What is that Spare Tire Good For?©

 

 

This article is for Max, who teased me about the survival rations around my middle...en garde Max! – Author’s note

  

We all have a “spare tire” around our waist, some more than others.  But just what is it good for?

 

Most people, when they think about being lost in the wilderness, worry about being hungry and starving to death.  That isn’t going to happen, because you can survive a long, long time on your spare tire!

 

That spare tire around your waist contains fat cells, and each fat cell is full of thousands of triglycerides.  Triglycerides are three bunches of fatty acids, and the fatty acids are made up of long chains of sixteen to eighteen carbon atoms.  Fatty acids are like “zip files”, and large numbers of them can be stored without taking up much space.  Triglycerides, densely packed with fatty acids, are released from fat cells into your bloodstream where they are absorbed and burned by your cells as fuel, when needed. 

 

The average healthy adult, weighing 154 pounds (70 kgs) has around 31 pounds (14 kgs) of stored body fat.  Each gram of fat yields 9.4 kilocalories, which means that the average person has an incredible 131,600 kilocalories in their body’s fuel reserve!  The average man, who exercises moderately, burns 2,500 kilocalories daily and the average woman with the same activity level, burns 2,000 kilocalories; this means the average man can survive for 53 days and the average woman can survive 66 days without eating, as long as they have water to drink!   Even lean people have a spare tire around their midsection and can survive between 20 and 30 days without eating.

 

Now this doesn’t imply that being overweight is good, it’s not for a lot of reasons, but at least you won’t starve to death in an emergency.

 

So, don’t panic if you are ever misplaced in the wilderness, you won’t starve before you are found, because remember “...85 percent of all lost people are found within the first 12 hours, and 97 percent are found within the first 24 hours”.⁴  You got it made in the shade!

 

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

 

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O’Neil, Devon; “How Backcountry Search and Rescue Works”, Outside, March 4, 2016, [© 2024 Outside Interactive, Inc], https://www.outsideonline.com/2059616/how-backcountry-search-and-rescue-works, accessed July 20, 2024

 

Rathbone, Thomas M., Lt.; “Bligh’ Me-Survival at Sea!”, Surface Warfare, Volume 5, November 1980, page 16 to 17, https://books.google.com/books?id=I0ryiMThhlYC&pg=RA10-PA17&dq=how+long+can+you+survive+on+a+pound+of+body+fat&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjz6em8tKmHAxXKMlkFHR0dCyAQ6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q=how%20long%20can%20you%20survive%20on%20a%20pound%20of%20body%20fat&f=false, accessed July 16, 2024

 

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