----- Original Message ----- From: "Todd Moody" <[log in to unmask]> The question is, why did he not gain weight immediately? Let's make some assumptions, based on what we are told here. Let's suppose that this lean person normally uses about 3,000 calories per day. He doesn't exercise much. So he's taking in 1,000 excess calories a day for a week, which equals 7,000 excess calories. At 3,500 excess calories per pound of stored fat, he should have gained two pounds of fat in that week. So even with a loss of a pound of water from ketosis, he should have been a pound heavier. Incidentally, Taubes discusses a study similar to this, conducted at the Mayo Clinic in 1999. It involved 16 volunteers who were overfed by 1,000 calories per day for eight weeks. All were healthy, normal weight individuals. All gained weight but the amount varied almost ten-fold, from one pound to nine pounds. But this wasn't a lowcarb study, just a demonstration that even in a mixed diet excess calories don't affect all people the same way. Isn't excess anything, excess? Excess protein causes weight gain, sugar spikes, excess carbs, depending on the carbs, causes weight gain, excess fat causes weight gain. Not enough of any of them will cause a metabolic downturn. Oliva