I was a chubby kid, but when I hit puberty, I was in "eat anything and not gain" mode. It was fabulous.

Once I matured, got married, and got a job, I got sedentary and took on habits that started packing on the pounds. The wife and her family had horrendous (almost gluttonous) eating habits, and I took to them like a duck to water...and I've been paying the price ever since.

Back in my late 30s or early 40s (I'm mid 50s now), I realized that I was in horrible condition, so I started following Atkins to the letter, and I dropped 85 pounds. Started working out, building muscle, and doing interval exercise. I thought I was the shit back then, and I guess I figured that I could pick up the bad behavior and not suffer the effects. But no...the pounds crept back on.

I still think Atkins was a brilliant guy, and I curse the day he died and his company turned into a total money-grubbing commercial enterprise. I see so-called gurus and experts saying good things, and I try to pick out any valuable information I can, but so many just seem to exist to sell products and confuse the issue for profit. Or slip into pseudoscientific claptrap, causing me to doubt any insight they might actually provide. But that's another soapbox, and perhaps I'll start a topic on it some time.