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chazwomaq t1_ixzfaoy wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Why do children with a higher bmi start puberty earlier? by -LoveMeMore

>From an evolutionary perspective, you want to grow to sexual maturity as quickly as possible,

This is not true. There is a tradeoff between reproducing early and growing a large body size. Both are advantageous, and so life history theory is all about managing such tradeoffs to maximise overall fitness.

Early sexual maturity (and small body size) is favoured when extrinsic mortality is high, and vice versa.

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throwaway92715 t1_iy2atkj wrote

Honestly none of that makes any sense. Because even if being fat allowed you to mature faster and pass on your genes quicker, you would not be able to run fast enough to keep up with your potential mates. Unless the individual was able to somehow keep their sperm in a chilled storage unit of some kind, there is no way that they would ever be able to deliver on that promise. So, evolutionarily speaking, they would likely not be able to protect any children they had from mountain lions. It is more likely the case that the corellation between BMI and reproductive success came about during the Ice Age, when it was very cold and extra layers of fat were needed to survive the winter.

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chazwomaq t1_iy2x2rc wrote

My argument is basic life history theory. It may not make sense to you, but there is plenty of material out there to learn about it.

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