I generally agree that too many of us eat too much for our own good and that of other life on the planet, but to reduce the issue solely to caloric intake seems off.

From my own experience, timing and order of what I eat matters more than total calories. If I eat a morning meal until I'm full, well that was fun but now I'm tired, and the day just started. If I start the evening meal with bread or a handful of chocolate chips and eat the greens and veggies and fruits last, I feel different than if I do it the other way around, a worse-different. I suspect there are reasons (some for health, some for economics) that multi-course meals include a salad early on. Since I'm not couting calories, and I am eating until I'm full (regardless of how many meals I eat in a day, which is part of my problem, and why I spend more time fasting these days), I don't actually know what the calorie difference would be if I mix up the order, but I've settled on starting with the plants and fats, then proteins, then carbs and that feels good. On days (thankfully not habitual, now) when I snacked all day, interspersed with full meals, I had acid reflux, low energy, was irritable, had teeth problems, and gained unwanted bodyfat. Lump all those calories into two full meals (a lunch and dinner, say) and I felt better. Bring it down to one meal a day and I feel better yet (and, to your point, I'm likely consuming fewer calories, so win-win?). If I was more physically active I might do it differently.