Anecdotally, I've seen tons of people fight through different fad diets with no success. They spend tons of time talking about ways to trick their metabolisms, naturalistic arguments about what to eat and not eat, etc. Perhaps they would be more successful if they stopped over-thinking and focussed purely on reducing their portion sizes and increasing their exercise. Again anecdotally, it seems like usually exercise is emphasized along with diet at first, but quickly gets dropped. Within a couple weeks, the fad diet is forgotten as well.

Additionally, from the link:

> Bennett explains that exceptions are made to the use of phrases, that would otherwise be considered thought-terminating if they are used in addition to evidence or strong claims.

Weight loss methods include a lot of pseudo science and I think it's important to keep in mind that whatever low fat or low carb or paleo diet you try is ultimately only going to succeed if you lower your calorie intake or raise your calorie expenditure.

Obviously there are some exceptions to that rule if you aren't accounting for changes in calorie absorption or bmr, but everything I've seen or read seems to show that those variations are miniscule.