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The hypothetical 300lb lady probably doesn't have time for the "exceedingly slow" and completely unnecessary way of doing things when she could take 5 minutes to do measurements and calculations and lose weight at 2lbs a week (very safely at that weight) and quickly decrease her chance of death by wasting no time losing 10% of her body weight. I have no idea what circumstance leave you imagining this woman unable to perform day to day functions and starving when she clearly has a vault of body fat to work through.

Obese people don't have many advantages when it comes to fat loss but they do have two very cool weapons in their armoury. The first is the ability to handle steep calorie deficits much better than overweight or leaner folk. They actually tend to lose a greater % of fat to lean mass even with a deficit which for a slimmer person would do exactly the opposite. So if they can handle a much lower calorie diet with no issues: cool beans. They can do exactly that for a while. If they lose more than the usually recommended 2 lbs per week then that's not a problem either (this "rule" is not a rule at all - it simply pertains to the relative energy yields from 1lb of muscle in comparison to 1lb of fat and how that correlates with a calorie deficit. A better estimate could be a loss of 1% total body weight per week.)

Why then would they consider a slower or different approach? Well for greater flexibility down the line as I have already explained. But also, of the other cool advantage obese people have: they have a greater range when it comes to a workable calorie deficit - and in many instances over and above the 1000 calorie below TDEE maximum usually seen recommended.

So for our 300 lbs woman she could eat anywhere from 1, 500 calories and still be in deficit.Or 2000. Or 2,500. Or 3,000. Some obese people excel with low calorie dieting. Some, in fact most I would wager, do not. They feel overly restricted, punished, despondent, low on energy (yes, even despite abundant energy stores) and like failures. This can lead to them falling off the wagon completely. Why shouldn't they utilise every advantage available to them especially given it will slow and surely disappear as they get leaner? A higher calorie approach means the change in their dietary habits doesn't have to be alien and flipped 180, it can be achieved with smaller, more easily incorporated changes. These build on each other to create a structured plan for life.

I feel some horrible messages get pushed at obese people from many angles, to include the random idiocy which is the "Biggest Loser" - that they must pull big weight loss numbers every week or they have failed, they must eat no more than the absolute minimum because of their slow metabolisms (when in fact studies have shown their metabolisms are equal if not quicker than their slimmer peers) that they must do hours and hours of cardio. It's utter rubbish. Fair enough if rapid weight loss is medically necessary (for example due to a high risk of organ failure) but in many case that simply does not apply. Just as obese people did not becomes that way over night so it is the case they do not need to lose it over night either.

As for TDEE calculators, they are not the holy grail. They provide a useful starting point which then have to be adjusted for real world world results - like many other approaches. This is not new. In addition, the additional variables give people more things to obsess about particularly when weight loss stops altogether "zomg - should my activity multiplier have been 1.23455875 instead of 1.37454543? I'm am sedentary except for Tuesdays, Thursdays and Bah Mitzvahs.." The more variables you have when you face a stall the harder it gets to identify the source of the problem. There is a lot to be said for simplicity.

One dimensional thinking rarely improves the world.