How long would it take for an obese person to starve?


wrathfulwraith66's avatar
I waa always curious.How long will their fat reserves last? Math anyone? Questions? Thoughts? Anyone m?
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Arc-Tangent's avatar
It would take longer than a thin person to starve, but they may develop a number of other health complications from lack of food intake which would lead to organ failure long before they ran out of fat to metabolize. That means that the amount of time they could survive without eating would depend more on their overall health than the amount of stored energy.
art-dude's avatar
They would take pretty much the same time to starve as a healthy person, maybe slightly less because their health is fully compromised my their excess of fat...
The only advantage i could see having excess layers of fat is if you are in danger of freezing to death, a fatty would live for longer...
Btw id just like to mention fat deposits on fat people will never serve the purpose of acting like energy storage (which fat deposits do on healthy people) because there is so much influx of fat being deposited, the body just tries to pack it somewhere and grow viens through it, to keep the useless stored fat from going necrotic and poisoning fat people even more, once this deep storage of fat happens its pretty much impossible to get rid of that fat, unless you go under the knife to have it removed...
wrathfulwraith66's avatar
:puke: my aunt was like that once, then she got the fat removed, now she looks like a hag
The-Dork-Side's avatar
Mostly, people get overweight due to their activity level than what they eat or how much. A person with a desk job who plays Xbox all day will get fat much easier than someone who regularly plays sports with their friends every afternoon. Even if both of them eat the same amount and same kinds of things.

But the thing is, overweight people still get hungry at the same rate as a skinnier person. Meaning starvation would hit in just about the same amount of time. If you've ever gone a day without eating, you'd know how unpleasant or even painful it can be when your stomach is twisting itself in knots. Which would imply that either people starve at the same rate and their weight isn't a factor, or an overweight person would live longer but suffer an even slower, more painful death. Though if the latter were true, they'd probably die of going into shock from the pain right around the time they should've died from the starvation itself if they had just been skinny.
now water on the other paw, the average person of any size can't go any longer than a week, that is if they can survive the dangers of lack of water. 
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velvetmelt's avatar
i like um theeyuk
SuperAngryCrow's avatar
FEELING A BIT CHUNKY WRAITH? CAW CAW!
Neiot's avatar
As long as it takes for an obese person to starve, I assume.
Fizzymus's avatar
Probably about an hour.
Gotta keep shoving that fried chikkin in.
Triagonal's avatar
Followers of Mahatma Gandhi took two months to starve when hunger striking.
wrathfulwraith66's avatar
I don’t think they were outright starving though, just severe fasting.
LlTHlUMM's avatar
i dont think u know what went on there
wrathfulwraith66's avatar
I like precision of word choice, purposeful fasting for political protest as a collective decision is different from chaotic mass starvation
Triagonal's avatar

A few did die of the starvation

ARTificialphanTOM's avatar
What temperature is it?
wrathfulwraith66's avatar
ARTificialphanTOM's avatar

No, to do the proper calculation I would need to factor in the temperature. They'll starve faster at 50 degrees F than at 75 degrees F.

wrathfulwraith66's avatar

Dang you’re ruthless

Dyscalculie's avatar
Exactly as long as it would a skinny person to starve. Fat layers aren't built by the body to keep it from starving, but to be able to withstand long periods of very little food. Not of no food at all.

We are constructed for an African-type climate. A short, lush rainy season during which everything grows and bears fruit and where there is a lot of food to be found, a really great lot of it at the same time. After that, a loooooooong dry season during which there is practically nothing eadable to be found, because the drought prevents everything to grow. The vegetation goes into hibernation and everybody, animals, plants and people desperately try to stay alive until they get to the next rainy season again. 
Whoever has accumulated the most fat layers will be able to do that without too many damage: for instance, without losing their teeth or in case of a pregnant woman, from dying at childbirth or afterward, from being unable to feed her baby. 

This is the reason for so many of the problems we are facing today: 
  • we are not meant to always be fat: if we do, we get all sorts of diseases. That's because we shouldn't stay fat but get skinny again, and then fat again, etcetera.
  • we also are unable to contain our appetite: as long as we have food available, we will go on eating, even when we're not hungry anymore. And the things we like best, are the ones with the most calories. Sweet food, fatty food and carb rich food.
  • we can diet all we want, it isn't any use, because as soon as we start eating normalley again, we get fat faster than we did before. (the "Jojo-effect"). That's because our body thinks it's rainy season...
  • and finally: women get fat faster than men. Women are a lot more important than men in order to maintain our species: one man can make 50 women pregnant, but 50 men can't make a woman any pregnant-er than one man can (at the same time). Ergo: women need to survive more urgently than men. Men are disposable.

Conclusion: in such an environment, a body that can accumulate fat layers is very useful, but not to keep someone from starving. During dry season, there IS food, only very little. To supplement what's lacking, the fat layers will be consumed. If there really is nothing at all to eat, the body will eat up it's muscles and tissues, rather than the fat layers, and will die when the damage is too great.
So a fat person will starve just as fast as a skinny person, at the same pace. 
velvetmelt's avatar
i was constructed for a mcdonalds type climate.
Dyscalculie's avatar

I suppose you come from the planet Hamburgeria then, for on Earth there's no such climate, never been... :D

wrathfulwraith66's avatar
I can think of one- Mediterranean climates found in the Mediterranean, California, New Zealand & parts of Australia
Dyscalculie's avatar

don't be contrary for the sake of being contrary