"calories burned > calories consumed = weight loss."
True, but the types of food you eat can affect your metabolism which affects your calorie burning potential.
We all react differently to different foods...no one diet is good for everyone. When I cut back carbs I lose weight, feel better, sleep better, and don't get heartburn. With others, it may be the fat that is the culprit.
Atkins was too rigid and extreme though.
People overeat and under-exercise because that is the easier way to live. Sloth and gluttony are two of the seven deadly sins for a reason.
People KNOW this.
They really want to continue to overeat and under-exercise so they look for an easy way out.
Diets offer the promise of an easier way out.
Pills, drinks, magic candy bars, special exercise equipment.....they ALL offer the promise of instant, er, well, "3-week" promise of a better something or other.
People want the MAGIC PILL.
The only way to get fit and lose fat is to stop thinking in terms of WEIGHT and LOOKS.
It's just too simple -- EAT LESS and EXERCISE MORE.
Way too simple.
Some calories are more readily used than others. The consequence is that 1000 calories from sugar is not the same as 1000 calories from fat, and certainly not the same as 1000 calories from protein which must first be converted, at some energy cost, into sugar.