[Coda]

Calorie-counting is the only thing that actually WORKS, in terms of the science of losing weight. Everything else -- in terms of what to eat, when to eat, how to eat, et cetera -- is either (1) pseudoscientific bunkum, (2) an attempt to make it easier to stay within your calorie budget while satisfying your cravings, or (3) both. Following ANY diet plan without making sure you stay within the calorie restriction will just lead to gaining weight. (Sorry, paleo/LCHF/Atkins/South Beach/whatever diets, chowing down on protein and fat all day won't make you healthy if you eat too much of it.)

The truth is, if you stay within your calorie limit, you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want. (Though not "however much you want," because obviously that will push you outside your calorie limit.) If you want to eat a Snickers bar for breakfast, that's okay. If you go over on one day, you can cut back for a couple days to make up for it, as long as you get the right amount on average. If you're only over your budget by 100-200 calories, you can even use extra exercise to burn it off.

But yeah, diets are hard. There's a reason that there's an obesity epidemic in the first world -- human instincts are built just like most other mammals: hoard calories in times of plenty in order to survive times of famine. Unfortunately, we never HAVE times of famine anymore. We also instinctively crave the flavor of fat because it's the most dense source of biologically-available energy available. But until obesity starts killing fat people before they reach reproductive age, there's no chance of evolving out of it, so it's all a matter of willpower.