Just an afterthought....my health numbers started improving very rapidly on SBD. I'd imagine I was only 10-12 weeks in when I started weaning off BP medication. My blood sugar was always all over the place. I'm not diabetic but think I was coming pretty close. Pre-SBD, I'd have lows inbetween meals where I got so shaky I could barely function...haven't experienced that since those first 3 mos on SBD, either.

I'm not on South Beach anymore, so I hesitated to respond, but your posts in this thread and the one about despairing over sf pudding not being on plan touched a nerve that I had to respond to.


You're catastrophizing small mistakes, and jumping to conclusions. There isn't a WOE on the planet that can guarantee against daily weight fluctuations up and down. Well there's one, but it's deadly, and that's denying yourself all food and water.

You cannot judge any WOE by only 7 days on plan (or only 14, or only 21, or probably even 35).

You also seem to be falling for the perfection fallacy. It's very common (we're almost taught to do it) to look at any weight loss plan as a magic formula that will not work unless every spell and incantation is perfect. One small mistake and "poof" all of your hard work will matter for nothing, and any weight loss you did acheive will disappear in a puff of smoke.

During more than three decades of weight loss attempts, I thought only perfection mattered, and as a result I eventually abandoned every attempt only to regain. Even if I was losing weight, it was as if the weight loss didn't count if I wasn't being perfectly on plan. A food or exercise plan I couldn't stick to perfectly was a plan I would eventually abandon.

I realize now that I never quit a plan because I was failing, but because I felt like I was failing, because only perfection "counted" for anything, and only rapid weight loss counted for anything. If I was losing slowly, it felt as bad as if I had gained. If I had imperfect days, even if I was losing steadily, if felt as bad as if I had gained. It's no wonder I quit, projecting that much despair and loathing and failure onto myself

I have a horrible time staying on any plan. I just do. That used to drive me off weight loss every time. I thought I had to find the plan I could do perfectly.

I've finally discovered there is no such plan. The only plan I can do perfectly is having no plan at all (which of course always results in no weight loss, and more often than not gaining). And yet I returned to it time and time again, because it's the only plan that I didn't obsess over. I felt low-level guilt over it, but not the rage at myself I felt over following a good plan imperfectly.

You could say that I've "failed" off 88 lbs "this time" because I've had very few perfect days in the last six years. Long story, but the condensed version - I lost the first 20 "accidentally" as a result of treatment for sleep apnea (docs said I would, I thought they were nuts). I decided to make only health changes I could stick to regardless of whether it resulted in weight loss. The next two years I managed to keep the 20 off, but lost no more.
Doctor prescribed low-carb, but not "too low." South Beach was a logical choice. Lost some, but then stopped. Even returning to Ph1 didn't help. Realized that even healthy carbs do nutty things to my hunger levels, and that I could stall weight loss even on Atkins induction. I need portion control as well, so I decided on a reduced carb exchange plan based on one I found on the hillbillyhousewife website. I still try to make SB-friendly choices.

I still have trouble being "perfect." I've had far more imperfect days than perfect, and yet I still have lost 88 lbs, most of it in the last two years.

That's crazy slow weight loss, but by giving up guilt and self-hatred, and the perfection or nothing philosophy, I've "failed off" 88 lbs, and I'm still losing. Still by adding healthy habits to my life that I'm willing to work at, with or without weight loss.

I'm not saying you should do as I've done and take six years to lose a third of your desired weight loss. I am saying that you do have to give up on the perfection or nothing perspective. It will get you nowhere. Because if you see failure with every action, you're going to eventually give up.

To lose 88 lbs, I've followed many plans, every one of them imperfectly. You don't need perfection to lose weight, you only need progress, and you need to see and value that progress. If you choose to be constantly discouraged and disheartened (and it is a choice, dependent upon your expectations and judgements of yourself), you will give up. You'll get tired of feeling bad all the time, and you'll give up. Just like I did every time, over the course of 34 years.


If only I'd learned the lessons sooner, but I'm learning them now and that's all that matters.

Wow, Kaplods. Thank you for sharing. Everything you have said struck a cord with me too. I'm slowly realizing that for me, it's more important to learn how to bounce back from "cheating" than to never cheat.

Good advice as usual from Kaplods. Her post should be "required reading" for us all.

I really don't think we can add anything to this thread so am going to close it.

Kaplods, thank you for your very wise and true words, and I can't agree with you more. I refuse to obsess about perfection and letting the scale rule my life. Life happens and constantly denying myself something makes me want it even more. I'm not saying that you should indulge in each and every craving that you have, but it's not the end of the world if you do slip up every once in a while. The important thing is to get right back on the wagon and keep on truckin'.

And, Kaplods, congratulations on your successful weight loss! 88 lbs. in 2 years is fantastic!