I think part of the issue with these arguments is conflating counting with restricting. Clearly, if you eat 10,000 calories a day, then counting them won't make a difference, but it is easy to underestimate how many calories you are eating. Counting calories is really no different than keeping track of your finances. It may or may not result in spending less, but you can't really get a handle on it until you understand where your money (or calories) is going. I just watched a video by Dr. Westman where he says the data is in that the main cause of losing weight on low carb is that it results in eating less calories. In general, eating low carb should curb appetite, and not require counting, but we don't all get the same results.

P.S. I am not in favor of requiring calorie counts.