I'm trying to keep an open mind about this. The reason I posted it here is that Stephan Guyenet (SG) is without doubt doubt one of the most respected nutrition bloggers, with an interest in paleo and traditional diets. He is an assiduous researcher and is willing to follow the evidence where it leads, and to change his mind when the evidence demands it. This doesn't mean he has it right in this or any other instance, but it's enough for me to take his views very seriously. He's not the only former lowcarb wonk to have a change of heart, at least as far as the insulin theory is concerned. James Krieger has also stirred a lot of controversy with a series of blogs on the subject. 

Personally, I'm not ready to throw the insulin theory overboard, but I'm seeing that there's more going on. Despite thousands of research papers since its discovery in 1994, leptin is still not well understood. 

I know ItsTheWoo from other nutrition boards and agree that her comments (I think she's a she) are insightful. 

I haven't checked in here in a while, but my own progress has been interesting. After going utterly off the rails for a couple of years and reaching a weight of 273 lbs, I started a mod-protein, lowcarb high-fat diet and lost 30 lbs pretty quickly, then came to a screeching halt, well above my goal weight of 210 (the tables would have me at 190, but I've been there and it doesn't feel good). I tried tweaking--zero carb, more fat, less protein--and just got hungrier, ate more, and lost no weight. 

Through all this time, and even now, I tracked my food using the FatSecret web and BlackBerry app. I learned that my caloric intake is pretty closely linked to my weight gain and loss after all. And I learned that I need to eat less than about 2100 calories to lose weight, regardless of the composition of my diet. More to the point, I learned that eating less than 2100 calories would trigger hunger, maybe not for a few days, but eventually it would "wake the dragon" and I'd need to feast. The result: stable weight at a setpoint well above desirable weight. 

I decided to do something different. I opted for a plan that everybody on this list, including me, would call terrible: the "Dukan" diet. It consists of an "attack" phase: 5 days of lean protein and nothing else; followed by a "cruise" phase: alternating "protein" days and protein+veg days. It's a lowfat diet, though. You don't have to try to eliminate fat, but you minimize it. Result: I quickly lost 10 more lbs and am now continuing to lose slowly, about 2 lbs a month. I'm not super strict. Dukan encourages the occasional "celebration" meal--he's French, after all. My meals are 90% paleo, although I have a some rice occasionally, and some decent ale at open mic night at the pub. It's a livable plan. 

My exercise throught this has been 3 or 4 visits to the gym per week, each workout 20 minutes or less. I vary the exercise as much as possible. Some days I do varying intensity intervals on one of the cardio machines; some days I lift free weights; some days kettlebells and ab wheel; some days just pulley exercises. This has worked well. I'm more muscular than I've been in decades. 

So far, so good. 

Todd Moody