Very similar experience here! 4K+ calorie daily average mostly of junk food from ages ~15-21, maybe 30 minutes&#x2F;day average of weightlifting, rarely some cardio, visible upper ab muscles, call it a &quot;4 pack&quot;, full on six-pack abs if I happened to be slightly more active in a week (a few hours of casual swimming, for instance).<p>Then I decided I wanted to cut down to the six-pack bodyfat level and stay there, so for the initial &quot;cut&quot; phase of that plan I dieted at ~1400 calories a day, every single day (no cheating) for ~2-3 months, and started doing way more cardio. Only lost a couple pounds, little or no visible difference, so, confused and frustrated, I gave up. Makes no damn sense according to any &quot;weight loss calculator&quot; I&#x27;ve ever seen (which all claim that my BMR should sit in the low 2000s), but that&#x27;s what happened.<p>Packed on fat <i>immediately</i> when I went back to my usual eating patterns, took me <i>years</i> to get that under control. To this day I seem to easily hit a plateau a bit over what I&#x27;d call my healthy range when dieting at any reasonable (not near or under starvation level) caloric intake.<p>OTOH I&#x27;ve found that strength training&#x27;s <i>more</i> effective for me than it &quot;ought&quot; to be but requires time, which sucks. I&#x27;d <i>love</i> to be able to diet my way to a trim waist, since maintaining an intake under what weight loss tables&#x2F;calculators say <i>should</i> work for me is something I find easy to do. Too bad it <i>doesn&#x27;t</i>.<p>Don&#x27;t know what the explanation is, but something weirder than the &quot;calories in&#x2F;calories out, and calories out is fairly easy to guesstimate with useful accurately&quot; orthodoxy is going on.