Hi everyone, I have been a member of this site for a few months but never really took full advantage of it because I wasn't ready to stick to anything...story of my life. But now I am and South Beach seems to be the best plan for me. I am in the process of reading the book.

I was on Atkins back in Sept and had some success with it but all the fat was too much for me, sure I was never hungry but it was because I felt to sick when I thought of eating food. Perhaps if I were more creative in the kitchen, I wouldn't have had that problem. Then in the new year I decided to "watch my calories" everything from just counting them to Weight watchers. Needless to say, I always caved and ate bad things, because I craved them. And I have gained five pounds.

South Beach is great for me since it encourages good fats and good carbs. I am currently on day two of phase one and I am hungry. Not stomach hungry but mouth hungry since I am used to eating all the time and eating huge portions.

For breakfast I had 2 poached eggs and two slices of chicken bacon with a few slices of tomato.

Lunch consisted of a salad with tomato, cucumber, and some mozza cheese. It was only 2.5 hours after my breakfast! I should have just had a snack but I wanted veggies and the salad wasn't that big.

Supper will be bbq'ed chicken and broccoli and cauliflower. And it will be soon because we lead different schedules and my boyfriend is hungry now and frankly I will be soon.

Snacks will be cheese, pickles, turkey roll ups and that ricotta dessert. Perhaps that's too much but it is just an estimate and I always eat more at work on the night shift. Also I drink caffienated diet pepsi, which i know is probably a cause of some of my hunger but I don't drink coffee and need some kick.

I am hungry a lot and the first day I followed a menu to the letter and was still hungry. Will this change? I mean on Atkins, ketosis is what curbs the hunger, will mine subside as well, even if it isn't physical but psychological?

Thanks for all of your help. I really appreciate it.

Welcome, Ozziesgirl!
You might want to consider cutting back on the diet pop. It WILL send confusing signals to your brain, and may cause you to have more cravings than you should have.
Do you have a lot to lose? Because you can eat more if you need to. Your desire for food WILL lesson, but it's okay to have more veggies and stuff to snack on. There's no need to count on South Beach.
And definitely eat your snacks! And drink lots of water!!

Well I have about 40-45 lbs to lose. I am 5'1" and want to be 115. I think my 5 lbs gain was water since I woke up this morning and had lost 3 of that. But I still have a lot of weight to lose. I think also with my height, I can't eat as much as others. I am trying to cut down on my pepsi and with the substitution of water (I drink at least 2 L a day, aiming for 3) it has gone down naturally but I still have it with meals. I know I need to limit that though. Thanks for the welcome, I will definitely stop counting the veggies.

Welcome Ozziesgirl,
Try some lemon in your water and lots of ice when possible it helps. I don't even crave the soda except for once in awhile. I also am trying the South Beach Diet but not completly. I have cut down on certain carbs and eat more veg. and cheese etc. I found that I liked this diet for the same reasons your trying it less fats. The Atkins has too much fat and not much in fiber something I was told to increase. I sometimes will try a Atkins cereal but not the other stuff. Learning over the years to build in some good habits with watching fats and learning to cut back on them I just couldn't see eating them all again and not worrying about it. I do find that there are some good low fat cheese's on the market Cabot's jalopeno cheese and cheddar aren't bad at all. Are you using any sugar free jello's that is not a bad snack either and taste good. After awhile you tend not to be as hungry I think its the change over in our ways of eating. Well good luck to you and if your hungry eat some snacks. Try natural peanut butter on celery sticks. The fiber helps you feel full for a while.
Skyfirefly

I am hoping that, like you said Skyfirefly, my hunger will eventually fade. I am motivated enough now to wait. I do have SF jello which I really like but try to limit since I could eat the whole thing! But it is a nice snack. Thanks for the other snack tips. I definitely need stuff to keep me full, I also just put some lemon in my water, yum! Thanks

Sometimes it is hard not to count carbs since that is all I did with Atkins and even on WW counting points. I think that is going to be a definitely plus of SBD.

How is your own plan coming along? I was wondering how tailoring my own plan in to SBD would work. See, I love the Atkins wraps and recently bought Smart Scoop, low carb ice cream...which rocks btw. I wonder if I can have those in moderation during phase two? With Atkins, if you deviate from the plan even a little, you gain weight, which I hated. Dr. Agatson seems to not put as much emphasis on that. I might pose this in a different thread another day but will leave it here for now.

Thanks for your welcome!

I am in the same position as you almost. This is my first day though. I don't follow the menu exactly, but I have taken the foods I like from the plan and made them. I just had dinner, chicken breast grilled, asparagus, and a salad. I didn't have that many veggies though and I should of. I am still kinda hungry. Also, for a snack, is it ok to have more than one cheesestick? I'm confused about the amounts for this...

I ate large portions for the first few days and still lost weight. As my appetite dropped then so did my portions. Eat larger portions of protein with your main meals and have larger snacks. If you are eating vegies with each meal and protein based snacks then you will feel full after awhile. Hang in there and the hanger pangs will go.

I hate the menus in the book. I really do. Day One has only about 1200 calories, which is at the very lower end of what's considered healthy. It's no wonder you're hungry!

Myself, I eat about every 2 or 3 hours. Like, I'll have breakfast at 11 (I'm a late riser ), then a snack at 1 pm, then lunch at 3, another snack at 5 and dinner at 7. If I'm hungry later in the evening, I'll have another snack. It's really helpful to me to have stuff on hand to grab and snack on. I love the turkey roll-ups (and there's a similar recipe in the cookbook that is turkey or ham, peanut butter, & cheese), so I make several of them in one sitting & put them in a Glad container in the fridge so I can just grab them whenever.

I'll tell you a version of what I tell everyone else. Eat like you're poor. Fill out your meals with lots & lots of veggies, and eat beans too. Beans are very high in fiber, and (except for lentils), they really fill you up. A serving is only half a cup, but that's enough!

You're right to guess that this is a forgiving diet. I'm not very good at sticking to Phase One, so I keep trying ( ). The first time I tried Phase One, I actually ate at Sonic for lunch one day, and still wound up losing 7 pounds for the week! Of course, that's not actually a course of action I recommend, but I've found I can stay on track easily.

I just tried the turkey roll ups and I think I just found my fave snack!!! Also, I just got my Good Carbs Guide in the mail, so that will help!