So I'm a fatty!

I'm 6'1 195 have been since I was 19,problem is 10 lb's now are titanium implants,I have my 4x4 and all the camping gear,I'll go as far as a tank of gas can take me after that I'm screwed,I'm awaiting ankle surgery anyday now,oh well been around 50 yrs

You're cave exploring a sink hole that just opened in your back yard...

You scale your way down and in about 30 feet below the surface... you see a light where there is another entrance to the cave. You jump down and across a crevasse to a boulder below... then you turn around and realize there is no way back across the cravasse... and the other cave exit is only 15 inches in diameter.

situation critical... how fat are you?

NWO police are on your ass for a crime you did not commit... you're on foot and they're about 100 m behind... there are 3 fences between you and freedom... the first is waist high... the second is head high... the third is over your head and barbed...

situation critical... how fat are you?

The river broke its banks while you're visiting your aunts house... The water is up to the roof line and everyone else had a chance to evacuate. Its just you and your 4 cousins left on the roof... they're all thin about 145 lbs. You're a little thicker. A helicopter flys over head, drops a line, and shouts down on loud speaker... weight limit 450 lbs. They can take 2 or 3 at a time as long as combined weight is under 450. Their dry drop location is 15 minutes away, water fast moving, bitter cold, and rising.

situation critical... how fat are you?

Bullets are flying... people are dying... mom just got shot. Medical supplies are 5 miles away, by foot, and the terrain is rocky and steep.

Situation critical... how fat are you?

3rd story... building on fire... people are going out the window and lowering themselves down a gutter strapped to the brick.

Situation critial... how fat are you?

Survival is about more than just "waiting it out" in hard times until things go back to normal. Life rafts only hold so much weight. Foot miles are foot miles.

Lean and mean, so's the wife 'n dog... We have been in "situation critical" many times over... and we got the job done; dare I say, saved lives.

I am,

Sri Oracle

Being physically fit will certainly be advantageous, but it's not the final word on the subject of survival. Someone of average physical ability with a positive attitude would fair just as well. Humans tend to be great at adapting to situations and usually compensate for weaknesses by improving themselves in another sphere.

Being fat and being obese are two different things in my opinion. A person can be fat, but nonetheless physically fit, but an obese person is probably just fat.. Apples and oranges.

Imagine trying to walk just one mile with a load on your back of say 25lbs. Your already 100+ pounds overweight, your lower back is killing you, your feet hurt like crap, and your sweating like a pig about to stroke out from heat exhaustion. Now to add to your woes, a gang of thugs appear out of nowhere to take what little food and gear you were able to carry..

You can't run, you're too tired and your back and feet hurt something awful, you can't fight, you're too tired and once again your back and feet hurt something awful, so what do you do? If you expect sympathy or mercy, don't count on it.



[edit on 18-1-2008 by LLoyd45]

reply to post by Incarnated


I think extra weight would be good but not so much so that you can't meneuver.

But that is natures design, to have a store in case of emergency.

I had a friend who was always thin and eats like a hippo. And she always commented that if it came to a survivalist situation she was done for because she gets sick not eating in a few hours.

Being Obese is a huge problem.

Your body believes the fat is cancer and your own immune system is attacking your fat (and internal organs).

I would lose the weight now - most importantly through exercise and then reasonable eating.

The exercise will give you survival benefits and skills far and beyond the weight loss.

Everything in life is greatly enhanced by being fit - and I think the most intelligent of our species must take back up the greek ideal of the athelete scholar if we truly want the reigns of power to move from the corrupt to those who seek out the truth.

There is no shame attached to being out of shape - simply take action now to begin your journey to fitness - there is really no time to waste.

If one cannot obtain the discipline to do this - I think one is unlikely to find them selves capable of true survival in a hostile environment.

(and - of course - fitness is relative to your ability - I mean no disrespect to anyone who has natural physical limitations)

reply to post by Incarnated


The body often protects itself from toxic chemicals and substances by encapsulating it in fat because the body doesn't know what to do with it but hide it in the fat.

So being fat may mean that your body has been exposed to toxic levels of chemicals and substances that your body could not process but chose to secret away in body fat.

reply to post by Incarnated


How fat are you? Being an active overweight person could indeed be a benefit.
Being super obese and out of shape is not good though. Though it wouldn't necessarily invalidate your advice. And, by the way, the term obese has this disgusting, revolting connotation that brings to mind lazy, gluttonous people. Technically, I am obese at 5'11 and 230 pounds (I'm a male). But I play tennis regularly and go to the gym regularly; I can do 45 intense minutes on the elliptical machine no problem. I still need to lose weight, apocalypse or not, though

You all keep mentioning food as if that is the only problem. In a real survival situation the fatties will have a less chance of surviving. Run from that helicopter! Fatty runs 30 feet and gets winded and caught, gunned down. Pull yourself up that tree to safety! Fatty can't do a pullup because his atrophied muscles haven't been used in 20 years. He gets mauled, eaten. Squeeze through that tight gap! Fatty is stuck on the other side. Go hunting for game! Too bad you ran out of bullets months ago and you have to do physical work to catch prey. The list goes on and on. Those who are fit will survive. The fatties who just happen to have built in energy reserves will perish when they can't replenish their bodies reserves when it dwindles.

That probably came off as mean but if you are serious about survival then you should know without any sugarcoating (lol pun) that survival of the fittest got it's name for a reason.

*edit* bah I posted before I read Sri Oracles post which makes mine really just a reiteration of his.

[edit on 12-3-2008 by merryxmas]

Originally posted by Paloma
As well, there are some well done studies that demonstrate that fasting one day a week can help prevent cancer and increase the life span.

Interesting that you mention that. There was a program on a few weeks back which was about the "secret to longevity", and they looked at various areas/populations were people had above average life spans.

One of the populations that they looked at, and that were studied by researchers investigating longevity was on the island of Occinowa (sp?), Japan. The people there had very long lifespans compared to the average (at least the older generations), and they had a diet rich in vegetables as well as keeping active, but it was their approach to eating that researchers thought that held the key to longevity and good health into late age: They had a saying - "eat only till you are only 80% full".

The researchers figured out that by doing this, they were fooling their bodies into thinking there was famine, which was thought to be the crucial factor why they lived such healthy and long lives there.

I think this would be a good and effective alternative to fasting for one whole day a week, which I know I'd find hard to do. I've tried only eating till I'm 80% full, and it's not hard to do. I do find that I'm ravenous when it gets close to my next meal though!

Contrary to popular belief, humans didn't not run down game. We are for the most part ambush predators often wounding the prey and pushing it till it dropped. Our pace pursuing game wasn't more than 6-7 mph tops with 3-4mph being the usual pace.. After you caught up with the wounded prey, you didn't want to be tired or winded because you wanted to finish the kill quickly with minimal risk to yourself or your fellow hunters. Running cross country is also extremely dangerous! Break a leg or ankle and you're pretty much toast in the hunter-gatherer days which are long since over.

With the advent of weapons like the atl-atl,sling and the self bow, humans could kill or wound prey at quite a distance. Ancient hunting people tamed the wolf into the dog and since about 40,000 BC, the dogs have been running down game for us. I've done some primitive bowhunting of both deer and wild boar and have never run after game that didn't die immediately. I carefully tracked it down and finished it if it wasn't dead already.

Walking is man's natural gait. It's twice as efficient as running, calorie wise. Even fairly obese folks can travel 25-30 miles a day cross-country if they pace themselves properly. Do that for several weeks and they won't be nearly as obese.

Surviving is about expending the least amount of energy for the most amount of work i.e. food which is why humans started farming. Much more reliable then hunter gathering. Even most Plains Indians practiced the planting of corn and other crops when they stopped to camp for summer or winter.

As far as running from the NWO storm troopers is look how well the best equipped and trained military force in the world is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. If the Iraqi, people really want the US troops dead, they would be. The whole idea that you can subdue the 303 million folks in the US who own more than 270 million civilian firearms with a few Blackwater types is utterly ridiculous. Did I mention that there are nearly 1.6 million now pissed off Iraq/Afghan war veterans who've left the military since the start of action in '01. Think they wouldn't know how to take out the few Blackwater types stupid enough to try to seize guns? The oath is to the Constitution first against all enemies foreign or domestic.

There nothing wrong with getting in better shape though. It helps get the heart rate down when squeezing the trigger on the Blackwater goons.

Originally posted by merryxmas

That probably came off as mean but if you are serious about survival then you should know without any sugarcoating (lol pun) that survival of the fittest got it's name for a reason.

*edit* bah I posted before I read Sri Oracles post which makes mine really just a reiteration of his.

[edit on 12-3-2008 by merryxmas]

You do realize survival of the fittest means intellect and problem solving as well as social skills as well? And the "fatty" you speak of brings to mind some gluttonous, slothful blob. In fact, having excess stores of fat in a survival situation can help, as long as it's not too much. If I had to choose between (all other things equal) being a male with 3% body fat or 20% body fat, I'd take 20.
You'd be dumb not to.

Originally posted by Obliv_au
wouldnt us "festively plump" types burn more calories though since we are carrying more weight, therefore actually making us worse off than a skinny minny?

YES. Thank you for pointing this out.

It's fine and dandy for us all to post hypotheticals but the truth is a large person DOES burn more calories.

This is why if you are overweight you're going to feel like your starving to death after a couple days without food. FEEL like you are starving... not actually starving.

But yes, a man who is 250 lbs. is going to burn ALOT more calories than a 150 lb. person. Even if he doesn't have alot of muscle, his body is used to consuming a specific amount and the metabolism as well.

This ain't fat! This is fuel for my sex machine!

I think if you exercise, work out, are active and still have some plump you're as healthy as anyone and have the metabolism and endurance to properly access your stored energy as needed. I do my best to maintain my handles, not only because women love having something to hold on to and it makes them feel less sensitive about their own bodies, but because it's energy reserves.

Vegans will be the first to die. I doubt they'll be a popular meal though. Too chewy.

Originally posted by Threadfall
You do realize survival of the fittest means intellect and problem solving as well as social skills as well? And the "fatty" you speak of brings to mind some gluttonous, slothful blob. In fact, having excess stores of fat in a survival situation can help, as long as it's not too much. If I had to choose between (all other things equal) being a male with 3% body fat or 20% body fat, I'd take 20.
You'd be dumb not to.

Survival of the fittest does mean intellect as well yes but a lot of good a dizzying intellect will do if you are unable to do the physical work necessary to survive. Perhaps if you shacked up with a bunch of jacked survivalists and you were smart enough to manipulate them to do all the food gathering for you but that still wouldn't help you in a situation where the SHTF and you have to haul your butt on foot at top speed out of there. You will be lagging behind the ones who stayed fit and can keep a running pace going. Your muscles cannot handle the strain no matter how much extra energy you have in your body due to fat reserves. Have you ever seen a fat man out run a fit jogger or even come close to keeping pace? Energy reserves mean squat against well excersised muscles.

For those reasons I would definitely stick with your hypothetical 3% over 20%. It's dumb to be fat for the sole purpose of holding more energy reserves. The idea in survival is not to be able to outlive the skinny guy because you have more fat for your body to eat itself but rather to be able to be physically fit enough to acquire more food regularly and live because you can depend on being self-reliant.

Originally posted by merryxmas
Energy reserves mean squat against well excersised muscles.

What if you have both? What do you plan to feed those muscles with if food is scarce? What if you have to bug out unexpectedly and you're left foraging or hunting but it takes you a couple days to find your meal? Who do you think will still have the energy to do what's needed? The twig or the one with something to hold on to?

Don't equate extra baggage with being unfit or out of shape. Some fat guys have rock solid muscle underneath their blubber and while they may not be able to out run the skinny guy, they can beat him to a bloody pulp if they catch him.

I'm not that biased... whenever I notice my handles shrink I increase my carb intake to build them back up. I exercise and work out regularly and eat five or six times a day so I can easily access the energy store when needed. Do whatever's best for you, though...

Originally posted by merryxmas
Your muscles cannot handle the strain no matter how much extra energy you have in your body due to fat reserves. Have you ever seen a fat man out run a fit jogger or even come close to keeping pace? Energy reserves mean squat against well excersised muscles.

For those reasons I would definitely stick with your hypothetical 3% over 20%. It's dumb to be fat for the sole purpose of holding more energy reserves. The idea in survival is not to be able to outlive the skinny guy because you have more fat for your body to eat itself but rather to be able to be physically fit enough to acquire more food regularly and live because you can depend on being self-reliant.

You're describing a survival situation as if it's a decathlon, and it's not. But even if it was, you'd still be wrong. Discovery Channel has been doing a series on the extreme conditions the human body can adapt to. One man put on something around 15 plus pounds of body fat before he attempted to swim the english channel, by the time he finished, he had burned all that fat off, i.e. his body utilized it for energy to SURVIVE. I think you have some Mad Max Hollywood fantasy of "survival" where a lithe young man is constantly running and evading evil road agents on motorcycles in order to survive. A real survival situation might plausibly mean nothing more than being able to hunt and trap, hike through wilderness, evade occasional danger, form relationships and alliances with other survivors, etc. 3% body fat is dangerously low, so when you body has to survive in times of famine, you can kiss that wonderful muscle goodbye.

Originally posted by Threadfall

You're describing a survival situation as if it's a decathlon, and it's not. But even if it was, you'd still be wrong. Discovery Channel has been doing a series on the extreme conditions the human body can adapt to. One man put on something around 15 plus pounds of body fat before he attempted to swim the english channel, by the time he finished, he had burned all that fat off, i.e. his body utilized it for energy to SURVIVE. I think you have some Mad Max Hollywood fantasy of "survival" where a lithe young man is constantly running and evading evil road agents on motorcycles in order to survive. A real survival situation might plausibly mean nothing more than being able to hunt and trap, hike through wilderness, evade occasional danger, form relationships and alliances with other survivors, etc. 3% body fat is dangerously low, so when you body has to survive in times of famine, you can kiss that wonderful muscle goodbye.

No, I am not wrong. That's great for a piece on having to swim the English Channel. That is probably the most outlandish form of a survival scenario. I have been in the woods for weeks at a time, I have hunted game, I have run for miles non-stop, I have gone days without food, all things that would be a part of a survival situation. While doing these things I wasn't alone. I had compatriots and some of which were obese. They couldn't handle the running. They couldn't hunt for squat. They got dizzy and out of breath way faster than any of us who were in shape. They were more of a liability than a help.

So no this isn't some Mad Max dystopia this is actual, real world excersises. A well conditioned body is used to the idea of going without food and can handle the fatigue, pain, dizziness and one who is well out of shape cannot. I don't care what way you slice it I'm talking from an experiential standpoint and theorizing about those extra energy reserves doesn't pan out in the real world.

reply to post by merryxmas


ballpark, what's your body fat percentage? And why were you running for MILES, NONSTOP through the woods? And WHY were you on these excursions with OBESE people that you knew would hinder your goals? We can agree to disagree on the archetypal body for a survival situation. But Im curious as to whether your example was modified to support your theory, because your story doesn't make a lot of sense. Back to the OP, you can be fat and have valid opinions on survival. Just as teachers teach, coaches coach, and leaders lead, one does not need to be physically capable of an activity to abstractly grasp it.

reply to post by merryxmas


I don't know where you hunting at or what with but it really doesn't sound like you've much hunting experience IMHO. Hunting large game require hours of sitting or standing still waiting for game to approach close enough to strike with a weapon. If you're very lucky or extremely skilled, you might be able to slow stalk game to about 20-40 yards at the closest. Knowing where to hunt may take some hours of searching but it should never require running. Setting traps for small game like rabbits and squirrels is much efficient use of your energy then running anywhere, even after the largest game. Everyone has this false, Hollyweird, fairy-tale illusion that Native American hunters would go out everyday for big game like deer, elk and bison but that just wasn't the true case. The men hunted a large variety of small game, fish and birds as well as spending long hours making and preparing weapons and tools. Most non-Plains Native Americans lived in semi-permanent dwellings at the least and hunted infrequently when not working on their houses, boats, nets and traps. You don't just throw up the earth mounds in the Ohio, Mississippi and Red River Valleys without being a stable, settled community.

I see most of the survival scenarios being put forth by the 'Rambo' crowd as teenage male fantasy that has almost no bearing on real world survival. A well prepared individual, obese or fit, will know how to avoid most of the scenarios that you have put forth. There's an old hunter's axiom that movement attracts attention. I don't know how many times that I've sat in a blind where all sorts of lesser game like rabbits have literally came with 10 feet of my blind and never noticed me. Start running through the woods or fields and every critter with earshot will know that humans are about and run to ground. The same is true with human pursuit, the ones who are hidden are rarely found while the ones who are out running around exposing themselves are always the ones that get caught.

reply to post by crgintx



Woot for crgintx, and speaking with sense and eloquence. But xmas is right about skinny being better for running from post-apocalyptic killer helicopters.