It's rather more likely that we need a population who accepts that their weight fluctuates up naturally, and is willing to put in the extra effort to make it fluctuate back down by deliberate effort.

Taubes is portraying it as a sugar cube every day. Instead, it could be cookies, brownies and egg nog over Christmas, followed by a normal diet for many weeks. It could also be eating a diet acceptable for a 20 year old when you are 40.

Taubes is portraying overeating as mu=20, sigma=0. That's a fallacy.