I've been following P1 of the South Beach Diet for the past 5 days - no cheating at all. In these 5 days I've lost 12 pounds. While I know it's at least mostly water weight, I'm extremely happy to be rid of them.
I'm having some issues with the SBD since I can't eat many vegetables and I'm having trouble with bowels, not being able to eat and extremely thirsty (scheduling a visit to the doc on Monday.)
Ideally I would love to lose 150 pounds ASAP but I know that's not going to happen in a healthy fashion. I want to lose it and keep it off, while changing my WOE for the long term. I'm 100% dedicated to this weight loss.
I'm realizing I need a plan that works for ME and I don't think SBD is the right choice. I'm wondering what has worked for you - how much have you lose i what time frame?
I would love a diet that allows me to eat fruit since I absolutely love 98% of all fruits!
I lost 40 lbs on the south beach diet about 6 years ago I think. It was over somewhere between 2.5 to 3 months (gained it all back +some).
Last year, I lost around 30 lbs counting calories/fats/carbs/sodium etc... and logging exercise. I was using caloriecount.about.com then switched to myfitnesspal. I plateaued for about 4 or 5 months and was really discouraged. This was probably my favorite weight-loss program though, and I didn't gain any of it back! I didn't find out until very recently that my plateau was due to my thyroid being WAAAY off and not due to the program.
Right now I'm doing the Ideal Protein diet which is supervised by my doctor and crazy restrictive. I'm 100% sure that this will be my last diet and put me at my goal weight once and for all (been around 300lbs since high school), so I'm sticking with it. So far I've lost 40 lbs since Nov. 2nd 2012. I definitely miss fruits like crazy though!
When I was calorie counting, I was eating fruit every day. If the SB diet isn't for you, I would try signing up for myfitnesspal. I set my calorie limit to 1600 and always kept it under. You just have to make sure you're eating very healthy and clean.
AmberK you are right in that everybody has to find their own way of working! I go for eat less and do more as simple as that. For my main meal I avoid carbs or keep them to a minimum and my main exercise is walking my dogs every day. I lost about 5 stone in 5 months but have been reallly unwell due to asthma and pleurisy so have taken another 3 months to lost another 20 lbs.....I am up a bit since Christmas but back in the groove now.
Good luck!
Interesting that you like fruits and veggies... so do I, and I have simply switched to eating mostly fresh fruits and veggies, with a small amount of meat (actually can't remember the last time I ate red meat; do have chicken and turkey sometimes). I also eat stuff such as eggs, cottage cheese, etc. All organic as much as I can. Not only is it working really well for me but since I cut out most of the processed "fake" foods, fake sugar, chemicals, etc., my medical labwork has improved dramatically, people constantly comment on how much better my complexion is and how much more energy I have, AND since I am getting much more nutrition from what I eat, I seldom have cravings like I used to. And to top it off, I really enjoy my food and love the way I am eating.
I lost 80 lbs counting calories, eating 1200 cals a day and not eating grains (rice, bread, baked goods, pasta) I eat LOTS of Fruits and veggies and have a protein at each meal with my fruits and veggies. I gained 50 lbs back when I saw a nutritionist and did what she told me to do, It didn't work for me and she didn't like hearing that so I quit seeing her and am back to what I KNOW works. Good luck in finding your way, for me I don't much like bread and pasta anyway, it's not having the cookies and baked goods my brain is used to having that is harder LOL but...that's how you get healthy.
Amber - I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian. I eat a balanced vegetarian diet, including veggie protein sources (beans and lentils and soy) and whole grains daily. And make sure I get some sort of protein at lunch and dinner. I plan plan plan my meals and cook for myself, often ahead of time - usually Sundays.
I'm not sure what sort of bowel trouble you're having or why you can't eat many vegetables, but I find that fundamentally relying heavily on cruciferous veggies at meals allows you to cut out less healthy side dishes. I have had intermittent stomach problems, but find that eating like this has make those issues mostly go away. Certainly, I have symptoms less often.
Hi... Good for you for trying to find something that works for you. I also us Myfitnesspal on my phone and you can do it online and track. It's awesome because even when I'm at work I can just quickly scan the food in it tells me the calories and I plug it in if I want to eat it. It has really worked for me. I set my calories at 1600 and don't go over maybe stay a little under if I can. It has worked for me so far.
Are you allergic to veggies? I am allergic to most veggies, but I notice that if I cook them they don't have the same affect on me.
Once you get through Phase One, you'll be able to eat more veggies and fruits. Hang in there!!
I'm glad I did SBD because it gave me ideas for building balanced, delicious meals and low-carb snacks.
What's worked the best for me is calorie-counting. I lost 89 lbs. fell off the wagon when work stress got outta control and gained back around 20 lbs. but I'm back and into Day 6 and down 9.1 lbs. Feels good to be back!
I have lost 70lbs since August 1, 2012 (actually probably closer to 80, I didn't get a scale until pretty far in) by doing the following:
1) Restricting my calories - I use livestrong's daily plate to chart
2) Keeping my carbohydrate intake below 20g per day (this is VERY low, but I tolerate it well, pretty much anything under 100g a day will aid weight loss, you have to play around and find a level you feel good at. Some people need more, some less)
3) I follow a primal diet, meaning I don't eat grain/gluten, processed foods or many lentils. I do allow myself dairy. My go to foods are things like salmon, steak, green beans, spinach, cottage cheese, brocolli, chicken, cucumber etc.
4) Because I keep my caloric intake rather low, I make sure I 'eat back' my exercise calories. I swim every day, so on top of the 1100 calories I allow myself on a daily basis, I eat more to compensate for the exercise, otherwise I'm tired and my weight loss stops.
I've had issues with constipation, but I've found that upping my intake of crucifers like brocolli helps, as does a lot of water. You may find that the excessive thirst is a symptom of ketosis, which occurs when your body is getting less carbohydrate than it's used to.
I'm allergic to squash, onions make me sick and I can't stand the texture of tomatoes or mushrooms. Lettuce, broccoli, cucumbers & snap/snow peas I love. Other than that most veggie don't get a second glance from me. I haven't had any appetite at all for the past 2 1/2 days. I'm having to force myself to eat; I'm thinking I may need to cut back on the water consumption.
I count calories. I use MyFitnessPal app on my phone & I love it.
I lost over 100 pounds twice before and both times I used Slim Fast but went off it when I got pregnant and piled the weight back on. SlimFast is super easy, but I need something I can do forever & I can count calories forever so I'm sticking to it.
I've been doing Weight Watchers online (about $19 a month) since January 18th of last year. I'd lost about 40 pounds doing that when I decided I wanted to know more about the calories I was consuming, so I signed up for My Fitness Pal (free). I've found that the combination works really well for me. I've very close to being able to say that I've lost 70 pounds.
I cannot do anything that causes constipation as I already have...er...problems back in there. WW encourages 5 servings of fruit and vegetables every day. I aim for 2 servings of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables per day. But I often have more veg than that. It keeps things moving, know what I mean?
Last edited by Garnet2727; 01-07-2013 at 05:40 PM.
What Worked Best for You?
