Well the best I can express this idea is like this: I am a very big fan of a strength coach named Charles Poliquin. He puts ALL of his clients on a low GI diet, and puts %80 of his clients on a low, but not atkins low carb diet. It is kind of like the atkins maintenance. Usually 100-200 grams of carbs per day. People who exercise can lose a lot of fat on this diet because of the fact it is low GI. Without the big insulin response the carbs don't totally sabotage the fat burning. Like Dak talks about, one of the most important things about atkins is understanding it. The reason it works is because your body will first burn blood glucose and muscle and liver glycogen. You will not burn much fat at all if you have a supply of glucose or glycogen. Insulin is what pushes blood glucose into your fat cells when there is a lot in the blood. If you want to maximize fat loss on the atkins you need to keep your glycogen stores down by keeping your carbs down. When your body runs out of glycogen it will tell your body to start realeasing hormones that will trigger your fat cells to release energy which causes the by product of ketones - hence ketosis. You just have to remember if you want to lose MORE fat you are going to need to keep your glycogen low. But if you just want to maintain or lose a little fat, or if you exercise alot, you can get away with just a low GI diet. A high GI diet, for all but the most gifted genetically, will cause you to gain weight via the insulin response and a disposition to binge eat. If you are happy with the weight you lose in induction then feel free to add carbs to your diet. It won't put all of the pounds back, it will just cause your fat burning to slow or cease. Just like Dak takes cheat days, he isn't gaining weight on those days, he is just basically taking a break from the fat burning process.
