Posted: Mar 10, 2011 6:32 pm
Most weight loss advice points toward a shortage off the typical 2000 calories a day diet, plus some exercise to burn more and add muscle. Muscle growth and ongoing body maintenance requires that you eat protein in the 50-60 grams a day range, at minimum. It's very hard to limit calories to 1200-1500 a day and still get 50-60 grams of protein while not limiting carbs and fat. The math catches up with you rather quickly. So the attempt to limit calories has the effect of also limiting carbs and fat just to make the math work. Whether insulin plays a role is something that might be a minor issue and any effect it has could get lost in the larger role that calories-in and calories-out will play.