Thanks for the suggestion on the recipes.

My problem is I have to cook for my family, so I try to keep my food choices as simple as possible or I'm cooking two meals. I'll do some experimenting as far as cooking some things ahead so I can throw them in the microwave.

Atkins may be one of the easiest diets to adapt to family meals, because all you need to add for your family is a bread or other starchy side dish and/or a vegetable side dishe or two and there you are. If you have a crockpot, there are tons of low-carb, family friendly recipes online.

Even the starchy parts can be simplified so that you're not having to spend a lot of time preparing (being tempted by) them. Buying a good deli french, italian or rye bread, and have hubby do the slicing and passing around. If one of the kids is old enough, having him/her in charge of microwaving a frozen vegetable (a four or five year old often can do this as long as an adult removes the hot bowl).

An example might be skinless chicken breasts or thighs cooked in a jarred spaghetti or tomato sauce you add herbs to (read labels to pick the one with the lowest carb count). Cook some noodles for the rest of the family and serve with a big salad. Either choose or make a low carb salad dressing or use bottled dressings at the table.

I am definitely not as educated on all the diets out there as most of you here. But I do have my own personal experience to call from.
I have been heavy since high school (now 43). My mother was going to WW and made me try it at home with her as my coach. Horrible experience. Put on more weight. When I wanted to get married at 25 I was eating low cal. The weight came off but only 1-2 lbs a week and I was hungry all the time. I felt I was being punished for being fat. I eventually went from 205 to 160 and got married, But I'll tell you starting at the reception I started eating again. I couldn't take the deprivation. Some people say on here that they don't like low carbing when cooking for a family, two meals and all, but I couldn't take watching my new husband eat whatever he wanted while I had my can of tuna and a small salad.
To make a long story a bit shorter, in July 2007 I weighed 262 lbs, I had severe back problems, GERD, I was always bloated and uncomfortable, but the thoughts of starving again was so unappealing. So I started surfing the net and discovered low carbing, it said I didn't have to starve, I just had to give up bread and pasta....etc....but I wouldn't have to starve. So July 9, 2007 I started after reading Dr. Atkins NDR. Now I don't follow any one low carb plan to a T. I have kind of formulated my own, but I am now 173 lbs, no longer have back issues, GERD is all gone as well as needing meds for that. I am NEVER hungry, I am very active now and most importantly I know I will stick with this WOE for life. I look at it this way. It not only made me lose weight, it got rid of a medical condtion that was making me take pills to help it. A DR never told me to give up carbs to control GERD he just said don't eat before bed and lie in an incline. What crap! That acid reflux was eating my esophogus and causing damage, now I no longer worry about that.
Well that's my two cents.

For me low carb works better. I have lost some weight on low cal/fat but I was hungry all the time and constantly felt tired and thought about food. The opposite is true for low carb, I never feel hungry, rarely think about full and have never felt better in my life.

My friend on the other hand did terrible on low carb and has lost nearly 100 on WW. It really just depends on the person and what works best for them.

This is what drives me crazy. There is almost no research on determining the factors that explain why some diets work better for some people, or finding a way to predict which diets will work best for individuals so that maybe some day "trial and error" wouldn't be the only way to find the right plan. Because it really doesn't matter what works best for the "average" person if it doesn't work for you.

As an example, there is some newer research that lower carb diets work better for insulin resistant patients than traditional low calorie diets. It's only taken me 36 years to discover that it's true for me.