That approach always fails in the long run. Yes, you can lose weight by just counting calories. But you are fighting your body every step of the way. And even after you reach your target weight, your body will constantly be trying to return to the overweight state. In the end, your will will almost certainly fail. Are you prepared to religiously count calories, be constantly tired, and miserable for the rest of your life? Then sure, you can rely on physics alone to keep your weight down.

But that is not how human beings were meant to live. We’re meant to simply eat until we’re full. What we’re talking about is a massive public health problem. And public health problem is not obesity. The public health problem is that the “full meters” of hundreds of millions of people have been irrevocably damaged by modern processed foods. Your set point, your full meter, your satiation reflex, whatever you want to call it. This is as a part of your body as any other organ or gland. When someone breaks their arm, we don’t demonize them for having a broken arm. When someone has a broken full meter however, we decry it as a moral failing.