> spreading that one meal out throughout the day

Probably yes. But you're minimizing the difficulty of staying in caloric deficit.

IF you can stick to one meal per day AND eat mostly protein (vs. mostly sugar / carbs) THEN it's very hard to overeat i.e. be in caloric surplus.

If you snack many times a day, mostly sugar / carbs, and slosh it down with coke or red bull (non-diet, sugary version) it's very hard to keep eating under calorie limit. Sugar / carbs stimulate your hunger, leading to more eating. It's the opposite of Ozempic.

And your glucose levels are chronically elevated which is bad for our bodies. It's basically chronic inflammation.

Now, if you eat a steak once a day, you'll find it very hard to overeat. Like physically, you won't be able to eat too much.

It's still not easy to stick to that but it's simpler and easier than calorie count everything you eat throughout the day.