Quote Originally Posted by ny biker View Post
I know one adult who is thin and does not need to watch his diet everyday in order to remain that way. He has that body type that struggles to gain weight (ectomorph? endomorph? I can never remember).

Every other adult I know who is not overweight watches his or her diet carefully. They may not measure and weigh all their food, but they make choices at every meal to make sure they're not consuming too many calories and too much unhealthy food.

(And that one naturally thin guy has to watch his diet anyway, because he has very high blood pressure.)

So I think it's a daily effort for many people, in one way or another.
I agree. Even in a room full of skinny runners, I noticed that most of them were monitoring what food they put on their plates even though they all just ran a bunch of miles.

And every single person I know who has lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off is very diligent about what they eat. Those that aren't (myself included) are the ones who eventually gain some back until they get back on top of it again.

Even eating paleo, I can gain weight if I'm not paying attention to my total consumption. The only thing I eat with abandon are non-starchy veggies - everything else must be monitored.

I think it's the price we pay for living in a society where food is varied and plentiful. If all we could nourish our bodies with was what we hunted or fished, we'd never have to count another calorie!