Why is it so hard to lose weight?

If weight is simply a result of calories in minus calories out, why is it so difficult for so many people -- including me -- to lose weight? I think Michael Graziano makes a compelling case to view our obesity epidemic differently. Hunger, Graziano posits, is a mood that is difficult to control. Trying to lose weight by dieting is often counterproductive because it causes the hunger mood to rise. Instead, a person should focus on regulating his hunger mood.

As Bee Wilson states in her interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air,

I think the biggest thing that I learned above and beyond changing my preferences so that I liked vegetables more and liked things like pastries somewhat less was hunger management. I think we don't talk enough about this as a skill because it is something that you can learn to get better at. I used to panic if I felt the mildest rumblings of hunger, whereas now, if I know I've got a good meal coming in a couple of hours, I think, oh, I'm hungry. That's good. I'm going to enjoy the next meal more - more pleasure.

Perhaps the take home message is to tinker with our psychology so that we feel like hunger is actually a good thing because it'll benefit us in both the short and long term.