For phase 2:

I know that we are not actually counting carb grams...but can you tell me what your daily average is approximately. Or how many actually servings of starch and fruits you are finding max and still maintain your 2 pound per week loss.

That way if I want to periodically have one of the desserts (with the Wheat Flour) from the Supercharged cookbook, I can know how many slices of bread or fruit to replace it with.

Does that even make sense???

Donna, I assume by "carbs," you don't mean the grams of carbohydrates in an item (like the ones that are counted by those following Atkins) but the number of servings of carbohydrates (which I call starches to avoid the confusion), right? We don't count carb grams--there isn't any minimum or maximum and everyone's total would be different each day. I don't think anyone can give you a ballpark idea of the number of carb servings per day, truthfully. Everyone's body is different. Your goal in P2 is to figure out what works for you. Some people find they can't eat any starches...or that some kinds of starches are a problem and others aren't. Some can't have any fruit or find that they can only have certain kinds of fruit. Some people can only have certain types of food at certain times of day.

Here are some posts to help you figure out things for your body:

Emergency Handbook for Phase 2 has tons of great information on how to get into and through P2.

What's your P2 Combo? Lists basic information on how to start P2, what might happen at first and then later, and gives lots of Beachies' experiences with P2 and what combination of fruits and starches worked for them.

Phase 2 - How to choose Breads

I put the links in for you here, but you can find all of these threads and more in the FAQ for this forum. These are especially helpful, so they are "stickied" to stay at the top of the forum.

Best of luck!

Laurie,

I will look at those.

Yes, what I am thinking is that I do tend to focus better, control my appetite better and lose weight when I really watch bread, rice, and potatoes. So, as I am trying to limit my daily servings to one starch a day right now (beginning phase 2) and one fruit a day. Before mid afternoon. I am thinking I want to watch my reaction a few days. AND instead of cheating myself, I want to periodically replace a starch with a dessert...how do I know if they are more or less equivalent and how much is equivalent.

I will check out those post its. Thanks

This was very helpful, thanks.

Thanks, those were helpful insights with all the personal experiences. So,

I think for a while (based on some of the testimonies I read) that I will stay with the one starch and one fruit for the entire week. See whether I keep losing after the week. If I want a dessert (S. Beach friendly), I will substitute it for the starch.

Then next week I can add one additional fruit...etc.

It was interesting to see some of the similar struggles and some of the difference.

BTW... that chart was most helpful.

Even though I have been on Phase 2 for a few weeks now, I still try to keep it at one (occasionally two) starches a day and one fruit serving per day (usually in the form of a smoothie).

I know that they advertise you don't have to count or keep up with it or whatever, but I do or I don't believe I would have the results that I have had. I have steadily lost 2 lbs per week (8 in the first two weeks) for a total of 20 since March 12. I think it has a lot to do with "watching" that I don't go over a certain caloric intake and that my calories come from the good stuff.

Roz, I have being doing similar. I started getting serious the First week in April 6th at 223...4.5 week later I am at 209 (14 pound loss) . Consecutively. Lost 4, 2, 2, 4, plus 2 so far this week. Right now I am working at a phase 1.5ish. And plan to stay around this concept for a few weeks.

I am using the South Beach plan, but also plugging in what I eat on Self Diet dot com free food/exercise tracker. Using their data, a calorie counter book, South Beach book, and package labels...I am trying to keep my calories around 1500-1800 a day. I do this by picking the lowest carb foods that will leave me satisfied and give me energy. Lots of variety of veggies and lean meat. Limited starches and moderate fresh fruit.

On the food tracker I can see my total grams of carbs, proteins, fats, fiber, etc. I try to keep them around 30/30/40 (40 being the carbs....with few starches/sugar).

After 4 weeks, I know that I need to plan some desserts and periodically extra breads into my plan...just trying to figure out how.