ing and losing weight is small. We eat like 12 tons of food in a decade. The difference between ending up 50 lbs heavier or 50 lbs lighter is a slight one that you could not maintain via precision food measurements. When we talk about weight loss, we are tuning a whole feedback mechanism. If my hormones say to eat 0.1 - 1% more than I should, I will gain weight and be out of whack. Also, your body's metabolic rate changes based on lots of things. In the end, it's not just a simple equation. It's a control/feedback system where we are tuning to get to a better equilibrium. (This is partially a rough summary of a part of the book Good Calories Bad Calories p 297).

2. Things can be true and not useful. You could say that Elon Musk got where he is because most days he had more money coming in than going out on average. This is strictly true, but it omits almost every useful or interesting insight you could glean from his story.

Consider: I could also argue that to lose weight you have to exhale more mass than you inhale. It is true, but it has zero implications for your weight loss journey. It is another example of a mathematical truism that doesn't get you very far.