I have been seeing a doctor on a regular basis. It was the doctor who suggested trying the Atkins diet. The diet is not as extreme as one would suppose. One starts out minimizing the grams of carbs, but over time, that minimum amount grows. It can increase quite a bit and people can still lose weight. But the essense of the diet is similar to the advise given here -- eat basic foods (meat, fish, eggs, cheeses, vegetables and avoid foods that are high in carbohydrates) and get a half hour or more of exercise in every day. Atkins was not a researcher; he was a medical doctor with 30+ years of experience with patients who successfully lost weight on a low-carb diet -- and didn't immediately gain it back. But, of course, that was because they had changed their life style as has been suggested in this thread. I might also mention that I am a diabetic and my glucose readings that had risen past the 200's and then into the 300's over the past year, dropped down to the 110-120 range within a few days of starting Atkins. That was a pleasant, and welcome, change. I have not been hungry at all, and I do, indeed, have more energy, which makes doing that exercise easier. As long as I'm feeling good, I plan to stick with it awhile; nothing else I've tried has been as successful. I'll see the doctor again in another couple of months and with the usual blood tests, I'll see whether all those "bad" readings have improved or not.