Oh man... here I am again considering trying the Atkins diet.
Lol, years ago I got the newest version of the book, and I tried to do it. I
guess I did not have the willpower to get past that first real carb craving
week that the book said I would experience, and I crashed, ended up eating
pancakes on a Sunday morning, and said "Atkins sucks".

The second time I tried the diet, I was dumb and did it with too much high
carb/sugar foods in the house.
I crashed, and blamed the Atkins diet. In retrospect, it may have been the
fact that at the time I was working a strenuous job and not getting enough
sleep, and generally not taking care of myself. It was also in the middle of
a hard time for me when I was experiencing some self loathing and depression
(more than is usual for a negative type guy like me).

So I am considering it again.
I am not fat. I have weight I don't want, but am not a "large" person. I am
five foot 6 inches and weigh about 190 lbs, however alot of that is muscle I
suspect, because my waist is 36, which isn't HUGE, but isn't skinny.
I want to loose some weight, and get alot of the refined sugars out of my
diet, as I have been a sugar junkie so long, and I don't really feel like
developing type 2 diabetes in my life...

But there seem to be roadblocks.
The Atkins diet seems to me in some ways like a clever scheme to sell
specialized foods from their website, and now through GNC stores.
You need to cut SO MANY carbs out of the diet to go into ketosis, that it
seems to me that you will end up spending lots on the high fatty foods that
are required whilst in the first few weeks (or months) of the program.
Meats, cheese, eggs, these are all things which are actually more expensive
than the highly processed foods that we are used to eating as a society. I
guess that you have to ask yourself whether you can put a pricetag on your
health though, right?

Can I drink diet soda while on Atkins? For some reason, Atkins himself seems
to act as if aspartame is the devil, and will impede your weight loss.
I question why an additive developed for diabetics and people on diet's
would deter people from loosing weight.
Of course, Atkins also conveniently sells products with the Splenda type of
sweetener in them (cant recall the non brand name atm).

How much back to "normal" (breads and other carbs) will I get back to after
I have lost my initial weight? I have a goal to have flat abs, to be honest,
as well as feel more energetic and the like.
So yeah, I have lots of questions, and I would appreciate it very much of
someone could shed some light on my queries.

I have tried low calorie/low fat/lots of exercise diets in the past with
MARGINAL success. In total I lost about 15 lbs before I found I had to
increase my cardio workout substantially. I don't drive a car, I take
transit and walk all over the place.
Its not as if I am suffering from the suburbanite syndrome of driving
everywhere and anywhere.

Thanks.