yeah, not buying it.

the average calorie consumption is not 3000+, not even for young adult males, let alone for the rest of the population.

at the end of the day it boils down to physics, the energy has to come from somewhere. if you don't have a surplus available you won't gain weight in the form of fat.

you could drink seed oil out of a bottle, if you need 2500 for maintenance (guesstimated) but you only consume 2000 cals worth of this dubious concoction, you will still lose weight.

If you only eat thunderous meat and you are eating 5000 cal a day, you will gain weight.

not saying one isn't bettee for you than the other, or that it's all about calories and type of calorie doesn't matter, just pointing out that at the end of the day, whatever the excuses and rationalizations, if someone is carrying extra fat around, it's simple, they consistently overate over a prolonged period of time.

evolutionarily we are not designed to be afforded the luxury of letting any energy from nutrition passthru, so it is stored as fat, a bit like a savings account.

to have savings, you must have had a surplus of income in the past.