Calories In Calories out (CICO) is the ABCs of weight loss, but it vastly oversimplifies a complex problem.
Obese people tend to stay obese despite dieting. Their bodies and brains aren't wired the same way as non-obese peoples.
Obese people experience things like:
metabolic slowdown (so a BMR calculator is no longer sufficiently accurate for them to accurately gauge their daily calorie requirements)
thyroid disorders (causing inaccurate BMR calculations)
high body weight with low muscle percentage (increases the difficulty of exercise or daily movement, causing inaccurate BMR calculations)
pre-diabetes
diabetes
high blood pressure
difficulty feeling full or satisfied with ANY amount of food
depression
lack of motivation
anhedonia
the side effects of drugs designed to treat the diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, lack of motivation, and anhedonia
hormonal imbalances caused by having additional fat cells in your body
the inexpressible and wearying feeling of hopelessness caused by a years long battle with obesity that has yet to find true and lasting success.
All of that is compounded by the fact that even if you lose a significant amount of weight, you will likely then struggle with keeping it off because you body has created an enormous reservoir of fat cells to store the fat you previously acquired.
For obese people, those fat cells have been noted as being able to preferentially absorb the nutrition you intake, leaving your other organs deprived and your body hungry despite your stomach being full to bursting.
Sure, if despite those obstacles you consume fewer calories than you burn, you will still lose weight. Broken clocks are right twice a day and a car can roll downhill even if it's out of gas.
However, these argumentative people fail to understand that you are not talking about "Calories In, Calories Out". That is NOT the conversation. They can argue CICO all they want, but they're arguing with a brick wall.
The thing you are trying to find is the permanent perfect solution to a problem you are dealing with. That isn't something that even the smartest and most highly respected person on Hacker News can do for you with some words or argument.
I honestly feel like they get some sort of pleasure dismissing everything you're trying to do for yourself. They're getting a kick out of shitting on your efforts, feeling better about some tiny fragment of their jerkish lives because they pooh-poohed someone on the internet with their vain and short-sighted facts and logic.
Don't let them get you down. You don't have to defend yourself from those people. They won't be proven wrong because they're still saying their ABC's while you're working on your Shakespeare.
