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Of course it is. Energy input must balance energy output and net changes in storage. What isn't simple is that we don't have the ability to merely will ourselves to eat less. We are not as much in control over our bodies and our consciousnesses as we'd like to believe.

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We also don't have the ability (or understanding) to control the conversion of energy-in-food into energy-our-body-can-use + energy-our-body-can-store + waste-products. Food is not gasoline, and our bodies are not combustion engines.

Even that's a bad analogy; gasoline's quality and impurities can vary quite a bit, which effects how much energy an engine can extract from it, and engine efficiency can also vary greatly. Still, our bodies are much more complex.

I'm more inclined to report reported differences to bad reporting of inputs. How many studies are conducted under controlled conditions? People lie about everything all the time, especially to themselves.

So?. It doesn't change the fact that the body literally cannot produce energy out of nothing. If you eat less you WILL lose weight.

Yeah but it's not clear where that weight will come from, or how much it will be.

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