Is it?  It seems every time I turn around there's some report that indicates
that maybe it's not that simple.  For instance, wasn't there some buzz
recently about how a diet rich in dairy products had people losing faster
than one with the same calories but without the dairy?

Years ago all the diet experts pretty much ignored the impact of fiber and
assumed that 30 grams of fat-free wheat bran flakes had the same calories as
30 grams of fat-free corn flakes regardless of the different amount of
fiber.  So maybe the problem is that we don't know yet how many calories
there *really* are in the things we eat (like those dairy products -- is it
possible that lactose isn't metabolized by the body the same way as other
sugars?).

Weren't there some studies a while back that indicated that a fiber-rich
food actually reduced the number of calories eaten in foods without fiber if
eaten at the same time?  I seem to remember a theory that the fiber-rich
foods "pushed" other foods through the intestines faster, reducing the
amount of time available for calories in them to be absorbed by the body and
therefore reducing the number of calories actually absorbed.  Maybe this one
has been disporven -- I haven't heard much about it lately.

I've also heard that if you are used to a low-fat diet, eating a meal high
in fat doesn't affect you the same way as it does for someone who eats a lot
of high-fat foods.  The theory as I recall it was that your body isn't used
to handling all that fat and it goes through your system faster and
therefore you don't absorb as many calories.  This may be wishful thinking
on someone's part, but I have noticed that if I keep to a low fat diet for
some time and then have something really fatty it gives me a mild case of
diarrhea.

I guess I'm just saying that I don't think it's as simple as calories
in/calories out for weight control.

That's not to say that a diet with a lot of fat is as healthy as one that is
low in fat.  AFAIK the jury is still out on that.

Absolutely true!

Anny

The high drop-out rate on every plan suggests that most do in
fact diet to lose weight and that they don't consider what it
will take to keep it off.

Because some foods make you less hungry after you eat them and
other foods make you more hungry after you eat them.  (Cracker
Jacks once advertized that once you eat it it makes you want
to eat more).  Unfortunately there is no map of what foods do
which because everyone is different.