I, too, previously lost 55 lb on a low fat high carb diet. Over a 10 year period, I regained about half of that, and that's what I'm working on now.
I agree the research confirms that it doesn't really matter how you balance your macronutrients for weight loss if your calories are sufficiently restricted.
Example. A group of obese people confined to a research ward of a hospital were fed liquid diets. For one observation period they received a high carb low fat diet. For another the same group received a low carb high fat diet. They lost equal pounds of weight regardless of the macronutrient balance. Other studies say the same result doesn't happen when test subjects ate real food (vs liquid food). The body is more efficient in absorbing carbohydrates which dissolve easily, and less efficient in breaking down proteins and fats, somewhat more of which pass out of the digestive track unused or convert to body heat. However the overall differences in weight loss were very small.
So bottom line, a lack of weight loss is probably due to reasons other than macronutrient balance, not all of which have to do with a poor accounting of calories or not exercising enough.
If you aren't losing weight, look at total caloric intake first, but if you are tracking carefully, then accept that your body is trying to hang onto body weight to protect you from famine. That's a healthy body response. The body can become very thrify in how it uses calories and will drop metabolic burn if necessary (even with a lot of exercise) to hang on to body weight. Or it will slow down the digestive process to extract more nutrients from the food you do eat. One sign your metabolism has cooled down is feeling more chilled than others in the same room or the same bed! Be patient with your plan and kind to your body as it will eventually give up excess fat. And accept that after your weight loss occurs, you may not be able to return to a 2000 calorie a day diet. You may have a more efficient body that will do just fine on 1400 or 1600 calories a day.
I want to comment on why I would choose low carb after a lifetime of using a low fat diet instead. I don't agree low carb is "over kill" or primarily for the morbidly obese even though it's weight loss outcomes are about the same as high carb.
I'm nearly 60 and have lived with the "high carb" recommendations most of my adult life. And frankly, in light of recent research and a new health diagnosis in my family, I'm kind of furious with USDA for making low fat high carb recommendations. So bear with me please and don't take anything I say as an attack on others who believe differently. The research is still ambiguous so each of us must find our own way.
My husband is 5'11" and 164 lb. He is slim (BMI under 23) except for a paunch. We have an organic farm and are dedicated to healthy chemical free produce and grass fed meat. He exercises daily caring for livestock and tending pastures, mostly done on foot. Since the food pyramid came out twenty plus years ago, he has eaten a high carb diet primarily made up of whole grains such as whole wheat pasta and bread. He has prediabetes. He has no family history of diabetes. He had open heart surgery for a blockage to his left main coronary artery. No family history of heart attack. A low carb diet alone - one prescribed by his cardiologist with no calorie counting at all and no restrictions on fat intake - helped him lose 6 pounds, three inches off the waist line, and reduced his blood glucose to a normal (near 100) level, whereas it was 125 before starting low carb. For him, low carb is a healthier diet for his insulin system and weight distributuion regardless of any weight loss goals.
I don't have prediabetes. I'm overweight but not clinically obese. I started the fitbit program 25 lb. overweight and lost 13 of those pounds in 7 weeks. BTW I didn't lose any weight in Week 1 and just broke through a 10 day plateau so the weight loss hasn't been even. That isn't any better than my weight loss rate on high carbs.
But I have had health problems with high carb low fat diets, even when I wasn't trying to lose weight. These included exercise related hypoglycemia and dizziness, dry skin, constipation, and nearly daily heart burn and acid reflux. I also felt hungry most of the time. When I moved to a lower carb, higher fat diet (with some serious effort to reach the fiber goals), all those health symptoms went away. I no longer feel hungry between meals. I start feeling hungry about 30 minutes before mealtime. I haven't taken an antacid tablet since I started, whereas I was taking a couple tablets after exercise and a couple before bedtime almost every day on a high carb (>50%) diet.
I know I can lose weight with higher carb intake, but I have much better compliance with a higher fat diet with fewer hunger cravings and a greater sense of general wellbeing. If I can lose weight and enjoy more delicious dietary fat ... then that's a great bonus. This is a lifestyle diet that goes beyond weight loss, one I can maintain over years. I know from experience that I struggle to maintain a low fat diet (one below 40% fat calories).
I genuinely believe there is some evolutionary wisdom behind the low carb high fat movement and research, which is well underway now, will bear out the hypothesis that this is a safe, sane, long term option for many people.
