Hi. I'm on day 11 of Phase One of South Beach. I'm excited to join this group because every time I Googled questions about SoBe, the 3FC discussions that popped up in my search results were very helpful!
I am afraid that in my first-week enthusiasm, I have shut down my metabolism. Afraid isn't the right word: I'm terrified! I'm tracking all of my food and exercise and saw that in the first week I ate an average of 1000 cals/day (3 days were below 700) and burned an average of 840 cals/day. Shockingly, I wasn't hungry. In the first week, I lost 8.6 pounds. I'm now in the middle of the second week of Phase 1 and have put back on 1/2 a pound.
I've read in some of the forums that increasing dairy consumption helps to add calories and burn fat. I'm relieved to read that because I thought that the official SoBe said to limit dairy to two servings per day. I'm also going to make sure I start eating my 15 walnut halves/day.
Logically, I know that I should feel successful and proud about maintaining a healthy diet, but stagnating in week two and being worried about negative long-term impact of my eating/exercise habits are making me wonder if I should stop this diet? I'm desperate to lose this weight.
I'm open to any/all advice. Specific questions: I know that I won't be able to maintain burning so many calories per day in the long-term; should I limit my exercise now? Also, I was planning on staying on Phase 1 until I reached 180 pounds; is that reasonable?
Thank you in advance! Again, I'm so happy to find an online support community!