The 3600 calorie Mainstay bar is a three day supply for one person?

Yes, depending on your activity level.

20

Yes. The idea is that you need 1200 cal per day per (adult) person.

After doing a short "field" test (in quotes, because I tested it while at work as a teacher) something came to mind about calorie requirements. I had one Mainstay meal in the morning and another midday. I felt fine in the morning, but a couple of hours after the midday portion, I became hungry. Realizing that the calories are meant to sustain one in a survival situation...sustain, not necessarily comfortably keep one's hunger at bay, I realized that my body is used to more calories than someone of average size. What I'm saying is that I'm overweight. Is it likely that I will need more than 1200 calories per day just for normal actvity, or will my generous reserves of body fat provide some of that energy too? I'm trying to figure out if I should pack more rations than a person of a healthy weight would. I'm stocking the car for a shelter in car situation (most likely stranded in a Midwest winter) and I'm also planning to carry a three day supply for myself in my EDC bag.

The simple answer is, get myself to a healthy weight and don't worry about extra rations. Until that happens, do I pack more, just to survive?

Actually, as I understand it, you are actually better off that someone of average or less-than-average body weight. If two people are in a survival situation and have little to no food to eat, the person with more "fat reserves" will most likely be able to survive longer, since their body will have something to use as energy in the absence of food. It is when your body runs out of this fat that you are in real trouble, and someone with little fat to begin with will reach this point much faster.

From a comfort/psychology perspective, I think avoiding hunger pangs is a good thing during any stressful situation, so by all means, pack extra rations. Besides, 1,200 calories is a bare subsistence amount and assumes little physical exertion, like sitting on a lifeboat.

It's not always true that "bigger" (i.e. overweight) people need more calories than skinnier people. Due to low-calorie diets, inactivity, and other factors, an overweight person could have a rather slow metabolism and a low daily caloric requirement vs. the skinny guy who "eats like a horse and doesn't gain an ounce". Even so, everyone has enough fat stores to survive a good long time, if they have water.

Rather than actually needing more calories and feeling hungry, you may feel hungry more easily because your body has gotten very good at converting food into fat, and then not releasing it for energy when needed. As soon as your blood sugar drops, your body senses the need for more calories but since it doesn't want to tap its fat reserves, it screams for more food instead and you feel hungry rather quickly. (A rather simplistic explanation, I admit.)

To counter that tendency in general, you can add a daily dose of low to moderate aerobic exercise which will help train your metabolism to more readily unlock the energy stored in your fat reserves and moderate your blood sugar levels. Train your body to use its own fat more easily, and you should have a better experience of trying to survive with minimal rations. At the very least, by adding some daily exercise, you'll be on your way to losing some weight. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

A while back i did an experiment where i cut my daily intake to 1500 then 1200 calories. I did this by the standard dieters method of writing down everything i ate and looking up the calories in a table. I found that at 1500 calories i was able to do everything i do daily including biking a few miles to work but was hungry and losing weight. At 1200 calories, I was noticeable tired and couldn't think too clearly. I only kept this up for a few weeks with a few days at 1200 at the end.

I found this guy's website useful in understanding the carbo to body fat burning transition:
http://survival.tigerteam.se/food/
http://survival.tigerteam.se/excursions/0507-starvationstudy01/

As I once said, "I'll outlive you, then eat your corpse! With my last pack of BBQ sauce!"

An average person in a sedentary job (office / lecturing / teacher - unless you have to chase pupils all over the place..) is likely to require 2000 - 2200 kcal/day. Someone with a job requiring greater exertion e.g. a construction worker or soldier would require anywhere from 3000 to 6000kcal/ day.

A 35 year old man weighing 72kg (158lb)with a height of 1.73m (5'8")would have the basal metabolic rate of about 1700kcal. This is the amount of energy your body requires to function for 24h if you don't do anything ( i.e. the energy requied to move your gut, get your heart pumping, breathe etc)

The 1200 kcal mainstay bar is just to reduce as far as possible the catabolic effects of starvation (that is to reduce the rate of protein (muscle) breakdown).
If you were a smaller person, weighing less, you would require less energy as basal energy expenditure, the 1200kcal bar would bring you further.

That being said, your body would burn up your fat reserves first before touching the muscles, so, scientifically speaking, your body doesn't need the mainstay bar in the initial period as it breaks down the glycogen and fat reserves. Therefore the mainstay bar would be most helpful when you have no more reserves left.

That being said, the psychological effect of hunger on the survivor as well as the moral boosting properties of any available food are why most emergency rations are included in lifeboats. If you hope to be rescued in 72 hours, you won't need the food.

In the sea of plenty, our bodies are used to so much food that the moment the amount goes to zero in a survival situation, our bodies cry out for more and headaches, hunger pangs and nausea set in. Once you get over the initial wall, you should be feeling fine.
Just for interest sake, a mickyD's meal of a bigmac (580kcal) + med fires (320kcal)+16oz coke(190) = 1090kcal, (this info is from the McD's in Singapore - the US servings may be different) meets more than half the daily caloric requirement for most people.

So, if you are packing mainstays to meet all your caloric requirements for a long term bug out, 2400kcal per day is more like it. For short term 72 hr situations, you don't need the food. But if you require full functional capacity (e.g. soldier on ops or SAR) pack more. And more variety. If you are just waiting for rescue and for a morale boost, in the 72 hr kit, I'd rather have a couple of snicker and mars bars (280-300 calories each).
Just my humble opinion.

HTH

I actually LIKE the mainstay bars...
They remind me a some sort of 'sandy' with limmon... Mmmmm...
Must, Fight, Temtation, To, Dig, Into, Bug, Out, Bag... <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />