Okay everyone I am getting frustrated and looking for advice since I have hit this terrible plateau! I started the South Beach for the second time about a month ago and have lost fourteen pounds and stopped. I continued on with Phase 1 longer than 2 weeks because I was steadily losing weight. I am pretty much following the Phase 1 plan though I am eating some fruit here and there. Has anyone else dealt with this? How did you break that plateau?
I am committed to this and totally believe in how well the diet works, I am just getting more and more frustrated that I have stopped losing weight!

This was fairly typical for a lot of us. After the initial big drop, it can level out and take a while for your body to "catch up". Try not to be discouraged. Weight loss does not always occur as we would like it to and stalls, then you may have a big "whoosh" all of a sudden. I noticed this after starting Phase II initially. It took a few weeks to see a loss again. Remember how good you feel and visualize yourself getting healthier on the inside. Reward yourself for staying OP. This really helped me a lot. You will be so glad you did!

This is what has happened to me too, Lindsey! I lost 7 pounds by the end of my two weeks of phase 1 and have not been able to loose any more -- I just keep maintaining the 7 pounds.

Did anyone do a certain exercise or something to help with the weight loss?

Are doing any extercise? because that has helped me a lot and I see the diffrence between doing phase 1 with extercise and without and it makes a huge diffrence. I would do cardio and weighs it is the best. Good luck

Relax keep on eating well and you will lose. IMHO plateaus are multiple weeks of not losing... part or the weight you lost is water and you are probably still losing fat and it takes some time to even out...relax and keep on goin! 14lbs in a month is amazing!

Why don't you post some menus? There might be something that can be tweaked.

Other thoughts-
Do you check your portion sizes? A lot of us have discovered that we aren't very good at eyeballing a portion. If it's zucchini that's not a problem but if it's peanut butter or protein those over-sized portions can really add up. For me after being overweight for a very long time I really needed a reality check about portion sizes.

Are you sticking with just one just servings a day?

How much cheese do you use?

Other chicks have mentioned exercise.

There are lots of things that can be tweaked a little to make a difference. The most important thing is to keep focusing on health and maintaining that loss you already have.

ETA - Lindsay I just noticed your overall loss! Wow, that's amazing!! You must feel like a new woman already. A plateau is really not unexpected at this point. Just keep following the plan and get some exercise in and things will start dropping again. Congratulations!

Honestly, I went through what seemed like a zillion plateaus!
It would stall for weeks or even a couple of months. The trick is just not to let it get to you and just keep living a healthy lifestyle. If you stress over it, that can cause weight gain. Just keep plugging away and tell yourself that the weight will take care of itself and that you are a healthy person. Let nature just do it's thing.
You really don't want to lose tons at a time anyway...it'll make your skin hang!! Slow and firm, slow and firm!!

Yes to what they all said. Very frustrating, but very typical as you transition to Phase 2. Watch it with the fruit though - some people don't do well with fruit. I am one of those people and I really cannot have more than 1 SBD friendly fruit a day. Just keep plugging along and you will start losing again, for sure.

Thanks everyone for writing back! I was happy to join this online community because I don't have any friends that understand the commitment I have made to losing weight.

I do excercise, but not as much as I probably should. I just bought a new bike and I will ride it around our neighborhood or the lake nearby but that usually happens only on the weekend. We have a new puppy that I enjoy taking for walks and I try to get to aerobics as often as possible.

Cyndi: I am pretty good about measuring out portions though I recently realized that if I have a handful of nuts then I probably shouldn't have peanut butter later so I am more aware of that. I may be eating too much cheese if I look at all the cheese I eat in a day. For instance, I may eat egg whites with cheese in the morning or sometimes I make a ricotta creme for breakfast, and then I will snack on light laughing cow before lunch. I may eat more cheese when I get home and sometimes I have it with dinner. Geez, just writing that made me realize how much cheese I am eating!!!! And yes, I do feel like a new woman, sometimes I forget how far I have already come because I want to be at the end so badly!

This week I have stopped drinking my morning coffee and have switched to tea. I have been buying Healthy Fasting tea by Yogi and it is the best tea I have ever tried, I drink a few cups of it every day.

Well I am really glad that I am not alone, thanks for all the support and encouragement ladies!

Lindsay, I try to only eat 2-3 servings of cheese a day. Keep up the good work!