[lafroste]

I think the advantage of Atkins is that it kind of "preps" your body for weight loss by increasing your metabolism, reducing cravings, etc. But in the long run the result is the same -- burning more calories than you consume.

Still not quite true. In my case I had several weeks where I would lose 6-8 pounds in 7 days (OTOH, I had several weeks where I would not lose an once - da&n plateaus!). If a pound of fat contains 3,500 calories, and I consumed ~1600 cal/day, then in those weeks I "burned" about 5,100 cal/day. That's not possible. What I was really doing was excreting unmetabolized ketone fragments without oxidizing them first (Atkins can be hard on your kidneys. Drink ALOT of water on it to keep them flushed). Your body is not a simple calorimeter. The calorie myth (in must equal out as energy equivilents) is one of the most pervasive nonsequitors out there about dieting.

[Alberta's Child]

I once went through a light training program where I didn't change my diet very much at all but ended up losing a ton of weight and then gaining some of it back as muscle mass -- nothing special in terms of serious workouts, but just some constant activity during the summer months. Clearly this was simply a case of burning more calories than I consumed.