Straight Low Carb vs Moderate Complex Carb

You will see frequently on here to keep calories under 800, carbs under 40. That is not a golden standard nor rule though. I ate carbs for the majority of the weight loss phase. When I did the low carb initially, I really struggled with low blood sugar. Once complex carbs were added in my weight loss did not slow, but it stabalized the blood sugar levels. You are not doomed to fail if you eat carbs, but with that said not all carbs are created equal. Absolutely avoid carbs that spike your blood sugar levels, or in other words select options low on the glycemic index. I followed the goal of hitting 30 net carbs at a meal and 15 net at a snack, and that worked really well for me up until this past summer. My A1c were creeping up again, so I droped my carb intake down a bit- but far more than 40g. I eat a lot of beans- several times per week, as I am not a huge meat fan. I do not have issues with them triggering cravings and such. Steel cut oatmeal though, even if I stick to my carb goal of 30g net or less causes cravings for me that continue throughout the day. In a nutshell, log everything and really pay attention to how it makes you feel :) 

As a follow-up after reading Sparkles post- I too used the ration of 1 gram protein per calories, which seems to conflict with my saying I eat beans several times a week. The difference is during my weight loss phase I took into account the days totals, and so had a little room in the individual choices So 1 premier protein shake would be nearly double the ratio, leaving a little room for the bean ratio to be off. So that ratio in conjunction with low glycemic choices and managing how many carbs at one meal or snack. 

Thank you. Good thorough answer.

It's funny how different things can be for different people. Beans don't make me fixate on sugar/refined sweets/etc, neither does fruits... but if I eat a cracker, a bit of bread, a bite of pasta? It's going to be a really crappy day. Couple days, actually.

It is really good you are already aware of this- good clear patterns make the weight loss phase easier to navigate :) 

I can only credit all those months of logging food. And at the start I thought it was just about accountability :)

Very astute observation on your part. The idea of my weightloss being affected by monthly patterns, lack of protein, and those insulin spikes resulting from eating the wrong types of calories was completly new to me going through this. You are so right about tracking being more than just accountability. It truly helped me through the short stalls and stair step pattern weight loss I had in the losing phase. Crazy how consistent my charts looked on MFP!