I just joined the forum and can't wait to dig in and get some more recipes. When I do something I do it 100% so I went out the other day and bought all the cookbooks and spent about 300$ for food for my sister, father, and I. (They are going to do the diet with me...I will go over there in the evenings and make us all bagged lunches).

Long story short...I know it's only day 2 and I can't have expected to lose 5lbs or anything yet. But despite the cravings for bread/pasta/etc, I feel fine. I am quite satisfied and even now don't want to snack.

Which makes me wonder, are we (me) overeating? Today I had a 2 egg cheese omelet (low fat cheese of course) and a small can of v8. Lunch was a good sized salad with maybe 2-3 tbps low fat mozz and probably 3tbps of a no carb/sugar dressing. I also added maybe half a chicken breast that had been marinated and cooked the night before. For snack I had cucumbers soaked in vinegar and water. Then for dinner a large arugula salad with maybe 8 pecan halves, an ounce of fresh parm cheese (lf), 4 green olives, 2 cherry tomatoes (halved) and the same dressing as lunch. Then about 1cup of the white chicken chili which was made from the SBD cookbook. For dessert I had a "no sugar added" fudgescicle. My family pretty much ate the exact same thing.

Are we eating too much? It's tough when I think I understand the basics of this diet and why it works and then to see how many carbs are in the beans I just ate (1/4 at most). I mean, why am I eating carb/sugar free salad dressing now that I know how many carbs are in the tomatoes I put on the salad to help fill me up? Please, any suggestions are welcome.

First of all, think of Phase 1 as a detox phase, where you get rid of the cravings so the rest of your weight loss journey will be easier. There's no magic weight loss that will happen in Phase 1 because you're not eating breads, fruits, and sugars. Some people lose weight in Phase 1 and some don't. The point of Phase 1 is to get rid of the cravings and that is all.

Second, don't count carbs. There's no point to it on South Beach and you'll just drive yourself bananas. The only thing I count are serving sizes for nuts and cheese, and the amount of veggies (strive for 4.5 cups a day). You are allowed and *encouraged* to have good carbohydrates in this way of eating. Your body needs carbohydrates. This is a plan for life and, as such, you are set up to make good food choices that will serve you well for the rest of forever. Foods that are limited are either high on the glycemic index (which means they can spike your blood sugar and lead to cravings) or high in fat (which, obviously, is not good in huge doses). Foods that are not allowed are extremely high GI foods or things that would do your body no good anyhow.

Third, you may come to a point where you need to count calories to keep your weight loss going but for Phase 1, just eat an amount that is comfortable for you and focus on kicking those cravings.

Hope that helps!

Kara is right. I believe most lose on Phase 1, but a lot of that is water weight which always happens when you give up bread, pasta and baked goods. If you consider it a detox and just stick to the food lists, watch the nuts and cheese and keep an eye on the fat, you'll do great. And I bet you'll lose too.

No, i dont think your eating too little at all..i think the salads and the proteins sounds good..In fact, you may even be able to up the amount you eat..adding in a few more things for snacks..Salads are great, but they dont contribute protein which you need..Good for you for putting cheese on your salad and eating beans! Yum! Beans are good! Your'e doing great! and in my PO - i think you do lose weight..I, myself lost about 13 pounds on phase 1 so i think anything is possible on phase 1.. as long as you stick to it and keep going...

Thank you everyone. I guess it is just late at night when I realize that for the first time in forever, I am not snacking while watching tv. And that that feels okay. Which MUST be wrong!

haha Isn't it great?!

How much cheese do you ladies limit yourselves to? I'm a cheese fiend, and I'd like to control myself a bit. Do you limit dairy in general too?

i personally drink 1 cup of skim milk a day..plus i also have 2/3 cup of ff plain yogurt and i have 1 to 2 skim milk cheesestrings..or.. i have 1 skim cheesestring and shred an ounce of skim monzerella over whatever if i need it for dinner.. I TOO am a cheese fiend, which is why i bought the cheese strings and cut down on buying block cheese. I foudn it too easy to just shred it on top of everythign..it was adding lots of calories..

I rarely go over 2 cheese servings & 1 dairy.

I can never get over how funny this sounds to me when I hear a Canadian say it I mean yes, string cheese makes as much sense as cheesestring. I love it. Do you also call colored pencils "pencil crayons"?

I don't limit yogurt or other dairy (generally I have one 16 oz. glass of milk with dinner and either 6 oz. of yogurt or cottage cheese during the day) but I don't go over 2 oz. of cheese a day, more for the calories than anything else.