Matt has interesting theories - I'll be interested in how this pans out for you!

I think low-carb poops out for some people - myself included. I went too low for too long. I do however think that there *is* a magic number for people - carb amounts that is. I think that a) people don't generally eat enough fat if they go very low carb and this creates a bad situation for metabolism and b) maybe one needs to keep below high carbs but above seriously low carbs for long term weight management.

Maybe it IS all about calories - but not in the way we might think. Maybe you have to seriously stuff yourself to lose anything on VLC? Maybe that wouldn't even make any difference in the long run. That is besides the point anyway.

Yeah I agree with Matt, and I think most people would do better with higher carbs, and more fat, but there is a cut-off point I think. Remember that the peeps eating potatoes and rice with lots of fat (sticks of butter) are actually still eating quite a high percentage of their calories from fat, despite the carbs. No sugar, no weirdo fructose or processed wheat/grains and voila - maybe it does work.

My husband is as thin as a rake, eats my diet (meat, tons of fat, nuts, veg etc) but he eats potatoes and rice in addition. Maybe I should try that, seeing as I've gained 7 kilos on low-carb so far. The gain started when I went VLC for a period of time. Now I'm stuck in 'low-carb-gone-horribly-wrong-land).