As usual people are talking about diets other than Atkins and saying it doesn't work - Atkins is NOT high protein, - read the book - it is perfectly possible to control your weight for the rest of your life eating using carb control to fine tune your metabolism.

Humans are fairly omnivorous, they evolved that way - but then someone discovered grains - we have not been eating them long enough to be able to cope with them, and then there was sugar uh oh.

If you get hold of a copy of Dr Atkins 'New diet revolution' - I think that the last edition was about ten years ago it will explain how to do the diet properly.

There are some errors in my edition - things don't add up, but it explains what you are to do and that is the important thing.

You do not need to eat grain nor sugar, nor potatoes and a few other high density starchy foods, but I found that I could eat 60 to 80 gm of carbs every day and still lose weight, depending on the amount of exercise I do.

With any luck you will be able to eat salad and low starch veges to your hearts content, plus a little fruit, add in enough protein and a natural amount of fats and you are most likely going to feel wonderful, full of energy and lose weight effortlessly.

You do need to be exact about the amount of carbohydrate you eat, but I have never bothered to count calories.

I could lose more weight by reducing the carbs, but my skin has stretched and I am over 60, I have a horror of looking like last weeks party balloon, but I no longer gain weight helplessly. I have been losing weight very gradually rather than maintaining, because I no longer eat what used to make me gradually gain weight.