Oddbean new post about | logout
 Part of me is telling me to get out the brush cutter and finish cleaning up the yard. But a significant other part of me is telling me to be lazy and stay on the computer.... and these thoughts went through my head:

Being fat is an evolutionary adaptation to food scarcity. So is being lazy. By being lazy you conserve energy. Don't feel like your fat lazy body reflects some kind of moral failing. You were born fat and lazy for a good reason which just doesn't happen to make sense anymore in the modern food-rich world. If your ancestors weren't fat and lazy, you likely wouldn't even exist!

Samoans and Hawai'ians can be quite fat. Being fat was a huge (pun intended) advantage for sea-faring people. If the ship runs out of food, the fat people are the likely survivors. If you get separated from your boat and float for days, fat people float better, are better insulated against hypothermia, and can last longer having more energy. Ocean travel doesn't require much running or load bearing activities. I can imagine a long history of accidents, storms, and ya know all the shit that life throws at you, and in many of these cases the fatter Samoans and Hawai'ians lived to tell the tale, and more to the point lived to have kids.

Fat shaming doesn't work. We fatter people are piss poor at fighting against these genetics. I have a lifetime of trying and first hand knowledge. It isn't just about food choice (I only buy healthy food) or mindless eating, although bad choices can certainly make it worse. It is a drive that irritates your brain until you satisfy it, and significant weight loss makes programming a computer (for example) impossible to focus on against those constant amygdala wake-ups.

https://yt.thesamecat.io/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I