The Atkins diet is a well known low carb diet that many people have followed to successfully take off significant amounts of weight amidst a fair amount of controversy.
The Atkins Diet was developed by Dr. Robert C. Atkins in the 1960s and popularized in his book “Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution” in 1972. According to www.atkins.com and www.webmd.com, the Atkins Diet is based on the premise that people are overweight because they eat too many carbohydrates, therefore by drastically reducing carbohydrates in the diet and increasing protein and fat, we will naturally lose weight by burning stored body fat because not as many carbohydrates will be available.
More info on the atkins diet