There have been studies that found people who were skinny thought they were eating more calories than they really were and that obese people thought they were eating less. I don't want to get into your specific issues here but it would be impossible for the average sedentary person not to gain weight eating the Michael Phelps diet. Calories matter.
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!
"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.
Yes, but that's not what the people who responding in this thread are saying. They are saying that they can NEVER gain weight no matter how much they eat. The study clearly says something different in relation to NEAT:
"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."
I recall studies that show people with high metabolisms burn-off the calories with small motions/nervous habits but that's a bit different.
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.
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!
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.
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!