Do any mammals other than humans "get fat"? Could be I'm wrong but I'm thinking they don't because to them food is primarily fuel.
To we humans it's that and much more. Food is part of so many of our social traditions and customs, ranging from wedding receptions to tailgate parties and is not eaten at those events primarily to fuel up; rather, it's just part of socializing and not a matter of survival.
Do any mammals in the wild include food in their social behaviors? Were there any overweight cavemen back in the day?
The food as fuel concept was driven home to me years ago when I got into Hatha Yoga (I don't think there are any fat Yogis) and reached the point where I became aware of the signals my body would send my brain when I ate too much sugar, fat or whatever - or just ate "too much".
It was pretty amazing to me at the time. My eating habits and food preferences changed for the better as I dropped my unwanted lbs. by the month. The amazing part to me then was that there was no conscious thought or effort involved in eating healther, I'd feel sick or uncomfortable after eating to excess or eating the "wrong" foods. In a year or so I was within five lb.s of my HS graduation weight (I was fit and not at all overweight at that time).
Over the years I've gone off and on my yoga routine several times for various reasons (divorce, other stressful issues) and
always gained weight, going as high as 235 lbs.
Each time, when I came to my senses, it was more difficult to lose the weight. I'm 6' 1 1/2" and I've been at +/_ 193 lbs for many years now, which I think is right for me. I weighed 185 when I graduated HS.
I'm real weight conscious because I'm the oldest of three sons and was a kinda fat baby and kid until puberty, when I sprang up to my current height and thinned down.
The men in my family were, with the exception of two uncles, overweight with pot bellys (Pennsy Dutch beer drinkers
) and I did not want to end up that way myself. When I was about 14 my ex-Sea Bee uncle (not one of the fat ones) gave me a couple of his old tapered cut custom tailored khaki uniform shirts that fit me great. I wore them (out) with much pride.
So, weight gain has always been an important issue for me (I can gain weight with incredible ease and speed). After my first balooning (after I got married the first time) I vowed to return to be able to wear the same size Levi shrink to fit jeans I wore in HS. Never quite made it but am within 1" of that waste size and weigh less than 10 lbs more than then.
I hear people say, ahhh, it's normal to gain weight as you get older. Maybe so, but I'm convinced it's not natural.
Funny, I've dabbled in the computer dating world from time to time over the last few years and quickly learned that when a women (probably applies to men too - haven't looked) describes herself in her on-line profile as "average" weight (the most commonly used description), that may be true; but in our sadly obese society, that means fat. Being extremely shallow, I would just move on down the bean row and keep looking.
I'm curious how the three basic body types, ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph, figure into charts such as the one posted above.