I did drop 16 lbs doing LCHF though. I limited myself to 20 (grams of) carbs a day for like five weeks. It's hard to do if the whole family isn't on the same page but you can drop some serious weight without losing much muscle mass, if any.
FIFY.
Dr. Atkins was WAY ahead of his time. Establishment doctors tried to laugh him off the stage in the 70's, but current research proves him to have been correct about many, many things almost weekly, it seems now.
If people would try it (it's not easy, at first) and do
exactly as recommended for 15 days, they would be reluctant to ever try any other diet. It works. I started January 19th and had lost 30 pounds by March 31. My doctor was astonished.
I have leveled off at a slower loss-rate (everyone does), but if I can maintain a two to two-and-a-half pound per week loss, I will get where I want to be eventually. Hopefully, the maintenance eating plan will be so ingrained in me by then it won't seem like a diet. It's very easy to follow after your body adjusts back to getting the nutrients it really needs without consuming all the energy you can't possibly burn off.
In a nutshell: Nothing white. No sugar, no potatoes, no rice, no flour. You can eat all the protein you want (pretty much) but you'll soon cut back to reasonable portions because your body just won't be hungry. Keep your carb count low. You'll quickly learn how much is too much -- I've never weighed anything. Atkins lists how many carbs are in this veggie and that nut and you can calculate it all out until it becomes second-nature.
After you've lost the weight you want, you slowly add carbs back into your meals until you find how much you can eat without gaining weight.
Tons of info about Atkins' plan everywhere. He explains in his books why many doctors are wrong when they tell you, "Oh, Atkins is bad for your kidneys and hard on your liver."
