This is a fascinating subject to me. BTW, JennLynn - I certainly didn't mean with my initial post that people shouldn't do what works for them. I guess kind of what I was getting at is that it seems to me (and this is not scientific, just anecdotal) that low-carb is one of the extremely few (if not only) plans that DO work for most people.

When I was growing up, we had a group of ladies in my mother's sunday school circle who were significantly overweight. They tried everything, and I do mean everything. When Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig opened their doors in my hometown, this group of women were the first to walk in. They rode the phen/fen wave with great gusto. Several of them had gastric bypass during the 80's when it was first becoming the big thing to do, and a couple of those (amazingly) STILL managed to gain all their weight back despite the staples in their stomachs.

Not that this by any means makes me an expert on all dietary methods, but I did have a front row seat for the roller coaster rides that some of them produce. Only two of the women ever achieved permanent weight loss: my mother on Atkins, and one who had gastric bypass and has maintained her weight loss for fifteen years.

So, I was just curious about what other people thought. I realize that simply by virtue of being on this board, many of us will be predisposed to think low-carb is the way to go. But I am worried about my co-worker who's planning to do WW *again*. She has heart disease in her family, and as we all know, one of the worst things you can do for your health is go up and down and up and down with your weight.

I don't think I could convince her to do Atkins. There are just a lot of people out there who are convinced that they will drop dead without potatos and pasta. But, that's what started me thinking about this.