> This observation is contradicted by the experience of paleo-dieters such as
> Ray and me. I work out but not heavily. Ray never works out, is almost 20
> years my senior, and has better muscle size and definition than me. Ray is
> more sedentary than any two other people I know (a fact about which he is
> most proud). He hunts, but his bird does most of the work. All he has to do
> is stay within sight of her. Chasing his 4-year-old son around the house
> often requires more effort.

Let us not forget our individual genetics. Some people are taller than
others, some will be naturally mroe muscular. Optimizing diet will no
doubt bring us closer to our genetic potential but that point will be
different for all of us.

As to the original post about results versus others lack of (re: weight
loss), macronutrient ratios (protein/fat/carbs) will effect to some
degree body composition, but if you are still consuming calories in
excess of what you are using (through bmr and exercise etc) then you
will not lose weight.
To use a not comepletely identical analogy, people on another list (a
lowcarb/exercise list) that I lurk on as well, will from time to time
query why fat loss is not occuring, thinking that (in this case) lowcarb
dieting is some sort of magic bullet. When they actually go and
calculate their caloric intake, it is higher than they expected. Some of
this may have come from a passage in another low carb diet book which
goes something along the lines of "you can eat as much zero carb foods
as you want and lose weight". This is of course not true, but it has
been surmised that the statement was made in light of the fact that
hunger is usually blunted on a ketogenic diet, and so the total calories
consumed will be low enough to engender weight loss.

There has been some debate in one usenet group that sort of relates to
this, calling into question where some obesity studies that did not show
weight loss on 1500 calories/day diets. The argument that these studies
are not valid lies in that some (or all I haven't verified this) relied
on subjects self reporting their caloric intake. It has been suggested
that in a controlled environment, where calorie intake is independantly
controlled, no such lack of weight loss has ever been observed.

John McKenzie (back to lurking)