You know what? There are plans that really might seem "silly" or "gimmicky" that people actually have success with whether 15 studies can prove "real" science behind them or not.

I've followed CAD and lost weight. Do I fully understand and believe all the explanations they gave for the "why" it works? No. Was it easy to follow and did it give me weight loss if I followed the rules? Yep.

Even plans with "real" science behind them are put out to make money for the authors. Each of the LC and semi-LC plans I've seen are all basically the SAME, but have their little hooks to make you feel like it's a whole new idea. Atkins pictures piles of meat and mounds of foods like lobster with butter, heaps of veggies dripping with butter... to draw in people who love those foods and want to eat them again. South Beach is a different spin on LC, then there was the Hamptons Diet with its macadamia nut oil to set it apart, and now it's the coconut oil miracle, before that, the Zone....

Some very successful and healthy "losers" just want a set of rules to follow and to see it work, and they're good to go.