Nat, what you are saying makes a lot of sense. I have seen the results of the evil scale barely reflecting weight loss, yet I have gone from a size 12 to a size 6 and/or 4. There is definitely something to be said for metabolism adjusting, healing, muscle building and being able to tolerate and even function better at a higher calorie consumption.

My question about the 10-12 guideline might be better asked as: Is the 10-12 guideline therefore always related to one's start weight? Going back to my example: The lowcarber starts at 250 lbs.. She follows the guideline and consumes 2500 calories per day. She loses half her body weight and arrives at goal of 125. Follwing maintaince guidelines at 15-18x, she is still eating around the same amount of calories she began with. My goal is 125, but I began my LC journey at a top weight of 150 lbs. Even at her new weight she still is allowed to/has to eat more calories than I do because my start weight was so much lower than hers. Since my start weight times 10-12 would have put me at a lower calorie allotment to begin with, but at my goal weight I am the same as her, she should always consume more and I should always consume less?

I do understand that the 10-12 idea is a guideline, not a hard and fast rule. But which weight during what part of the journey on LC really applies and why should start weight, i.e., heaviest weight,dictate what the metabolism can bear calorically?