Hi Unity -- so far so good. I think I started on March 10, and have lost 5 pounds. That isn't terribly dramatic, but more than weight loss, I am noticing "fat" loss. Pants I felt "poured into" for the past two years now actually feel loose in thighs and "baby pouch" (that part of lower abdomen that has yet to disappear, even though my younger son is now 10!). I also feel less "puffy" all over.

This is also without any other changes in diet or excercise since...I've still had little time to step up the excercise to 20-30 minutes per day. It does force me to stick to an eating schedule, since the pills have to be taken 30 minutes before meals. Between that, and timing my niacin (for low HDL) pills between meals, it helps keep my meals "organized" and stretched out. This was something that came up in a book I read on low-carb diets in general -- about how between meals is when insulin goes down and glucagon kicks in.

That, in turn, is supposed to be when the blood goes after energy stored in fat cells (if I'm understanding all this correctly). Anyway, once I read about it, I realized that's the part that doesn't seem to "happen" for me -- emptying out the fat cells, even while following SP .

I see you're on "Protein Power." I actually just got the book at a tag sale, and have only really thumbed through it so far. They seem to go into a lot more detail about the roles of insulin and glucagon than SP or Atkins. Do you find the program much different from SP or Atkins?

Re Insulin and Glucagon -- I actually came across a good discussion of the two in my medical journal "search" of a few weeks ago. I'll dig out the reference and pass it on to you all.