Mathematics and the art of losing weight...

Math has never been one of my strong points. When I was in college, I somehow worked around my classes to take anything but an actual math class... I took classes like accounting and logic (first semester was fun; 2nd semester I bombed, along with everyone else in the class). So anyway, it doesn't take too much math background to figure out how to lose weight. Here is the basic formula:

About 3,500 calories adds up to about 1 pound. This applies whether they are food calories coming in, or calories (burned by exercise) going out.

If you eat 3,500 calories more than your body needs, you will put on about 1 pound. If you use up 3,500 calories more than you eat, you will lose about 1 pound in weight.

So, the other night while we were watching TV, Bruce gets out a large Hershey bar from the pantry...not one of the regular size, but a LARGE Hershey bar...the kind that I was saving to use at Christmas time to make fudge. Apparently, he was in the mood for chocolate, because he sat there and ate the entire thing in a matter of minutes. That didn't bother me too much, because knowing that he was eating probably about 2000 calories or more in one sitting was not something I would even remotely think of doing. But this is what doesn't add up...

The following morning, he announces to me that he has lost several pounds. OK, I gain weight by just smelling chocolate, and he loses after eating a giant Hershey bar. I'm no math genius, but the math here does not add up. He can do the same thing after eating an entire cheesecake.
So then I'm doing some research about menopause and metabolism, and this is what I discover...

It's Not Your Fault!
Many women are quite shocked and frustrated when they begin to notice those extra pounds graciously provided by menopause. You may be eating and exercising exactly the same as you always were but still can't seem to maintain your weight. As you enter the early stages of menopause, maintaining weight becomes more and more difficult, and losing weight becomes almost impossible. This is because of the fluctuation in your hormones.

Your body's hormones have a direct impact on your appetite, metabolism, and fat storage. This is why it is so difficult to control your weight during menopause ' no matter what you do, fluctuating estrogen, testosterone, and androgen levels will fight you all the way.

Wow, this is just what I wanted to know. So, my skinny husband can eat giant Hershey bars and cheesecakes and lose weight, and I eat salads and gain weight. Life isn't fair. I'm going to bed now because I'm starting to crave chocolate.