Good evening! Here I am... made it through my first week and feel great. Even finally went #2 today I've never been more excited about something so strange...

Anyways, I just signed up for TheDailyPlate.com to start recording exactly what I'm eating. I noticed that I have to eat quite a lot of calories per day to successfully lose 2lbs/week... Is this really necessary? I am having a difficult finding calories except in beans. Any suggestions?

Also, when I was putting things into the site, I was concerned because carbs still made up 20% of my intake for the day. Then I noticed it was from my morning V8, so I checked my bottle. There is 10g of sugar listed per serving! Is this allowed? Is there a better V8 that I could be buying?

Thanks! And I hope everyone had a great Monday

As far as I know, the sugar in V-8 is naturally occurring in the vegetables and not added sugars, so it's ok. V-8 juice is allowed, but the low sodium version might be better if you drink it often since the regular has a lot of sodium. South Beach isn't a low carb diet, so you don't need to worry about carb percentages. If you follow the plan according to the book, you'll consume plenty of carbs. But they will be good carbs, not carbs from sugar

Hey! You're in Tacoma! My husband was stationed at McChord for three years and we loved it out there! He misses "his mountain".

Suzanne's right in that South Beach emphasizes eating good carbs (whole grains and loads of veggies - 4.5 cups a day are recommended) and isn't really a "low carb" diet.

Do watch for sodium in the V-8. I believe there's a low sodium version available that might be better for you in that respect.

The Daily Plate is a terrific site. I also log my calories there. One thing I do with them, though, is eat the recommended calories but don't eat to accommodate for any exercise I've done. For example, I ran four miles today, which they said burned 437 calories, so they added 437 calories to my daily allowance, but I am just planning on eating the original amount, if that makes sense. I've read in several places that if your calprie level drops below 1200, it's difficult to get all of your nutrients in for the day. Slow and steady wins the race, right?!

Good luck! Hope you check in often!

Kara

I read the book this past month and it is my understanding that the sugar that occurs naturally in some fruits and vegetables is still acceptable on this plan. The sugar grams that you read are coming from the carrots and beets juice that make up some of the V-8 ingredients. There is no added sugar to V-8, which is why it is approved on this food plan.

It is my belief that if you are drinking the minimum of 64 oz of water per day the small amount of sodium in this beverage, and the serving size is 4 oz, is not enough to be overly concerned about IF your doctor is not putting you on a restricted sodium diet. Drinking 4 oz. at a time for me has not caused my blood pressure to rise nor bloat me.

V-8 was also on Phase One. I had it for breakfast some mornings as my 1/2 c vegetable serving.

I got low-sod Veggie Patch from TJoe's. It has 6g of sug..none added. It is 100% veggie juice, 50 cals for 8 oz. TJoe's is the bomb!!!!