Fat bears
Katmai National Park is running their annual Fat Bear Week (Picture: @KatmaiNPS)

We allow all kinds of crap to define our ideas of attractiveness, with the main culprits being social media, the devil of comparison and those dang changing seasons.

Summer might have escaped us, but think back to what you might have been doing as it started: panicking about whether you were toned enough to have a Hot Girl Summer. (Hint: you were ready all along.)

It turns out that we’ve got a pal in the animal kingdom who isn’t all that different from us. Except that they’re busy piling on the pounds, not losing them, and they do so in winter, not summer.

Oh and it’s all for survival, not for the Instagram creds.

Katmai National Park, located in southern Alaska, is currently in the grisliest part of their annual Fat Bear Week.

In a post titled ‘River, river in the Fall, who’s the fattest bear of all?’, Katmai called upon the public to decide which of the bears in their park are the thiccest of the thicc.

The national park is famed for its brown bear population, with around 2,200 of them inhabiting the area.

Now in its fifth year, the 2019 contest kicked off on 2 October. Bears go gut-to-gut each day, with people voting on which bear they deem the fattest by liking the corresponding image on the Katmai Facebook page.

The most publicly-celebrated rotund one will advance to the next round. On 8 October, one bear will be named ‘Fattest Bear’.

Here are some of the contestants. Steady yourself for some stunning winter glow ups…

We’ve got the ladies:

The bubs:

And a couple of handsome fellas:

As we can see, there’s some big bear energy emanating from these heckin’ chonkers.

The before and after images show the bears at their svelte summer weight, compared to their whopping winter weight. It’s an epic weight gain that’s all about strategy.

‘Large amounts of body fat in brown bears is indicative of good health and strong chances of survival. The bears need stores of fat to help them survive their Sleeping Beauty impersonations,’ reads a news release from Katmai.

‘During winter hibernation, which can last for up to half of the year in their den, a bear could lose up to one third of its body mass.’

If you think you’ve got an eye for spotting a fat bear, cast your vote at the Katmai National Park Facebook page.