[mysterio]

It's mostly eating more calories than you burn.

That being said, sometime during my growth spurt during adolescence, I stopped being able to eat whatever I wanted and I started gaining weight quickly. I've had weight issues ever since. I'm currently the thinnest I've ever been, but it takes a lot of exercise (hour plus each day), and I have to stay hungry most of the time. It's worth it.

But if you told me that I caught a cold with some metabolism effect at 13, I wouldn't be surprised at all.

[Edizzl79]

Yeah its called Mcdonalds.

[donna]

Studies have shown that chickens and mice infected with AD-36 put on weight quicker than uninfected animals, even when they were not given extra food.

Maybe not . . .

[Myrddin]

My grandparents made a summer visit to our home for many years. In 1967 I was measured at 4 ft 9 inches upon their visit. A year later, I was 6 feet 3/8 inches. My weight was 112 lbs. The growth spurt pushed me from size 6D shoes to 10EE and gave my parents fits trying to keep me in clothing that fit. By the end of 7th grade, I had "bulked up" to 135 lbs. Upon gradation from high school at age 16, I was 155 lbs. During the summer after high school, I managed to get to 180 lbs. That was bad because I was competing in judo and there were weight classes. I was matched against a 250 lb opponent because there was nobody else in a closer weight range. Thankfully I was faster and won the match before the extra weight became a problem. I had to work out 7 days a week for 3 hours per day to pare down to 162 lbs. That was a far more competitive weight.

In 1985 I had cancer. The treatments made it damn hard to keep weight off. If I don't work out every day and watch me food intake, it is very easy to gain weight and living hell to burn it off. Atkins is just about the only thing that works.

A cold virus may be to blame for sudden, unexplained switches from a normal weight to packing on lbs. It's happened a few times with no clear reason. It would be nice to have a better handle on the mechanism and a means to control it.

[speekinout]

I’m curious - why are you hungry all the time? I’ve had weight issues off and on in my life, and most of them came from trying to follow a diet that didn’t suit me.
When I found a diet plan that did, I stopped having weight problems. I didn’t do well with a lot of the diet plans that are so popular - Atkins, South Beach, etc. do not suit me at all.
How did you decide on the diet plan that you follow?