how long can you survive without food but wit... ~~
You can usually survive much longer without food than without water, but it’s still dangerous and not something to test on purpose.
Short answer
- With water but no food , many people can survive somewhere between 3–8 weeks , and in rare, medically supervised or extreme cases up to about 2–3 months.
- Without both food and water, survival is typically 3–7 days.
These are rough ranges only; individual survival time varies a lot with health, body fat and muscle, temperature, activity level, and medical care.
What happens to your body
When you stop eating but keep drinking water, your body goes through stages:
- First 1–2 days
- Uses stored glycogen (carbohydrate) in liver and muscles for energy.
* You may feel shaky, hungry, tired, and irritable.
- Next several days to weeks
- Switches to burning fat (ketosis) for fuel.
* You may lose a lot of weight, feel weak, dizzy, cold, and have trouble concentrating.
- Later phase (prolonged starvation)
- Body starts breaking down muscle and organ tissue for energy.
* Immune system weakens, heart rhythm and other organs can fail, and risk of death increases sharply.
Even if some people have survived 40–70+ days with only water in controlled or unusual circumstances, this is medically very risky and can cause permanent damage.
Real-world examples
- Historical hunger strikers have survived around 21–40 days with water, but many become critically ill or die.
- One famous case (Angus Barbieri) involved a very long fast of 382 days , but it was under strict medical supervision with water, vitamins, and some supplements—this is not a normal or safe scenario.
These examples show what’s possible , not what’s safe or typical.
Important safety note
If you (or someone you know) is intentionally not eating—because of dieting, stress, depression, a protest/hunger strike, or an eating disorder—that’s a medical and mental health emergency, not a survival experiment.
- In an emergency, contact local medical services or emergency numbers right away.
- If this is related to feeling hopeless or not wanting to live, please reach out to a crisis line or mental health professional in your country as soon as you can.
Bottom line: With water, some people can survive several weeks without food, but starvation quickly becomes life-threatening and can cause serious, lasting harm long before you reach those limits.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.