I think it all depends on how YOUR body responds to the various ways of eating.
Some people flourish on low fat, low calorie, lose the weight, feel all Born Again, and skip into the sunset.
Others flourish on Low Carb, with or without High Fat, lose weight, feel all Born Again, and skip off into the sunset.
The decider as to which works for each of us seems to depend on things like age, sex, hormones, medical history, weight and weight loss history, whether we experience carb cravings, joint and autoimmune issues, how our cholesterol reacts (if we consider that important
) and a whole host of other things.
People usually speak from personal experience, and I would agree with you that the longer that experience is, the more valuable it is to your question.
I am 49, developed reactive hypoglycaemia as a child, polycystic ovary syndrome and a prolactinoma (pituitry gland tumour) in my teens. Eating carbs has always made me feel ill, while simultaneously stimulating a craving for more of the pesky b*gg*rs. Identifying and dealing with my carb reactions has been the work of decades, not just a few years. I started going low carb 33 years ago, with a number of detours and sidetracks Between then and now. Those detours tended to involve weight gain while strict low carbing results in weight loss, although that has become more difficult with age, other health issues and imminent? on-going? menopause.
It would be lovely to eat carbs (i find them enjoyable), but the lower carb I go, the better I feel.
For me, low carbing gives me good sleep, more energy, relief from cravings, clarity of mind, access to great indulgent food choices, varying amounts of weight loss, no weight regain (in the past 5 years the weight direction has always been slowly downward, never up).
If i wanted to eat carbs i would need medication to control my blood glucose, and my health would deteriorate, as it has
always deteriorated when I have eaten carbs. Each step down in my progression from 'normal' bg, to pre-diabetic, to type 2, has coincided with periods of carb eating.
However, your situation will be different from mine, so you have to weigh your own Pros and Cons.