I 100% agree with you. I probably should have called out the "probably net benefit" is at most an extra 2-5% weight loss over an entire year with eating correct

I 100% agree with you. I probably should have called out the "probably net benefit" is at most an extra 2-5% weight loss over an entire year with eating correctly and exercising making up 95%+ any potential weight loss. When I lost a bunch of weight, I counted the calories of everything I ate for about a year (and still more or less do 15+ years later; calorie content of foods is generally the same). After a few weeks/months, you pretty much memorize the calories of what you're likely to eat regularly. It makes the cost benefit analysis a lot easier, "the next X I eat is 300 calories, is that 300 calories going to provide me the satisfaction the first did?" Personally, I found the answer is almost always no, and when it's not, you generally feel good about it.