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Before we get in a horrible agreement match, let's put this into perspective. I average about 2,400-2,700 calories a day, and I don't start going into real starvation mode until my current diet drops below maybe 1600 calories a day. That said, there are certain circumstances in which increased calories per day could lead to my starvation. The now infamous large White Castle Chocolate Shake has about 1680 calories. That's a frigging ton. If I had two a day, my body would go into starvation mode. Why? It wouldn't fill me up (or it would make me sick). I'd lose weight. Sure, my cholesterol would shoot up, my arteries would clog, and I'd probably get diabetes in no time. But I'd lose weight at 3360 calories a day, which is an additional 800 calories on top of what I eat now.
It is of course important to make sure that your calorie count is within reason. It's good to make sure you're burning calories by digestion and exercise, and that eventually the amount of total burned calories and the amount you ingest are in the same direction. All of that said, the amount of calories isn't the whole game. Bear quantity in mind, by all means, but don't forget quality. In order to get 3360 calories, I'd need to eat about 61 apples a day. 15 pounds of apples in 15 hours. That's roughly 1 apple every 15 minutes from when I wake up to when I go to sleep. Imagine the doctors I'd keep away. My point is that calories are only chapter one in the anthology of health and fat-burning, so before we go nuts (as we've been known to do), let's at least add an asterisk after our triumphant proclamation that calories are the whole ball game:
Calories make you fat*
*for the most part, but don't totally discount lethargy and the quality of the calories, but yeah the calories are a big part of it.
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