The only thing I think atkins should have reconsidered is a) how to approach maintenance and b) portion control.

Atkins says to add back carbs in 5 gram increments and to climb the carb ladder until you notice a cessation of weight loss. IMO this is not totally accurate, because once you add more carbs your body will refill muscles with glycogen which causes water retention (and therefore water weight gain). It may seem like you've stopped losing or even gained, but in reality you could still be losing fat. So, I think he should have either had a symptom-based approach to maintenance (add back stuff until your symptoms return whatever they may have been), or he should have warned people of the potential for water-related weight fluctuations and therefore recommended monitoring weight over a several-week period. There are too many people out there who think they can't eat more than 30 grams of carbs "without gaining weight". While theoretically true (eating more than 30 grams causes them to gain weight), it is meaningless as the weight gain is all water and stored carb.

I don't like the lack of emphasis on portion control either. In OWL if one is following the book strictly, eating several atkins endulge bars might be considered ok because they are so low carb. Of course if someone were to do this they wouldn't lose weight. I think he overestimated the satiety effects of his diet... sure meat and fat is filling, but a lot of people always have room for cookies and cheese cake . With all the low carb snack foods available now, it's all too easy to stay low carb while still eating too much to lose weight. I think he was correct in getting rid of the obsession with counting calories, but he should have made it more clear to people that portion sizes do count and you will not lose if you eat too much. There are actually some people out there who don't realize Atkins isn't an all you can eat diet, even though he says (indirectly) to eat until you are hungry and then eat no more.