1. I am impatient too. I stayed close to Induction levels the whole time until reaching my goal. The downside is -- I never went to Ongoing Weight Loss and now have no "transition phase" to Maintenance. This will all be trial and error from now on. People ask when I will be going off Atkins now that I have lost the weight. I tell them I am on this indefinitely.

2. There is a sharp division between the No Scale people and those who believe in weighing early and often. I am in the second group. The No Scale people think you will get discouraged if you don't see weight loss day to day. I could not have done it that way! I hopped on the scale several times a day! I don't believe in putting your head in the sand and building up suspense. The scale provided my main motivation during weight loss and gave me constant feedback. I looked forward to weighing in when I got up in the morning. Fitting into old clothes (the "Pants-o-meter") is gratifying too, but I tend to be a numbers person.

3. There are a lot of great health benefits to this plan, but I am not fooling myself -- I did it for the WEIGHT LOSS! I was on a DIET!