Variables are WAY MORE VARIED than that and FAR MORE EFFECTIVE to focus on than abstract notions like calories. Your body doesn't know what a calorie is, even though it's been proven that humans are UNCANNILY good at guesstimating the calorie content of various meals placed before them once they understand the concept of calories. What your body understands is:

-the variables you listed

-NUTRIENT TIMING

-HORMONAL RESPONSES TO NUTRIENT TIMING (fasting naturally stimulates the pulsatile production of Human Growth Hormone which guys like Thiel take artificially).

-The timing and quality of one's exercise and how that exercise relates to their other activity levels -- but you basically already listed that variable.

TL;DR: Nutrition, FASTING, and RESISTANCE TRAINING are ancient remedies that work in ways both obvious AND even more nuanced and complicated than any of us could ever comprehend. It could be infinitely complicated. Through YEARS of trial and error, I've found that nutrient timing, near-daily intermittent fasting, and the overall guesstimation of thenmacronutrient breakdowns of the foods I DO eat, are far more effective variables to focus on than abstract concepts like "calories" that our bodies do not understand on a physical level despite the fact that we can intellectually understand what a calorie is.

TL;dr of the TL;DR: imo, focusing on calories bad. Focusing on synching circadian rhythms and fasting and nutrient timing good.

Source: I am jacked, ripped, shredded, whatever you wanna call it. my body's that way right now, my body has been this way for years, yes im bragging but I'm happy to post pics and prove I'm not bullshitting anyone. and I'm completely drug free and I've never taken a steroid or any hormonal supplent in my entire life. I got this way after a few years of intermittent fasting, careful electrolyte supplementation, and microdosing kratom and caffeine as a pre-workout, then alternating between lifting heavy and light and making the gym a near daily habit while taking as few rest days as possible like my Natty hero Jack LaLanne. I can guarantee that anyone who focuses on these aforementioned points of focus, over the course of years, will get the exact bodily aesthetics they want without drugs because I currently have the exact body I want, ive had it for years now, and I'm totally drug free and honestly it feels like a miracle.

People shit on "kinobody" on YouTube but he's right on the money about 95% plus of fitness wisdom imo. If you can get past his performative douchebag persona, his knowledge and mental frames are real, simple, logical, and powerful. He has languaged his bodily transformation in a very effective way, IMO. :)