I have a long and colorful dieting history.

Like many of us, I've tried most weight-loss methods, from the sublime to the ridiculous. Calorie counting, low carbohydrate, high carbohydrate, boiled eggs-and-grapefruit - if it promised slimness I'd take a whack at it, regardless of how whacky the program. They all started well, promised much, and faded along with my good intentions by about the third week.

In the early days, the end goal of being thin justified most means. Subsisting solely on black coffee, vitamins and Diet Coke got me into a size 4, but hardly met my minimum daily requirements of nutrition, or of common sense. Now that I am older and, presumably, wiser I know that eating right is more that just keeping your weight in check. It's caring for your body, your heart, your health. It's about preventing high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes. It's about choosing a better quality of an extended life.

Getting into the habit of motion, through walking, circuit training, dancing, skipping elevators, etc., helped reverse the pounds that crept into my forties. Still, I love food, and even with the added exertion, my weight is not what I want.

After 35 weight conscious years, the routines are familiar. Which to choose in the dieter's bazaar?

I tried Atkins in the '70s, but I'm suspicious of any regime that recommends pork rinds and lard and restricts vegetables. The antithesis of Atkins, the Good Carbohydrate Revolution (Dr. Terry Shintani) stresses whole grains and restricts fats as severely as Atkins restricts carbohydrates. Both recommend eating enough that you don't feel hungry and, like most diets, tell you to drink rivers of water.

The South Beach diet, which I initially dismissed as the diet flavor of the month, is easier to follow. Aside from a promise of losing 8-13 pounds in the first two weeks (yeah, right,) it seems reasonable. Dr. Agatston recommends protein in the form of fish, low-fat dairy and lean meat, green vegetables, beans, nuts and healthy oils (olive and canola) in the initial phase. By the third phase, South Beach looks like the Mediterranean diet, adding whole grains, complex carbohydrates, fruit and, because we're only human, sweets.

What is absent, or in minimal amounts, from all three programs is sugar, refined flour and grains stripped of their fiber. You can kiss your Twinkies goodbye.

It's been a week at South Beach and my fickle bathroom scale shows a four pound drop. Water weight? Maybe, but I'll take the encouragement. I still take a multivitamin and have (decaffeinated) black coffee and Diet Coke. But, this round I'll eat healthy food as well, and be happy with a size 8.

I'll keep you posted.

Brenda Berstler is the founder of the Walking Example Group (WE-GO) a non-profit organization encouraging walking and walkable communities. Visit their website at www.we-go.org.