This is an interesting question. There will be many others here who will know more of the science than I do and I look forward to the answer!

My understanding of Atkins is that he said something like - you may find that you will need to eat a lot like the diet you ate to lose weight, only you are able to deviate in small ways. I’m pretty sure Just Jo has the quote at her fingertips. And the “small ways” mean more cheese, fruit and veg, not donuts!

For me, following the macros when increasing carbs over the summer seems to have worked. So where I was keeping carbs to 5% of my diet last year, over the summer while traveling I looked at more like 15-20% of my diet (but not made up of sugar - mostly fruit and legumes, occasional slice of bread) which automatically forces the fat and protein into a slight rearrangement. I use fitness pal to track it. I ignore the calories, but you do have to set calories in order to work our percentages so I chose to set it at an average of what I noticed I was eating over the first year. But basically I go by carb count, hunger, and not eating between 8:30 pm and noon. If I got cravings or woke up hunger in the morning, I knew I was eating too many carbs even if they weren’t,t “refined”!

But still, anything under 100 carbs a say is still considered low carb by the diabetes association.

I really think this is personal experimentation.

The only thing I know for sure is falling into the trap of both high fat and low carb is a recipe for disaster.

Im looking forward to what our most experienced members have to say!