[Overpaid Slacker]

Hey, if you burn the energy, you can eat carbohydrates to your heart's content (double entendre intended). If you're a desk jockey who doesn't make much of an effort to get meaningful exercise, Atkins (and by that I mean real Atkins of moderation in carbs, not zero-carb mania) can help you get rid of the weight. You just have to have the discipline to maintain a reduced-carb diet -- you can still have pasta or cereal or whatever, just not chocolate frosted sugar bombs cereal for breakfast, with toast, a huge sammich, coke and chips for lunch, Snickers for a snack and then gnocci with a loaf of bread for dinner.
The weight loss is "fast" b/c it cuts right to the core of the metabolic equation for most people, but it's not "easy" per se to have the discipline to keep up the moderate carb lifestyle going forward.
Note: it does get easIER as time goes by, b/c you don't miss the insulin rush/satiation feeling you used to get -- that warm, full, sated sensation.
It also gets easier b/c when you eat a big carb meal (like thanksgiving w/ stuffing and potatoes and cranberry, etc.) you go out like a freaking light, and it's not the tryptophan.

JP