http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot....hypothesis.html

Hey look, another on-topic post.

Peter looks at a study comparing activity in obese vs. lean, before and after weight change. The obese subjects move less, but still burn about 800 calories a day for activity, same as the lean subjects, before the obese folk lose weight or the lean gain. The obese subjects might be moving less, but they're working harder when they do move. They may be doing the same amount of work, but try walking a mile unweighted or half a mile carrying your bodyweight in a backpack, let me know what impresses you more.

Dieted down, the obese subjects did move less.

A common observation is that overweight people don't have slow metabolisms compared to lean. Another common observation is that they do have slower metabolisms when they're dieted down. There are also studies in the Pima showing reduced metabolism prior to weight gain. Reduced metabolism is an element both in preobese and postobese, is postobese a return to the preobese state? This fits with Pennington's idea that the fat mass increases until it supports a certain level of metabolism--the slow metabolism isn't a feature of fully developed obesity, it's involved in the development.

So, observations show exercise important to maintenance, is it exercise, or is it propensity to exercise, a symptom that the body's not trying to get fatter, maybe, as much as somebody else's might be, that's at work?