I just finished the first low-cal week with the following modifications:

1) Instead of 600/900 (600 calories for the first 3 days followed by 900 for 4 days) I aimed for 900/1200. Doing the diet with Richard, using the "Men's meal plan" but with smaller servings of meat and some minor subsitutions. This actually came out to more like 950/1250 according to my calorie counter. Close enough.

2) Okay, I wasn't perfect. I added one energy bar the day I planned to go ice skating (only to find the rink was closed, so that just turned out to be 150 calories extra). I got blindsided by pizza one day, ate 1800 calores that day. And somebody in my household accidentally bought the wrong kind of ricotta cheese, which I couldn't resist eating instead of cottage cheese. So my average for the week turned out to be about 1200 calories a day, where it should have been 1071. That's before accounting for exercise.

3) I'm not starting from sedentary, like most of Katahn's Vanderbilt subjects. He seems to assume you'll be slowing adding in exercise the first week. I just went with what I've been doing all winter, which came to about 2200 calories (ice skating, biking, gym). When you calculate in the exercise, it turns out about 900 NET calories per day.

I make fun of Katahn's claims that you'll lose "up to a pound a day," which is clearly impossible by the laws of physics. But damned if I didn't lose 5 pounds! Yow. Yeah, yeah, I know that at least half of that is water weight. But on the typical "sensible reducing diet" I don't see any change on the scale for the first 10 days. I have to say, this is a lot more fun!

I'm starting week 2, where I get to eat 1500 calories a day. Usually that seems like starvation diet to me, but at the moment it does sound pretty luxe.

One thing I like about this diet is the meal plans. It's low calorie, but pretty balanced in terms of fat/carbs/protein. I can't tolerate a super-low carb diet (I get light-headed and cranky) or a super-lowfat diet (no flavor). This is just a nice balanced combination of simple, tasty whole food. And LOTS of fruit. Fruit is my friend.

Here's what I get to eat today:
-Breakfast: half an onion bagel, toasted, with melted cheese and a sprinkling of chili powder. *mmmm* Half a banana. Coffee with 2T low-fat canned milk.
-Lunch: tuna salad made with low-fat mayonnaise, carrot, onion and celery, blended to a creamy spread. Packed into half a whole-wheat pita with tomatoes, spinach and those little pickled red peppers that look like cherry tomatoes. (yum) A small can of V8. A clementine orange.
-Snack: Clif Bar energy bar (this week it isn't "cheating")
-Dinner: broiled chicken with grilled veggies, brocolli with cheese, and boiled yams. Whole-grain crackers.

Exercise: an hour of ice skating.

... coming along okay. After several attempts (and a visit to their website) I finally figured out how to build a delicious, healthy meal at Q-Doba (one of those new-wave Mexican fast-food joints that makes their burritos gigantic by filling them up with rice). A burrito full of rice is really stupid, sort of like a bread sandwich. The trick is to leave out either the rice or the tortilla. I chose to skip the tortilla and added an extra serving of sauteed vegies (probably intended to be used in the vegetarian burrito). Black beans, yes. Cheese/guacamole/sour cream, no. The result is absolutely yummy, very filling: 630 calories. Mmmm. The nice thing about dieting is that food tasts so good.