The problem here is that you think you're giving people advice when really you're just telling them what to do. The difference is that advice comes with kindness, compassion, an understanding of how the advice is affected by someone's situation and context, and deep knowledge of the subject you're advising about.

Equating changes to diet for weight reduction to quitting cigarettes shows you probably don't have that.

How does the poster comparing two difficult life changes indicate a lack of compassion?

He's telling them what will actually work, not simply what to do.

Eat more than your base calories and you will be fat. Smoke and you will be unhealthy.

Reality can't be expected to be kind, compassionate and understanding.

It's simply reality, and that's the way it is.

... and that is also extremely bad advice. There is very wide variability in how nicotine addiction affects different people. Some people can quit after a pack-a-day habit and have no problems. Some people have trouble with getting off a pack-a-week habit.

Someone who is having extreme difficulty quitting smoking could benefit from working with a doctor to discuss quit-smoking aids or even seeing a therapist to work through their addiction.

No shit, the person needs to "just stop". Way to point out the obvious. Most people don't have a "just stop" button.

IDK, maybe you're just bad at giving advice. Maybe you should just stop.

EDIT: this is seriously an article on The Onion in the making. "Nation wakes up to random forum poster telling them to 'just eat less'. Obesity epidemic ends overnight." The proof is in the pudding here. Telling people "just eat less" is shitty advice.

People need to develop agency in actually doing something to lose weight which essentially comes down to eating less. It might be painful in the short term but is a huge benefit in the long term.

All I've found online is people giving excuses as to why one body type cannot do this or that, which essentially are the same reasons smokers give when trying to quit(too stressed, can't quit cold turkey etc).

It’s true. Most of us have vices. Psychologically it’s more comfortable to make excuses up. But we are responsible for our own behavior.

It really is as simple as “eat less”. Input / Output.

The obesity epidemic is complex but big factors include poor decision making, psychological issues, sugar sugar sugar.

Still, at the end of the day it’s input / output. You can’t gain weight by sucking in too much air.

> Someone who is having extreme difficulty quitting smoking could benefit from working with a doctor to discuss quit-smoking aids or even seeing a therapist to work through their addiction.

Oh—absolutely! As I said, it’s hard, and frequently requires professional help, strategies, etc.

But, it ultimately comes down to, you have to find a way to quit! You shouldn’t let yourself off the hook.

Cravings go away, saying to just eat less can be telling somebody they have to be hungry for the rest of their lives.

Is that true? I was actually under the impression that people's appetites do eventually adjust (especially if you reduce your intake slowly), although it can take years.