However, studies have shown that calories often don't work that simplistically in people, for a variety of reasons, including: hormone levels; medications a person is taking; metabolic damage caused by previous attempts to diet, etc.

Right, but do those things lead your body to process a hamburger calorie different from a broccoli calorie? Or does it mean you process calories as a whole differently than other people?

Happy Birthday, Nutty!

The farmworkers told deputies the suspect woke them Saturday morning by rubbing spices on one of them and smacking the other with an 8-inch sausage.

Am I the only one wondering which spices were used? Really? OK.

Am I the only one wondering which spices were used? Really? OK.

No. No, you're not. Also - what kind of sausage?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NUTTY!!!

Happy Birthday Nutty!

Also, What Steph Said.

Also, I am about to go on a killing spree at work.

I'm not trying to jump on my fat acceptance soapbox; I just want to note that weight loss, and the maintenance of same, is very VERY hard.

I've stopped thinking about losing weight. I still go to the gym about five times a week. And I try to be reasonable about my diet (I'm not eating all these pies I'm making, I've given some away). I feel AMAZING just with the working out (and not for 3-4 hours, either, sometimes, just as little as a half an hour can feel good).

That's the metric I'm using--how good I feel. If I happen to lose some weight, yippee. If not, I still feel pretty damn good.

Also, and I don't want to discourage Alibelle or anyone else from dieting if that's what they want to do, but diets don't work. It's been proven, repeatedly, that over 95% of people who lose any amount of weight on a diet -- and I mean as little as 2 pounds -- cannot maintain the weight loss for longer than 5 years.

But I don't want to look like this anymore. I mean, there's changing a diet, but are my workouts futile as well?

Right, but do those things lead your body to process a hamburger calorie different from a broccoli calorie?

There is some evidence that simple carbohydrates cause more weight gain than their equivalent calories in protein and fat, possibly because they trigger an increase of insulin in the blood stream.

I had the impression Alibelle was on a diet for a TV show or something. Which amuses me, even if not true.

I don't think so, Allyson. From the study which proved that diets don't work in the long run:

If dieting doesn't work, what does?

"Eating in moderation is a good idea for everybody, and so is regular exercise," Mann said. "That is not what we looked at in this study. Exercise may well be the key factor leading to sustained weight loss. Studies consistently find that people who reported the most exercise also had the most weight loss."

I also think that diets don't work for the long run, but a change in eating habits does. Especially if you eat a lot of junk food or sweets (this is me) or drink a lot of alcohol. Choosing healthier foods and being aware of portion size is really important for health--and the side effect can sometimes be maintaining weight loss.