Hi everybody! I've been reading this forum for the last couple of weeks and thought it was high time I introduced myself.

I'm finishing college this year in a super-stressful major so my weight has definitely yoyoed over the last four years. My long-term goal is to get back to where I started, but for now I just want to be able to feel good about buying a new pair of jeans this new years.

I am two days short of finishing phase I (though I'll probably extend through the weekend as I had some problems with the roommate's cookies yesterday). I've lost 4lbs and I'm hoping I can be good enough for more to come off soon.

The thing I'm curious is how I know my cravings have disappeared. I no longer have headaches or anything, but there are days I just can't get enough (SBD-friendly) food. I would still like to eat fruit and whole grains, and I did cave last night for those cookies (why couldn't she have put them in a box!). Any thoughts?

vb07. You definitely came to the right place, these ladies know lots of great info. Congratulations on finishing college too. Now about those pesky cravings I would say your cookie experience yesterday was more a confrontation with temptation and a craving is more like "I'm eating broccoli but I'm wanting, thinking, wishing it was covered in chocolate." Hope this helps.

I knew my cravings where gone when I would see someone eating something non south beach and be like how do they eat that or not wanting any. I also new when it came to be TOM and I had no cravings for junk food like I would in times pass. Good luck and keep posting

I read somewhere (not sure exactly where) that cravings were the feeling that you were hungry when you're really not. That hit home with me, because I had that exact problem. I'd get up and eat a nice diet-friendly breakfast (at the time Weight Watchers) and then only an hour or less later I would feel hungry. Then I would proceed to eat something like a granola bar or fruit, again less than an hour later hungry ! So while I was eating fairly healthful foods, I was eating a lot of volume with no weight loss in sight.

SBD has relieved me of those "cravings" I now eat my wonderful steel cut oats & berries & walnuts for breakfast and do not feel hungry until way after 12:00 noon, have my lunch and may or may not need anything until dinner (sometimes I'll have a sb friendly snack in the afternoon) then the biggie is not wanting to eat after dinner !!! A HUGE accomplishment.

So for me that was how I knew my cravings were gone and it was probably the 2nd week of ph 1 that that happened. This was around Halloween and like Gonnabe165, I knew when I had no desire for any of my kids' candy I was on the way !

For me, cravings are the I-gotta-have-it-now-I'm-obsessed-thinking-about-it-until-I-get-it feeling. Cookies on the counter are a temptation. I would have put them in the fridge or in a bag in the cabinet or something so they were out of sight. If I was still thinking about them even after I couldn't see them, that's a craving for me.

Extending your Phase 1 for two more days won't really help if you're still getting cravings. The whole two week program is designed to nix the cravings by detoxing your body from the effects of those simple carbs. It's not meant to be a quick weight loss (although that often happens as people lose a fair amount of water weight in the first two weeks) and it's not meant to be a long-term eating plan because those first two weeks aren't terribly nutritionally balanced. Your body does need whole grains and fruits. Maybe easing gradually into Phase 2 for now, adding one Phase 2-friendly item per day for a week and seeing how your body reacts, and then repeating Phase 1 in a couple months if you don't feel your cravings are gone is what would work best for you.

Good to have you around!!!

Kara

Cravings are like when you think "If I don't get a piece of chocolate right now, someone is going to die"

I could tell mine were really gone when I started baking stuff for my family again and really could not care less if I had any or not. Like right now my house smells like brownies and I just want some almonds. My world doesn't revolve around waiting for sugar anymore. ick.