I am fortunate enough that I don’t really have any large fat deposits on my body, but I was wondering what makes peoples butts and guts the accumulation point for alot of fat deposits. Why doesn’t it hit the arms first? Or even more extreme, the forehead or feet? It seems to always hit the guts and butts. Is there a reason for this?
Think about backpacks. I would imagine that the most efficient places to carry lots of fat, center of gravity wise, is at the back and front of your body’s center of gravity.
Damn, astro beat me to it. But yeah, it has a smaller effect on your ability to move if it’s closer to your center of gravity. Now as to why men get their fat on the gut and women get their fat on their butt, that’s a hard question (i.e., no one knows).
fat on the abdomen would also provide good insulation and protection for your vital organs
because we’d look even stupider with big rolls of fat on our foreheads?
This may seem beside the point, but fat gathers there because that’s where the most fat cells are.
You don’t grow new cells when you gain weight - the existing cells just get larger.
Sure, but why are most of our existing fat cells there? Same question, different terms.
Make easier for Ug and Grog to sit on rock, sleep on dirt.
If fat accumulated on the fingers it would quickly make it difficult to carry out any task (including the gathering of food); if it accumulated on the ankles, it would be harder to run (after wooly mammoths, or away from hyenas) because when ambulating, the legs move more than the torso; if it accumulated on the head, it would make the individual top-heavy and it would make the head harder to turn quickly (to sense danger); if it accumulated on the genitals, it would prevent reproduction.
Extreme examples perhaps, but hips tums and bums are a convenient place to store bulk where it won’t be too much of a hindrance; we could assume that the pre-humans whose bodies tried storing it elsewhere were at a disadvantage.
I knew a guy in High school who did have a tendancy to store some fat in more flattering locations as well as the usual areas. Upper part of the trunk, including the shoulders and arms - no, he was NOT just husky, and there wasn’t much muscle underneath. He was very flabby and no stronger than anyone else, but he appeared to have a decent build depsite the fact he never exercised - looked like someone stuffed a bunch of cotton under his skin in the right areas. Of course that only lasted for a short time until he just got fat all over.
[stray thought] A scrawny cavewoman who does well nutrition-wise begins to accumulate fat in her ass and breasts and her physique starts to somewhat conform to many modern cultures’ idea of what an attractive body should look like [/stray thought].
Just a thought–don’t know if it’s worth much. It’s late, and I’m medicated. Probably the center-of-gravity/convenience of carry ideas are on the money.
There might be something to this theory as well. Fat on your butt and thighs protects (at least to some degree) the muscles you use for walking, which are very important from a survival standpoint.
Not that far off the mark – see our recent threads on why men like breasts.
This doesn’t invalidate those threads, though – I think that the idea of efficient carrying of the extra mass explains why it’s on the torso. Our evolutionarily-inspired preferences then had that physical reality to respond to.