Hello everyone,
I've been on South Beach since January 16th. I started at 185 pounds, got down to 178 in the first week of Phase 1 and then gained almost all of it back somehow.
And I've been stuck at 182 ever since.

I don't cheat. At all. This is vital for my career. I only eat fruit three times a week, and grains three times a week. I do an hour of cardio 6 times a week, and 30-45 minutes weight lifting 4 times a week, along with about 3 hours of yoga a week.

Here's a typical menu:
Breakfast: 1/3 cup cottage cheese w/ cinnamon and splenda
1/2 grapefruit
OR
1/2 whole wheat bagel w/1 tbsp FF Cream Cheese
OR
Chocolate "MilkShake" (made with cottage cheese or yougrt, cocoa powder (unsweetened) splenda, and milk and 1 tbsp of Natural PB

Snack: 1/4 cup nuts
or
Roast beef (lean) roll ups w/ lf cheese
or
cucumber slices of vinegar drizzled on them

Lunch:
Large salad (about 3 cups of romaine) with red onions, green onions, lf feta cheese or lf paremsan, and cucumbers and grilled chicken breast.
or
Hamburger patty (90% lean) with mustard and lf cheese

Snack:
If it's a day I have grains, I usually have half a WW tortilla made into a quesidilla, or a small salad if it isn't a grain day.

Dinner: Grilled Chicken or Steak or home made soup
Salad
And one of the following veggies: Brocolli, Artichokes, Red Peppers in lemon juice, cucumbers or edamame.

I also drink 2-3 liters of water a day.
What am I doing wrong?! This is driving me crazy, I have to lose this weight and if it keeps up like this for another month, I'm gonna have to do a different diet, and I really like this one.

XOXO
Tess

My 2 cents

I think you should try to increase your veggies - aim for at LEAST 4.5 cups per day.

And if you are doing cardio 6 times per week - you may not be getting enough to eat. You do need to eat more, to exercise and then in turn lose weight - that make any sense?

If you are eating too little, your body will think it is in starvation mode and hold on to everything you give it. Get it?

Try increasing your calories with more veggies and see what happens.

Good luck.

Kim

Tess, I agree with Kim. You're not getting enough vegetables, and you may be eating too few calories, which would slow down your metabolism.

This web site helps you figure how many calories you need:

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/


Many of us use http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/Index.html just to get an idea of how many calories we are getting. It's not important to do it everyday, but it situations like yours, it can give you an idea of how much more food you should be eating.

Good luck,
Sarah

Also fit day is really good for accountability... You may even need to go back to actually measuring stuff to make sure your eating exactly 1 cup so on so forth...

Have you lost any inches? I would take your measurements then measure again in a month. Remember 5lbs of muscle is no where near the size of 5lbs of fat.

For cardio, you have to be working your optimum heart rate for 20-30 minutes for it to make a difference. I will find the formula for you. I tend to work out and not push myself. I like THE FIRM videos they make me work out hard (read: sweaty)!!

HUGS... Hang in there! Your weight will change!

I agree with the ladies VEGGIES are very IMPORTANT . You didn't have any for breakfast, you can have v8 or tomato juice or add veggies to your omelets. Exercise is important also,even thought Dr. A. says in Phase 1 it wasn't necessary. Have a nice day HugsBB

I'm not a veggie person in the morning. I hate V8 and Tom. Juice, yuck! I will add chopped veggie in my egg white or egg beater. There's a veggie egg dish with spinach that is very good. Might try that, and if you don't like spinach you can add other green veggie that you like or even squash.

For lunch, chop up the hamburger and add it on a bed of lettuce. YUM!!

Oh, and good job with your water. Just load up on veggies, like everyone says.

Awesome job on your exercise!!!!

I don't eat eggs. At all. I cannot stand them. So veggies in the morning is just too much for me.
I will try to up the veggies, but as it is, I have to force myself to eat by the end of the day (or the middle, actually) and I usually only eat half of my meals at this point.
Thanks,
XOXO
Tess

I think veggies are pretty vital to this way of eating. I wonder if this diet is something you can live with realistically??

If you don't eat veggies with your breakfast, then make sure your first snack has a half cup of veggies. That is what I do and it seems to work. Red pepper strips are good by themselves or dipped in hummus. I also like raw cauliflower and raw zucchini but I usually have those as my afternoon snack.

Good idea Barb!

I eat at least 4 cups of veggies a day. Sometimes more. I eat at least one large salad (usually 2-3 cups of romaine) and usually another small one a day, along with a cup or so of cucumbers for a snack plus whatever I'm having with my dinner.
I'm just rather frustrated since I have only 6 months to get down to at least 150-145 and I haven't lost anything and I don't cheat at all.
According to fit day, I am getting at least 1200 calories a day. So I really have no clue WHAT'S going on. It's annoying.

I'm with Kim on this. Increase your veggies and aim for those with serious nutrients. Romaine doesn't have much, neither do cucumbers. They are fine for roughage and taste, but otherwise, try to include more broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, brussel sprouts, green beans, greens (like mustard, collard, and kale), etc. There are tons of great recipes out there...I'd be glad to share some with you if you'd like.

You also need to be eating more over all...with all that cardio and the strength training, your body needs more fuel! 1200 calories is VERY low for a sedentary person! I would think with your workouts you should be getting at least 2000...but you may want to talk with the ladies in the Exercise and Ladies Who Lift forums to see what they have to say. Also, try using a good calorie calculator that takes your very athletic lifestyle into account to help you figure the amount.

With so little to lose, it's going to take a pretty long time. I understand how frustrating it is when it's not moving, but you need to try to be patient. I just went through a 2.5 month stall, and then lost 5 pounds this month. You never know! :

Sorry if I'm repeating advice others have given...I don't have time to read the whole post. I think it's great that you are working so hard and I hope that things start moving again for you very soon!