Two months without food?

It's been awhile since I've written about the Rule of 3's in this blog:

An average person may die after
Three minutes without air
Three hours without shelter (in extreme heat/cold)
Three days without water
Three weeks without food

http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2010/04/return-of-rule-of-threes.html
http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2008/07/rule-of-threes.html

Keep in mind that the rule is about the average person and average events. There are exceptions.

Some drowning victims have survived for 8 to 10 minutes with no brain damage in icy cold waters that send the body into instant shutdown with hypothermia. A similar thing happened to a man in Sweden who was trapped in his car for nearly two months before being discovered.

His doctor explained that besides eating snow, the man probably survived by going into a dormant-like state,

"A bit like a bear that hibernates. Humans can do that. He probably had a body temperature of around 31 degrees (Celsius) which the body adjusted to. Due to the low temperature, not much energy was used up." 

The car itself, covered in snow, acted as an igloo, so the man did not freeze to death.

Bottom Line

While researching this blog I saw references to a Rule of 4s
Four minutes without air
Four hours without shelter (in extreme heat or cold)
Four days without water
Four weeks without food

This might be more accurate for people in excellent health and fitness but I'll stick with the Rule of 3's for the average Joe.