I did not enter this with a defeatist attitude, but I must say that after past dismal failures, I just had a huge fear that this time would be the same . . .

For that very reason, I have not "dieted" in about 10 years!!!!! Despite weighing over 220 for most of that time. The reason?

I was convinced by experts of the low fat high carb truth . . and about 12 years ago I lost 60 lbs - got down to 160, was running 10k races, was looking pretty darned good and I hit a plateau, was hungry all the time on the lowfat thing, quit running, quit dieting and gained everything back!

2 children later and here I am!! After a few weeks of Atkins I am a total convert! And I feel like you do - I will never cheat! This is just way too easy!!

But, I do understand how the beginners feel . . after that last major attempt I mentioned above, I totally gave up for a looooong time and to have faith in a new woe took a bit of time. I think they'll all get there eventually!