good questions, rust. I can tell you (and Wa'il and others can verify) that LC did not work as well the "second time" (after a month lapse) for me. I can only assume if I continue to do this, eventually it will not work for me at all as a method of fat loss.

The more general answer is that our body has powerful mechanisms that protect our body fat (or our "set point weight" if you prefer that concept). [It works both ways, too. In a forced-feeding study in a man's prison, it was found that naturally thin men could gain about 5 pounds on a high-calorie diet, but no more. This stayed true even when the calorie intake exceeded 10,000 per day ] What those mechanisms of fat-protection are, not even the most expert obesity researchers know. hormones, enzymes, the sneaky ability of the body to add fat cells only at four times in life (0-3, puberty, pregnancy, and when rebounding weight back after a diet) but never to lose a single one of those fat cells (we only lose fat molecules out of the cells, not the cells themselves). They are pretty sure they know the why--which is an evolutionary biology answer regarding survival and the protect of fat stores. I realize you wanted a more specific answer regarding the precise mechanisms, but I honestly don't think it's out there ...if it is, I haven't run across it in my recent researches.

Karen, very useful post! I gotta convince myself to raise those carbs again!