Thanks, Nancy. The friend, who did need to lose a little weight, wasn't successful, oddly enough. We talked about that, and apparently the difference was sodas. The successful man switched to Diet Coke, the unsuccessful one clung to his Coke habit.

It's funny, but I have a similar story with smoking. A friend of mine decided to quit (this is years ago) and her roommate went with her -- reluctantly, grudgingly, grumbling all the way. They did Smokenders. My friend was gung ho. Gonna change her life. HER friend was a totally contented smoker. The Gung Ho Girl dropped out after three weeks. The Grumbler never took another puff!

Ah, the power of friendship!

I'd just never really thought of a "normal" person (he looked normal to me, back to my first story) going on Atkins and staying on it for two years, with no intention of going back to the way he'd been eating. I mulled that over most of yesterday