I spent the $50 and downloaded Ellis' books off of his web site (it's a bit cheaper than buying a hardcopy). His writing style does leave a bit to be desired, i.e. I don't need to have it repeated 500 times how right he is and how nobody else has put all this information together in one place. 200 times might have been enough.

All that being said, the science behind what he is saying seems very solid, and the fact that he does support his plan with an exhaustive amount of scientific evidence is impressive. I still believe that he misrepresents Atkins to some degree by insisting that Atkins has said that "calories don't count". While Atkins isn't nearly as specific as Ellis when it comes to calorie reduction, the basic principle of "eat until your satisfied, not until you're stuffed" is in full agreement with Ellis.

I'll sum up Ellis' plan briefly to save you all the $50. Using the calories in/calories out premise, you first have to find out how many calories your burning every day. He gives the calculations for this in his book, or they are available on his website under "Chapter 4 calculations" (you can also buy a device called a Caltrac from him). Then you begin to track your caloric intake, while keeping your carbs at his recommended level of between 60-80 per day (higher if you're extremely active). The goal us to add 100 calories of activity and reduce 100 calories of intake, therefore putting yourself 200 calories to the good. Since 3500 calories is equal to one pound of fat (which Ellis admits is an oversimplified way of looking at it, but he uses it for the sake of brevity), you will lose 20 pounds per year this way.

Since I've started tracking my food intake on fitday, the figures I'm getting pretty much agree with Ellis' claims. I've been taking in around 800-1000 calories per day less than my calories burned, and have been losing 2-3 pounds per week.

The bottom line for me is, Ellis and Atkins are both right. Cut the carbs, eat reasonable portions, and you can't help but lose weight.

Rick