Let’s get on the same page about a couple things: -Being morbidly obese isn’t good for anyone. -Being obese, which more than half of Americans are (if you’re 6’ and weigh more than 210, you’re obese, over 180 and you’re considered overweight) also isn’t great. -Being fit is more important than being thin. -I couldn’t care less how much you or anyone else weighs.

My question as it relates to the post the other day by someone whining about fat people being dumb and easy targets (I still don’t understand why that dude is so fired up about it), what does evolution say about people that carry fat better than those that don’t? It’s widely believed that Polynesians today are particularly prone to obesity because literally all the people that didn’t have the genetic makeup to store fat as effeciently died as they made their long ocean voyages exploring for new islands and proximity to natural disasters. In particular Samoans seem especially affected. Literally the only people that survived their end of the world situation were the fats. Certainly this isn’t conclusive, but the theory seems to hold up well amongst anthropologists. Logically one could assume that the more stores you have (fat, to a point) the I’m better off you’d be in a food scarce situation.

Now again, I’m not saying being obese or morbidly obese is good or something to be condoned, but I’m curious where the line is between conservation of energy stores, having cardiovascular fitness, and just being generally healthy. I’m 6’2, 178, can run/work/play for as long as the Misses needs, but in a zero food event for whatever reason, I’m dead in two three weeks tops. My neighbor, same height, 230 and strong as an ox with decent cardio, would last significantly longer.

Share your thoughts, I’m genuinely curious if anyone has given any prolonged thought to this.

https://www.brown.edu/news/2016-07-25/samoagene

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ase/114/2/114_2_127/_html/-char/en#:~:text=Recent studies based on a,selection associated with natural disasters.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/02/09/why-do-the-worlds-fattest-people-live-on-islands/