I suppose so, but as long as one's caloric intake caters to cues from physiological needs (which can be co-opted by MSG and to a lesser extent HFCS and sugar alcohols, and should thus be avoided at most costs), measuring one's caloric outtake doesn't really matter so much. I'm trying, but can't see how knowing caloric outtake would be necessary when the sole criterion for calorie intake levels is physiological need, as determined by learning the cues.

We're in complete agreement here.

What I'm arguing against in my comments above is the standard implementation of "calories in, calories out" (as seen in popular self-help dieting books and even in such august bodies as r/fitness, for example) does not involve learning physiological cues at all (rather, usually, ignoring them as "bad") but instead attempting to count the calories in the food one eats, come up with some justification for a value for BMR, estimating additional expended calories due to exercise, and so on.

The more I think about your method, though, the more I like it.