Interesting thankyou. I will read that later.(not sarcasm by the way I really will read it!)
Like I said to AJS above. I have no problems with diets and how people decide they want to lose weight. I have a problem with diets that dont teach you to eat the way you want to without putting on weight.
Yo-yo dieting is far worse than just being consistantly a bit overweight imo and thats what fad diets tend to lead to. 'Here drink this shake twice a day for 2 months and drop 20lb's but then when youre done go back to eating how you did before and put it back on again but not to worry there is some other diet you can do to drop those 20lb's again, that'll be $300 please!'
I personally need to snack! I cant eat 3 meals a day and nothing more. My head just wont let me do it so instead I plan and regulate that snacking along with all my meals to keep me at a consistant level of intake and that leads to weight coming off.
I strongly beleive that the idea of calories in Vs calories out is the fundemental method to losing weight. I also understand that while there is many factors that affect both the Cals in and the Cals out, but the basic laws of physics cant be changed and energy cant magically dissapear of appear out of thin air!
When i was ~350lb and relatively inactive it was simple. 2500cals a day be it from doughnuts or salad meant the weight fell off. Now i'm ~200lb and doing ~12hours training a week I cant just rely of calories. I still use them as the fundemental measure and it works but I also know that I need to eat certain food types to keep my BMR high and provide me with all the energy I need to train effectively while also trying to shed those last pounds. It's not easy but the basic principle of Cals in Vs Cals out hasnt changed. I eat less the weight comes off quicker but I lack energy, I eat more the weight maintains and I get stronger and faster/better. I have to chose which I want.
The very fact this thread is 11 pages tells you that weight loss is complicated. I accept that. I spend time on Myfitnesspal where you have people who are massivly overweight and if you started giving them all the info that there is on this thread they would just have no clue what to do when 'eat less and move more' is all they really need to know. I come onto a message board like this and when you find a thread like this I find it hard to switch off the simplistic approach to it as there really isnt the type of members on here who need that. When you are looking at weightloss from a w/kg type perspective and not a serious risk of a heart attack perspective things change. Nutirition is more important than the weight side of things.
Anyway, hoefully i've managed to explain my approach and reasons behind my comments a bit?