[Steve]

I wouldn't go as far as to say, the nutrient composition above and beyond the baseline requirements don't matter. They certainly aren't as important though.

Weight loss is a function of controlling energy balances.

Nutrients are not energy. They are nutrients.

As long as you supply the body with the correct amount of aminos and fats (the only essentials) and control your calories assuring a deficit.... you'll lose weight.

However, tweaking things seem to make a difference as the nutrients effect the body uniquely.

For instance, having an *extra* pool of aminos floating around in teh bloodstream will ward of muscle breakdown while dieting... which should be recognized as a good thing to any of us.

Or, and I'm not going to get into details here, but how leptin levels are effects by carbohydrate refeeds and such.

So there's more to it IMO than simply meeting the baselines.

That said though, when there's a lot of weight to lose, simply accounting for cals really does the trick. Worrying amount the macros becomes much more important as you get closer to setpoint weight levels.