Thank you all for responding.

JayKay.... eating Fat and protein does nothing for my brain fog. Its just pure carbohydrate of any form that eliminates this feeling. This is why the problem is a catch 22. If fat and protein solved the problem, I would embrace this WOE forever, with ease. Two interesting discoveries I have made about this problem. Other than consuming carbs I have found only two methods to help the brain fog, neither are easy.

The first is, when I am feeling really down and brain dead, I do 30 minutes of hardcore exercise, such as running. At first I feel like I will black out, but 10 minutes into the run, this changes and my brain becomes more clear. Secondly, I find by NOT eating protein and fat, and just going on a water fast also helps the problem... I also have less food cravings on a water fast than I do when consuming very LC.

I appreciate your sensible comment about upping the carbs to 50 a day...... but I avoid this for two reasons, the first is, I go from 30 lbs a month of weight loss to less than 5, which is very discouraging and 50 g of carb does not solve the brain fog, it only offers say 20% releif...so the benefits seem not great enough to forgo the rewards. I know it's not the most sensible long term approach, but I need to stay highly motivated or I fall off the wagon very quickly....years of over eating habits kick in and I tend to give in when I am not highly motivated by tremendous successs.

AngelaR ..... > There's no rule that says you have to stay at 20 gr carbs a day. If you can still lose at 50 gr, then go for 50!!!

If 50 worked, I would stick with it! But it barely works, considering all the incredible effort. You mentioned how LC changed your life.... I feel the same way... reading all those books many years ago and following them religiously demonstrated why I gain weight to begin with. I fit the insulin resitance theory perfectly. As mentioned by one of the other posters, I find myself being one of the lucky ones, as LC and intense exercise produces tremendously fast weight loss, and its this type of success that provides the motivation to stay with the program. Nothing motivates a dieter more than success. (of course this varies based on how much weight a person needs to loose) Of course much of this has to do with mind set, I am a very goal oriented person, and when I set a target, its often a race to get there.... In someways this is good, and other ways it can be a bit detrimental. But its hard to change who you are. I have all the admiration in the world for people who can eat LC and experience low weight loss, and continue the program forever.

LisaN > It sounds like you're still in the mindset of low carb as a diet (something temporary) instead of a way of life.

First, Congrats on your tremendous success! Yes, I totally agree with you.... but I do have some good reasons for this, I am curious how many others share these reasons....

One of the reasons I struggle with LC long term is because the foods which are best for my body, are counter productive on the diet. If weight gain was not an issue in my life (which unfortunately it is) my body functions best on a high carb, med fat, med protein diet. I am generally a healthy eater, my body craves fruit and lots of it and I feel great when I eat fruits, and high carb vegies. When I do eat lots of fruit and high carb vegetables and occasionaly some high carb grain, usually only brown rice, no white stuff, I feel fabulous. During these eating periods, I have very limited intake of animal products due to the wide variety of foods I eat. And, carbs keep me satieted very well.

When LC eating, one is pushed into high animal products intake, as these foods are the ones that have no, or low carbs. A diet high in animal products makes me lethargic and more importantly severely effects my joints, making feel very arthritic, which I never feel when I consume very low animal product diet. I have tried the soybean type products, but they make me feel terrible. I later had food allergy testing done, and of course soy was very high on my list.... I also learned, very few people are not highly sensitive to grains and beans. This explains why I feel so wrotten consuming these foods. The allergy test is a blood test where that counts antibodies produced for approx. 250+ foods.... the more antibodies produced for a given food, the more sensitive you are to these foods and therefore should be avoided. Where there is no antibodies in the blood, such as most all fruits and vegetables, (but not for everyone, hence the value of the test) these foods you are free to consume. When I adhere to this program, I feel great! But, it is quite counter productive to LC.

So I guess all this research has led to some internal conflict. The foods that make me feel great and function great, also make me gain weight... (this damn insulin resistance) Foods that I am highly sensitive to, mainly animal, beans and similar products are the ones that make me loose weight fast. No one every said it was going to be easy.

A few other findings I have learned which may interest some readers. When I mention avg weight loss of 30 lbs a month, I have acheived this weight loss while eating 6000 - 8000 calories everyday, but I never let the carbs past 20. This is more than double the calories I normally eat while when I am constantly gaining weight. This is why I beleive so strongly in the insulin resistance theory. The sad part is, my brother eats 8000 calories a day, rarely exercises, eats 500 + carbs a day and has not gained a pound since high school, 25 years ago. But that's life.

Seeing the difference between me and my brother (who is obviously not insulin resistant) lead me to serach for for a method to rid my insulin resistance. With no insulin resistance, I can live like my brother and not be obssessed about WOE for life....what a wonderful feeling that is. And I do beleive I found it. It's called hardcore exercise. Mild exercise does nothing for me when eating normal carbs.... I gain weight, even when calories are very low, such as 1500 per day. However, when I exercise till the point of "white hot" I experience tremendous chemical and hormonal changes in my body....after the initial transition period. When I continue this type of hardcore exercise, which consist of pushing myself to the point of almost blacking out, resting a minute or two, then go right back at it, etc. I find my insulin resistance is totally at rest...meaning I can eat a ton of carbs and a ton of calories and I can't gain weight! However, I do not loose weight as fast this way vs. LC. But when done right, it returns me to my teenage years when I was always lean regardless of how much, or the types of foods I ate. Truly remarkable discovery. So whats my problem? Well, for me, it has beem a multitude of other health issues that have prevented me from continuing this hardcore exercise (only about 1 hr a day). I have suffered some bad injuries and bouts of migraines (hereditary) which have prevented me from consistently maintaining exercise through out the years.... and for me, this has always led to the gradual (sometimes fast) weight gain and the return of insulin resistance. So until there is a pill to rid insulin resistance, it seems a very restrictive diet and / or hardcore exercise are the only solutions currently available. Anyway, hopefully this information may others who are looking for some alternative points of view.

BTW, LinkNZ, what is CAD/CALP?