[LoveMyFurryKids]

Hello…I’ve been lurking around for about 6 weeks & finally decide to join, I figured it couldn’t hurt; I need all the help I can get.

I did the SBD about 3 years ago and lost about 50lbs. I did it all wrong (even after I read the book) I was determined to lose weight, I didn’t care how…well that bit me in the a** BIG time. I stayed on phase 1 for 6 months; I ate nothing but salad w/oil & vinegar, eggs & cheese…that’s it! Needless to say I lost 50lbs in 6 months, I went off the diet (because it was Christmas time) and after that I couldn’t get my act together to get back on it (looking back I’m grateful I didn’t get back on it) in about a year and a half’s time I gained it all back, plus I think about 10 extra pounds on top of it.

I started South Beach (this time) on March 3rd, 2008 and so far things are going very well. The last time I weighed myself was 10 days ago (I try to only weigh in every few weeks) and I was down 16.5 lbs. which I am very happy about, it also gives me the motivation to continue. The problem I seem to be having at this point is that I may be over doing it on fruit. I can’t help it, I love fruit! Being a vegetarian, not necessarily a proper one - since I do eat some fish – I have always lived on a lot of fruits and veggies. When I first switched to phase 2 I did ok with the fruit, my first fruit addition was ½ a granny smith apple with peanut butter, I was very content & happy with that…now I am addicted to it, I eat a whole apple with peanut better almost every single day. Is that bad? But I also eat a small about of fruit in my steel cut oats that I eat for breakfast every morning (not much, when making it I usually put ½ C. of dried fruit, if even that much or a whole apple chopped up) a 2 qrt. crock pot lasts for almost a week (I don’t eat it all, I do share it with one of the ladies I work with) so I’m figuring that it’s not that much fruit for breakfast in the long run. I also will occasionally make a parfait type thing with yogurt, strawberries, blueberries and sometimes a little SB granola and eat it as my morning snack or eat a variety of berries and a cheese stick for a snack – usually my morning snack. Over about the last week I have begun cutting out my morning snack, I just don’t feel hungry or feel that I need to eat the snack. If I do decide to eat something it’s been something small, like a cheese stick.

My normal routine is:

Breakfast:
Approx. ¾ C. Steel cut oats (mixed with fruit & nuts) and ½ C. 1% milk
1 hard boiled egg (no yolk – I throw that part away…YUCK!)
1 glass of Hot & Spicy V8
2 cups coffee w/ equal and 1% milk

AM Snack
Parfait – as described above (totals about 1C.) OR
Mixed berries (about ¾ - 1C.) & a cheese stick OR
5 slices of Cracker Barrel 2% cheese w/ yellow mustard OR
SBD snack bar (love the nut ones)

Lunch
Salad (lettuce, spinach, mushrooms, cucumbers, zucchini, olives, chick peas, tomatoes, celery, red onions, broccoli, cabbage, peppers, chopped egg, cheese, sun flower seeds…anything else I can find) with Walden Farms or SDB dressing

PM Snack (usually around 5:30 – I try to grab a snack before I head to my 2nd job)
Apple with PB (sometimes this is my dessert) OR
2 pickle spears & a cheese stick OR
7 Trader Joe’s “triscuits” OR
SBD snack bar OR
1 piece of Trader Joe’s 100% Whole Grain Fiber Bread (6 grams of fiber per slice) toasted with peanut butter

Dinner (occasionally a SBD meal replacement bar – if I get home from work really late)
Veggies – lots & lots
Some type of fish or meat substitute

Dessert (only eaten maybe twice a week)
Apple w/ PB
SB snack bar
I made a loaf of banana bread last week – twice I had a slice of that for a snack/dessert

That’s about it. I also try to drink 4 or 5 bottles of water a day.

The one thing I miss the most…Kraft Macaroni & Cheese…the cheap stuff with the powdered cheese…ok, I have to stop talking about it now… I use to eat a ton of pasta, any kind, since I don’t eat meat, I always turned to pasta. Growing up as a kid and even until I started this diet, I would eat pasta at least 4 times a week…that’s what you do when you are Italian.

I have to admit; at this point I do not exercise. In all honesty I can not fit it into my schedule. I work 2 jobs & go to college – that doesn’t leave any time for exercising (or anything else for that matter). I have told myself that once this semester is over I will try to start walking the days that I do not have to go to my second job. I am not buying a gym membership…I know that would be a big waste of money.

Anyways…that’s me…I hope I didn’t ramble on to much, I have a tendency to do that.

Last but not least I have a few questions:

I am not a fan of tofu, I’ve only tried it a couple of times but I still haven’t found a way to cook it that I can actually enjoy. Does anyone have any recipes for it that are good?

I absolutely love the Snap Pea Crisps from Trader Joes’s. Are they ok for phase 2?

The ingredients are: green peas, corn oil, rice, salt, calcium carbonate, ascorbic acid

Serving Size – 1oz, 3.3 servings per bag
Calories: 150
Calories from fat: 70
Total Fat: 8g
Sat. Fat 1g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 125mg
Total Carbs 14g
Dietary Fiber 2g
Sugar <1g
Protein 5g

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that these are ok…because I just ate ½ a bag…oh the shame…I told myself not to buy them when I was at Trader Joe’s today!!!

What type of fruit yogurt am I allowed to eat? I can’t figure that out for the life of me. Could some one please tell me what brand/kind they buy?

Thanks for your help and best of luck!
KiKi

[ladybugnessa]

welcome..

the snap pea crisps are fried... no good...

4 oz of dannon light and fit fruit yogurt is allowed each day.

remember that nuts are limited to one serving per day.

[LoveMyFurryKids]

The Snap Pea Crisps are baked, not fried. Does that make them ok to eat?

[ladybugnessa]

8g of fat? I'd not touch them. personal choice

[CyndiM]

Sadly they also have rice in them and that's almost certainly white rice,also not allowed.

You can also eat plain yogurt sweetened with an allowed sweetener. You can really have fun with that adding fruit or cocoa or cinnamon or almonds or a combination. Most folks around here like the Greek yogurt because it's really thick and rich.

This plan is great for vegetarians - a lot of our protein choices are "lean"!

[cottagebythesea]

to the Beach, LoveMyFurryKids! You seem to be doing quite well on the Beach this time around, congratulations!
As for the Sugar Snap Peas from TJ's, they are a no-no, but why not try to make your own? Just shake the peas in a bag with a tsp. of olive oil and some Cajun seasoning or a little garlic powder, spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet, and bake in a preheated 450* oven for about 20 minutes or so til you get the desired crispiness.

[hmacneil6]

Welcome! This site has been a great source of inspiration and support. And there are a number of girls here who are vegetarians or pecatarians, so you'll find lot's of help here.
What kind of furry kids do you have?

[beachgal]

LoveMyFurryKids!

I tried those Snap Pea Crisps once and really enjoyed them until I looked more carefully at the ingredients and realized that the darn things were mushed up peas and stuff that was then shaped to look like the pods! GRR! I'm not a big fan of regular peas, so I honestly don't know if they are allowed on P2, but I didn't think they were--only peas in a pod, since the pod has tons of fiber and mitigates the starches in the peas. But I could easily be wrong, since I haven't paid too much attention to them.

Looks like you're doing great this time around and that you've learned a valuable lesson. Are you including exercise, especially strength training? One of the issues with losing and then regaining is that you are bound to lose some muscle when you lose weight (but you can lose a lot when you lose in an unhealthy way...especially if you aren't getting a lot of protein), but when you regain, you usually gain just fat. So you lose some (or a lot) of the muscle, which actually burned calories even while you sleep, and replaced it with fat, which doesn't burn much, if anything. You need to build your muscle back up! So that means paying very careful attention to your protein (have you visited a nutritionist? You might want to do that once just to figure out ways you can get a good daily amount of complete protein as a vegetarian/pescetarian) and doing strength training. In P2, I believe quinoa is a complete protein source and combining brown rice with other foods can make up a complete protein as well.

There's no specific limit on fruit in P2 (obviously, if the amount of fruit you're eating is causing digestive upset, you need to back off, but other than that...). What matters is how your body reacts. Does it make you crave more? Are you still losing? The sample menu in the book for P2 shows the person eating 3 servings of fruit and 2 servings of starch, I think...might be more. I often eat two or 3 servings of fruit, with no problem. However, if you are eating a lot of fruit, try to keep the majority of it low GI, like apples, berries, etc. If you eat three bananas a day, you might see bad cravings.

[ladybugnessa]

Originally Posted by beachgal

There's no specific limit on fruit in P2

I beg to differ.

the limit is 2-3 SERVINGS of fruit per day.