Coming Home!
 

Hi y'all!

I've been a poster here on and off through the years. I first lost ~40lbs with SB in high school, kept it off through most of college, and then used it to get to my absolute thinnest, 128lbs (I'm 5'4'') at the end of college. Since then it's snuck up to the low 140s so I'm back to see if I can get down to 125 and stay there.

It's strange; although South Beach is truly the only thing that has ever worked for me, I've experimented with a lot of other diets/ways of eating over the years. I think I've learned something valuable from all of them, from paleo to most recently "if it fits your macros," but in the end all of the counting and restricting made me feel way crazier and hungrier than SB ever did. I've also worked a lot on emotional eating, binging, and other psychological aspects of this journey over the past few years. This book in particular has been great! http://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Bin.../dp/1572305614

So, back to what I *know* works: 3 meals, 2 snacks, 1 dessert a day. Veggies and a protein at all of them. One serving of dairy, and one serving of nuts a day. No fruit, starchy veg (byebye carrots :-(), booze, or grains at first. Lots of water. Writing down on paper what I eat every day as a way to be aware, not to torture myself with the number of grams of carbs, fat, etc.

As for activity, just hitting 10k steps a day with my FitBit, and doing *something* active every day -- lately, very into lifting heavy weights and HIIT, but sticking to rigid "do this type of exercise on this day" just makes me feel restricted and less likely to want to do anything.

I'm excited to get started again, and sort of unsure why I ever moved away from SB overall. Not measuring and counting my food is a huge boon to my sanity and time as a med student. And of course it's great to have this super supportive community. :-)

So, my plan is to do a proper phase 1 from today until Friday, 5/15, when I'm going on vacation. Will try to keep it relatively reined in on vacay, but will probably do one more week of P1 when I get back. Anyone else on the P1 wagon right now and wanna be support buddies?

:welcome: back. Do you realize you made your first post on May 3, 2010?

Yes, SBD is the best programme. I keep trying other ones and ending back on SBD - not just because I'm a moderator!

Welcome back!

Welcome back!

Thanks for the welcome back, everyone! And yes, Ruth, I remember -- it was my senior year of high school when I first found SB, so I had actually posted on here under a different name in 2006! It was so frustrating at the time to have to think about what I was eating and read about nutrition when all of my friends were naturally thin, but now, almost 10 years later, many of those same people have started struggling with their weight and I'm actually thankful to have a strong base of knowing what works to go off of.

This week has been 90% P1 compliant and I am feeling great, so much less food obsessed and constantly hungry than with tracking calories and macros.

I have woken up in the middle of the night hungry and eaten off plan the last two nights, though -- not sure what that is about but going to try to lock my door tonight and close the kitchen door to at least give myself a second of pause before falling headfirst into my roommate's crackers and cookies. Anyone else have this weird midnight binging? Any tips?

Welcome back :)