A follow-up of 1-50 months is presented in 25 superobese subjects who were starved for an average of 38 days. None of the subjects sustained their weight loss but four have had partial success. The patients had marked difficulty dieting after hospital discharge in the face of routine family and work stresses. The maintenance of weight loss was complicated by the psychological problems which were more apparent in these subjects when they were thin, and by the great amount of energy which they had to devote to dieting particularly when they faced the stresses of daily life outside the hospital. For most patients a return to obesity was more comfortable and tolerable than trying to fight with their problem in the presence of environmental demands.

No abstract