If a regular-weight person and an obese person were without access to food, would the obese person potentially survive longer due to their stored fat reserves, or is it not that straightforward?
In: Biology
Yes. If other things are equal.
1. Both men
2. Both 6’ tall
3. Skinny guy is 175
4. Fat guy is 300
5. Both do a similar amount of work while on the island.
Just by being alive the fat guy will burn more calories to start off but as he loses weight that will slow down. The skinny guy doesn’t have many fat reserves so he’s going to be in trouble quickly. On average they will both lose about 1 pound every two days. The human body wants to live and will do just about everything it can to survive but if all these two have is fresh water the skinny guy will probably die after about 50 days or so. The fat guy probably closer to 80 days.
Check out the show ‘Alone’ it’s a survivalist show. One guy won because he was able to outlast everyone cuz he was bigger. I’m sure there were some other reasons as well but it was pretty interesting.
Before the internet was a thing I was taught that everything else being equal those two men would die within hours of each other. No food is no food, meaning no minerals that the body needs to function. The extra weight conferred no advantage.
However, if there were some meager foodstuffs available but not enough to sustain a person, the fat man has a clear advantage and would live longer.
But I am not a doctor and the rando that taught me this could have been a kookburger for all know.
There’s a very well documented case of a very obese man who didn’t eat anything for an entire year – he lived off his stored fat.
So yes, the obese person would last much longer.
Dyeing of malnutrition is only partially dependent on calories. There are many other nutrients required.
But if there is marginal sustenance available, I’m talking about bugs and weeds. A fat person will last longer than a skinny person.
Humans have been documented as lasting over 1 year without food, given marginal sustenance.
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