Losing weight is supposed to be unpleasant, difficult, and in the long term, pretty much impossible unless you spent a lot of energy on being disciplined (and hungry). People even argue that the body is programmed to gain a couple of pounds a year under the best of circumstances.

I’ve now found out this is all false. My exhibit: myself.

Two months ago I decided I wanted to lose some weight, and read up on low-carb diets, starting with the original Atkins book. I didn’t feel like following any one of their programs down to the letter; instead, I just decided not to eat carbs if I could avoid it. So since, I have not eaten:

• sugar
• bread
• potatoes
• rice
• pasta
• and some high-carb vegetables like carrots.

I’ve made no other lifestyle changes. I eat as much as I like, and certainly always when I feel hungry. And here I am, 2 months later, and 20 pounds lighter.

Grand total effort required and discomfort to overcome: ZERO.

This turned out to be WAY TOO EASY.

The only things I had to watch out for have been 1) getting enough fiber. I do that by eating plenty of avocados, and 2) taking some multi-vitamins, just in case.

My conclusion: much of what we’ve been told about “balanced meals” is bogus. If I can just eliminate a few things from what I eat and that not only keeps my weight stable, but actually reduces it, the supposedly “balanced” diet is anything but.

When I decide I’m about at the weight I want to be, I’ll put more veggies back into the diet. Perhaps also some bread — the German in me does miss that some (not too much, because much of the bread in the US is simply not very desirable) and I do want to have (home-made) pasta from time to time. But it does seem to be just as Atkins said: you want to lose weight, you don’t eat carbs; you want to gain weight, you eat carbs. Nothing could be easier.

Why, again, do we have a world-wide obesity pandemic?