My husband and I started South Beach 3 weeks ago - he's lost 11 lbs. so far. I lost 5 lbs. in the first week, then 2 at the beginning of the second, and then it just stopped. I've been exercising and eating very well, and just don't understand why the weight loss stopped. I've been a "professional" dieter for quite some time, and have never had this much trouble losing weight. It usually comes off fairly quickly, as long as I stay on whatever diet!
I feel like this is an eating plan I could stick to for good, but if I'm not going to lose weight, what good does it do?
Has anyone had a similair experience in the first month?
You've lost 7 pounds in three weeks. That's nearly two pounds a week which is a healthy rate of loss. Remember that men lose faster than we do and try not to compare your self to your man.
As a nurse, you know that this is a healthy eating plan. Are you now on Phase II? Perhaps you added starchy carbs back in too quickly.
Post a few meals and the smart chickies may spot something.
LJones, I've had the same problem. I've lost NO weight on the 2nd week of phase 1, so I'm going to do it for another week. I lost 4 in the first week and I know this plan works, just discouraging. You go girl!
Carhart Girl, you really shouldn't think about staying on P1 just because you aren't losing this week. I'd think that it's an indication that P1 has done just about all it can for you and you need to move on! That's a good thing...P2 is a lot of fun and really healthy for you. You'll find a lot of threads on the subject (not staying on P1 any longer than 2 weeks) if you search. It's not a good idea, most of the time.
LJones, I know how hard it can be to see the weight stop moving, but there are tons of reasons why that can happen. Like Ruth said, this *is* a healthy eating plan. I need to lose weight, so that's important to me too, but I've said many times, if I didn't lose one ounce more, I'd still keep eating this way for life because it's so healthy and it makes me feel SO good! I just got back from a trip to Europe where I went off plan (a planned indiscretion) and though it was fun to try new foods, I felt just plain horrible physically and emotionally. I feel a million times better now after just 2 days of P1. Really.
That said, it's quite possible that something you added in (or didn't add in) could have affected your weight loss in transition to P2. It's happened to many of us as we try to figure out what works best for us. Why don't you post what you've been eating so we can take a look? In the meantime, keep up (or start) exercising, make sure you're getting at LEAST 64 oz. of water each day, and stay positive!
It's easiest for me to stay on pretty much the same foods except for dinner, so here's what I've been eating:
Breakfast: an Atkins bar or shake; cup of herbal tea with one Splenda packet
Lunch: green salad with tomatoes; sometimes with a few cubes of cheese, sometimes with a few bacon bits(real), always with balsamic vinaigrette.
Snacks: nuts (1 serving per day), 1 oz. cheese, veggies.
Dinner: always some combination of lean meat and veggies
ex: tonight we're having balsamic chicken and edamame salad, last night it was baked fish and S.B. overnight coleslaw.
Whaddya think?
I'd be wondering about the atkins bar or shake, myself. I'm suspicious of frankenfoods, myself. Atkins is not at all the same as SBD - it's low carb, and usually high fat - SBD is good carb, good fat. So there may be too much fat in it, perhaps. Look the ingredients and nutritional info over and see what they look like.
For example, these are the ingredients in the Atkinds Strawberry Shake mix:
OTHER INGREDIENTS
Protein blend (calcium caseinate, milk protein concentrate, egg albumin, whey protein isolate, hydrolyzed whey protein, glutamine peptide), high oleic sunflower oil, vitamin and mineral blend (tricalcium phosphate, potassium citrate, potassium chloride, magnesium oxide, chloline bitartrate, dipotassium phosphate, ascorbic acid, d-alpha tocopheryl acetate, niacin, zinc oxide, vitamin a palmitate, d-calcium pantothenate, calcium carbonate, copper sulfate, manganese sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, chromium nicotinate, vitamin D3, folic acid, sodium molybdate, biotin, vitamin k, sodium selenite, potassium iodide and cyanocobalamin), beet powder,natural and artificial flavors, freeze dried strawberry pieces, mono and diglycerides, sucralose, and soy lecithin.
This one has at least 2 things you should avoid in phase 1: beets and strawberry pieces. It has 170 calories per serving, 70 of which are from fats. It has 1 g of saturated fat, which is a bad fat. The vanilla has even more fat than the strawberry, though at least it doesn't have the fruit and beets.
The bars I looked at had even more fat than the shakes. Also, I don't what kinds of veggies or the quantities. Are you getting at least 4 1/2 cups of a variety of veggies everyday? And drinking at least 64 fl ozs of water (not including tea, crystal light, etc)?
Finally, some of the Atkins products I looked at contained nuts - if you eat foods with nuts, seeds, or nut/seed butters, those need to be counted towards your daily total. A lot of chickies have stalled from overindulging with nuts/seeds.
I hope these or someone else's suggestions can help you! Good luck!
I have lost 9 and I am stalled. I think it is portion that is my downfall.
So what I am planning on doing is combining weight watchers and south beach P.2
A mod on this forum does it. I need come structure .
One thing I can say about the south beach is that I feel so much better when I get rid of the processed foods and eat clean. I feel so much better with healthy carbs instead of refined white sugar and flour.
You may want to journal to see how much you are eating and how big the portions are. You may be eating healthier, but you coloric intake may be to high or too low and your body will slow down the metabolism. ( I think I eat to low and that is slowing down my progress)
Ok - no bar or shake this morning. I'm having 3 slices of turkey bacon and a boiled egg. I hope it helps. Does anyone think I should cut out the nuts entirely? Also, I can't stand plain water. I'm trying to drink as much as possible, but that's a tough one for me - is it REALLY that important to the weight loss? I try to incorporate as many different veggies into our diet as possible - I've really pored over and studied the South Beach cookbook, and am trying to learn to use more and different types of veggies. My salad at lunch every day is a good 2 1/2 to 3 cups on it's own. And then there's whatever veggies I have for snacks and dinner. Whaddya think?
Maybe try to add alittle protein to your lunch salad with some left over chicken from the night before.
Yes, water intake is very important to losing weight. I also have a hard time drinking plain water. Although it has Splenda in it, I drink Fruit 2 0, diet green tea and add alittle Crystal Light to my water (just to slightly taste).but you must drink plain water, too.
Once you've detoxed, you might be surprised to discover water tasting good to you. I know once I got over the "jaded tastebuds" thing, water not only tasted good, but actually delicious to me. Some of it will depend on your local water, of course, but mine is only city water--clean and not heavy in minerals but chlorinated and fluoridated--so it's only so-so in taste. If the water in your area is really awful, you might consider investing in a filter (you can get filters that just screw into your tap for not too much $) or a Britta pitcher or something like that.
Alrighty, I've managed so far to drink 48 oz. of plain old icky water today, but I'm curious as to why you can't have diet, "everything free" sodas like Diet Rite. That's all my family drinks, and it's been that way for a year and a half now. I always thought it could count towards my daily water total. Why can't it? The only difference between water and Diet Rite is the carbonation. Is there something about carbonation that I don't know?
H-ko, What I wouldn't give to learn to like water, but for some reason I just can't. Our City water IS terrible, but at home we have well water which is clear, cold, and according to everyone else, delicious. I'm trying, though. The filter is a good thought -I may give it a try.
Anytime your body has to filter stuff out of the water, it's not going to be as effective as just drinking water, plus then you need more water to flush all the filtered-out chemicals from your system. There is a much greater difference between diet soda and water than just carbonation. I looked up the ingredients for Diet Rite Cola (as an example):
Carbonated water, caramel color, sucralose, gum acacia, natural flavors, citric acid, potassium benzoate (preservative), acesulfame potassium (sweetener), phosphoric acid, potassium citrate
While it won't hurt for you to drink this now and then, certainly drinking it in place of water is not going to be healthy for you. The carbonation alone is not good for you - if nothing else, it's bad for your teeth.
I think part of why I started to find water tasting so good was because I completely gave up sodas of all kinds. Once my taste buds got over that, water had a chance to shine.
You can try adding just a squeeze of lemon to your water, too - that makes it more palatable to some people who don't like water.
Well girls, I cut out the bars, am drinking significantly more water, and have for the most part cut out the nuts, unless I need a couple for a crunch fix... and I've lost 2 more pounds as of this morning!! It's still slower than I'm used to, but at least the weight is coming off! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Thank s to everyone for the advice and counsel
Not Losing Much!?!?!?!
Thanks
That's a good thing...P2 is a lot of fun and really healthy for you. You'll find a lot of threads on the subject (not staying on P1 any longer than 2 weeks) if you search. It's not a good idea, most of the time. 
