How does the atkins diet work?

It's hard not to increase your fat intake as you will tire of chicken & fish very quickly. Also fruits are a big no no, so by not wanting to increase your fat intake you are limiting yourself to lean meats and green veggies which is an extremely strict diet and near impossible to stick to. I went on Atkins about 8yrs ago and after about a month of the diet it was giving me such sever runs, it was no wonder I lost 30lbs in 3 months. When I decided my body couldn't handle much more I went off the diet and promptly gained back 50lbs in 3 months (not dieting, but not eating terribly unhealthy either).. It wasn't until I just started counting calories, watching my food intake and exercising that I actually lost/and kept off 85lbs. I still eat whole wheat pasta/rice probably 4xper week and still can lose weight, so carbs are not necessarily the enemy so long as your monitoring your portion sizes.