The major difference is that Atkins just says "eat all the meat you want, don't care about fat. Cut out carbs to a net amount of 60 (if I remember) grams a day, lower in the induction phase." In Why We Get Fat, Taubes focuses specifically on the insulin reaction to what you are eating and calls out sugars, High Fructose Corn Syrup, refined flours and breads and other liquid sugars as what is making us fat. He speaks to insulin resistance in muscle and liver cells, and the body's reaction to caloric "starvation" type diets. He doesn't suggest, as you say in the previous post, that you "limit our carbs to leafy greens". He says that if you are obese, then losing weight will come from a diet of protein, fat, and leafy green vegetables. This is different from saying "ignore all carbs but leafy green vegetables". Again, the focus is on the reaction of the body (and every person's reaction is different for a number of reasons - all of which he discusses) in terms of insulin response and chronic diet issues.
5 to 6k calories a day sounds like a lot only if you are sitting watching TV all day. He is basically out in the cold weather hunting and gathering and constantly active all day sweating and exerting his energy. 6000 calories in but I guarantee he has a shit load going out spending his whole day having to move and survive and build shelters and hunt etc... I remember Michael Phelps talking about how he ate sometimes up to 8000 calories a day just to maintain his body due to all the action.
I don't watch such shows, so I didn't know the activity level these people engage in or the conditions they endure. But what you describe makes sense. And this on top of the water loss resulting from the restriction of carbs.
He was not out hunting and gathering. He did some ice fishing (low expenditure activity other than opening the hole in the ice) to broaden his diet, but his belief was that since he had a moose, he didn't have to hunt. His activity was also limited by very cold weather and him being in his shelter. As I said, you are welcome to watch the season. It is a great season. I don't think you truly understand the level of activity needed to burn 8000 or even 6000 calories in a day. Burning 8000 calories is essentially running 80 miles at an average rate of 6 minutes a mile. A day. Yeah, I don't think so. https://www.podiumrunner.com/training/many-calories-running-burn/#:~:text=Think about it: A person,miles and burns 1,000 calories. It is possible that an olympic swimmer can burn 10 or even 12k calories in an insane workout in a day, but this isn't sustainable over periods of a few days before rest. To suggest the guy in "Alone" who was eating at this rate for weeks before the medical visit was doing it day in and out and still losing weight...nope. You can absolutely lose weight without overall calorie restriction.
So a TV show about a guy out in the woods who does little other than eat foolish amounts of meat. Sounds like a hit.
I lost 23 pounds last Spring just keeping daily carbohydrates under 20 grams per day. Part of me says that this is just another variation on calorie counting - but it does force me to emphasize an intake of protein and greens which I think is the smart approach.
I'm just fine, thanks. You're welcome to counter any of the points I've made rather than just being snarky at me.
Its essentially a video documentary. IE, it actually happened. We're not talking about a fictional drama. This is all you've got?