The Captive Diet

Pierre Borghi
Pierre Borghi was held captive for four months before escaping the Taliban. Source: BBC

The BBC today ran the story of how Frenchman Pierre Borghi escaped from the Taliban in Afghanistan after losing enough weight to allow him to wriggle free through small window 3m off the ground.

He spent 4 months in a hole by himself – the hole was too small for him to either lie down or sit up. Then one night he saw his chance and made a dash for it. With almost no food inside him, and having hardly moved for months, he managed to walk for about 10 hours to find freedom.

He lost around 25lb (11kg) in the last four months of captivity.


Not a recommended way to lose weight – but if anybody tells you that weight loss requires exercise, and with too few calories your body goes into starvation mode meaning you do not lose weight, remind them of this simple story, and also remind them of all those POWs and other captives who are given only bread and water.

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23079447

2 Comments on “The Captive Diet”

  1. I saw this today, he was so lucky really, I wonder if being French meant that he had an easier time than if he had been British or American. He was lucky also to stumble into the right people.

  2. MotleyHealth says:

    What was done to some of the Russian soldiers in the 70’s and 80’s was so horrific, does not bear thinking about. I will not share the gruesome details, but in short, some had their skin removed. In fact, this actually happened recently;

    “Some of their dead were reported to have been skinned alive after being captured.” Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/2585674/Taliban-kill-10-French-paratroopers-in-Afghanistan-ambush.html

    Being French certainly does not protect soldiers, maybe just civilians?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *