Of course weight loss is a result of caloric deficit. What would you expect from a weight-loss plan? Isn't the purpose of a weight-loss diet to restrict calories, to create a deficit that will result in weight loss? Or do you think that low-carb proponents subscribe to some theory that explains weight loss through some means other than caloric deficit?

As to the failure to establish a control population specifically for this study, why would that be necessary? Isn't it legitimate to presume that weight loss/gain would be insignificant in a control population, following an unchanged diet, i.e, a group not experiencing a caloric surplus or deficit? Are you suggesting that there was some external (uncontrolled) factor that caused the test population to lose weight and would have caused a control population to lose weight, too, without dieting? (If so, I'm curious what that external factor might have been. If we could figure it out maybe we could bottle it up and sell it, cure the obesity epidemic and get rich in a hurry!)

As to the complaints about your mistake with regard to Atkins' first name, I agree with you: It was a petty complaint, even if the mistake does make your work appear sloppy.