Hey all,
One year ago, I started SBD and completed a pretty clean Phase 1, then got a little lost as I tried to transition beyond that. I spent the rest of the year on/off plan. I'm now back on day 3 of a Phase 1 and I'm also using the new WW Points Plus tracking program to track portions. I'm not very good at portion control in general; and tend to eat higher fat foods. I'm hoping Points Plus can give me an education in calories/portions/balancing my food. I'm planning to transition through all the phases of SB eating only on plan foods, just using PP to get a sense of how much to eat to lose weight.

My friend picked up a packet for me at her meeting, and we calculated I should be on 29 points with 46 extra points for the week. Anyone else doing this? Want to share tips/questions?

I'm kind of doing it the other way around.. Doing Points Plus but wanting to really focus on doing things low-carb.. I'm a HUGE carb addict and I need to start eating more protein.

I'd love to share ideas with you.

I'm specifically looking for quick & easy breakfast tips. Something I can make ahead of time and eat quickly.. I have 2 young kids and I don't always have a lot of time in the morning. I'm burnt out on oatmeal, cereal, etc.

I also would love ideas for lunches.

I'm pretty open to most foods but don't eat any fish or seafood..

Today for breakfast I had a cup of plain low fat kefir (like a yogurt drink), 1/2 cup edamame, and a glass of v8 for 7 points. It kept me going until about 11am. For lunch I usually have a meat and some veggies - for instance you could have a salad with grilled chicken for just the points of the chicken and the dressing, also could add chick peas too. I don't know if you're open to it, but trying to do the two weeks on Phase 1 of South Beach will really cleanse your body of the bad carbs and your cravings will go way, way down. Then you can reintroduce them into your diet.

Sounds good!

I'm not totally familiar with SBD, so can you give me a low-down of what those 2 weeks would entail??

Everyone is going to tell you to buy the book, which is a good idea or you can check it out from the library. If you have issues with carbs, its a must read. You can go to southbeachdiet.com and get a lot of info there too. Essentially on phase 1 you remove all carbs including fruit and starchy vegetables. On a Phase 1 day you would want to get in all of the following:
4.5 cups of veggies
1/2 cup of beans
2 cups low fat dairy (including plain yogurt)
lean protein (not restricted, but avoid high fat foods like duck)
you can use 2 tbsp. additional healthy oils like olive for dressing your food and mayonnaise is fine too.

Transitioning into Phase 2 means slowly adding fruits and carbs back one at a time. Phase 3 is maintenance.

There are some good stickies up at the top of this forum that talk about Phase 1. If you start a thread asking about it, many will chime in.

Also, I am doing Phase 1 while counting PP right now so take a look at my food logs on the "on plan" thread for this week to get a sense of a Phase 1 day counting points.

Mmk- I signed up for the free week online so I can get a feel for it and then I am stopping the online. A friend at work is letting me borrow her starter pack and she is buying me a points calculator at her next meeting.

The site calculated my points at 31 daily and 40 extra weekly. It also tracks your activity points, you can swap them or just keep track of them. I am going to just keep track of them.

I learned my portions are way to big on SB, I am like you after I get of Phase 1 my weight loss stalls, so I am hoping by combining the two I am more successful.

Hi Pearlrose,
I don't think I'm eligible for the weekly trial, since I had done it on line before. Anyway, I was told everyone gets 49 additional points per week rather than 40 - regardless of weight. Do you know something different?

Oops posted that number wrong it should be 49 instead of 40. I already used some this week (that portion issue lol).

9 points makes a big difference!!!

I am doing just about the same thing! I have the Points Plus calculator and everything but if I don't keep the carbs WAY down and under control I just can't lose weight and keep it off. Plus, I can't take the cravings anymore! Of course, when I have had a big weight loss week it is weird to tell people at the weigh in "couldn't work WW without the SB principles."

I was all set to post last night and our internet died. I meant to get here sooner.

I've been following SBD for several years and have used calorie counting to keep my portions under control. I decided to experiment with P+ because I'm always looking for new tools. I signed up for the three month online trial out of curiosity. I definitely won't renew that but may just get myself a calculator.

So far I feel like I'm eating too much but not going off plan because of the flex points (29 points, 49 weekly). I'll wait to see how the weigh-ins go. I am not adding my exercise points back in because I know that would be a bad idea for me. Something about seeing those exercise points listed does get me moving though, so that's good

Cyndi, I am with you waiting to see how the weigh in goes. I am not adding the exercise points in because I think the extra 49 is enough.

I can tell you after almost a week, when I pulled my jeans on today they were definitely much easier to get on, so we will see what the scale says on Sunday.

I just knew I needed help with my portions.

I have started this as well, my WI was 3 days ago and I am also on day 3 of SB P1. I can't believe how many points I get now. I feel super satisfied with SB and WW combined. I can't imagine also using up all of my weekly on top of this! LOL

I had a wicked headache yesterday that I attributed to low carb/junk food detox. I did like many suggest and incorporated a large amount of beans into my diet, I made a big SB Chili (6 P+) last night and also some kinda-sorta-bean based SB Brownies (2 P+). They don't fool me but they taste good and are pretty healthy. That seemed to do the trick as it has been 24 hours and I feel great.

Down 2 lbs in 2 days, water weight no doubt, but I am feeling much more positive about SB today than I was yesterday.

Hey LuckyDVL,
Sounds great. I love that you posted the points for those recipes. I post my points for the day on the On plan thread. Do you post there?

I admit I'm surprised and impressed so far. I lost 3.8 lbs this week. Granted I was artificially high last week but I still count 1.3 as real loss. Considering I ate all my points and 2 exercise points , didn't exercise enough and don't have much to lose I'm really happy with that. Onward to another week.