Counting Carbs or Calories? Motivation.....

People gain weight back after a low carbohydrate diet the same way they do after other diets -- they eat more than their body needs so their body begins storing the energy.

So yeah, if you go back to eating the way you were before and it results in consuming more than you need, you will gain the weight back. That's true for any plan though, it's not just true for low carbohydrates.

Why it sometimes happens more (or seems to happen more) for people on low carbohydrate plans is that some people never figure out how to eat the amount of calories they need while including more carbohydrates. So when they go off plan, their calories increase a lot.

Some people find that calorie counting is easier in this regard because you figure out how to eat everything in portions that you need and when you switch to maintaining, you're just eating larger portions of what you were eating before. It's not foolproof though, people can still gain weight if they eat too much.

I personally wouldn't want to limit carbohydrates, so it's not a good choice for me. If you don't like what you're eating, it may not be a good choice for you either.

Would you want to eat low carbohydrate forever to keep the weight off (or do the work, once you've lost the weight, to figure out how you can eat more carbohydrates and maintain your weight)?

all i know is i can eat a *kitten* ton of calories, and not touch a single carb.

For me it comes down to what foods make me feel better as in the 'right macro balance'. I tried low carb for 2 months, and I did not work for me, it works for others. It sounds like it does not work for you.

Perhaps the 1-3 weeks down the line not seeing results is just you being impatient with the process. When you first start this, it takes your body a little while to adapt to the changes you are doing to it, so you do have to work through these first few weeks, but stay the course, the weight loss is working, gotta trust the process as long as you stick to it consistently.

And for me the counting calories along side using my food scale by far the best method allowing me to eat the right macro ratios that are best suited for me. Just find a method that works for you. Maybe some trial and error, it certainly does not have to be a lower carb option.

"counting calories" is not specific enough; how many were you eating? If you ate too few for your body weight/activity level, you probably didn't find a sustainable balance for your individual needs. I once lost weight on 800 calories a day, but clearly couldn't keep that up too long before I started binging like crazy and canceling out my deficit. I suggest starting from the tools MFP has available to count calories, create a reasonable deficit, and stick to it patiently over time while allowing flexibility in your diet and making sure you're getting enough nutrients--vitamins, protein, fiber. If you're eating less than 30g carbs chances are you aren't getting enough nutrients from plant sources.

That is, assuming you want to keep the weight off long-term. If you just wanna win a competition, well then lowcarb away

Do a smaller deficit (.5 pounds a week) and eat back exercise calories.

I find calorie counting to be more accurate. I could theoretically eat barely any carbs and still go way over my calories (i.e. like when I tried low carb and didn't lose weight).