I have been fighting with Phase I for the last two months. I did great the first time--2 weeks, felt great, everything was fine, but then I got sick/kids got sick/not enough sleep/slippery slope .... I tried again and again and again. But I could never make it past 3-4 days without something coming up. So now I feel like I'm on a yo-yo diet, because let's face it--phase I is very restrictive, and even the book says that it's not healthy long term. And I find that when I go "off" I really go "off". So I've been thinking about just starting at the end of the transition of Phase 2--3 starchy carbs, 3 fruits, vegies, lowfat protein and dairy. Has anyone done this? Any ideas?
I never did phase 1 and it worked fine for me. I did go through those feelings of detox that many SBers get, and I did find after a week or two that my cravings for sugar and refined carbs were gone.
However, I would recommend starting with just one grain serving and 1 fruit serving per day and see how you do with those for a week before increasing.
I personally feel that I really benefited from Phase 1. It is a challenge, and succeeding through it made me feel really good about the rest of my diet. I was also confident that my cravings were gone, and I could resist a lot more than before. I lasted 5 months on Phase 2 after my first stint at Phase 1, and I don't think I could have made it that far without the successful detox. Even the slightest slip-ups cause me to fall right off the cliff. I did not survive thanksgiving, which is why I re-started Phase 1 to give me an edge over Christmas . That said, if you have the will power, then start easy with phase 2. test a food for a week before moving on. I found that fruit in the morning made me want candy at night. and cereal after work made me want more cereal after dinner, and before bed. taking it slow and seeing how your body reacts to each food is the key. good luck!
I did strict P1 only once. It did help to drop the weight the first time, but even on the last few days, I still felt a little lethargic and it really impacted my exercise routine. Now, when I want to drop a few pounds, I do P1 'modified'. I incorporate some 'medium' GI foods such as berries, apples, (I love fruit, that was the biggest problem for me doing strict P1), carrots. I also add a few servings a week of things like brown rice, oatmeal, rye-crisps. And I don't limit my low-fat dairy at all which is so satisfying. I've had almost as much success doing my modified P2 (with regular exercise) than with strict P1.
Good Luck!
(I've maintained my goal weight within a 5 lb margin - after switching to a low GI/low fat diet. yay!)
If you are absolutely unable to complete Phase 1 (which I do believe would be beneficial considering the reason that you cannot complete it is issues with cravings), why not start at the beginning of the transition period into Phase 2?
kpw--that's kind of what I'm thinking about doing. Congratulations on maintaining for a year! Wow!
The reason I am thinking about about starting with 3 fruits/3 carbs instead of 1 carb/1 fruit is that it seems more like a lifestyle to me than a diet. I'm trying to do something that I can do forever, instead of start-stop-start-stop. If you do go through phase I and fall off the wagon, how do you know when to go back on?
Baristamon, it's encouraging to hear that you felt that Phase I really helped you through five months of clean eating!
Maybe I just need to be more determined and go through Phase I. And, now that I'm thinking about it, I also might need to give up/severely limit splenda during Phase I. The first time I did it, I didn't have any artificial sweeteners until about a week into it, when I had some amazing nsa ice cream. The other times, I've tried to make sure that I get my "treats"--the amazing black bean brownies, etc. But maybe that's part of the problem.
Last edited by fireballgirl; 12-09-2008 at 11:05 PM.
I would also recommend that you start a slow transition into Phase 2 if you simply cannot do Phase 1. I know you said a full Phase 2 would be more like a life-long plan to you, and it certainly is, but you really should start introducing fruits and grains slowly to see how your body reacts to the sugars and starch in certain foods. It's pretty hard to stay on an eating plan and be successful if you are constantly craving.
You asked "if you go through Phase 1 and fall off the wagon, how would you know when it's time to get back on?" As soon as you start experiencing cravings again, you should go back to Phase 1 for a few days until your cravings subside.
Fireball, I think there is wisdom behind the notion of giving up sweets entirely for the duration of Phase 1. It may seem like an insurmountable task at first but in reality, it is only two weeks. If sweets are your major comeuppance in this, I would recommend just killing those nagging cravings once and for all. For some people, just the mere taste of sweets causes cravings.
I'm one of those people. If I go past looking to tasting, I'm in big trouble. Learning how to feel satiated just by smelling something delicious is a huge challenge, but definately a lot better than eating it
Fireball, once you've done your first 2 weeks, there's no reason to do P1 that long again unless you step away from SBD for years. Seriously. You just need to do P1 for 3-5 days (as long as it takes to get rid of cravings) each time you go off plan. It sounds like you're capable of doing that.
As for the lifestyle/3 fruits and 3 carbs issue, I think the suggestion to start with 1 fruit and 1 carb is a good one. That way, you can add things one at a time until you find you're in a good place. If you do 3/3 and find that you are gaining or craving, you'll have to take some away. That's going to be frustrating, painful, and make you feel deprived. Adding is much better. I actually did it the way you mentioned--my husband's grandfather died on the Thursday of my second week of P1. I had to do my first day of P2 while driving to Wisconsin (14 hours) for the funeral. I didn't have a lot of time to plan, so I just looked at the menus in the book, counted the # of fruit and carbs (3 and 2, respectively), and did that. When I got back, I had gained some. I started cutting down and ended up with 1 fruit and 1 carb. Over time, I've been able to up that, but at that point, that was all that worked. Cutting them out was a lot harder than adding them in would be. Just my $0.02.
As for not doing Phase 1 at all, I wouldn't recommend it. I definitely needed the detox it gives me. Doing Phase 2 wouldn't detox me at all, but then I was wayyyy off plan before I started SBD. I find Phase 1 not only detoxes, but is so restrictive that it makes Phase 2 look like a smorgasbord!
Thanks for all your insights and sharing your experiences. I guess what it really boils down to is whether I believe that this IS the program for me and that it DOES work the way it is written. And if so, I need to do it. If not, I probably need to move on. It's not so much that I can't do it, but that I don't think I need to do it exactly right. And then I make a little exception here and there and they become big exceptions. Can anyone relate?
On a positive note, I went grocery shopping tonight without having dinner and was trying to grab something quick to munch on. Nothing appealed to me. Not the Hawaiian rolls. Not the donuts. Not the cheetos or pita chips or ice cream or cookies. I came home and had yogurt and whole grain toast with olive oil for dinner with tomato soup. So something must be working!
But doesn't the book "as written" say that you don't have to go back and do the Phase I for a full two weeks? Beachgal's posts seems to me to reflect what the book says on the matter, as I remember it.
I think there's danger both in treating any plan as "written in stone," or as "everything's optional."
Magical thinking and OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) habits are common to weight loss attempts, and can get in the way. I can't even count how many food plans I abandoned because I couldn't do them perfectly. Or how many times a small slip in my food plan sent me back, at least emotionally to "square one." For me, it was important to find a middle ground.
I nearly didn't post, because I'm not a South Beacher anymore. On the plan (as written), after the first few weeks I stopped losing. I didn't gain (which was very surprising, with many food plans I've either lost or gained, maintenance isn't a common result). I found that even "good carbs" tend to make me hungrier, and so I needed a portion control and a carbohydrate control element. Rather than throwing the whole plan away, I decided to follow an exchange plan with fewer starch choices modeled after lower carb exchange plans I found on the hillbilly housewife website, and the Duke University exchange plan. I decided though that I would continue to use what I learned from South Beach (and when I do, and make South Beach friendly choices for my exchanges I do great, when I think that I can use my exchanges on non-SB foods, especially on refined high carb foods, I end up going off plan).
I'm not saying any of my experience applies to you, but don't think you have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Last year when my husband and I had a consultation with the weight management clinic in our area (excellent reputation, good success rates, but not covered by most insurances, and certainly not by Medicare). The doctor leading the clinic and the dietician, recommended South Beach or a modified Atkins plan for us. My husband was leaning towards Atkins, and I was leaning towards South Beach (a neighbor had just given me the book). She recommended that my husband do neither Atkins induction nor South Beach Phase I, because the average carb intake would be too low for him, because he is diabetic on insulin and other blood sugar lowering medications. I'm on metformin and she told me that if Phase I made me sick, I could shorten or eliminate it. She said she's had many patients that have skipped Phase I, for a variety of reasons, and it did not impede their success in the program.
There are a lot of good reasons not to skip Phase I, but if the choice is between skipping Phase I and chucking the whole program, I'd suggest skipping Phase I. As much as I'm no longer a legitimate South Beacher, I learned so much from the program, that I think it's better to tweak South Beach than to abandon it.
Fireball, once you've done your first 2 weeks, there's no reason to do P1 that long again unless you step away from SBD for years. Seriously. You just need to do P1 for 3-5 days (as long as it takes to get rid of cravings) each time you go off plan. It sounds like you're capable of doing that.
Thats really interesting, and also reassuring. i'm on P1 for the second time, and its my third day. I have felt sick to my stomach and also starving all day long. I don't remember it being this way the first time, but my boyfriend says i complained of the same issues back in May. Its nice to know that once I feel confidant that I have control, I can move on without disrupting the weight loss process. I've already lost 5 pounds of what must surely have been water weight. It feels good anyway, no matter what the pounds were made of.
It's hard to tell where a craving begins and an urge ends. I feel like I'm fighting strong urges or compulsions that I would normally just give in to, but for some reason I'm strong enough to resist, even though I feel physically ill. I think I will hang on for 2 more days, before a careful reintroduction of the stuff that makes me loose control
I did a week and a half of P1 and then transitioned into my own version of a P2. I try to keep my carb intake to 50g/day or less and not eat any refined sugar/HFCS/carbs.
I'm not a SBDer but I do W/W and I can say I have used Phase I to help me with W/W too. This isn't being said to be mean but if you let things get in your way you are just giving into excuses. It took me many times before I actually clicked and let nothing be my excuse.
Has anyone skipped Phase I altogether?
. That said, if you have the will power, then start easy with phase 2. test a food for a week before moving on. I found that fruit in the morning made me want candy at night. and cereal after work made me want more cereal after dinner, and before bed. taking it slow and seeing how your body reacts to each food is the key. good luck!
Just my $0.02. 
