BT - I don't think that's bad - to have lost just a pound. because you haven't actually been on a diet. Our bodies are adjusting to eating a healthy normal amount - not less than that. So the loss will be slow and permanent, and with luck, there's no sense of deprivation, ever.
I've been doing it, with a few big lapses of emotional scoffing when we got some bad news, for about 3 weeks and have probably lost about 4 lbs. Enough for people to comment. If it carries on like this - roughly 1lb a week until summer I'll have lost just under a stone before a big party I'm going to, and a stone and a half before the bikini comes out. And that's without counting a single calorie or excluding any food. I think that's really good.
Riven - if you want a short term quick boost to start off, then this probably isn't the best way, as it is slow. But it is perfect for stabilising you weight and regulating your appetite long term. If you did low carb to kick start - you could always move on to this to maintain the weight loss.
But the main point of the McKenna is to get people away from diet mentality - obsessive, neurotic attitudes to food, and back to enjoying it and becoming aware of your natural appetite.
It's not foolproof. You do have to work at being very conscious of whether you're truly hungry. And you do have to eat consciously - which, if you're used to cramming in biscuits on the run, is hard to establish as a habit. There is effort involved, and self discipline. Stopping eating when your stomach has had enough, even though your mouth and your mind are going: but it's garlic bread! or whatever, and want more. You have to train yourself. But it is so freeing to lose weight without counting points, syns, saying can't to this and that. I've eaten Mars bars, crisps, had wine, as well as proper meals every day, and have lost enough (not weighed myself yet) in three weeks, that several people have commented on it.