The other side of the fence is part of CICO. If you don’t measure both sides then you “have no idea,” (at least for a while). Like with a household budget - you have to consider all of what’s going on. Dollars in, Dollars out. Or insert the currency of your choice. If you don’t keep track of expenditures, then obviously things are not what they should be, i.e. just saying, “But I have this much money coming in,” is not a complete picture. You have to consider expenditures as well.
No, the system doesn’t know what to do, given human behavior. It’s not infinitely adaptable; it can’t maintain a constant or “normal” or desired weight, necessarily (and/or the same for blood sugar), and that’s what brings most people to this forum.
It’s like you want to make things both more simple and more complex than they really are. More simple by just looking at “calories in” while not considering “the other side of the fence.”
More complex by saying “we are not capable of understanding because of the vast cascade of the variables and the biological pathways involved.” That’s not true - there are calories in (or ‘energy’ if you don’t like saying ‘calories’ or we could also say ‘grams’ or ‘ounces,’ etc.). And then there is metabolism, storage and excretion. Correct? Or are we missing a substantial, meaningful quantity there?
It’s really not that complex or ‘unknowable.’
You have your own “unique” way with words and syntax, so I’m not sure what you’re saying. Taking it at face value, one or two calories isn’t going to meaningfully alter the situation, is it?
Then I think you are referring to people losing weight at first, and later stopping the weight loss or regaining weight. Sure, this happens. This is nothing against CICO. You’re describing two different conditions. You’re really talking about “calories out” changing, no? Well, nobody says it can’t change - by definition here it can change.
This is a logical fallacy. You’re stating your conclusion (that CICO means ‘a calorie is a calorie’) in your premise (circular logic). In reality, the article does not mention CICO.
The article immediately explains what it means by ‘a calorie is a calorie’ - "that weight change in hypocaloric diets is independent of macronutrient composition."
Or later, “The most common meaning is that is it impossible for two isocaloric diets to lead to different weight loss.”
Correct me if I’m wrong - I think we can all agree that those two statements are false. But this is no “failure” of CICO. CICO can be a cause or a result.
An example of it being a cause - a person cuts the “calories in” enough and for a long enough period of time that they lose weight. The ‘in’ is below the ‘out.’ I think we can all agree that in that situation weight loss will indeed occur.
An example of it being a result - (with the statements from the article in mind) a person eats 2200 calories per day, with two different situations being considered. The first is 700 calories protein, 300 calories fat, 1200 calories carbohydrates. The second is 700 calories protein, 1500 calories fat. So, isocaloric but with different macronutrient composition.
In the first case, the person loses a small amount of weight over time. Their average energy expenditure was 2200 calories per day, and there was a very small amount of waste.
In the second case, the person loses a greater amount of weight. The difference in carbohydrate consumption made for less insulin response and a lower overall average insulin level. The body spent less time in “energy storage mode,” and the average energy expenditure was 2600 calories per day, and there was a very small amount of waste.
The numbers could be different, but here too I assume that we all can agree that such can occur. We are disagreeing with the article’s statements; we are saying that weight change may not be independent of nutrient composition, and that that two isocaloric diets can lead to different weight change.
Anybody that gives credence to the carbohydrate-insulin theory can only logically agree with the above. We have a more complete picture than do the two statements from the article. This says nothing against CICO. With the different composition diets, CICO did not predict there would be a difference in the weight losses, and it did not claim to predict it. In that situation, CICO was a result, not a cause. CICO didn’t “fail,” there. CICO reflected the change in energy expenditure, and the changes in the fat storage levels.