PORTLAND – Quadruple murder suspect Christian Nielsen was eating again and has cut out his heavy exercising, prompting jail officials to hold off on inserting a feeding tube, Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion said Friday.

Nielsen’s change in behavior came after jail officials received a court’s permission to insert a feeding tube in Nielsen, the suspect in four Labor Day weekend killings near the Sunday River ski resort. He’s in Cumberland County Jail in Portland.

Dion said Nielsen had lost 55 pounds on a hunger strike and that the jail’s medical staff feared he was on a downward “slide” when officials asked for court approval to give him a feeding tube.

He was committed Wednesday to the Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta for assessment and treatment, but the transfer did not take place. On Friday afternoon, Dion said a psychologist chosen by Nielsen’s family visited Nielsen, and he began eating semisolid food. Nielsen also stopped his excessive exercise regimen.