Originally Posted by Machka

I didn't throw a blanket statement about anything out there, didn't take my experience and extrapolate it onto the whole population, and didn't make assumptions about everybody else.
I didn't say something that was untrue.
There's a lot you don't know about me.
And thank you for your permission to share my own personal experiences on this forum, which is precisely what I was doing before you tried to extrapolate my comment onto the whole population.

Originally Posted by Machka

In my case, as mentioned in Post #11, when I was so light I had trouble staying within the normal range of the BMI scale, I ate a lot of food, and whatever I wanted to eat. Ice cream ... yup! Burritos ... bring them on! Large 750 calorie Costco muffins ... yum!! I was definitely not cutting back on food in any way ... and still I lost weight. Why? When you cycle 250+ km a week, and walk 6-10 km a week, and lift weights, you will be exercising enough to burn the calories you eat.

Originally Posted by Machka

I was thinking more of people like the OP who are up off the sofa and are making some effort to get into shape and lose weight ... people who eat "normal" amounts of food without starving themselves in any way.