Counterpoint - everyone I know who counts calories is able to either lose or gain weight roughly according to their plan.
This is borne out in essentially every sport which has weight classes at both the amateur and professional level.
Part of becoming healthy is calibrating yourself against other healthy individuals. No, not genetic freaks, just that neighbour who actually looks after themselves.
My wife always says that her sister must have some type of "condition" that explains her obesity. PCOS, undiagnosed diabetes, etc. And I keep telling her that it's calories in vs calories out. Recently her sister got drunk with us and admitted candidly that she basically binge eats trash food, regularly eats McDonald's for dinner, and if she ever gets stomach cramps and bloating from overeating, the best "cure" is a litre of ice cream because it "helps settle her stomach". So yeah, no magic physics is happening here.
On the other hand me and the wife weigh out things like potatoes, rice, pasta and bread, eat all the fruit and veg we want and don't own a car. So we do minimum 25k steps per day, because we walk the dogs and then walk almost everywhere else we need to go, including buying groceries (which involves back-packing food about half a mile). I also run 3 to 4 times a week. Essentially, this is the same lifestyle I had when I was 18. And guess what? At 47 I'm wearing the same jeans size I wore at 18. It really is that simple.
What's hard? Trying to convince an obese lady who drives to the office, sits on her ass for 8 hours, eats chocolate bars and McDonald's for lunch and is too tired to use the gym, that her weight is 100% down to her life choices, and not magic.
I hear you. When I was younger I used to try and convert everyone around me (if you want X, do Y). Back then it was personal finance stuff.
Now I just don't bother. My conclusion is that it's just some form of depression, learned helplessness, whatever. There are an infinite number of reasons why you or they are a special case. I don't let it get me down any more.
For what it's worth I don't think my lifestyle is at all "hardcore". I have a number for calories and protein that I try to hit, and I have numbers for lifts and cardio that I try to increase. That's it. I have a car, I eat fast food, I drink on nights out etc.
This is borne out in essentially every sport which has weight classes at both the amateur and professional level.
Part of becoming healthy is calibrating yourself against other healthy individuals. No, not genetic freaks, just that neighbour who actually looks after themselves.