My husband and I are both very overweight. I need to lose about 180 and he needs to lose about 130. We are currently looking at differnet plans and researching to find the one that will work best for us. Just a little about us. I am a SAHM to 4 boys under the age of 9. He works a regular full-time job in front of a computer all day. We also need a plan that is not going to cost us an arm and a leg but has great results. We are not looking to lose all the weight over night or in a year. It took years for us to get where we are so it will take a long time to lose it also. So tell me what you think we should know about SB. I do own the older and newer versions of the books as well as the cookbook.
Atkins is really expensive. It also made me really sick. I just could not eat straight protein! I feel it is not all that nutrionally sound either, because you are drastically cutting carbs to put your body into ketosis. I do think we need carbs, just really healthy ones versus none at all.
I can't vouch for fat flush or sugar busters. My mom tried sugar busters I think and she got good results, but the key there is to cut the sugar. It's the same with south beach. Cut sugar, consume the good fats and good carbs. There are lots of ways on south beach to watch the budget. Avoid the processed so called "low-carb" foods, watch meat sales and eat lots of in season veggies and fruits (the ones that are allowed).
I don't know anything about Sugar Busters or Fat Flush, but I do know about Atkins and will be starting South Beach tomorrow. Atkins, in my opinion, got to be expensive for me. I have 3 kids, and having to buy enough protein to feed them (they are all going through grow spurts at the same time it seems), my husband and even more for me since it was basically what I ate the most of - just got to be ridiculous.
Both of my brothers have done South Beach and have lost a total of 75 pounds between them and feel great. I wanted a plan that I could incorporate my family into as well, just for the health benefits alone and to teach my kids to make the right choices earlier in life. They are not on the "diet" - but making healthier choices in having some fruit instead of cookies, or whole grain instead of white - is a positive difference.
I just thought that overall the South Beach program seems a lot more healthier in the long run. Good luck in whatever plan you choose though - seems like your husband will be supportive as well and having someone to buddy up with definitely makes a huge difference. If you stay around here, you will get massive support and sound advice - these gals rock!
I tried fat flush and my opinion of it is that it is very expensive to do and very complicated. I tried it for a week and figured it wasn't a weight loss plan I could stick to for very long because it was way too money and time consuming.
I will say of course I love South Beach Diet. Since you will be eating a lot more unprocessed foods, you will have to shop for bargains in the meat and veggie sections. I've been on many diets and I do think it is one I can stick with through my entire weight loss and like you, I have a lot to lose.
SB Diet gets you into good long term eating habits that are sustainable over time and if you are cooking at home is easy to stick to especially if you are both doing it. It is also fairly easy to accommodate the rest of the family because you can cook meat and vegies for you and hubby and add a starch for the kids. If you are on a budget you may find the meat and vegies a bit more expensive but nuts and beans are cheap so there are ways around it. I buy seasonal vegies, bulk buy meat when it is cheap and use eggs, cheese, nuts and beans for cheaper sources of protein to suplement meal meals.
My husband and I are doing SBD together and we love it! It's verrry simple -- we can both follow it, and we're seeing lots of success. I think it's a bit more expensive than what we were paying before we were watching what we were eating, but I don't think you can put a price on good health -- fresh foods are worth it!
Well I have tried Atkins (thought I was gonna die and never lost a pound) but not the other 2. (if you can believe that!) Like you I researched (and prayed) several plans before I felt led to SBD and it has been a God send for me. I was getting bigger and bigger and more depressed and more depressed. Now...... about 25 lbs. lighter and happy as can be! I started the end of Jan. but took the summer off! I didn't go back to my old WOE but was not faithfully beachin it. Only gained 3 lbs. which I have already dropped back off. I am also a SAHM and am unable to exercise due to some injuries and have still lost the weight. Can't wait til I can exercise so that my loss will be increased! I do feel this is the healthiest choice and it is a way you can eat for the rest of your life. Hope to see ya (y'all) hangin on the beach with us!
Sugar Busters and South Beach are very similiar. I've read the Sugar Busters book a couple times. My sister has incorporated many of the guidelines into her diet and has done quite well.
I was looking into doing Atkins for a little bit when I stalled for so long, but wasn't sure how well I could survive without more variety. Even though I'm not a big veggie eater, I do like my beans and cheese....I guess the cheese is ok.
South Beach tends to be expensive in the first few weeks if you choose to follow the menus in the book. Most people don't. We tend to design our own from the foods to enjoy list. Cooking tends to be a shock for people because many people are used to the convenience of the pre-packaged meal starters that are high in bad fats and sugars. Making everything from scratch sometimes scares people off. But after a while you develop stratagies to cook meals for efficiently.
I am doing well on SouthBeach and plan to stay on it forever but I find that it's very expensive. My grocery bill has pretty much gone thru the roof since I started in April. I don't see any way around it either - healthy food is simply more expensive than junk food. You can buy a bag of Doritos for about $3, and it will last maybe a few days as snacks. The same amount of pistachio nuts for snacks for a few days is at $6 where I live. Fresh produce is expensive as well, and so are low fat cheeses, etc.
I have been on SBD for about 5 months. I really like the way of eating, but I am not particularly fond of carbs, anyway. I didn't find that the expense was much different, partly because, as a family, we eat a lot of protein anyway, and partly because we don't eat out as much and I make more things from scratch rather than buy prepared foods - which are more expensive.
As to the diet, itself - Prior to starting I bought both the Atkins book and the SBD and read both cover to cover. My opinion of the 2 was that SBD is more healthy, overall, and more simple. I don't have to keep track of how many carbs I am eating everday. For my lifestyle and my mental frame, the easier to eat, the better success I may have to follow the program.
In addition to the Atkins and SBD books, I bought a book that rated the low carb diets. There was an evaluation of each of the programs and the book rated the Zone, Atkins and SBD as the best to follow if you are planning to follow this way of eating.
Quite frankly, a low carb diet initially scared me. I have the original Atkins book from the '70s and that is what I thought of whenever anyone told me that they were eating low carb. However, my mindset changed when my dr. was giving me a hard time about my weight last May. He suggested to me that I try "cutting the carbs and sugar out of my diet for a month and see what happens." He also told me that eating too many carbs and not exercising enough is contributing to an obese society and obese children. After all, carbs are easy to make quickly when you get home from work and they taste good, too. This made a lot of sense, so I took the challenge. Rather than staying on Pase 1 for 2 weeks, though, I stayed on for 5 1/2 weeks, as the dr. suggested, "to see what happens".
I was back at the dr. last week and he was amazed at the weight loss. He did my cholesteral last May (4 days before starting on the program), and he wanted to do it now because he was interested in the comparison. In May, it was normal (but at the high end), and I haven't gotten the results from last week yet. But I can attest that this does work and it is a healthy way to eat. Now is the time, also, to be teaching your boys a healthy eating lifestyle before they have to face the battle of losing weight themselves.
Curious about South Beach
Lauren
