Low-carb diets aren't for everyone. But the Atkins diet has worked very well for me. I've been on it since November 2002. I've lost 15 pounds and kept it off.

I tried Atkins out of desperation, because trying to eat a low-fat diet left me hungry ... and fat. Exercise just made me hungrier.

So I read up on Atkins and dutifully emptied my cupboards of sugar, flour, pasta and rice. I threw out my pizza-delivery menus. Ow.

The first phase of the four-phase Atkins diet lasts two weeks that feel like two years. Known as Induction, this is the strictest and most dramatically effective phase. It's the dieting equivalent of boot camp and separates the men from the boys, so to speak, in that if you truly cannot live without toast and pasta, you will break.

Induction was like PMS on steroids. I never felt hungry or weak -- it's hard to feel hungry or weak when you're slugging down big salads covered with meat and cheese and cooking everything in butter and heavy cream. I simply wanted to kill someone. Your body goes through some big adjustments very quickly during Induction, and not being able to self-medicate with a pint of Ben & Jerry's, I was slipping into psychosis.

Until I got on the scale. Six pounds in two weeks, and nearly halfway to my goal. I was sold.

After Induction, you're allowed to gradually start adding carbs back into your diet -- carefully, according to a list. I started with a wider variety of veggies, but the real rejoicing came when I had lost enough weight to allow myself nuts. And berries. I had never been so excited about berries in my life. At last, I could have something resembling dessert!

Over the course of a month or so, I lost another 4 or 5 pounds. And I found I just didn't care that I couldn't have cake or brownies. They didn't look that good to me anymore. I never felt the need for snacks. I was full and satisfied and felt great.

When I was about 5 pounds from my goal, I read up on the diet's Pre-Maintenance phase. It sounded pointless at first, but the idea is to keep adding more carbs into your diet -- beans, fruit, grains -- and slow your rate of weight loss to a crawl. Why? Because you are coming in for a soft landing while you train yourself how to eat to maintain your goal weight, not just touch base and bounce back up two sizes.

This was agonizing in a different way from Induction. I was allowed to eat more things than ever, but my weight wouldn't change for weeks on end. Sometimes it would creep up a pound or two before inching back down. It took me nearly six months to lose those last 5 damn pounds.

But I had to admit that without those long months of experimentation -- can I have beans in my chili without gaining? How much fruit can I eat? Can I have a piece of birthday cake without being driven mad by the sugar and eating the whole thing with my bare hands? -- I might have blown it after I reached my goal. I learned how to cheat sensibly. I learned that a treat is a treat, not something you're entitled to scarf down in huge quantities because it's tasty. I let go of bans and rules and learned limits and discipline, which are much easier to live with.

I've kept the weight off for about a year now. I stay within about a 4-pound range, running a little higher in winter (less exercise, more Christmas/New Year's/Valentine's treats) and lower in summer. I do yoga and Pilates, and I bike in the summer, but I will never be accused of being an exercise nut.

Fortunately, curbing the carbs does most of the work for me.