Update. A year after changing to a low-carb lifestyle, I'm sixty pounds lighter and much happier. Actually, I lost all that weight from June 2003 – October 2003. I've been in the maintenance phase ever since October 2003. I've still got to continue toning up and getting the body in better shape, but the weight loss is secure and I've demonstrated to myself that I can do it without being miserable. So much for a "diet" that doesn't work, at least according to anti-Atkins fanatic Michael Fumento (here and here). But Sparkey at SSDB said it best:
As to the Atkins diet, Fumento's mistake is to misrepresent it. Rather than actually critique the diet, he attacks the way people may abuse the diet. In a way he has a valid gripe: you have to follow the Atkins' instructions for the diet to work, and you have to stick with it (no duh!). Like any diet, the Atkins diet is hard to stay on (maybe more so), especially for the first couple of weeks. I have a friend who, on his second week on the Atkins diet, smelled the hard candy I had in my mouth two offices over from mine. But he hung in there, lost 60 pounds, and he's kept it off for a year now. But if I'm understanding correctly what I've read and what friends have told me about the Atkins diet, if you don't follow the procedure, you won't get results. And as any good Navy Nuke will tell you, following procedure is kind of important.
Exactly. It only works if you work it. This is a lifestyle change, not a presto-chango-get-into-that-dress-for-the-class-reunion temporary fix. Now then, who wants to lay down money for how long the first angry response from Mr. Fumento takes to appear in the comments or my inbox? This guy knows what I'm talking about…