288 VITALITY AND EFFICIENCY WITH RESTRICTED DIET. 



The unfortunate illness of Spe necessitated the conclusion in De- 

 cember of the observations with him. His chart, however, shows 

 with reasonable clearness that the intake of about 2,200 calories would 

 suffice to hold his body-weight constant. (See fig. 66, p. 220.) 

 Unfortunately, in this instance we have not the usual verifying period 

 during January. 



The subject most sedentary in habits, and the one who had the 

 most difficulty in securing a reduction in weight, was Tom. Unques- 

 tionably, the calories in the diet during the first few days were more 

 than he needed, and the dietetic curtailment prescribed for the rest of 

 the men was not sufficient to reduce his body- weight ; the intake was 

 accordingly lowered still further. The blocks in his body- weight curve, 

 (see fig. 67, p. 221), show an approximate constancy at the lower 

 weight level with an intake of not jfar from 1,600 calories. This subject 

 did not lose as much weight as the others, and his loss of nitrogen was 

 materially less than that of the other men. 



One of the most regular body-weight curves in the whole series is 

 that of Vea, who lost weight very regularly, established an approxi- 

 mate level with 1,850 calories in December, and again essentially the 

 same level in January with 1,900 calories. (See fig. 68, p. 222.) We 

 may thus take 1,900 calories as his probable maintenance requirement. 



We have presented in table 36 the probable caloric requirements 

 of these men for maintenance at the lower weight-levels. These values, 

 given in round numbers, range from a minimum of 1,600 calories with 

 Kon, Tom and Pec to a maximum of 2,500 calories with Can. At first 

 sight Can's requirement appears inconsistent, for although Can was the 

 heaviest man in the group, he was by no means so active athletically 

 as some of the other men. The man who was probably the most 

 active {Pea) shows, however, a maintenance requirement of 2,400 



Table 36. — Net energy required for weight maintenance at low weight-level — Squad A . 

 [Derived from body-weight curves. See figs. 57 to 68.] 



calories. To those of us who know the men individually, the most 

 surprising figures in the table are the low values with Pec and Kon. 

 With Kon, it will be remembered, somewhat unsatisfactory figures 

 were obtained, and we are uncertain as to whether the energy 

 intake cited is the actual maintenance level. On the other hand, the 



