[trailhkr1]

Is it not possible that the semi-starvation that they endured in order to lose weight has caused their bodies' natural defenses to push for more intake? That their increasingly intense hunger and cravings are a natural response to the low calorie diets, which the body interprets as a time of famine, such as late winter in prehistoric times? That would be a mighty powerful survival strategy for a successful species. But in our unprecedented times of plenty, it turns us into teletubbies.

. No, after the diet people should go back to their maintenance calories so your point is moot. Maintenance calories are the calories you consume every day where you neither gain nor lose weight. The body recovers/adapts extremely quick. The basic premise is still calories in, calories out.but that is the simple answer but most accurate

[Jeff Chandler]

The basic premise is still calories in, calories out.

Like a machine?

[Jeff Chandler]

Maintenance calories are the calories you consume every day where you neither gain nor lose weight.

But if your body thinks it has just gone though a famine, wouldn't your hunger go into overdrive to the point that what was once your "maintenance" amount of fuel seems to your body to be inadequate for the purpose of replacing the fuel lost during the previous famine and storing up fuel in preparation for the next?

Your experience is that 95% of the people who attain their ideal weight on low calorie/increased exercise diets actually CHOSE to become blimps over simple moderation. Either the human race is almost entirely screwed up, or there is something going on here.