[TigerLilly67]

Hi everyone! I've got 27 lbs to lose. I just started South Beach yesterday (yes, on a SATURDAY!) I knew the first day would be a challenge, but had no idea I would suffer such headaches and chills! Has anyone had this? I'm assuming my body is going through a mini-detox (I was a HUGE soft drink consumer, ice cream eater, and major carb LOADER...)
Anyway, feel better today.... and I'm committed to doing this.
Any tips/thoughts/ideas would be appreciated.
I want to get off to a good start to pump myself up and get super motivated!

[Ferumbras]

I would say that yes, you are suffering from withdrawal. For me, the best thing to deal with the headaches from lack of caffeine was excedrin, as it contains caffeine as an ingredient. It won't sabotage your efforts, but will take the pain away. But there's naturally going to be a period of adjustment. For me, it took about 5 days. After that, the cravings were gone and since the recipes were almost all tasty, I didn't feel deprived after that.

Oh, the other thing about SB. While you're never told to count calories, I would highly recommend paying attention to the portion sizes. You can still gain weight if you eat too much healthy stuff.

Good luck!

[Kilikila]

This is my 3rd time trying south beach and it seems like the third time is a charm. What really seems to be working for me this time is to eat tons of veggies and I have had minimal carb withdrawal symptoms. My theory is that veggies do have carbs (just better for you ones) and those good carbs keep the yucky withdrawal symptoms away.

I am starting my 2nd week on phase one. Last week I made a weeks worth of the veggie quiches and ate two for breakfast in the morning plus a cup of green tea and managed to force down a glass of v8 (I do not like v8, but have found that it makes me feel better). For lunch I had a bowl of veggie soup (made a weeks worth on Sunday and froze it so I could just throw it in my lunch bag in the mornings), and a big salad usually with leftover meat from the night before. For dinners I have another huge salad with whatever lean meat we make for dinner. My snacks last weeks have been cheese and veggies (cherry tomatoes, celery, edemame, bell peppers). This week I am planning on doing about the same, I really love the veggie quiches. I'm going to try the broccoli soup that is in the book for my lunches.

Good luck! And hope you fell better- I remember going through what you describe last time I did South Beach and it SUCKS!