Yes, again my point exactly. The idea behind the "can eat all they want and never gain weight" comes with the assumption that, even if they ate as much as we do and had our level of activity, they wouldn't gain weight. Your husband, it appears, has a highly active job- so much so that he has built a lot of muscle while working at it, no wonder he needs to eat a lot of food. That does not mean that he could get a desk job, eat the same amounts, and not gain weight.

The problem, I see, with the "good metabolism"/"bad metabolism" idea is that it is too easy to use as an excuse for bad behavior and a way to discount good behavior. If you have a "bad metabolsim", does that mean that it's okay to not eat right and exercise? Conversely, if you have a "good metabolism", and spend a lot of time participating in active sports, do you not deserve praise for your healthy body?

Someone who has a "bad metabolsim" and eats right and exercises will look just like someone who has a good metabolism. Someone with a good metabolsim who sits around all day eating, will soon enough look like me!

I was going to type the same thing. While metabolic ratevariess from person to person - unless there is some medical problem, it is not enough to let someone eat like crazy and never gain weight. If you really log what people like that are eating and log their daily activity - you would find the same energy balance that each of us must maintain to lose weight.

I know it can seem like we are the only ones that have to work at it - but the reality is - it is all about lifestyle. The good news is that we all have the power to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

I wish you the very best.

My best friend is thin and has never had a problem with her weight - when she quit smoking she gained a few pounds but needed to as she was way too thin before that. After gaining that few pounds she still wears a size 5. I would always think "gosh, she is so lucky that she can eat whaever she wants and doesn't gain weight," but then I actually started to watch her eat and discovered this; she ate basically whatever items she wanted but when I saw the proportions she was eating, it didn't compare to the large proportions I was eating. She would put a spoonful of this and a spoonful of that on her plate, whereas I was putting several spoonfuls of the wrong things on mine. She loves to cook and loves to bake and had a very heavy mother, but whereas she would eat 1 cookie for dessert, I'd eat 6. I am very active and so is she so I don't think she outdoes me on activity, but I can say one thing for sure, I'd eat w-a-a-a-a-y more calories in a day's time than she would because I was eating too much of the wrong things and she could eat little bits of them.

DNR

LivingWater -- I don't really have anything to add to all the great advice here, except to say that we started at the same place and have lost the same amount of weight. I don't know about you, but even if I never lose another pound, I know I'm better off than where I was before!

Keep doing what you're doing. Weigh, but don't worry about the scale. It will move again. I recently had 3 weeks of non-scale movement. The next week I lost 3 pounds, this week 2. And now I'm down another clothing size.

You can't make it all about the scale, or the scale wins. And you don't want that to happen!

I am a little late in posting, but to echo everything else that has been said, the food is not worth it. It was Meg who posted that you have to be willing to "pay the price". (BTW read Meg's story, it is very inspirational). This struck a very strong chord with me. Sure, I can over indulge and give in to my inner toddler and eat what I want when I want it. I also know I will gain the weight. Am I willing to pay the price? No, I am not. I am not willing to go through another year of having sore knees and bad health. No, I am not willing to have the only option of clothes shopping at the Plus Size stores. Will I over indulge sometimes? Yes, I will. I have to be willing to pay the price, if that means excercising my butt off then so be it. You can do this.

This is true. Although, I hate the fact that I will forever have to watch what I eat, at least I know what I have to do in order to deal with it, and it really could be a lot worse.

I feel like such a baby. I'm going to keep this thread and print it. I'll read whenever I feel like .

Another thing, my husband and daughter can eat whatever they'd like. But it's true, they're both high energy/very active and really do only eat when they're hungry. Which for my daughter is all the time, but she does play it off. My son is skinny but doesn't eat at all like my husband and daughter. He eats tiny quanities of food, only when he's hungry. He's also very active. I think he has my metabolism. I am not hungry very often and was able to stay skinny most of my life by eating like a bird (my grandpa used to call it). If I could just get that back into my head!

Thanks again everyone. to you all.