From a natural/evolutionary standpoint?

Question

are humans supposed to be fat or skinny? i can see how both make sense in different ways.

Answer 1

Just to be different, the ability to gain weight is a survival trait. Having the extra pounds often meant survival during famines. This that were skinny didn't have the resources to go without food.

Today, with adequate food supplies the trait tends to be contra survival due to the number of problems chronic overweight brings with it.

Answer 2

Well I'm ready for the famine. :(

Answer 3

Skinny. Its just all the worlds "helpfull" tools lead us to have way more body fat, and be more unhealthy, than we should. Cars,fastfood, TV. The downfall of humans health.

Answer 4

People evolved with the ability to store a considerable amount of fat, to survive yearly shortages.  Inuit, for example, used to gain easily 50% of there normal weight yearly, to get through the long season of low food.  By the end of the shortages they yearly lost the fat, often even more.  The same in true of most "primitive" peoples living in areas with yearly seasons of shortages.

Putting on and losing weight tends to shorten your life span but when your are young you can tolerate it and surving a bad harvest gives you more chances of reproduction.

SO, the ability to get fat was a useful survival and reproductive trait.  Being fat full time is not.

Answer 5

We should be muscular, lithe, and athletically fit. A lot of us are halfway there, we've got the trainers.

Answer 6

We are supposed to be what and who we want ♪

Answer 7

average

Answer 8

People who ancestry is recently hunter gather tend to gain weight very quicky. Fat is essential to survival if your food sources are seasonal.

Fat people survive famines and have more reserves to call upon if they get ill. The long term health problems of obesity really only raise their heads after the childrearing years are over, when we are a waste of DNA as far as nature is concerned.

Skinny people are more vulnerable to infections and famine.

The answer, better 10lbs overweight than 10lbs underweight.

More than a stone overwieght and a hunter will have problems catching up with that deer. Then he'll lose weight until he can catch it. A self limiting problem.