> unless they had a mechanism for satiation

It ends up being the opposite. Rather than the body having a satiation response, it controls the metabolism.

If you've ever fasted, you've experienced this. You just don't have the energy to do much other than sit around when you are hungry.

Ancient societies realized this, it's why they'd give out calorie dense meals to their farm labor. For a serf in England, harvest time was often met with a very calorie dense meal. For roman soldiers, they had a diet of meats and cheeses.

I'd also point out that you don't need to have exactly 100% daily calorie intake. You can go a week with just 99% and catch up with 101% the next week just fine.