As someone who dieted all my adult life I learned the hard way that you cannot maintain a healthy body by depriving it of it's basic needs. I never kept weight off lost due to "deprivation" diets, and I actually gained weight on low-carb diets. What has worked long-term is keeping low-fat & low calorie foods on hand "for munchies" and making sure I don't let my energy run out from not spacing out my "fuel".

It's not just carbs/fats/calories you need to look at food but overall nutrients Vs. those carbs/fats/calories. One cup of those carrots you want to stay away from is packing a wallop of vitamin A/beta-carotenes shown to significantly reduce risks of cardi-vascular illness and various cancers:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?t...dspice&dbid=21
while falling under a group of foods I call "no count calories"; that is, those foods that even if you ate until you were hurting would still only be a few hundred calories. Other such foods are cabbage (raw or cooked), greens, lettuce, cucumbers/pickles, broccolli, cauliflower, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, celery, okra, squash, peppers, garlic, waterchestnuts, there's so many of them and you can make an infinite combination from them of "eat all you want" dishes. Among those listed above are nature's own best anti-oxidations and metabolism boosters.

I couldn't imagine giving up rice. Rice combined with beans provides a high level of protein while being fat free (no "drippings" or meat/fat added during cooking of course, make up for those with seasonings). BTW, instant or bleached white rice has had most of the nutrition removed, those are sources of little more than sugar and carbohydrates, but whole food grains such as natural brown rice or a natural rice mixed with wild rice, etc. are powerhouses of essential nutrients. A serving of rice with a vegetable is more filling and satisfying than an equal size serving of just one or the other.

I see too many people on the boards attempting to get in shape by deprivation or "miracle products"... it's all about moderation (and of course exercise). Long-term deprivation is doomed to fail.

As that commercial says, "Ya gotta eat!"