Hi, Amy....I hear your confusion.....
I am no expert at this, by any stretch of the imagination, but IMHO, you should concentrate on one plan at a time. After you have one plan firmly in place, then decide whether you want to follow it to success. Check out how you feel, and whether you are losing weight. Give it at least a week, I'd say. Longer if you can.
If you decide to change plans, give the new one the same opportunity to work for you by concentrating on it until you learn whether it's going to be your plan for life. Bringing concepts from a previous plan into the current one is confusing and counter-productive.
CAD/CALP does not concern itself w/ calories, weighing/measuring, grams of fat, protein or carbs at all. If you have the book, read up on how to balance your Reward Meals.....start w/ a salad, then have approximately equal parts of carb, protein and the "craving-reducing" vegetables. You do not need to measure or weigh anything, just "eyeball" it on your plate, and make each of them about 1/3 of the total food you plan to eat, just as Zuleikaa said.
Eat all you wish of your meal, but be aware that if you are still hungry after finishing the entire meal, you can have second helpings of everything. It is not necessary to have another salad if you take seconds.
If you go back for second helpings, do the same balancing act, and be sure you eat approximately equal amounts of carbs, protein and LC vegetables. Resist the urge to eat up all the carbs and leave the rest...
Anything sweet, such as drinks, desserts, candy, etc., and alcohol all fall into the "carb" 1/3 along w/ the bread, potatoes and pasta, even if they are not physically on your plate. Try not to unbalance this part of your meal.....a little practice, and you'll do just fine. Remember, you get to practice every day!
If you find that you do crave carbs, cut back a bit on the 1/3 of carbs at RM. That should cure the problem.
Another reason you may crave carbs is if you go over the one-hour limit at RM. Don't do this. It will undermine your progress. Read up on the insulin parts in your book.....that's the explanation of why this plan works.
Just relax, and give yourself some time to try CAD/CALP. After all, it's a lifetime thing, right? You can afford a few days to decide. But one plan at a time!