A YouTuber who spent 50 hours inside a Chinese weight-loss camp dropped 5 pounds and needed a rabies shot after a cat attack.
Browney, a fitness content creator, documented the stay at what he called a “prison made for fat people” in a video posted to his YouTube channel. Guests pay to be locked inside so they are forced to shed pounds, he explained, though “the people here aren’t real prisoners.”
The Dutch creator arrived at the facility with his bag searched at the door and a rulebook written entirely in Chinese placed in front of him to sign. Two items slipped through the inspection: his electrolytes and a cheat meal. Staff assigned him room 410, a sparse space with a bed and a bathroom where the toilet area doubled as the shower.
Daily life inside the camp operates under strict surveillance. Residents must weigh themselves twice daily, morning and evening, and anyone who fails to hit their target faces extra workouts as punishment. Room inspections come regularly, with any infraction costing one hundred reps of specific exercises.
The intake contract Browney signed laid out heavy food restrictions and an intermittent fasting schedule requiring all meals to be consumed within a rigid eight-hour window. Breakfast attendance is mandatory for everyone, a rule designed specifically to stop residents from skipping the meal as an unhealthy shortcut. Meals are served in a single line at fixed times, with Browney estimating each portion at between 350 and 450 calories — a steep drop from the roughly 3,200 he said he typically consumes. Staff also informed him that residents fast for 16 hours between eating windows. Smoking is permitted, with one staff member telling him there are no calories in cigarettes.
The minimum required stay is one 28-day cycle, and outside food deliveries are strictly forbidden. A warning note explicitly stated that facility doors would be locked to prevent any outside intake. Browney tested this rule by ordering food in secret, a meal he put at around 1,300 calories. The evening weigh-in showed him only slightly heavier than that morning.
The cat incident struck on Browney’s second day as he made his way to a workout. “I didn’t know it was a stray cat. I just thought it was a cat from here,” he said, adding that he now needed a rabies shot. Staff wanted the animal removed immediately over infection risk, and some residents were angry and wanted it killed. Browney persuaded the boss to hold off, and the cat was taken to a hospital to be vaccinated before being returned.
Browney started at 183 pounds and said he burned 2,200 active calories on his first day. By the final weigh-in, after seven workouts in two days, he was at 177.5 pounds — a loss of 5 pounds, or 2.3 kilograms.
Other residents reported more dramatic transformations. One man told Browney he had lost 40 kilograms, around 88 pounds, after four and a half months at the camp. A woman said she had dropped 15 kilograms, about 33 pounds, in three months.
The cost Browney was quoted came to $400 with workouts, food and accommodation included, though the video does not make clear what period that covers.
“Yes, this place works. I mean, most of the weight I just lost was water weight, but there’s a lot of people working very hard here and getting really good results,” he said. He added that people can get fit at home, but that for some the camp “might be the answer.”
Browney’s video opens with him standing outside the facility and declaring its purpose with blunt directness: “Behind me is a prison made for fat people.”