Hi all... I am back on the beach after successfully losing about 22 pounds a few years ago. On Day 5 of P1...

Anyway, last time through, I didn't have any trouble with Phase 1. This time, however, I woke up nauseous on day three... and the terrible feeling did not go away. I've done everything "right;" plenty of dairy/beans/water, etc. Finally, this morning, I "broke down" and had a piece of P2-appropriate bread to settle my stomach, and it seemed to do the trick.

So did I totally sabotage myself, or will one piece of whole wheat bread not be the death of all my hard work? I don't feel particularly crave-y, FWIW. Also, should I return to P1 as was, or just continue to slowly incorporate P2 items?

I started the same day you did!

I also had something not P1 appropriate this week. On Wednesday morning I woke up and my power was off- over the holidays I totally forgot to pay the bill! Well, I called and paid it but they told me it wouldn't be back on for a couple hours. I was so stressed (and up so early!) that I wasn't even thinking about finding a SB approved breakfast. My hubby and I went to Caribou Coffee for breakfast and I got a veggie egg white sandwich.

I decided, for me, that it wasn't a big deal and to just keep going w my P1 like nothing happened. It was one slip up, brought on by stress, and now I'll be more mindful. I'm going to keep going until the end of next week, and try to get a good two weeks in.

I would say, see how you feel. If you feel like you can finish P1 with no more P2 foods, then do it. But if you start feeling sick again, I might just move into a 1.5 and feel good about it. I think if pure P1 makes you feel miserable, you'll be more likely to quit entirely, and that 1.5 might be better...

Then again, I'm just a newbie ;-p

Swan & Lily

In my opinion the closer you can get to a clean 2 weeks the easier it will be after. You will notice the difference in cravings after. That being said 1 piece of phase 2 appropriate bread probably isn't going to be a problem. 1 piece every day might be, but not one piece. I find the pure sugars are the biggest problems - candy, cookies, etc. Just jump back on (sounds like you did!) and keep going. Then see how you feel after 2 weeks. If you still notice cravings give yourself a couple more days. If you don't move on to 1.5.

I do not think you sabotaged.

Sometimes you just have to muscle through the cravings or you just prolong the issue.

That being said, I have had a horrible sugar headache for two days. I am back on the wagon after the holidays. This did not happen the first time. But this time man. A Hershey's kiss made the headache go away both days, but I know that it just prolongs the suffering LOL

I grabbed a pack of veggies from a cafeteria today and had eaten two of the carrot sticks in it before it clicked with me that they were foods to avoid!
Am I going to beat myself up over a couple of lousy carrot sticks? Is my diet ruined because I ate something off the banned list? No way!!

The truth is, that if South Beach is going to be your lifestyle, you can't always be on plan 100% of the time. There will be hamburgers. There will be [real] cake. There will be pizza. I do agree with Cindy, though. Phase 1 should be as clean as you can; life is not about indulging at every opportunity either. The phase is important in normalizing your insulin levels and teaching you that, yes, you can survive without a starch at every meal. I wouldn't transition to phase 2 yet. Stick phase 1 out. Learn from this.

The only way this will sabotage you is if you let it be the end of your diet. Eating one piece of toast is no reason to start eating a loaf of bread and completely derail yourself! So, forget about this, don't do it again, and most importantly keep going!

You can do this!

Everybody has pretty much said what I was going to say. Definitely stick to Phase I and finish it out...it's going to help you SO much w/ your cravings. Several people swear by beans and your full servings of dairy to make it through Phase I w/ minimal problems.

Thanks everyone for the feedback and support... I am back to a clean P1 and feel sooo much better than I did yesterday. In retrospect, I think my tummy troubles may have been non-SBD related. I've gone through P1 quite a few times with no issues, and I was feeling SO bad. Something must have been up.

Anyway, thanks again and enjoy your weekend!