Looking back on the years when I was an obese teen- I know that I would have been very embarrassed if my mom came up to me and had a "diet" talk. At the age of 16 I know that I probably would have done the exact opposite of anything she recommended. Your child may be different but in general it is impossible to rationalize with teenagers... they lack the ability to think about consequenses like most adults can.

Anyhow, when I was 17 I weighed 198 pounds. By the age of 21- I got down to 140 and I was looking great. At that age I blamed my mom for "letting" me be fat. Even though I was the one eating the junk- I thought that she could have made better food choices when grocery shopping.

With Atkins I think it does not really seem like dieting- not in the sense that we have been taught all of these years... that is why I think you could do low carb in the house and get away with not telling them.

hth

Nora