Hi, Sazzle, and welcome to the board. I will take a stab at your questions:

1) When I first started I read only the old white CAD book and I lost lots of weight not balancing my reward meals. Then I bought CALP and was honestly kinda PO'd at the Hellers for making "my diet" more strick. I decided I would continue to not balance as long as I continued to lose weight. Later I got to the point where the scale stopped moving and I decided to embrace balancing for the sake of weight loss. Thats not really an answer, more of a personal experience shared.

2)I lost about 3 lbs the (first) first week. I think it depends on what you've been doing previously. I say first first because I have restarted a few time. My second and third "first week" were less spectacular. No you will likely not lose 10 lbs like the Adkinsers do.

3) I believe the Hellers say a salad dressing is ok as long as sugar is not in the first four listed ingredients.

I hope this helps.