Hey, I'm Samantha! Uh, so where should I begin? Well, I've always been on the "larger" size of the average female. By large? Well, it depends who you ask.. I, myself, was quite happy with how I looked. 5'5 * 138-145lbs * size 6 jean. I was somewhat athletic in high school and then joined the Marine Corps right after I graduated. I stayed within that weight, but was always so close to my maximum weight allowed for a female of my height (145 lbs). But still - I was happy with how I looked.

Then I got out + got married + was put on a new birth control. I really don't know what happened. I had never dieted before... but had always remained slightly active. But ever since I got out of the Marine Corps - I've gained over 20 pounds in less than a year! I now no longer fit my size 6 skinny jeans (well, that's a lie... I do - if you find the "muffin top" to be appealing) ... and I just feel very unattractive - although my husband assures me otherwise.

Basically - I'm at a loss of what diet to do. I'm currently on day three of the SB diet... but I feel so famished + tired all the time. I know I'm eating enough... because these portions are HUGE, but I still feel so hungry after eating them. I chose this diet, because I didn't want to count carbs for the rest of my life... but I just don't think I can continue this. My husband agrees. He was so hungry last night after all the food I packed for him to take to work that he had to leave his work place and go get McDonalds. I don't want this type of lifestyle either... where I feel like every second I could break, and devour a weeks worth of food in one sitting.

So - this is great that I found a community that offers support and possibly suggestions on what I should do. I'll enjoy being around here!

Welcome!

South Beach has been wonderful to me. It took me a few false starts but I'm doing really well now. There is SO MUCH support and good advice here. Check out this thread: South Beach

Welcome Samantha, Glad to have you join us. Whichever diet you choose, my advice is to look for a Support group, Chat, or Challange to join; small groups make it easier to get connected.

Question -- do you eat relatively fast? I used to eat quickly (food in my mouth immediatley after the last was swallowed) so I never felt satisfied when my plate was clean after a few minutes. Not to mention the portions were smaller than what I used to have! But one day as I was eating I got distracted with something on the Internet and I ate a little here and a little there. I finished my meal and surprised surprise, I felt full! It's definitely true what they say about the stomach and brain not being in sync. My stomach is full but my brain tells me I'm still starving.

No - that's not my case. I eat extremely slow, because I'm always chatting while I'm eating. So I distract myself and tend to not eat as quickly as everyone else.

And you know, I would have thought the same thing... wait a bit and see if my brain caught up to my stomach... but no - I just never feel satisfied. I'd eat breakfast... and finish and be hungry until I had a snack two hours later (which was much needed!) and then be extremely hungry to the point of feeling sick by the time lunch came along... hungry until snack time and then extremely hungry until dinner. I just feel like I'm starving myself ... (except tonight was tooo much and my husband brought me home a taco - because I have absolutely nothing in my house except frozen chicken, vegetables and water!)

It's not like my portions were small either. I'd have a fairly large chicken breast (sometimes steak, fish, etc) with a HUGE salad, that would have taken up the entire plate by itself... and then some steamed, grilled, or roasted vegetables. I mean.. that's all I would have on a normal day, but replace that green salad with a baked potato. I'm not sure why, maybe it was my mind feeling so deprived that it just made my body feel like it was hungry - although it wasn't? I don't know. I just can't feel like at any point I'm going to break and stuff my face with everything at the corner shop. I need to be able to control myself... and I can't do that when I give up stuff. I need everything I want or I feel deprived. I definitely felt deprived.

OK, I'm not all that familiar with the SBD, though I do know it's in the low-carb category and I am a big Atkins diet and low-carbing advocate. When did you start this plan? And are you still in phase I?

On Atkins, there is a similar phase (to phase I)...called "induction"......and it takes about 2-3 days to burn up your glycogen stores, before your body starts to burn your stored fat. And after a while....even your normal hunger isn't all that strong...due to being in some level of ketosis (not to be confused with diabetic ketoacidosis).

For most of us on the Atkins forum.....it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 week of being quite hungry.......and then hunger significantly decreased and energy increased. In fact, I remained in induction for the entire 8 months and only added a few items when I reached goal and was in the maintenance phase. I am impatient (generally, when you go to higher phases, your weight loss slows down), but the main reason I did it was that it was the WOE/phase/level that caused all my ravenous hunger, cravings and binging behavior to practically disappear. And those things had been making me very unhappy and sabotaging weight loss.

I would have to study the details of the SBD to try to trouble-shoot for you....or at least, try to trouble shoot the cause of the excessive hunger. Could be not enough calories, not enough fat or not enough protein or any combination of them.

Deena

PS...I am still in maintenance...for almost a year now. The one meal you posted....steak, big salad, roasted/grilled veggies. Are you adding any fats? Butter or mayo? I HAD to add fat in order to control hunger and in order to lose weight (stay in ketosis)