When we look around at the size of different people, it just doesn't seem fair. How come thin people can eat all of the french fries and chocolate that they want? Is it metabolism?
I hate to tell you this, but studies have shown that in fact, thin people do eat less. The main reason that they can eat all they want is because they don't want so much!
It's true that there is a difference between men and women when it comes to metabolic rate. Also, our metabolism does slow down as we approach senior status.
However, if you compare two people of the same age, height and sex, where one person is significantly thinner than the other, you will almost certainly find that the thinner person eats less and/or has a more active lifestyle.
They may only eat a little less. A person only has to eat an extra 100 calories per day (1.5 slices of bread) in order to gain 10 pounds in a year. That's 50 pounds in 5 years or 100 pounds in 10 years.
And an extra 200 calories per day (3 slices of bread) would make us gain 200 pounds in 10 years.
Most of us gained our excess weight at that kind of rate, or slower.
So it would make sense to lose it at around the same rate.
But of course we don't want to go that slow. We want all the weight to disappear right now. This is another reason why most diets fail.
You can expect to lose 5-10 lb in the first week of a diet, as the body gets rid of any excess retained water. But after that, the slower the better if you want to be and stay slim.
