I decided to go off plan for 3 days (but nothing too crazy) and last night I just felt like complete and udder crap. I'm usually a happy person that really doesn't have bad days. If I'm in a bad mood I usually don't have much trouble shaking it off. I just felt terrible last night, one of those bad moods that you just know isn't going to go away until you go to bed and take a shower the next morning. Even lying in bed alone last night I felt terrible. It's the next day and I feel fine now. I can't say for sure if it was the food or just hormones or something but was wondering if anyone else had similar experiences.

How long have you been on south beach and what phase are you in?

Why did you decide to go off plan? Just curious.

The good thing about South Beach is that you are able to get right back on (either a day or two of Ph1 or back to Ph 2 depending on your cravings and your phase!)!!!

Scarlett, food definitely affects your mood. There are tons of books on it. The interesting thing is that the very things that we tend to eat a lot of when we're off SBD are the ones that also make you feel very happy, positive, and self-confident. But they are the same things that tend to drop your blood sugar quickly (and it gets worse and worse the more you eat them) and those feelings drop along with the blood sugar as the hormones attached with those foods change. When you're on plan, you'll find that you don't have those ups and downs and it helps keep depression at bay. Overall, you get the good feelings, but there's no violent upswing that leads to a scary downswing. I'm no scientist but I've read a lot on this. I can't explain it as well as I should, but you might want to check out the book Potatoes Not Prozac or just check a search engine like Dogpile for "seratonin" "beta-endorphine" and sugar.

When I'm off plan, I'm a and I know it's the food. I'm either bouncy and very, very upbeat or tired, sluggish, cranky, and have a bad headache. It's awful. Usually just a few days off plan is enough to send me running to Phase 1 like my life depends on it.

Just as an aside, many people who have clinical depression find that they try to "self-medicate" with things like sugar and/or alcohol because those things tend to fix, briefly, the chemical imbalance in their brain. If you think there's a chance that you're one of those people, you might want to talk with your doctor and/or a psychiatrist to see if you can get better help for that problem. Hope you're feeling better soon!

I second Jenny, why did you decide to go off plan?

When I eat terrible food, everyone (including DH) knows it. I'm cranky and quick to jump down someone's throat if they look at me wrong

I'm on phase 2 but I still eat mostly phase 1 foods, a little fruit and whole grains here and there though. The past 2 weeks I really haven't been eating that much and lost 10 pounds. It was a semi-conscious effort, but with it being SO COLD and living in a apt with not great heating, if I was laying in bed and feeling hungry at night, it just wasn't worth it for me to get out of bed and eat something. Some days I just wasn't that hungry. Since I was ahead of schedule and was afraid that my metabolism might slow too much I decided to go off plan for three days and consume more calories, in an effort to only maintain this week. I ate off plan food semi-in moderation (ie I didn't binge). I think that if this happens again I will just eat more SBD food or only have one meal per day be non-SBD and even then have it be something not terrible.

BTW I do not have depression or anything like that, was just in a bit of a funk yesterday.

You know your body and if you felt you needed to eat more to maintain weight, that was a good choice, but.... it would have been best if those extra calories came from south beach approved foods. Perhaps a few extra servings of cheese, an extra serving or two of dairy, maybe some extra olives, avacado or olive oil. Perhaps a double serving of nuts or peanut butter. All of these would quicly add up in calories, but not give you the disgusting feeling like you get when you go back to eating processed foods.

Scarlett, if you are too tired and cold to get up and eat, it sounds, IMHO, like something is wrong. That would really worry me. I live in an old house just north of you (at the bottom of NY state) and we have similar weather of late. But I've never been too cold or tired to eat...and neither has my husband, who's very skinny and has no problem just going to bed when he's tired and hungry at the same time. Honestly, have you considered seeing a doctor?

Being excessively cold and tired can be signs of a thyroid problem. My best friend has a really bad thyroid disorder but it wasn't diagnosed until she was 32! She lives in CA but was cold all the time. Still, none of us ever thought to ask her if she'd had her thyroid checked. When a routine blood test for another issue she had came back with a diagnosis involving her thyroid, it made perfect sense--she had all the symptoms. Since then I don't hesitate to ask people if they've had their thyroid checked.

However, like you suggested, eating more SBD foods is a good idea, overall. Are you eating good fats every day? You should be. Your body needs fat to be healthy--your brain especially needs it. You might consider adding some Omega-3-healthy fish to your weekly diet.

You might also want to consider putting your daily food into Fitday to see how many calories you're getting. If you aren't getting enough, not only will you see a cessation in weight loss, but it's really unhealthy. Make sure you're getting at LEAST 1200 cals/day.

Hope you're feeling better all around very soon!

I wrote this somewhere else... I had my yearly physical yesterday. The doctor said that many people who have the symptoms of a thyroid disorder, may have a vitamin D deficiency. She said that all women over 30, no matter how much calcium they ingest daily, should be taking two calcium/vitimin D suppliments daily. Just a thought....