Critical Reasoning

Researchers have found that when very overweight people, who tend to relatively low metabolic rates, lose weight primarily through dieting, their metabolisms generally remain unchanged. They will thus bum significantly fewer calories at the new weight than do people whose weight is normal at that level. Such newly thin persons will, therefore, ultimately regain weight until their body size again matches their metabolic rate.

The conclusion of the argument above depends on which of the following assumptions ?

A. Relatively few very overweight people who have dieted down to a new weight tend to continue to consume substantially fewer calories than do people whose normal weight is at that level

B. The metabolisms of people who are usually not overweight are much more able to vary than the are much more able to vary than the metabolisms of people who have been very overweight

C. The amount of calories that a person usually burns in a day is determined more by the amount that is consumed that day than by the current weight of the individual

D. Researchers have not yet determined whether the metabolic rates of formerly very over weight individuals can be accelerated by means of chemical agents

E. Because of the constancy of their metabolic rates, people who are at their usual weight normally have as much difficultly gaining weight as they do losing it

OA: A

There seem to be some typos in the CR question presented. However, here is how I reached the answer

Basic idea of the argument: Fat people may slim down by dieting to a new weight, but will have to continue eating less to maintain the new weight until the metabolism catches up with the new body size. At that point, they no longer need to diet, but can eat normally to keep that body state.
BOTTOMLINE: Metabolism is connected to Body weight.

(A) YES - Very few overweight people at their new reduced weight tend to eat as much as their counterparts originally at that weight - WHY = Since the metabolism has not caught up with the new weight. Hence this supports the argument.

(B) This talks about metabolism varying at a certain weight, not across weights.

(C) No talk of metabolism.

(D) This lack of determination cannot be used as an assumption

(E) The argument talks of overweight people maintaining, not underweight people trying to gain.

Thanks, it lightens me

My intuition whispers that it is A.

would go with option A as the correct option