No, repeated studies have shown that -any diet- leads to weight loss. Drawing anyone’s attention to what they’re eating in a detail-oriented way helps lose weight.

When someone says “carb restriction is the ticket,” they’re attributing the effectiveness -to the carb restriction-, explicitly, as having an effect on weight loss notably above and beyond that of calorie restriction.

Pretty much no decently structured studies have supported that. A couple animal studies suggest shit like HFCS has a much more severe short term effect on insulin than other foods, but they’re small, animal based, and “don’t eat junk food” is world away from “carb restrict.”

Carb restriction is a ticket because, if you can follow it, it almost magically stops craving and binging.

If you have a perfectly healthy relationship with food without having to constantly fight cravings, awesome, and nobody who needs to lose weight is like you.

YMMV. I have used keto to much success in the past, however I've found it impossible to stick with on a long term basis, even after giving it 6 months and really trying to make it work. My cravings for carbs was unbearable and made me miserable. My body seems to reject it now, as every time I try it I have a ravenous hunger for pasta, breads, chocolate. So it's not really a panacea for limiting hunger. Fat is more satiating yes, but it's also pretty joyless after a short while.

I find fasting to be more in tune with my life nowadays.

yeah. I was low carb for 18 months. I got down to 220 and felt really good except... I really wanted carbohydrates a lot. Even though I wasn't hungry.

The first week or so was really hard. Close to no carbohydrates and all I could think about was sweet things. Even after I reintroduced healthier sweet foods like fruit, it just didn't hit the same spots as a good sandwich or a bowl of pasta.

After I went back to regular food, I'd periodically do a month or so of paleo to try and the weight gain under control, but I got back up to 280. Currently I'm a couple of weeks into slimfast. I'm not hungry. I don't feel bad if grab a small piece of chocolate. Occasionally my evening meal is a small bowl of pasta, or a sandwich and I'm loosing a consistent amount of weight... for now.

Out of curiosity and if you recall, what were the approximate macros?

What you're talking about is addiction. It has nothing to do with food. People who tend towards addiction will be addicted to all kinds of things. Fighting addiction is very difficult, no doubt. If you recognize it as addiction instead of pretending that it's something else, that makes it easier.

You're not the arkades from buzz, by any chance?

I don’t know what buzz is, so I don’t think so. But damnit, I thought I finally found a handle (almost) no one else was using - it’s available on most sites. Bah!

Nah, don't worry. Buzz was a Greek-language forum. Your handle is (proobably?) unique on the English internet :)