Claire, If You would like to be armed with real science to deal with real morons, please read anything by Dr. Robert Lustig, most especially his most recent book. His argument is that FIRST we get ill, THEN we gain weight, not the other way around. BIG FOOD has a huge investment in maintaining the lies that these commenters perpetuate. Read his stuff. It has nothing to do with calories. It has everything to with science. I've been obese, but not for 35 years. We are consumed by lies about obesity. The answers are far more simple and complex. Read Metabolical, his latest, and I guarantee you it will change how you frame fat, calories, and all lies we've been taught to tell ourselves about obesity as a moral lacking. Nope. What's lacking morally are Big Food, Big Pharma, Big Business, Big Government. I write about this stuff all the time. People are brainwashed, ignorant and horrifically uneducated. Get educated. You cannot argue with hard science. It's a great read. Warning: if you like sugar as much as I do, it's a hard read. But if you want to save your life, a hard read is worth it. And no, I don't get a red cent if you buy the book. Just the satisfaction that one more writer is armed with facts vs. fiction, the fiction we are fed to keep us fat, dumb, happy but very, very sick.