Can morbidly obese people survive longer without food?

[TheNinja]

I saw some documentary on a really fat guy and on his "diet" he still had to have like 3000-3500 calories so that his body could funtion. I guess it was a lot less than his normal 10,000 calorie a day diet. So to answer you question, I don't think so. I mean sure a 700 lb person has more "fuel" to burn, but it also has to sustain a far larger amount of weight and would take more fuel to sustain itself.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: Kelvrick

Originally posted by: swimscubasteve
Whales do it (some eat nothing for more than 6 months) and they are mammals so I bet we could to.

They also travel miles underwater and only need to come up for air for periods of up to 50 minutes. I'm sure we could too.

LOL, owned.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: Nocturnal

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
what about that kid in tibet that has been meditating for months without food or water

That's fake. I believe they come out every night to bring him a glass of water and a slice of bread.

BTW, didn't he go missing a while back?

What about that old indian guru, then? He was held under scientific observation, and they found that some sort of hole in his palate or something allowed moisture collected from the air to drip down into his throat. He didn't eat, though.

Proven fake.

 

[swimscubasteve]

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: Kelvrick

Originally posted by: swimscubasteve
Whales do it (some eat nothing for more than 6 months) and they are mammals so I bet we could to.

They also travel miles underwater and only need to come up for air for periods of up to 50 minutes. I'm sure we could too.

LOL, owned.

I was implying (poorly) that we most likely have the inate ability to burn excess fat stores. Yes the whales have evolved differently but perhaps, as others have said, with water and vitamins the person could burn up their excess fat.

 

[joecool]

Originally posted by: akshatp
Any chance this thread was created because of the 700 lb woman who was stuck in her bathroom in NJ earlier today?

hmm, ya think?! ;-)

as i understand it, even if you have stores of fat, your body actually starts breaking down muscle tissue as soon as it stops getting fed on a regular basis. so while it would seem that a fat person would last longer than a skinny person, this quirk of metabolism might balance things out a little. although, it is very hard to imagine someone starving to death with lots of body fat. the image you always seem to see is of someone emaciated, with hardly and muscle or fat, bones showing, etc.

 

[jman19]

Originally posted by: kyparrish
I'm thinking it wouldn't make a difference, I think they'd starve within a few days.

I'm thinking it would take more than a few days for a "normal" person to starve, let alone an obese one :roll:

 

[skace]

The question is would they die of starvation or from general bodypart failure first. Assuming they had plenty of water.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: Nocturnal

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
what about that kid in tibet that has been meditating for months without food or water

That's fake. I believe they come out every night to bring him a glass of water and a slice of bread.

BTW, didn't he go missing a while back?

What about that old indian guru, then? He was held under scientific observation, and they found that some sort of hole in his palate or something allowed moisture collected from the air to drip down into his throat. He didn't eat, though.

I'm fairly certain that one was proven fake on a Penn and Teller show as well.

Can you find it for me? His name is Prahlad Jani if that helps any.

 

[ungsunghero]

Originally posted by: joecool

Originally posted by: akshatp
Any chance this thread was created because of the 700 lb woman who was stuck in her bathroom in NJ earlier today?

hmm, ya think?! ;-)

as i understand it, even if you have stores of fat, your body actually starts breaking down muscle tissue as soon as it stops getting fed on a regular basis. so while it would seem that a fat person would last longer than a skinny person, this quirk of metabolism might balance things out a little. although, it is very hard to imagine someone starving to death with lots of body fat. the image you always seem to see is of someone emaciated, with hardly and muscle or fat, bones showing, etc.

Once you run out of glucose sources (free glucose in the blood + liver and muscle glycogen), your body must make glucose from muscle tissue, because your brain can't use fatty acids as an energy source.

At least, that's what I remember from back in my exercise physiology class...

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: swimscubasteve

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: Kelvrick

Originally posted by: swimscubasteve
Whales do it (some eat nothing for more than 6 months) and they are mammals so I bet we could to.

They also travel miles underwater and only need to come up for air for periods of up to 50 minutes. I'm sure we could too.

LOL, owned.

I was implying (poorly) that we most likely have the inate ability to burn excess fat stores. Yes the whales have evolved differently but perhaps, as others have said, with water and vitamins the person could burn up their excess fat.

Just giving you a hard time. 😛 As said above though, we'd still need some nutritional intake to maintain whatever cells we already have. I wouldn't think that we could change fat into everything we need. Unless....

*drifts off into daydream land of hundreds of years in the future

 

[SludgeFactory]

Originally posted by: ungsunghero
Once you run out of glucose sources (free glucose in the blood + liver and muscle glycogen), your body must make glucose from muscle tissue, because your brain can't use fatty acids as an energy source.

At least, that's what I remember from back in my exercise physiology class...

Normally the brain does run on 100% glucose, but during ketosis it eventually adapts to where it utilizes as much as 75% ketones, 25% glucose. You do get some glucose from fat breakdown via glycerol-to-glucose conversion, and the remainder has to come from body protein. Referring to the book I mentioned before, it's about 20g of body protein per day, and may drop as low as 6g/day during long term starvation.

 

[ungsunghero]

Originally posted by: SludgeFactory

Originally posted by: ungsunghero
Once you run out of glucose sources (free glucose in the blood + liver and muscle glycogen), your body must make glucose from muscle tissue, because your brain can't use fatty acids as an energy source.

At least, that's what I remember from back in my exercise physiology class...

Normally the brain does run on 100% glucose, but during ketosis it eventually adapts to where it utilizes as much as 75% ketones, 25% glucose. You do get some glucose from fat breakdown via glycerol-to-glucose conversion, and the remainder has to come from body protein. Referring to the book I mentioned before, it's about 20g of body protein per day, and may drop as low as 6g/day during long term starvation.

Thanks. I figured I wasn't 100% correct when I said the brain "can't" use fatty acids as an energy source.