. I don't know how hydrating his type of beer is, but from my understanding many modern beers require more water to process the stuff in them than they actually have. Assuming he doesn't kill himself, he will probably get most of it back within a few weeks of returning to a normal diet.

Beer is highly diuretic. I cannot say if that applies only to modern beer or all beers, though. A quick google suggests that to break even, you need a beer with an alcohol content of 2% or less.

Grey Wolf

[Rockphed]

Beer is highly diuretic. I cannot say if that applies only to modern beer or all beers, though. A quick google suggests that to break even, you need a beer with an alcohol content of 2% or less.

Grey Wolf

Hence hangovers.

[Peelee]

Hence hangovers.

And why my go-to for a drunk friend back in my early 20s was a happy meal. Burger and fry helped slow the alcohol absorption rate, drink kept them hydrated, toy was a good distraction, cost less than five bucks, and McD's were usually open 24 hours. Nothing that eliminated a hangover, but the intensity was usually lessened.

[HandofShadows]

Turns out, he is not the first to try this in recent years.
A guy from Iowa did it with homebrewed beer. He reported a total weight loss of about 25 pounds.

Well if it was a homebrew he could tweak the formula to have more stuff needed to stay alive in it. Particularly if he was using an older recipe.

[Democratus]

Seeing that you can survive on nothing but water for 40 days, a 46-day beer fast sounds much less radical.

[The Glyphstone]

Seeing that you can survive on nothing but water for 40 days, a 46-day beer fast sounds much less radical.

I think the idea is for him to be functional at the end, not 'needs hospitalization and IV nutrients but technically alive'.

[Peelee]

I think the idea is for him to be functional at the end, not 'needs hospitalization and IV nutrients but technically alive'.

Also, "can" doesn't mean "will." After all, any person can participate in the Olympics.

I doubt most would ever make it even close to the 40 day mark on water alone.

[wumpus]

Also, "can" doesn't mean "will." After all, any person can participate in the Olympics.

I doubt most would ever make it even close to the 40 day mark on water alone.

As far as I know, it was done sufficiently often by medieval monks (using doppelbock beer) while "hospitalization and IV treatment" were simply not available. I'm not aware of success rates, but I suspect it wasn't common to either try or succeed at a "Lent beer fast".

[Peelee]

As far as I know, it was done sufficiently often by medieval monks (using doppelbock beer) while "hospitalization and IV treatment" were simply not available. I'm not aware of success rates, but I suspect it wasn't common to either try or succeed at a "Lent beer fast".

Doppelbock beer, I must note, is not water.

[Iruka]

So, apparently he kept up the diet for all of lent and is still in goo health. Went better than I expected.