[juanjmanfredi]

You said it yourself in your original comment: small and sustainable changes are the way to go. I agree that much of the cultural discourse around dieting is harmful. The promise of every diet commercial is that if you eat in this special way for three months you'll be the picture of health and then there is no need to worry about what you put into your body. This is not only a bad plan for being healthy, but it also heaps additional shame on a person when they are unsurprisingly unable to maintain the significant lifestyle changes required by the diet.

The bottom line for me is that both 1) CICO is the dominant consideration in weight loss and 2) small and sustainable changes made over time are far healthier in the long run than an instantaneous and significant change. Of course, point (2) applies much more broadly to any health or lifestyle goal.