Hi Sheldon,

I guess the short answer is yes, they do.

The longer answer is...depends on your plan.

Atkins says not to count calories, just carbs and to eat until you are full, not stuffed. Difficult to assess after a long time of carb addiction where (this!) one has/had been used to stuffing one's face with starches.

Sugar Busters say not to count anything, just select from low GI carbs and don't overfill your plate.

But surprisingly, the big problem we often find on this forum, is that people tend to undereat. Coming off low fat/low cal diets, their caloric intake can be as little as 800 cal (for body weights of 200 lbs at times) and their metabolisms come to a screaming halt. This is partly encouraged by the ketotic loss of appetite, and it can be very difficult to encourage folk to understand that they CAN lose weight by eating more.

This has caused much controversy here, with our suggestions of eating between 10-12 times bodyweight being roundly criticized at times.

Personally, I found while I was eating 13-14x my bodyweight, I was unable to lose. Under 10x and I'm just too hungry. If I keep between the "magic" 10-12x I have success.
I should point out that I don't set out to count calories; it is a Fitday by product of my carb counting.

Some folk do just fine without ever counting anything - others of us need to keep track.

Is that some sort of answer?

Cheers.

Rosebud