Basal metabolism does not seem to slow down until one is around 60 years old (recent NYT editorial on the Science publication https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12

Basal metabolism does not seem to slow down until one is around 60 years old (recent NYT editorial on the Science publication https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/health/metabolism-weight-aging.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/health/metabolism-weight-...). There is heterogeneity, but still. Although our physiology is adaptable and we don't see daily or weekly wild weight swings with a few hundred calories up or down from maintenance, over weeks and months, 4-800 kcals of average daily surplus have very noticeable effects. And those are differences that can be had by working 2 days from office instead of 5 and getting into the habit of eating a cookie in the morning, while previously we just grabbed a black coffee and that was it. It is very easy to get into the "plus calories" territory. At the start of the pandemic, after a few weeks of working from home, many of my colleagues were 5-8 pounds heavier than they were before. And those pounds were not of muscle tissue.