I’m headed into territory I haven’t explored in decades. Jane is headed past a pesky plateau that has stopped her again and again.
Let me give you the gist of it: first of all, we joined the actual South Beach site, at http://www.southbeachdiet.com which gives you recipes and answers questions like Are beans ok in Phase 1, and other things that can torpedo your success. I recommend that. It’s also a cheap site, membershipwise.
Secondly the essence of the diet: step 1—you sharply limit carbs AND fat, and totally eliminate starches from your diet. You have 2 snacks, one midmorning, one afternoon, and 3 meals. You basically can have all the protein you want, but must ALSO eat 2 cups of veggies a meal, or the equivalent—eg, you can have V-8 for breakfast. You may not have ANY starch. You get your carbs essentially from the vegetables. [No, I’m not fond of veggies, either, but seeing the scales go down is worth it.]
Step 2: you can have 1 unit of starch and 1 fruit sugar daily, meaning you can have a small apple or banana, and a slice of bread. And a glass of wine. If you gain weight back—back you go to phase 1 to war with your metabolism some more. You continue to lose weight. You moderate, gradually increasing your starch/sugar intake until you find your personal ok-point, and then DON’T exceed it.
Step 3: eat what you like, occasional treats, then back to the approved foods immediately. Do not misbehave. It takes a year or so to acclimate the body to the new weight.
This is the first time in 20 years we have had real hope of getting back to fighting weight. We’re feeling good, we love having the allowed desserts every evening, we’re fitting into clothes we’d almost despaired of fitting again, and we’re not hungry all the time. Can we go out occasionally? Yep—have the steak and salad, a glass of wine, and put the dressing on the side. No desserts, while eating out. Just have the big steak. No potato. Jane and I are resolved to order the big steak, have an extra salad instead of the baked potato, and split the meal. Cheaper.
Anyway, I offer it for any of you who are interested in facing the holidays with a Plan this year. You could get through Thanksgiving with a lot of turkey and the salad, no green bean casserole, no pie, or have it and reform on the following day; and Christmas, well, have a cookie or two, or that slice of pie, then reform and have the ham and a side of green beans.
That’s our plan, anyway. We had a binge for Jane’s birthday—cream pie and carrot cake, then went immediately back to weight loss. Mind, you can do this now and again and still come out of it on the track for weight loss. You don’t have to beat yourself up. Have an Occasion now and again, use some restraint, then come back to center, and it works.
You are having the same experience I did when I was diagnosed officially with diabetes 2. I connected with some people of usenet who recommended low carb eating, which is what the south beach diet is. I lost weight fast – about 10 lb a month. I’d done all the low-fat eating but never been able to drop weight, but cut the starches and off it came. I also liked blood glucose testing to keep my eating honest.
I did gain back a lot of the weight when I had personal stress issues that took me away from paying close attention to diet and weight, and cheating too often on the bread front. I’m back on the game; the hard part is eating with friends, or finding low-carb lunch when I neglect to pack something; carbs are what you find in vending machines, or fast food places, or cheap restaurants (country cooking is Bad). I am not fond of cooking, or thinking about food,, and my SO likes a different diet , avoiding some things I can eat. But it really does work if one can stick to it.
Forgot to add Congratulations! That’s a big achievement, and harder than the naturally thin give credit for.
One thing we’ve found: while grocery stores aren’t as common as fast food places, they’re usually somewhere in the neighborhood: a gas station, a quick stop when we’re traveling, and there’s usually cheese sticks or an allowable drink or something useful, be it fruit or lunch meat. Even a skinny latte with no flavoring or a sugar-free skinny chai or a Subway salad can be an emergency tide-me-over. That helps us out at bit. When we’re on the road we allow a little bit more carb for driver alertness. You have to watch the beef jerky: amazingly, sugar.
It helps a lot to see your progress. Today I’m starting my 3rd week on the South Beach Diet and even though I’m not craving for starches anymore, I’m still not very good about portion control. From previous experiences, I know that it takes a while for the weight loss to really quick in for me, so I stay in phase 1 for 3 to 5 weeks. So far I can only report that I went down a cup size! I think my problem is that I don’t like any of the deserts and compensate by eating too many nuts.
I bought the books a few years ago and finally I’m using the recipes. There’s quite a few good ones for phase 1. But all the cooking is killing me. That’s why checking how you’re doing gives me an incentive to keep going.
Congrats to both of you! I did a similar diet this summer and lost 25 lbs pretty comfortably and without being hungry all the time. I am cheating too mcu going into the winter months I really need to refocus. My wife keeps making chocolate chip cookies and brownies though and thats not helping. =)