There's nothing magical about loosing weight - or gaining it! It's merely a matter of eating less calories than your body consumes during a normal day of activity. Those calories can come from anywhere, carbs, fat, really doesn't make any difference where they come from.
The main reason the South Beach diet works is you consume lots and lots of low calorie, high protein food. You eat 5 to 6 times a day, thereby keeping your stomach filled and constantly digesting foods that provide very few calories, but sufficient protein to keep you healthy.
I lost 55-pounds on the South Beach Diet in just 5 months. I kept it off for over 5 years. Unfortunately, I discovered how great various Margarettas taste. They're high-calorie, high-carbohydrate drinks that will pack the pounds around your waistline in no time at all. It took a couple years to gain back 40 of the 55 pounds I lost on the South Beach Diet.
I never had a problem following the South Beach Diet, but my wife hated it. She lost a lot of weight, but said she would never go back to the diet again. I'm hoping to get back to 185-pounds before I leave for the sunny south. That means I'll have to dump 25-pounds prior to October 1.
When I got married I tipped the scales at 145-pounds and stood 6-feet tall. Of course, when you're only 21 years old you can also leap tall buildings in a single bound!
I'm the skinny kid sitting next to the young chick in the middle. And, yes, that's a real band on the stage behind us. No arrangers or DJs back then.
Cheers,
Gary