[russotto]

Originally posted by case
Why not gradually work your way down from the portions you are use to to more reasonable sizes and more often during the day?

Because IME it doesn't work. If you try to work your way down, your body will betray you by burning fewer calories (and of course complaining with hunger) and not losing any weight. I started cutting out snacks, desserts, etc in college and managed to lose absolutely nothing. Cutting portion sizes in half and skipping meals worked a lot better.

Also, I have to disagree with Atkins on carbs in general. We have high glycemic carbs and low glycemic carbs. Lower ones, like green beans, brown rice, whole wheat bread are going to take longer to metabolize, so your body sort of has more time to burn them off.

The starches in brown rice and whole wheat are no different than those in white rice and white bread. And the metabolic path from starch to fat is nearly as efficient as that from sugar to fat, it just takes slightly longer. Calories in - Calories out = weight gain, regardless of the source.

Wouldn't it be more sensible to stop trying to make ourselves eat steaks and cheese with no bread and just eat naturally, cutting back on refined sugar products, like soda and cookies? Sure, it would take longer to lose weight, but it does happen, even if you don't increase your activity.

Again, Calories in - Calories out = weight gain, regardless of the source. Doesn't matter whether it's natural or not.