trying to lose weight. The simple truism: eat less and exercise more.

Above is technically true in that if you eat less than what you are currently eating AND you exercise more than you are currently exercising AND you can sustain this for some period of time, you will lose weight.

It works

I respectfully disagree. It doesn't work, because it's not sustainable. If you exercise more, you will burn more energy, feel more hungry and ending up eating more. If you don't eat more, you will soon exercise less than your previous level or stop altogether. Any weight loss will be temporary.

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If the objective is to achieve permanent weight loss, what you eat has an outsized effect and completely dwarfs how much you eat and whether you exercise or not.

IF you eat right, you can eat till you are full, feel satiated and still lose weight. Portion control and exercise matter much less than most people think, at least when it comes to permanent weight loss.