Crunchie, thanks for that information on metabolic rates. It's interesting to think that lots of exercise in childhood can have such a far reaching effect. My 7 year old son is a little plump, just like I was at his age. Apart from moderating his diet a bit, we are really trying to play it down. Unfortunately, thanks to school he is already self conscious about it and says he is fat, which he most definitely is not. It makes me so cross that he can't just be a child. He is very active, so I hope - and believe - that his puppy fat phase will pass.
I can only draw on my own experience, but for me weight loss is very much linked with exercise and, I assume, a raised metabolism.
I used to run market stalls at weekends, and go in buying expeditions during the week - lots of heavy work loading and unloading a large car, setting up the stall etc -I confess I ate more than anyone I knew - all week, not just on stall days (both dh and work colleagues commented on it!) and still maintained my shape and even went down over a size during a year when I was working extra hard. When I stopped this physically demanding work, I found, of course, that I was getting bigger and had to reduce my food intake somewhat.
However, this is just how it works for me. Reading these messages shows how difficult it is to generalise about how individuals can achieve a weight loss, as WendyM's informative posts here illustrate. That's another reason why I get turned off by 'miracle' diet programmes.
Just wondered, if you go to a dietician, do you get tested first for things like PCOS before they recommend a diet to you?