[brytlea]

I don’t really disagree with what you’re saying, however, there seems to be something else at work. Maybe my skinny husband really doesn’t eat anything (altho he sure appears to). I know what we were taught, I also know that it doesn’t always jibe with reality.

And, a lot of the things I used to tell people (because it’s what I was taught) REALLY don’t seem to fit as I”ve aged. I have not real answer for why, I just know what is. On the other hand, my neuro thought my 2 miles per day at a pace of 3 miles per hour was really good, so that made me feel better!
:)

[aruanan]

I don’t really disagree with what you’re saying, however, there seems to be something else at work. Maybe my skinny husband really doesn’t eat anything (altho he sure appears to). I know what we were taught, I also know that it doesn’t always jibe with reality.

Like almost anything, there is a Bell curve distribution. I'm sure on one end there are folks whose resting metabolism is a bit more active and on the other those whose RMR is a bit less active and all the rest of us are distributed in between. When you're younger, you have a greater ability to spontaneously adjust activity level to energy intake and vice versa. This ability appears to diminish with age; however, the necessity of physical activity often diminishes with age together with the opportunity for it. The body appears to need at least a certain level to effectively count calories, so to speak, and make adjustments in activity or appetite to maintain homeostasis in body weight/composition. The weight creep of 20-30 or more pounds that most people experience between their 30's and 50's comes out to a very, very small number of kcals per day, showing that otherwise, the match of energy intake to expenditure is pretty closely regulated.