Thanks for your help while I get the hang of this!
1) if I have something like cottage cheese as part of a meal to count toward my protien req., do I also count the carb in that food toward my daily total?

2) I am supposed to have 34 g. protein per meal. if I have a protien snack during the day, does that lower my mealtime req. or are the snacks just extra protien on top of mealtime requirements? won't that affect weightloss?

thanks in advance!

The MOST important thing to count in PP, or any other low-carb diet for that matter, is the TOTAL carbs eaten during a 24 hour period. Now you can subtract fiber carbs that do not get digested and just "pass" through. Then the next thing to count is total protein. I'll finish that thought below.
Your TOTAL daily (24 hours) REQUIREMENT for protein is 34 times 3 = 102 grams MINIMUM ! So you could not count the snacks as long as you get the 34 gm each of three meals. That would just give you added protein and unless you eat HUGE amounts extra, it is not going to be an issue.

By and large, your weight loss is determined by the energy balance between what you eat and what you burn. But it is not that simple because all of your food is not fuel !! Some is used to build new cells, protein like hair, and hormones. Some just passes through and is not absorbed. Of the three macronutrients, only carbohydrate is used only for energy. Fat is used BOTH for energy AND to build new cell walls. And protein is ONLY used for fuel in desperate times, i.e. you are not eating enough fat and carbohydrate. So you see, that extra protein in a snack should just insure that you are meeting you protein requirement for the day.

If you read the article I linked in my reply to your "How much protein?" post, you will see that the most important thing to achieve weight loss (burn that stored fat) is to cut the carbohydrate intake since it is the fuel first used. That is because blood sugar can become toxic - that is what a diabetic comma is, half way to being dead from too much sugar in the blood (not unlike alcohol). So when you eat carbohydrates, if you eat too much (easy to do!!), your blood sugar rises. The regulatory system in you detects this rise and triggers the release of insulin to help the cells ingest the sugar, to get it out of the blood and presumably to burn it. BUT if the cells really do not need that extra sugar the then will convert it to fat to be saved (stored) for later use. And of course, if you keep eating too much carbohydrate, that stored fat NEVER gets used.

Fat is an issue only at very high levels since there is an absorption regulation that occurs in your gut. Not all the fat you eat gets absorbed. Sugar, unfortunately, is different as it can pass right through even the lining of the mouth. That is how someone in insulin shock (insulin too high) can be brought out of it. A glass of orange juice in the mouth is the standard treatment because the sugar will go into the blood right through the lining in the mouth. So from this fact, you can pretty much count that sugar in the mouth (and rest of the digestive tract) is the same as putting it into the blood. Unless you eat way too much sugar, none will pass through you, it will all get absorbed with the result being more fat will be made and stored. Now high fiber diets can impeed the absorption by blocking the filli in the gut, but that only keeps some from being absorbed. You are still going to get TOO much to allow your body to use the fat stores.