Diet

The slimming and dieting industry is worth millions of dollars. Every year, newspapers, magazines and books present consumers with the latest diet for losing weight and fat. Of course bodybuilders are not spared too, with practically every bodybuilding magazine promoting the latest supplement to build muscle, lose fat, and gain strength.

What's the secret? There is no secret... At the end of the day, whether your goal is to gain size or lose fat, you are only left with two factors within your control:
*Exercise dosage
*Food intake - calories, carbs, protein, fat

Recognise that the body is more concerned about survival (hence, fat storage) rather than aesthetics (six-pack abs, slim waist).

Does eating salad as your main meal everyday help you lose weight? Not necessarily, as this low calorie intake may be interpreted by the body as 'danger'... So, the body continues to keep the fat storage for survival.

What about the popular Atkins diet and other variations - low carb, high protein, medium to high fat?
The typical low carb intake would be about 40 grams of carbs per day - eg, 4 pieces of bread, or one cup of cooked rice per day

Bear in mind that the brain needs a steady supply of glucose... and you do use brain power for office jobs, studying, etc. Hence, long-term low carb can lead people to feel cranky, or difficult to concentrate, etc.

Gary et. al conducted a one-year study on 63 obese people. It was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2003). Participants were randomly assigned to either
Low carb, high protein, high fat
or
Low calorie, high carb, low fat

Results showed that more people lost weight following the Atkins diet compared to the other diet for the first six months. However, at one year the differences were not significant (ie, statistically, one would not be confident that the results were trustworthy). 

For details, read here http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa022207
 
Bottom line - it's complicated...

If aesthetics is your concern, you can try cycling your levels of nutrients -
eg, three days moderate / high carb, medium protein
one day all fruit, no protein
two days low carb, high protein

Other considerations:
-What's beyond your control? Genetics... try as some people may, they may have some inherited conditions that make weight gain (or weight loss) difficult... Then there are other factors to consider - eg, your level of thyroid hormones.
-HEALTH or nice body (six-pack abs, slim waist)? You have to think carefully...

I would like to conclude by quoting one of the sentences in Gary's et al's study:

"We did not evaluate the effect of the low-carbohydrate diet on other important clinical end points, such as renal function, bone health, cardiovascular function, and exercise tolerance."
ie, was there any impact of low-carb diet on
-exercise tolerance? (anybody fainted while exercising?)
-renal function? (kidney function?)
etc...