Telling someone that losing weight is as simple as calories in < calories out is about as useful as telling a homeless person that building wealth is as simple as money in > money out.
There are environmental, genetic, and cultural influences, and while you can always find a token individual who overcomes them all to become fit/wealthy, there's no denying that they have significant impact on outcomes at a population level.
For example, a tall, attractive person born in the US into a wealthy household who's introduced to other wealthy people throughout their lives and taught how to manage and increase their wealth is going to have it far easier becoming/staying wealthy than an ugly, smaller person born in South Sudan into a poverty-stricken household who's forced to struggle their entire lives.
Similarly, someone born to exceptionally fit parents in a country like Japan with a culture focused more on health is going to be far more likely to be themselves fit than someone born to a family with a history of obesity in a country like the US where it's harder and more expensive to buy and make healthy foods than unhealthy foods.
And yet, in classic US style, just like with wealth, we add a thick layer of moral valuation to being fit so that people can feel better about themselves by viewing and treating anyone less fit than themselves as lesser, evidenced quite strongly throughout these very comments.
Telling someone that losing weight is as simple as calories in < calories out is about as useful as telling a homeless person that building wealth is as simple as money in > money out.
There are environmental, genetic, and cultural influences, and while you can always find a token individual who overcomes them all to become fit/wealthy, there's no denying that they have significant impact on outcomes at a population level.
For example, a tall, attractive person born in the US into a wealthy household who's introduced to other wealthy people throughout their lives and taught how to manage and increase their wealth is going to have it far easier becoming/staying wealthy than an ugly, smaller person born in South Sudan into a poverty-stricken household who's forced to struggle their entire lives.
Similarly, someone born to exceptionally fit parents in a country like Japan with a culture focused more on health is going to be far more likely to be themselves fit than someone born to a family with a history of obesity in a country like the US where it's harder and more expensive to buy and make healthy foods than unhealthy foods.
And yet, in classic US style, just like with wealth, we add a thick layer of moral valuation to being fit so that people can feel better about themselves by viewing and treating anyone less fit than themselves as lesser, evidenced quite strongly throughout these very comments.