I'm a plump, middle-aged marathon walker. No, seriously! Even at 240 pounds, I've walked two full marathons and seven half-marathons in the past two years. But I gained 25 pounds in the past eight months due to steroids to treat two bouts of double pneumonia. I was having trouble shedding those pounds, so I decided to give the South Beach Diet a try.

My daughter and I started on August 24, and I've lost 4.5 pounds so far (she's lost 5!).

I've been feeling great so far, but this morning when I went out to do my racewalking (4-6 miles a day, plus 8-16 miles on Saturdays), I just felt HORRIBLE!! There was nooooooooo gas in the tank. My muscles just feel completely depleted.

I realize that Phase I is really strict and that lower carb intake is going to reduce the glycogen stores in the muscles ... but does that feeling go away after a while during Phase I, or will I have to wait until Phase II to get my endurance back?

Not much of an exerciser here but I have read that people do better eating a protein before they exercise. Hope that helps.

Welcome to The Beach! I love your mickname!

Check out the book. I think it mentioned adding some carbs if you are going to exercise more than an hour. If you haven't got the book, I'll find mine and give you the info.

WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME

Marcie

Thank you for all the welcomes! I'm a prodigal daughter ... been absent from the board about a year, I think.

I'll do some searching about when to eat those carbs before long workouts. I probably just skipped over that part in the book and need to go back and read again. In any case, it's obvious that I needed more this morning. I'm worn out!

Hi MsSpent:

I exercise quite a bit as well ... try 1/2 apple with a little peanut butter about 1/2 hour before exercising (and of course about 16 oz of water) ...