The Intensive Nutrition in Acute Lung Injury: Clinical Trial (INTACT), designed to evaluate outcomes of calorie delivery from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) diagnosis through hospital discharge, was stopped due to higher mortality in the intervention group. Post hoc analysis found timing and dose of calorie delivery influenced mortality. The objective of this retrospective cohort study was to determine if early vs late calorie exposure changed the hazard of death among a larger sample of patients with ARDS.