 Mathematically, this means that the curve for each subject was given by

where formula_2 is the time (measured in weeks) elapsed since the beginning of the starvation period, formula_3 is the subject's weight at time formula_2, and formula_5 is the final weight that the subject was supposed to reach at the end of the 24-week period.The constant formula_6 is determined by the requirement that formula_7 be the initial weight formula_8, i.e.by solving

for formula_6; this gives

The authors expressed this in terms of the percent total weight loss formula_12,

(which, as stated above, was supposed to be about 25% for all subjects), obtaining

Throughout the duration of the study each man was assigned specific work tasks, was expected to walk each week and required to keep a personal diary.