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As dietetic students, we learnt of a category of patients who presented with ‘simple obesity’. Notwithstanding the notoriously high failure rates of treatment, it was these patients who were (and often still are) deemed most suitable for students to advise when first on placement. The advice given would be underpinned by the so-called energy balance equation. This holds that body weight is a function of the amount of calories consumed minus the amount of calories expended. A diet that gives a daily 600-calorie deficit would be typical of the sort of calculations we were trained to undertake, planning individualised meal plans designed to achieve a ‘safe’ and sustainable weight loss of 1–2lb a week. Granted some fat people might have an Eating Disorder, but the majority needed to be told (how) to eat less calories and/or exercise more: it really was that simple. Failure might arise from an individual’s lack of …