[dougz]

That's a lot of stuff from a lot of different sources. How do they all interplay with each other?

Pretty well, actually..

The main thrust, and what has been by far the most effective, is the calorie reduction..

The people at PN want you to start out initially at 3000-3500 cals a day..

But I went straight into "individualization", whereby I already knew approx. where I needed to be, intake wise, in order to lose fat..

I also learned (well, finally got behind, more correctly) to eat my veggies..

I was a confirmed meat and potatoes man before, and I'd go weeks without something green on my plate..

I haven't read Alan's AARR (I'm cheap) but what are his thoughts on staying in a deficit for a substantial length of time?

That's a good question, and lacks only for a definition of "substantial" and how big a deficit we're talking about..

I'll email him and hopefully (my luck's been good so far) he'll get back to me..

I may have missed info already provided in the newsletter on that very subject, so hopefully I'm not pissing him off by asking him all these questions.. LOL

My guess is that a 500 cal deficit isn't THAT hard on the metabolism, even over several months..