HOMEWORK HELP-How long would somebody have to starve themselves to lose 5kg?

[Anonymous]

This would be taking away important nutrients
and proteins as well as other things to keep your body powered , so how long would somebody have to starve for to lose 5kg? This is ONLY for homework! Thanks

[Pac-Man]

Lets see now. 1kg of fat is about 7500 calories. 5kg would be 5 x 7500 = 37500 calories.

You roughly burn 2000 calories per day so to find out how many days you have to divide 37500 by 2000 which equals 18.75 days. To lose 5kg of fat you have to not eat anything for 18.5 days which is an unbearable punishment and you might die.

[anonman32]

the thing is that your body will go in a survival mode and it will self-canibalize where it will burn up muscle tissue, it will take muscle tissue and convert it back to proteins and burn them to stay alive. more than 5kg would probably be lost as muscles weigh more than fat mass.

[Pac-Man]

@anonman32 Not really. What happens is that the body always takes whatever it needs from the available fatty acids. Thats their purpose, energy storage. However, there's on problem. The brain can only metabolise glucose and the only way you can get glucose is by degrading muscle tissue. Yes, you will lose a small amount of muscle tissue but your main source for energy is going to be the fat tissue and thats what you'll be burning mostly.

[anonman32]

you can only last of 3 weeks without food, you are going to lose a lot of muscle tissue in that time.

[shadowlegend]

A few weeks. The body doesn't start to realize you're starving it until after a couple of weeks, and only after that will it begin to burn or "eat away" the fat already present in the body. But if you stopped eating altogether, depending on your health and stamina, you may starve before 5 wks is up and that can be deadly.

[Asker]

Do you know what would happen to somebody's outwards appearance? E. g would skin be more prone to acne, would skin change colour?

[shadowlegend]

It would lose colour due to lack of nutrition. As for being more prone to acne or skin conditions, those things are determined by genetics, not starvation. (In a 2-5 wk time-frame)

[Pac-Man]

Yeah sure, "homework". And I am the queen of England.

[Relentless_Hippie]

What kind of homework is this? I don't believe this is for homework.

[BellePepper]

Preach.

[Asker]

Actually it IS homework. Nutrition/ P. E health class

[Relentless_Hippie]

What kind of homework is this? Teenagers have young impressionable minds that can be influenced by the most simplest of suggestions. Most people suffering from eating disorders are teens. Why would a teacher assign this as a question for homework knowing this fact? Also, if you've learned it in school why can't you find it in your textbook?

[Asker]

ACTUALLY we're looking at the rates of time which the human body can survive for. On this subject, we are focusing on a new topic every 2 weeks. It's not aimed just at losing weight intentionally, but if you were stranded in a place with little to no food. The loss of 5kg can be deadly in this situation since fat levels would drop which would lead to the subject being more prone to diseases which could affect their appearance and (obviously) health.

[Relentless_Hippie]

Mmm, now it's making sense, but how come you didn't use google or check out your health book?

[Asker]

Do you guys want me to post a damn photo of my homework? If you're just gonna accuse me of making this off, then go away!!!

[Relentless_Hippie]

What in the world are you yelling about? I just said I was starting to understand what you were saying and then I simply asked why didn't you choose your health book or look up a medical website instead? Certainly those are more credible sources than gag.

[Asker]

Ooops... Meant to reply to somebody else (read comments at end). I couldn't find anything on another website- they all have "I'm trying to starve myself" and that sorta stuff. We don't carry textbooks around, we just use website at my school

[Relentless_Hippie]

Oh okay lol. It was like it went 0-100 in a split second haha.

[CHARismatic110]

I'm not really buying the whole homework thing.

[jesusnicolas768]

Mostly like 3 months