It's not a direct link though. I can stuff my face with nothing but donuts for weeks on end and never put on an ounce of weight. Which is probably as irritating as someone who can't lose weight.
EDIT: I guess the people that believe calories don't matter and weight gain/weight loss is genetic want to down vote this to hell. Oh well!
For other interesting studies on health: http://delicious.com/ramitsethi/health
Calories do matter, but it is not nearly as simple as you're trying to make it out to be.
Genes play a huge role. For most people, playing the game of watching what you eat and counting calories makes sense, but for others, it's not so clear cut. For example, my dad (a molecular biologist) is studying the effects that certain genes have on the weight of mice. The details escape me (and aren't relevant here), but the takeaway is that your genetic makeup will predispose you to weighing a certain amount, and some mice/people will be fat even if they eat very well, and others will be skinny even if they eat very poorly.
Hence, for some people (but not everyone), managing their weight requires more than just counting calories.
Seems like it would be pretty impossible for the average sedentary person to eat the Michael Phelps diet in the first place.
Anyway, if you try to argue against someone's personal experience, you should at least provide links to your claims rather than asserting the claims exist.
http://www.diet-blog.com/08/neat_how_everyday_movement_keeps...
"In a study, sedentary lean and overweight people were fitted with "magical" underwear which monitored every movement of the body. Subjects were fed 1000 calories above their weight maintenance levels. People who can activate their NEAT don't gain fat when overfed, while those who don't switch on their NEAT were gaining literally 10 times more fat..."
-- Which implies that people indeed exist who eat more than standard calories and never gain weight.
"About 30% of a person's daily expenditure comes from NEAT. (The other portions are from basal metabolism and thermic effect of eating). Those who are active have higher percentages of NEAT. This is the factor we have control over."
Different bodies do different things with the same resources.
Peace.
I can eat a stick of butter and I won't gain a pound (unless the butter weighs a pound..). My body simply won't store the extra energy, it uses what it needs and the rest goes out the end. It is a tad frustrating because I am a bit underweight as well.
Also, being skinny doesn't mean your arteries won't harden.
I eat as much as I can, often twice as much an average person - it typical for me to have two helpings in a meal where most people have one.
I have never gone over 145 pounds and I am 6' tall. I cannot gain weight, period. And I'm not alone as other posters mention.