"The probable explanation" for the early weight loss, said the chief researcher of the 12-month study (Gary Foster of the University of Pennsylvania), is that it "gives people a framework to eat fewer calories, since most of the choices in this culture are carbohydrate driven." He told me: "You're left eating a lot of fat, and you get tired of that." So the Atkins plan is merely a low-calorie diet in disguise.
Soon though, Atkins dieters become so starved for carbohydrates that they either start cheating or quit the plan altogether. In fact, both studies were plagued by high dropout rates from all sets of dieters. The only weight-control regimens that work for life require both eating in moderation and exercise.
"The Atkins diet produces weight loss, as does the grapefruit diet, the rotation diet, and every other fad diet out there," Foster's co-researcher James Hill of the director of the University of Colorado Center for Human Nutrition in Denver. "I haven't seen any data anywhere saying Atkins is better than these other diets for weight loss."
Another dimwit about Atkins.
One learns what level of carb consumption triggers weight gain.
Everybody on Atkins eats carbs. I do, and I splurge at least once a week on anything I want.
It's not a diet; it's a new way to eat!
Those of you who doubt that Atkins works, try it. You'll feel better, you'll lose weight and look better, and you won't be starving all the time, the main complaint against the low cal route.
The fact that people go back to old ways of eating doesn't prove anything about the Atkins plan; it just proves that people are undisciplined.