I never went on the Atkins diet. There are many other low-carb solutions besides the Atkins plan. While I give Atkins credit for popularizing and mainstreaming the low-carb lifestyle, it certainly wasn't Atkins original idea. This diet can be traced back to the 1800s. I forget the name of the person who "discovered" it, but I think he lived in England.
Why couldn't you all do it without Atkins?
I can't speak for anyone else, but it has to do with education, or a lack thereof.
In my case, I would skip meals, and go on low calorie diets, which would have me lose 8 - 10 pounds, then stop. I was always hungry, and had some physical problems to go along with the weight.
Once someone explained the Atkins diet to me, and the rationalle behind it, it made perfect sense, and I started the diet, and have done pretty well at it.
I was listening to a lot of people who were giving me advice, but it wasn't working. The Atkins diet seems to work pretty well for me. I've lost weight, and feel much better.
Mark
Like a bear who eats carbs all summer and gains weight, then hybernates and survives on stored fat, we gain on high carb diets and lose on low-carb diets. So while thinner, more active people probably burn up their carbs in a hurry, us overweight folks don't and aren't helped any by high carb diets. We have to burn up the excess sugar within us and make the body use it's energy reserve - stored fat.