Do any of you get hungry on it? I am just wondering. I would like to try it, but it might be impossible. My mom is all about keeping the food bill down as low as possible. I am also worried that it will make me gain weight.
I was doing my own high protein diet with a few carbs from veggies and things like melba toast and wasa crispbread thrown in (I have hypoglycemia and I have a lot of weight to lose). I was losing good on that, and then I stalled after losing 46 pounds in two weeks.
I was just going to try to stick through the stall, but then a friend of mine started jumping all over me and telling me off. He said he didn't notice a difference and didn't believe me that I had lost the 46 pounds. He started lecturing me about the carbs and telling me that no carbs are good for me and insisted that I go on a 100% meat diet. This is my first day and it is only 11:34am and I am already feeling tired, weak, and sick. I am not sure if I just have low blood sugar or what the deal is.
I lost a bit of weight on my own and have been OP with SBD for 6 months now. For me SBD has worked great! I'm off BP meds, feel spectacular and lose weight consistantly. My blood sugar is stable.
You asked about hunger. As long as I eat what I'm supposed to I don't have those gut gnawing cravings that make me want to eat...and eat...and eat. If I'm having a hungry day I eat BUT it's totally SBD Phase 2 approved food. I haven't had a bite of corn or potatoes in 6 months. As to gaining weight, I don't believe you would gain weight following SBD strictly.
If you decide to give SBD a try you will find alot of support here. I have 2 suggestions; first that you read the book from cover to cover so you may understand the whys and hows of SBD. My second suggestion would be that you find a medically approved plan to follow. Unless your friends are medical doctors I don't believe you are taking a very wise path following their suggestions. This is about YOUR health not theirs.
An all-meat diet is far from healthy. There are scientists (and only a few) who think it CAN be done under certain circumstances, but those circumstances, are not practical or even possible - Are you willing and able to eat mostly insects, fish and small animals - and not just the muscle meat, but the blood, skin, fat, bones and internal organs?
Yeah, doesn't sound too good to me, either.
The inuit traditional diet (often used to defend the all-meat diet) is mostly meat - but they also work very hard to get that meat (exercise may be the secret to their lower incidence of lifestyle illnesses), and they do include herbs and berries and vegetables in the short, summer months. It is also said that sea mammal blubber contains more vitamin C per ounce than oranges (don't know if this is true), but it's pretty unlikely that you're going to find seal and whale blubber at your local grocery store, so you're going to have to get your vitamin C from fruits and vegetables.
South Beach is considered one of the healthiest of structured weight loss plans, but whether or not you decide to go that route, learning more about basic nutrition will help you distinguish good dieting advice from bad (because there's a lot of bad advice out there).
Some basic nutrition books that I've heard good things about (check your local library, if they don't have them, they probably can order them through interlibrary loan):
Complete Idiot's Guide to Total Nutrition
Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating
American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide
"Eat food, not a lot, mostly green" is probably a lot more common sense primitive advice than "eat half a whale."
I've been doing SBD for six months and I've gone from 260 to 214.5. I have recently had energy that I did not have before, so I have added EXERCISE to my diet, which has been great for me.
I feel great. My blood sugar feels extremely regulated. At times I had nearly monthly struggles with yeast infections - hardly ever any more. I also feel less moody, even though my doctor has specifically warned me that due to my "rapid" weight loss, I may be moody (due to estrogen being released stored by fat - I am only noticing this during TOM).
The first few weeks, I was rabidly hungry. but after the cravings are over, I was very satisfied on this diet.
One of my best strategies is to have "meal" salads - eat whatever you are having on a big bed of spinach or romaine lettuce, this is very filling.
Certainly you could try it - I could not imagine how you would gain weight on the diet (as I could imagine you would do on an all meat diet, for example.)
Also, an all-meat diet is awfully expensive. On SBD I tend to gravitate toward different variations of chicken breast and vegetables.
An alternative to buying the book would be to sign up for the $$ SBD web site - they plan out your diet and have shopping lists, etc.
tarra. If you are seriously considering starting on the South Beach Diet, I would strongly recommend that you get a copy of the book and read it thoroughly before you get started. It's a wealth of very helpful information that you will need to make this way of eating a success. You must understand the fundamentals of this plan, and you won't get it on the SBD website.
As far as eating 100% meat, you are doing your body more harm than good. Your body needs the vitamins, nutrients and fiber from a well balanced diet that includes vegetables, fruits, whole grains and dairy for a healthy, lasting weight loss.
In referring to the traditional Inuit diet, I want to clarify that I am not advocating it - quite the opposite. The variables that make the diet appropriate for pre-technological life in the arctic cannot easily be duplicated in the modern world (nor would most people want to), and it's far more complicated than eating half a whale -
no electricity, no central heating, living in a very cold climate, having to work very hard to survive, eating no "modern" foods - no soda, no bread, no snack foods, no sugar, salt or additives. Also, no tv, no video games, lots and lots of exercise - not only for survival, but also recreational activities that are very physical. These people are athletes, not couch potatoes... There are no "extra" caloies in the traditional Inuit diet - you burn everything you take in to survive - not only to hunt/work but also to keep warm.
Too often diet is seen as the only component to health, but it's only a small component. Diet, exercise, psychological and social environments and even the climate can't be discounted. So unless you're living like a traditional Inuit, in a traditional Inuit community, hunting and making everything you need with your own hands, including clothes and tools, with no modern conveniences, there's no basis for recommending an Inuit diet, even if it were possible.
Sorry, I wasn't poking at you, I was using hyperbole...I should have said, "eat half a cow" or something to that effect, to be more clear...a whale was just the biggest animal I could think of that people eat. The all meat diet is particularly disastrous in my opinion, for what my opinion is worth after spending 6 months on SBD and losing 45 pounds.
Last edited by weebleswobble; 11-08-2009 at 08:34 PM.
Tarra, have you consulted a doctor or nutritionist? I'm not sure what your friend is basing his information on, but it sounds like he has a very confused view of nutrition. Everything I've read has said that a variety of foods is best for good health. People have varying opinions on what specific foods are best in each category (i.e., on South Beach, we prefer whole grains over simple starches in the starch category, and "healthy" fats over saturated or trans fats in the fat category), but I've never heard anyone propose that an all meat diet is best. In fact, I have many vegetarian and vegan friends who never touch meat and are thin and in fantastic health. Every person's body reacts in its own way, so you just don't know that what works well for one person (your friend) will work for you.
While each person's weightloss can look different, and if someone sees you every day, they may not see the loss as easily as someone who hasn't seen you much, I find it nearly impossible to believe that your friend can't see 46 lbs of loss. That's a huge success (good for you!!! ) and I'm sure everyone can see it. I don't know him, but your friend doesn't seem very friendly.
As to picking a plan, the caveat is knowing what you can live with. It's possible that you just hit a plateau on your former diet. We all have them, and you just have to work through them. Eventually, the weight will come off again. However, it's also possible that your diet was so limited that you eventually felt deprived and hungry, and so you ate more than you should (either eating on your plan, but eating more food, or eating off your plan). If that's the case, you should consider what made you feel so deprived. The best plan for you is one where you can limit your intake without feeling so deprived that you'll go off plan eventually.
Personally, I think South Beach may be a very good fit and is definitely worth considering. I am hypoglycemic as well and had a lot of weight to lose when I started (just over 150 lbs). I've never been hungry on this diet (sometimes I was too full to finish my meals!), and since my main problem with any diet I'd done before was that I kept craving more food, the way that SBD takes away cravings was a Godsend for me.
Read the book and see what you think. I promise you'll never be hungry--you eat tons of veggies and lots of protein and fiber which keeps you full--but I can't promise that it's a cheap way to eat. You may need to get creative, buying veggies at farmer's markets and other places where they aren't as expensive, buying frozen veg, buying dried beans, etc., but it is possible to reduce the costs. Furthermore, paying for healthy food now is a lot cheaper than paying for medical bills later. Though, if you don't have the money now, that's hard to appreciate.
I'm by no means a South Beach "expert," as are some of the ladies here who have lost and maintained their losses of many hundreds of pounds. But I had to chime in to share something:
Like beachgal said, South Beach is a cravings KILLER. I am just blown away by that. The first few days are difficult while your body makes the severe adjustment to no simple carbs... but after that (or at least for me and a lot of others), the cravings are just... gone. It's been like receiving a golden key to a fabulous room I'd never seen before. Truly, the physical cravings simply disappear.
I've had a lot of emotional stuff I had to work through to get to the point where I can stick to the diet, but I'm there at last. And I know that South Beach is the best plan, bar none, to get me where I eventually wish to be. I encourage you to read the book from cover to cover and to give it a try (under a doctor's supervision, of course)!! You may be as astonished by the results as I was.
First of all, congrats on the weight loss!
Secondly, that boy is no friend. Jerk.
I've been on SB for a week now. I lost 10 pounds, and while I've occasionally felt hungry (which I swear, is all in my head) I don't feel weak or tired. In fact, I have more energy than I've had in a long time.
SB if much healthier than an all-protein diet. In fact, I was recently part of a study at the Mayo Clinic that involved a diet that for all practical purposes was the SB diet! If it's good enough for the Mayo Clinic....
So, the first two weeks of SB can be a challenge. But it's a lifestyle change, not something you do and then are over.
Hang in there....and surround yourself with friends that are supportive!
I Am Really Wanting To Try The South Beach Diet
and 
tarra. If you are seriously considering starting on the South Beach Diet, I would strongly recommend that you get a copy of the book and read it thoroughly before you get started. It's a wealth of very helpful information that you will need to make this way of eating a success. You must understand the fundamentals of this plan, and you won't get it on the SBD website.
Every person's body reacts in its own way, so you just don't know that what works well for one person (your friend) will work for you.
) and I'm sure everyone can see it. I don't know him, but your friend doesn't seem very friendly. 
