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As a cynic with a great deal of bias and a resounding lack of knowledge or perspective, it's my opinion that Atkins works for people mostly because it's just a chore to stick with. If your meals are based around foods that require prep (aside from the 'green veggies' and 'tomatos' part of the list, and even those are typically not consumed in the 'buy, then eat directly' fashion), you eat less frequently. It takes a good chunk of time to get Atkins-qualified food (meats) from the 'fridge to your face. Most people are too lazy to plan their snacks that far ahead.
So it worked decently for a while (I've heard strong positive and negative reports from both sides.) And then capitalism kicked in, and you can buy low-carb crap everywhere. You can snack a lot, and you're just left with the benefits of simple sugars and blah blah ketosis without really changing your caloric intake at all.
So my "diet", which is has been resoundingly successful (I don't own a scale or know how much I weigh) for me:
Only water and tea after 8pm. Eat relatively responsibly before then (when I'm hungry, not when I'm just in the mood to chew on something, and cook it all myself: pasta, sandwiches, tortilla-based food, eggs, stirfries.) Avoid buying icecream or cooking meals which end up being put into the 'fridge, because they're too snackable. If I'm up early enough, eat breakfast ('gets the metabolism going'). Exercise. Drink lots of tea, water, and orange juice. Allow for enough variation that I don't resent the diet, because the most important part is sticking with it for somewhere between a few months and the rest of my life.
Really, that's the core of it all -- happiness and less calories. Anything else is fluff or psychological manipulation to make one side or the other easier.
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