A man with no body fat is at high risk of death during a severe infection. Women might instinctively pick up on that. A dead man can’t provide or protect.
Another thing is that muscle requires constant maintenance in the forms of exercise and food.
The overweight but otherwise healthy individual will last longer in crisis situations. I'm about 60 lbs. overweight, which translates to around 3 months of caloric reserves (likely an unhealthy amount TBH).
Before industrialization, being overweight was seen as a mark of beauty and wealth regardless of gender.
(Not a rationalization for being unfit or unhealthy when taken to extremes.)
The overweight but otherwise healthy individual will last longer in crisis situations. I'm about 60 lbs. overweight, which translates to around 3 months of caloric reserves (likely an unhealthy amount TBH).
Before industrialization, being overweight was seen as a mark of beauty and wealth regardless of gender.
(Not a rationalization for being unfit or unhealthy when taken to extremes.)