LadyBelle is right - I think far too many people are mislead by the glossing over of calories that is somehow presented in the Atkins book - I've been at this forum for almost a full year and have watched as endless number people change their attitutude toward calories - the first pounds may (or may not) come off freely in the first few weeks of atkins - but after that a good percentage of people find that in order to continue losing they must count calories as well as carbs - for some people the high fat in Atkins helps them control their caloric intake - for others it does not. I suppose that there are some who have stayed at carb levels of 60 or less for years without ever going over the limit once, but I think that the normal pattern is to be infatuated with Atkins - stay as strict as you can, as long as you can - and then either a binge happens or switch to a plan with a higher more realistic carb allowence. The problem with the binge solution is that it is a repetitive pattern - it would be much healthier to consume around 100 GOOD carbs per day - than have 700 (maybe more) once a week.