I will just add, I've found it difficult to gain strength while restricting carbs significantly. That being said, if your trying to lose weight and are therefore under eating, then that's going to be difficult anyway. Lowering carbs will definitely help you lose fat.

It's really the really low carb while trying to gain weight / strength that I've found to be a challenge. I know some swear by the carnivore / keto diets and also getting bigger / stronger, but my energy in the gym just sucks on low carb.

Don't be afraid of carbs. Just eat mostly complex ones like brown rice, starchy veg and fruits and it will work itself out. And yeah… run a calorie deficit.

Most of the quick weight you lose on a low carb diet is depleted glycogen stores which will probably have pretty negative consequences on your performance in the gym. It's a double edged sword.

Everyone is different, but I personally lost way more weight when I shifted my focus from cutting carbs to reducing my fat intake to around 40-45 grams per day. A nutritionist once explained to me that for some people, increasing carbohydrate intake alongside consistent resistance training and cardio can actually boost metabolic rate. In their words, "Fat burns in the furnace of carbs."

For me, when I cut carbs too low, my workouts suffer: I feel drained, my runs are sluggish, and I can't lift as effectively. But when I include more complex carbs, my workouts are way stronger and intense, and I naturally burn more calories.

Of course, YMMV. This approach worked well for me, a former fat slob, but everyone's body responds differently.

When I go Keto/Low carb I shed weight like crazy. However my lifting performance and gains definitely suffer. IMO you should continue to lift to maintain muscle mass, but don't expect to make gains either. I have been able to get super lean on a traditional bodybuilding carb diet as well, but it was way more difficult and I was fighting hunger the whole time. After a couple weeks on a keto/carnivore diet I am almost never hungry and typically will move to eating one meal a day. On Keto/Carnivore though I can typically still do plenty of lower intensity/endurance work. I mainly do Keto/Carnivore for other reasons though. I have drastically less inflammation when on it. If I were to eat a plate of pasta right now within 2 hours my left knee will start to ache and have pain.

One thing about Keto/Carnivore though is you have to fully commit. You can't just mostly do it or you will constantly be in this yo/yo of feeling sluggish and dragging until your body starts producing ketones again.

I think when you're at a higher percentage of body fat then it's just a flip of the coin of whether high carb vs low carb works better for you, but both equally valid as long as the caloric deficit is in place and you are consistent with protein.

But regardless of the carb/fat ratio- lifting is absolutely key when losing body fat. For muscle to stick around, you don't need a high volume of training to sustain the mass- and depending on your training age, you may even put on some muscle if you're consistent with the training.

I also think- from personal experience- that you can be totally fine alternating high-carb days with low-carb days- as long as you're consistently in a caloric deficit over time and the protein is consistent.

And finally- if you're truly worried about gaining excess body fat from too many carbs, then gaining muscle and preserving it is of utmost importance. The more muscle you're able to build, the more you're able to store excess carbohydrates as glycogen- thereby helping to offset some fears with higher blood sugar levels. And the more fat you shed, the more you improve your insulin resistance. Even type 2 diabetics can get into diabetes remission following a high-carb diet. The only diet that matters is the one you can stick with and you enjoy and checks the boxes of what's necessary to lose fat and preserve muscle

I'll pile on the "hard to lift heavy while cutting carbs" bandwagon.

Jan. thru June of this year, I dropped to a significant caloric deficit (1000/day) and <75g carbs/day, helping me get down from 240lbs to 175lbs. Then I started to hit the gym, doing a 3-day split. I didn't see the normal "OMG CRAZY GAINS" most people talk about in their first couple months, then I realized it was because I was not maintaining proper nutrition for the new lifestyle. Once I went from 1300 daily calories > 1500 > 1800 > 2100 > 2400 (and eating 100 > 150 > 200g of protein and 200g carbs a day) my lifts changed dramatically.

One thing that gets glossed over by folks without metabolic disease is that diets like keto can address metabolic dysfunction significantly better than other diets for those with elevated A1C (prediabetes) or outright T2 diabetics. I was only ever able to normalize my blood glucose, lose weight, and improve my metabolic health with a fairly strict keto diet - after several years of which I was able to reintroduce carbs in a responsible manner. If you've never had these problems, the standard advice of counting calories and a balanced diet is perfectly fine. If you've got an already damaged carbohydrate metabolism, eliminating them for a while may be the best bet. If this is NOT you, you probably don't need keto - at best it might be just a way to suppress appetite while you cut calories.