agonycat, I agree with you...and there are more misconceptions than that behind this "diet" = short term assumption.

1) People think fat people got themselves that way by being gluttons. WRONG! Countless studies show that most fat people (probably 90%) eat no more and exercise no less (at least on the way to obesity) than their thin counterparts. This is even true in locked-ward studies. Fat people add to the myth, as we tend to feel guilty about their binges and focus on them, without noticing our thin cousin packs it away some days just as we do.

2) Therefore, people assume that after a diet, if we simply go to a "reasonable" way of eating (meaning, to the masses, food pyramid eating), we'll stay thin. Also wrong.

3) No one, including many LC dieters, wants to think that they'll have to forgo the treats they've enjoyed all their lives forever. The painful truth is, you've been overweight for years and want to get thin? You should probably limit desserts to maybe four a year, eliminate bread and pasta forever, and exercise on a regular basis. And even if you do that, you may not ever look like a supermodel or Mr. Universe contestant. If you had the genetics for that, you'd already look like that with relatively little effort.

4) All these myths are perpetuated by the cosmetics, workout, clothing, and pharmaceutical industries who like to convince us that pefection (narrowly defined) is possible and a quick fix away. This is clearly a lie, so why do they tell it? They make billions and billions of dollars from it, that's why! Sometimes I think a smart locarber should not only LC, but invest great amounts of money in stock in Cocal-cola, Macdonald's, and Roche (makers of Xenical) because most people will continue to buy into the myths, eat carbs, try dangerous diet pills. If someone is going to get wealthy off this silliness, it may as well be us, right?

As to the sandwich maker, hug him, thank him, and try to return it for a GF grill.