The Woodsman's Journal Online: Lost, Starvation and Losing Weight©

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource! To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE. Thank you and Happy Trails!

Because I got sick of my doctor yammering on about high triglycerides, I put myself on a low carb diet, 100 net carbs or less per day. It’s been four and half months and I’ve lost 20 pounds (9 kgs) eating essentially a higher protein and fat, lower calorie diet. This diet got me thinking about being lost in the wilderness, starvation and losing weight.

Everyone thinks that the biggest problem you’ll have if you are lost in the wilderness, is starvation. Statistically if one becomes lost in the wild parts of North America, it is likely that at most you’ll only miss a couple of meals, since across the American National Park system, 85% of lost individuals are found within 12 hours, and 97% are located within 24 hours.

If you are JUST “misplaced” it’s unlikely that you’re going to starve to death, however if you’re “lost”, that’s a different story entirely (for the difference between “misplaced” and “lost” read “You Are Never Lost, Only Misplaced…©” HERE, “You Are Only As Lost As You Think You Are ©, HERE and “Being Bewildered and Bending the Map ©”, HERE).

If you are truly “lost”, if it’s been more than three days, if the search has been called off, or no one knows you are missing, then starving to death is a possibility in the wilderness, depending on the season and your skill at foraging. For example Geraldine Largay became lost in the Maine forest, she survived for at least 26 days before dying of starvation and exposure (for more read “Should I Stay, or Should I Go, and the 72-Hour Rule©” HERE). And Christopher McCandless died in August 1992, in the Alaska wilderness after surviving for 113 days, mostly upon squirrels, birds, roots and possibly, poisonous, seeds.

It was estimated by the AMA in 1963 that you could survive for nine to ten weeks without having anything to eat. Without eating, your body first starts out burning stored carbohydrates and sugars, before switching to using stored fat deposits, these typically will last for approximately five to six weeks (for more living off your spare tire read “Burning Calories for Heat ©, HERE). After that, your body will begin to eat its own muscle mass. The amount of body weight that can be lost and survived is high, with some survivors having lost up to 60% of their original body weight.

For example, Ralph Flores and Helen Klaben, who survived a plane crash in the Yukon wilderness in February 1963. They had four cans of sardines, two cans of tuna fish, two cans of fruit cocktail, part of a bottle of vitamins, enough food for two people to eat two meals a day for ten days, before their food was gone. Over their 49-day ordeal, Ralph dropped from 178 pounds (80 kgs) to 120 pounds (54 kgs), about 33% of his pre-accident weight, and Helen lost 40 pounds (18 kgs), 29% of her normal weight, dropping to a weight of 100 pounds (45 kgs). Just like wild animals living in the wilderness, survivors who lack food cannibalize their fat stores to survive, particularly during cold weather when the body needs to work harder just to maintain 98.6^o F.

During the first 72 hours of being “misplaced”, the most probable cause of death isn’t malnutrition, but rather hypothermia and dying of exposure. Even after 72 hours, not keeping a temperature of 98.6^o F (37^o C) is the true wilderness killer.

One of the things that helped Ralph Flores and Helen Klaben to survive the below-freezing Yukon winter temperatures, and no food was their limited movement due to injuries, the fact that at the time of the crash they were a little bit overweight and that they both drank a lot of water.

The Victoria Advocate, as part of its 10 Commandments for Wilderness Survival, had some particularly good suggestions for surviving a limited food emergency, see below.

I hope that you are never in a situation where you must survive a low or no food emergency, but if you do, I hope this article helps. Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Surviving on Short Rations” for more on being lost in the wilderness, losing weight and surviving on short rations.

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource! To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE. Thank you and Happy Trails!

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site. I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

Sources

CP; “Face World Publicity Glare”, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, March 27, 1963, page 1, https://books.google.com/books?id=STRgAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=Saskatoon+Star-Phoenix+March+27,+1963&article_id=7273,3746548&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0g9nrwKCTAxXMEmIAHWshNuwQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=Saskatoon%20Star-Phoenix%20March%2027%2C%201963&f=false, accessed March 12, 2026

Hamblin, Dara Jane and Jarvis, Wilbur; “Girl Behind a frozen Scream”, LIFE April 12, 1963, https://books.google.com/books?id=VkkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA72&lpg=PA72&dq=%22Ralph+flores%22+yukon+journal&source=bl&ots=35ZUM4iatv&sig=ACfU3U1BmH4xLcRk1ULyfoyS1OmitfnbHQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjV_u2NhqrqAhVCYTUKHXvDDmMQ6AEwCHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Ralph%20flores%22%20yukon%20journal&f=false, accessed March 14, 2026

Oates, Bob; “10 Commandments for Wilderness Survival”, The Victoria Advocate, July 20, 1976, page 9, https://books.google.com/books?id=DBlZAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA102&dq=10+commandments+of+wilderness+survival&article_id=6901,3794394&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjcw8Db6puTAxWpvokEHXK6O5MQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=10%20commandments%20of%20wilderness%20survival&f=false, accessed March 12, 2026

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/how-backcountry-search-and-rescue-works/, accessed March 14, 2026

Rare Historical Photos; “Into the Wild: The Real Story of Chris McCandless Through Rare Photos”, https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/chris-mccandless-photos/, accessed March 14, 2026

Unknown; “Severe weather leads to minimal losses”, McCook Daily Gazette, February 9, 1996, page 11, https://books.google.com/books?id=fdcgAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA5&dq=wilderness+survival+starvation+calories&article_id=4649,3491634&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiOt6qF3J-TAxWTlYkEHbwQHmE4ChDoAXoECAgQAw#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed March 14, 2026

Unknown; “Hey, I'm Alive”, The Whitehorse Star, March 1963, https://www.whitehorsestar.com/History/hey-im-alivepart-2#:~:text=In%20Whitehorse%20hospital%20it%20was,California%2C%20and%20his%20six%20children, accessed March 14, 2026

UPI; St. Joseph Gazette, March 29, 1963, page 10,

https://books.google.com/books?id=JVxiAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA10&dq=%22interesting+facts+about+body%22&article_id=959,4733292&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQ_fTUqZKNAxWqvokEHUaOAIoQ6AF6BAgFEAM#v=onepage&q=%22interesting%20facts%20about%20body%22&f=false, accessed March 12, 2026