Oh sorry.

I thought you said "people" were obsessed with calories. I didn't realize by "people" you were referring to yourself.

Obviously I'm being sarcastic. But the truth is what works for people is what works. Not paying attention to calories works for you- great. For others (like myself) being mindful of calories is what works. Why label someone else as obsessed when they clearly are exhibiting nothing remotely resembling obsession?

Different things work for different people because- duh- people are different. My paradigm is different than yours- I'm trying to lose weight and build muscle in the context of not having much testosterone and a small body size dictating an overall low total daily caloric intake meaning that it behooves me to pay careful attention to what I eat to ensure I don't restrict protein or micronutrients in the context of attempting to restrict calories.

You have abundant testosterone, build muscle more readily, have an overall higher metabolic rate, and are actively training meaning that as long as your diet contains sufficient protein, you have wiggle room from a caloric perspective. Your calorie excess is more likely to wind up as metabolically-active muscle and mine as metabolically-quiet fat.

As to "studies" proving that calorie counting doesn't work, who is the subject of those studies? 50 something women actively training multiple days per week for bike racing? Probably not. Lots of studies also prove that its essentially impossible to lose weight, and we know that is not true. So: grain of salt with the results of "studies". You really have to read the full text article and see if the authors' data supports their conclusions and how widely the results can be extrapolated before applying to your own circumstances.