Nice to meet you and congratulations on your loss! I'm sorry it's been such a bumpy ride for you thus far.
Yes, SS definitely works, even though the food tastes good.
but SS also tends to be slower than Atkins. My first two or three weeks I went with nothing but pro/fats, which is pretty much an Atkins plan with the exception of the fruit snacks I had. I lost very fast (about a pound a day for two weeks) but noticed that I was extremely tired and irritable, I began spotting, which I have never done before, and all my female hormone related "side effects" were magnified. The fewer carbs I eat the worse it gets, so I have to be sure to keep those two or three carb breakfasts and lunches in there each week or I start having problems. Oh... and both my DH and I have had muscle cramps when we go strictly pro/fats, so we have to be absolutely sure to take our multivitamin and mineral supplement every day and we are careful to drink lots of water to stay hydrated.
I have read that areas where you may need to supplement are Calcium/Magnesium, Potassium, and the B vitamins (Defficiencies in B vitamins are often related to depression) in particular. You can learn more about that in the Nutrition and Supplements forum here. If you have any special health problems, kidney problems in particular, you should consult with your doctor about both your eating habits and taking supplements.
Did you say you were a vegetarian? Wasn't sure if that's what you meant when you said "I am veg" but if so then there is a forum for Somersizing Vegetarians on the SS site
Http://www.suzannesommers.com Just look in the discussion section.
I have lost more than 20 pounds since I began Somersizing in January and my DH has lost 15 since he started at Easter. We stick pretty close to the plan, though we do "cheat" a little bit in terms of combining and the foods that are "funky" because of combining no nos. For example, we do snack on nuts sometimes and I will occasionally put them in my salads, and we like very low carb breads you can make from mixes or scratch where we're getting just 2 or 3 carbs per slice. We'll eat those with our bacon and eggs or some sugar free berry jam for a special Sunday breakfast. We eat berries with chocolate sauce and in LC ice cream too, because Suzanne has said that berries are an "almost" free food thanks to their low sugar content and becaues they are not very acidic.
Your shakes would be "funky" according to Suzanne because they are a combining no no. You are eating carbs with proteins, but this is a very small cheat and if you do well with it, I wouldn't worry too much. The trick is to keep track of the things you are doing that are not strictly adhering to her plan and then if you find you are not losing, remove them one by one until you are. I do find that sticking to her Level one plan meticulously gives me the best results, so when I stall or start gaining it's usually pretty easy to find the problem and fix it.
I get into trouble just pigging out on high fat stuff too, so when I find something just too yummy for words I still have to be careful even when it's legal.
If you haven't already, get one of Suzanne's books and read through her whole plan. It's worth getting all of them for the recipes. I got most of mine used, for half price through Amazon.com. The recipes are absolutely wonderful and I just keep losing!
Good luck and welcome to the club!
MB