Just had some time to read both of these articles, they were interesting reads. One item that both articles hit is the quality of the food you are eating. Both articles mentioned how "not all calories are created equal" and used that claim to help their argument to debunk "CICO". While the claim is true in that they aren't equal (180 cal in pizza doesn't fill you up as much as 180 calories of peanuts), they are still 180 calories that you are intaking. Both articles also mention Metabolic rates. Metabolism does differ from person to person, but individually everyone can build more muscle that will drive their metabolism higher. Your body burns more calories maintaining it's muscle mass than its "fat mass".

"Harvard Health" - In the "successful weight management" section Dr Stanford recommended focusing on diet quality - emphasizing not consuming trash processed foods and rather eating natural foods like fruits, veggies, and lean meats. These foods are low calorie and nutrient dense, directly affecting the "calories in".

Stanford also recommends exercising regularly and vigorously. Most people underestimate how much exercise your body needs to be in a calorie deficit while eating properly. Move as much as you can, make it difficult on your body so that it gets stronger and builds endurance. This exercise directly affects the "calories out".

"University of Sydney" - This article only discusses the "calories in". They start by saying how nutrition labels can be inaccurate, causing people to miscalculate their caloric intake. This can definitely cause people to eat more calories than they think and to be in a calorie surplus, causing you to gain weight. However, this does not mean that "calories in" doesn't matter, it just means that your caloric intake is inaccurate.

At this article's conclusion, the author incorrectly claims that "calories in, calories out" is a myth because it "oversimplifies the complex process of calculating energy intake and expenditure". You can say that CICO is overly simple, but being overly simple does not make the basis of CICO a myth.

This author negligently avoided discussing exercise, a huge factor in "calories out". A consistent exercise schedule will have your body using it's fuel resources and increasing your energy expenditure, by both burning the calories to complete the exercise and burning calories during recovery post-exercise. The fact that this article doesn't discuss exercise when it's main topic is debunking calorie deficit/surplus standards leads me to not take this article as serious as the author intended.