Hi everyone

I have been reading posts on this board for a while but have only recently joined and this is my first post.

I have been doing Atkins for about 14 weeks. I am not sure how much weight I have lost as I have had a love-hate relationship with scales in the past (mostly hate!) and besides, don't own a pair, and don't see too many around that go over 150kg. I have diligently measured myself, though, and I have lost about 16 cm from around my tummy/waist, which I am pretty pleased about, as I know it is coming off where my concentrated fat stores. My recent blood tests were also very comfortably within normal ranges. However, it is really only the tip of the iceberg in terms of my goal weight/size, so I am looking at another 12-18 months hard slog before I get near where I want to be I guess.

Anyway, I must say, compared to the other 'diets' I have been on and sucked at, this eating system has been fairly easy to get used to. My main danger is simply getting lazy, telling myself that a bit of this and a bit of that won't hurt me (but it does!). I used to be a terrible bread addict, but have not eaten a slice in over 3 months, and have barely craved it.

Anyway, to my question for you wise old owls. I have long been preached at about the evils of a high-fat diet and getting used to eating a relatively high amount of fat on Atkins is very hard, and I sometimes feel quite guilty about it. My approach is that if it works don't fix it, but my wife, who is a nurse, is concerned that there is too much fat in my diet and would prefer me to do a low-fat version of the plan. However, Atkins clearly says not to try a low-fat Atkins, but I can't really fully appreciate his justification for why and how a
high(er) fat intake is actually beneficial for weight loss.

Is there anyone out there who could actually explain for me how this might be the case, and how eating more fat could contribute to burning fat?

Thanks in advance.