Okay, I did not expect a big weight loss during Phase 1 like a lot of people experience. But I did expect at least a 1 or 2 lb weight loss in the first week, which is what you generally lose on healthy, non-fad diets.

I didn't lose a thing in that first week, nothing, not a single pound. And I didn't overeat or overdo calories. On Sunday (the day before I was to weigh in), I came up with a stomach/intestinal virus so took in hardly any calories the past few days (sunday, monday, tuesday). You'd think that I'd see something on the scale then (although any weight loss that would occur would have came back, I know), but still nothing. But sunday the 15th- through sunday the 22, I should have seen at least a 1 or 2 lb drop.

What gives? The first week of doing phase 1, I didn't even shed a pound. I could easily have shed 2 lbs by doing a sensible, calorie-counting diet, following the mathematical weight-loss equation. But I want to do the SBD, to rid myself of a white-flour, bad carb addiction. So... what happened?

hey melanie!

the first time i did phase one i lost exactly zip, zero, nada!! i didn't start really shedding the poundage until well into phase 2 where i lost a total of 16kilos.
second time i did phase one i lost 10 lbs...
everyone's body is different, everyone's metabolism works differently. perhaps you already feel fitter, more energetic, less bloated??!! maybe your pants are a wee bit more comfy now? there are more ways to measure sbd success than just by weight loss. be patient and stay the course, the long term benefits are soooo worth it!

melanie weight loss is not linear, comparable or predictable.


have you done one solid week of no cheats on the plan exactly as written?

I think with me, it takes a week before I really start seeing any results. But don't get discouraged! It didn't take you a week to put it on...so it's going to take time for it to come off.

Fat Melanie said:

... But I did expect at least a 1 or 2 lb weight loss in the first week, which is what you generally lose on healthy, non-fad diets.
__________________________________________________ __________

This really isn't true, despite the fact that many, if not most people believe it. While you often hear it quoted that you shouldn't lose more than one or two pounds per week, or that one or two pounds is generally a safe rate to lose weight (or similarly the 1/2 to 1% of your total body weight), this is not the "average" or "typical" rate of weight loss. It's actually much lower.

I once complained to my doctor that I wished my weight loss wasn't so much slower than "everybody else," and he pointed out that I have no idea how much weight "everybody else" is losing, and the "true" average is much smaller than most people expect. It is not the 1 or 2 lbs per week that we're taught to expect, but much lower than that. He said that even 1/4 of a pound loss consistently would after only a few weeks, be more success than the true average, because most people who try to lose weight, give up very quickly.

Before I found a birth control that regulates it better, I would gain 10 lbs just in water weight "that week" - and that's if I stuck religiously to my low calorie, low sodium plan. If I overate, or oversalted, I could gain even more. Those ten pounds would disappear a week later (assuming I didn't binge), and those ten pounds could easily disguise what would have otherwise been a loss. So if I started a new diet that week, gaining 8 lbs instead of 10 would be good news, not bad.

There are thousands of reasons why you might not have lost week 1, and you can really only guess at this point, but above all try not to compare yourself to your results in the past (things change) or how you think "everyone else" is doing (because you may be wrong, and even if you're right, you can only work with your metabolism, not anyone else's).

Hang in there!

could it be that you weren't eating enough??? I just started phase 1 on sunday and did a weigh in today and lost 5 lbs....but normally i eat dinner and an evening snack and never lose weight and in the end gained alot....but since sunday i have been eating tons of food and breakfast, lunch and snacks.....mabey that could be it...but every body is different so don't let this stop you....

Melanie, last Saturday you posted this
"Then, my bf and his bro went to Subway. I decided that I had already screwed up, so why not get the sub. I didn't know what to make for dinner anyway, hadn't planned ahead, (well I had, but I forgot to make the chili, glad to see that I can make it quickly, thank you poster who told me that! I appreciate it, so I know for the future when I'm in such a predicament.) Anyway I did at least get whole wheat bread (after saying I wanted that bread with the cheese baked on).

But it was a whole sub. I ate a whole Subway sub with turkey and provolone, mayo, oil and vinegar, lettuce, tomato, onions, green peppers, olives, banana peppers...

Also, I ran out of diet cola and I didn't want water, I was still craving sugar, so I drank a few glasses of mountain dew, which I don't even LIKE."

And there was something about Little Debbie's too.
And the sugar and salt are going to cause you to retain some water.
Then you were sick and I'm sure that didn't help either.
I think you need to put in a good clean Ph1 week and you will then start to see some results. But don't freak out if you don't lose that first week because I lost all my Ph1 weight the second week.

Mel,

Make sure you are drinking your water too. I normally drop pounds in the first week, but if I do not drink enough I do not lose anything. Especially in the summer you need to stay hydrated. Make sure you get your 6-8 glasses a day- more if you are exercising or outside in the heat a lot. ... I am off to get another glass!!

Sorry computer brain fart, I only meant to post once.....

I wasn't following your weekly progress as closely as some of the rest of us here but this is not a food plan that works well with "off plan" regular cheating. I know because I tried it. Unfortunately, you are either on this food plan or you aren't. And, yes, eating "off plan" and depending how off you went off, will affect your weight lose. Consider it a blessing that it caught you fast rather than hit you a couple of weeks later when you may have had a good week and then wondered what you did wrong.

As I have found out, this works if you follow it the way it is set out. On other plans, you might be able to have that Subway meal including the regular soda but not on this one, you can't. At least, not right away. And, if you are wondering how often, I have polled a few "normal" eaters and they all say occasionally (which is mentioned along side of the foods to avoid list) is once a month and one meal only, at best! I am a college graduate and some post-graduate work under my belt and I didn't know what occasionally meant! How dumb could I be?

You can't give up the white flour/white sugar addiction without actually giving it up. It has to be applied,as in putting the plan into action, not just theoretically this works. Intending to do something and actually doing it consistently over and over is what will get you the results you are looking for! I think, it could be the hardest thing you may ever have to do but I am sure once you have you will be so glad that you did.

If it makes you feel any better, I sabotaged myself like you did for longer than I care to admit. My occasional "off plan" eating was getting to be 1-3x a week and my weight lose just halted. Then, I asked other "normal "eaters what they thought occasionally was. I re-read the food lists. I realized that an extra something here and then an extra something there was stalling my weight lose efforts. I too was very discouraged. I had a talk with myself a week ago and I decided that I needed to step back, access what my goals are and I asked myself "Is this what I wanted to continue to follow?" The answer was YES!

I realize that you have mentioned about your bf sabotaging your efforts as well. Again, I am sure some of this is done out of lack of understanding so I wouldn't go too hard on him. However, you are a new Mom and think of the consequences of raising your child with such poor eating habits. You are young too. If you continue to eat this way, you will be lucky to have a second child and you might be unhealthy in a few years to enjoy the one you have.

I realize that it is hard to be the one who steps out of the crowd and decides to change but I can guarantee it that if you stick with your food plan, not only with Beyonce be your role model (and I am assuming that photoshopped pix of her on your avatar is what you mean by that because she is a lot more hippy than that photo shows) but you too could be looking like that.

Ask anyone who has maintained that kind of figure after the age of 21 and they will tell you (if they are honest) that it takes "work". If you want it, you gotta work it, sweetie.

Don't give up, we are pulling for you!

Melanie - I'm with schmoodle on this, it seems like every time I logged on there was a new thread about how you cheated. This diet works, and it is healthy...but to be successful you need to have the right mindset. Nothing is going to work overnight, but look at all the thousands of people on this forum right now that are having success! It takes a special kind of person to commit to something like this - especially in the face of adversity (your boyfriend). If you don't have willpower and resist cheating....it simply will not work, nothing will.

There are a lot of people that need to be honest with themselves. I was helping a friend of mine figure out why she wasn't losing weight because she said she was only eating 1200-1400 calories a day. I had her log everything she ate - even the small bites. Turns out she was eating more like 2200-2500. Just telling yourself you are on this diet and then forgetting about all the cheats isn't going to lead to some magical weightloss. It is time to be honest with yourself, either you are ready to do this or you aren't. If you are ready, you should be able to go more than a day without cheating.

Everybody slips and eats something they aren't supposed to, it's human nature...but the key to slipping is to recognize it, tell yourself that it is ok and then move on - not telling yourself "well, i've already slipped for today why don't I just start again tomorrow". The best advice I got when I started (from Ruth) was to get back up and start again, don't beat yourself up over one slip...just dust off and make the next meal count.

I also think it is very important that you have support in this. Your boyfriend is like anti-support, always offering you things you shouldn't eat (even if you aren't on this diet - little debbie snacks are death). I think you need to either ask him to support you fully (no offering bad things, or telling you it is bad) or just shut up! I'm lucky to have my husband fully supporting me (we don't eat unhealthy, but I needed to get my percentages of carbs/proteins/fats in order) and it is the best thing for me. I know that if I have a bad day, he's going to encourage me to get back on and if I have a good day, he is right there with me to celebrate! It is a great feeling.

I hope you can come back from this.

Regards,
Zeffryn

Also like Schmoo - I lost 0 the first week and 8 lbs. the second. It is all relative.

It's not easy to hear what we are saying Melanie, and the truth is that IF YOU ARE NOT READY, then you're not ready. I was not ready when losing weight was all about vanity.... I didn't get ready till i became an old fat middle aged woman and losing weight was all about feeling better and being healthy.

there is nothing wrong with not being ready. there's a lot wrong with pretending to yourself and others that you are ready.

when i'm in health mode "NO" is my favorite word. NO i won't eat that cake, "NO thank you I don't want Subway feel free to have it without me" "No i'm not interested in going for pizza, can I get a salad there?"

You have not given SBD a fair chance. a FAIR chance IMO is 2 weeks of clean phase 1, 6 weeks phase 2 transition and then 6 weeks of a clean phase 2 we are talking THREE MONTHS of clean eating.... and then if you've lost nothing you can tell me it does not work.

I completely agree that South Beach, and other low GI plans are much less forgiving of off-plan eating. I know this, and it's still hard for me to stay on plan because of it (and one of the reasons my weight loss is much slower than I'd like). I've spent 36 years of dieting, and have normally been on diets in which a little lapse here and there weren't major roadblocks. With low GI eating though, this is not the case. It really requires a whole different mindset than the rest.

I'm not saying that one bite of pie and "poof" the magic spell is broken. Low GI isn't magic, but it is science. In a nutshell, high GI foods (carbohydrates that quickly spike blood sugar) increase appetite and hunger. Combining fat and a high GI carb is especially dangerous. Long before SB, there was a study done of fat/carb combo snacks. People eat more when these are combined, than seperately. The perfect example was cheese and crackers. I don't remember the exact numbers, but people in the study ata more than double when they ate cheese and crackers as opposed to cheese OR crackers.

Because the science of low GI carb really hinges on appetite control, off-plan eating has a much larger impact on results. You will eat much more because your hunger will not be as well controlled. Just because you generally don't need to count calories on SB, doesn't mean calories don't count. When you're following the plan exactly, hunger is a good signal that it is time to eat, but if you eat highly refined carbs, you often simply cannot trust your hunger.

If you have a hard time staying on plan, or even if you're just skeptical of the plan, you might consider integrating some type of counting (such as calories, points, or exchanges) until you can successfully follow the food plan. Journal food, exercise, hunger and feelings. If you do so, you will see that the closer you stay on-plan, the less hungry you will feel, and the more success you will have.

Good luck, and hang in there!

Melanie - Hang in there, you've gotten a lot of great advice here and some really sound reasoning. It's a great program and way of eating, you just have to work the program. Your first week was riddle with cheats and drama, your body is not a roller coaster, in order to see results you have to be consistent. Good luck on your second week!