I'm doing Curves low-carb and I LOVE it. (There's also a Curves calorie-resistant version for people who fall into that category.) I am on Day 5 of Phase I. I like the idea of "re-learning" good nutrition and taking it into the "real world" of tests and tribulations in the form of birthday cakes, special celebrations and all that. I honestly feel better without refined starches and I know I could do this for life, but as the PPs said, you don't have to eliminate "bad" foods on this diet once you get to the maintenance part of it. And yes, you can eat chocolate. You can even eat it in Phase I if you're careful (though it might be a bad idea since you're trying to kick cravings during this stage). For instance, a peanut butter cup only has 6 carbs total. That's not a habit...it's a "just in case" for those PMS-y, I've-got-to-have-it days. I have some in my freezer & haven't touched them yet.

And yes, you can do fruits if you just love fruits and if they're the right ones (melons, for example, and some berries).

I love this diet so far...and Curves makes no bones about it, this part IS a diet. The idea is, as the PP two posts back said (great post, btw!), is to get to the stage where you truly *don't* have to count anything the majority of the time. But...as both Curves posters said...you really should, by that time, have taught yourself to basically eat healthfully anyway.

GL...give it a shot...what do you have to lose? (Pounds, hopefully! )

ETA: I don't belong to Curves. I do happen to have an exercise tube at home (which the at-home Curves workout requires) so that comes in handy. Here's generally what I do:

One day of: My Exertube video or some other video if I'm getting bored with Exertube...but I make sure it has at least some form of weight resistance on it, because the point is to keep muscle.

The next day: A 30 minute walk on my lunch hour...that's a minimal must. In addition (or instead of) that, on this day I take my son for a walk in his backpack. He weighs 25 lbs. and the backpack weighs 6 lbs. so that's 31 lbs. on my back. I know it's resistance/weight-bearing because I feel the muscular post-workout pains I would normally feel after that type of workout (especially in my lower back, my obliques, my thighs (yay) & my shoulders.