Starting the South Beach Diet Again

Congratulations on incorporating weight training into your weight loss plan.

Also remember that there's nothing special about the South Beach diet. When it works it's because it creates a calorie deficit. Nothing more and nothing less.

Best wishes to you in your journey.

Hi, Brie.

I lived in Pensacola for 12 years, but now in Arizona. I miss the beaches but not the humidity and hurricanes.

South Beach is a healthy way to eat. Sort of a lower-carb Mediterranean diet. The author, Dr. Agatston, had intended to produce a diet with few rules, yet he tells you exactly what and when you will eat for 6 straight weeks. The recipes are prepared from readily available ingredients. How much do you eat? “The meals should be of normal size—enough to satisfy your hunger, but no more than that.” So the author never says how many calories you will eat. Although he says it is not a low-carb diet, it is. Especially the first four weeks.

I'v never done South Beach. Is it pretty easy to follow his meal plans?

Best of luck.

-Steve

Congrats! Eating the right way is AT LEAST 65% of the battle. Add some regular cardio & weight resistance to that & you will have the 20 pounds off! Good luck!

Thanks everyone.
So far so good. I went to the gym today and the girl at the front desk stopped me and said it looked like I have lost a lot of weight. That made me feel really good..
I have to say, the diet is easy so far and I definately don't over eat on it. I feel healthier and look a little leaner. It's extremely easy to follow. I guess I am lucky in a way because I really never was a lover of sweets or alcohol, just on special occasions. I haven't craved a carb in over a week. That is a great feeling and surprisingly it hasn't bothered me making my family all of their high carb meals. LOL.. My only wish is that I will be able to keep it off after I lose it.. Wish me luck and thanks for the support.

One thing to think about is what are you going to do when you do lose the weight? What foods are going to eat once you go off The South Beach Diet so that you don't put the weight back on again?
It is great that you are trying to lose weight, but your focus needs to be on creating a diet you can eat for the rest of your life so that in a year's time you are not 20 pounds heavier again.

A study published last year in the journal, Clinical Diabetes" outlines the documented methods to prevent weight regain.

The authors’ recommendations are mostly based on well-designed, published, peer-reviewed, scientific studies. They identified characteristics of successful weight loss maintainers - what I call “successful losers.” The idea is that a person will enhance her odds of keeping the lost weight off by incorporating these habits into her lifestyle:

-Maintain high levels of physical activity. Consider at least 60 minutes daily of moderate activity. Ouch!
-Limit television to less that a few hours a day.
-Eat a diet low in fat and calories. [I disagree with the accross-the-board low-fat recommendation.]
-Maintain a consistent eating pattern throughout the week and year. Successful losers often report less variety, compared to other people, in all food groups except for fruits.
-Eat breakfast routinely.
-Control emotional eating.
-Weigh frequently, whether daily or weekly.
-Catch and address weight regain early, before it gets out of hand.
-Consider sequential medications. E.g., sibutramine for months, then orlistat for months.
-Individual and/or group follow-up support. Even follow-up by phone works.
-Have realistic expectations. Most dieters only lose about half the weight they expected in the first place. The resulting sense of disappointment sabotages efforts to keep the weight off. Anticipate the universal tendency to regain lost weight.
-Helpful diet patterns: eat more than five servings a day of fruits and vegetables, watch portion sizes, self-record food intake, plan meals, limit fast food.
-“Exercise is central to weight loss maintenance.” And finally . . .
-“Exercise is central to weight loss maintenance.”

Hi Brie!

I am a mother of one who has also started the South Beach diet for the first time.

I have a 1 year old daughter and no excuse whatsoever why I weight what I do. I need to lose 33lbs.

I am on day two (14/7/09) and so far so good, I have been feeling hungry but been drinking green tea to supress all the cravings. Would like to keep in touch :)

This is the first time I am on a low carb diet and its quite hard.

I am just ending week 1 of phase 1 of the SBD and I have lost 10 pounds so far. It's great! I was always eating sweets left and right and eating close to 5-6 bowls of cereal a day. Loved bread and all the other carb foods that people love to eat. The thing is I have changed my diet to a major extreme and have been following the SBD rules...well about 90% of the rules. Meaning...I still have been eating stuff with sugar in them (no more than 8g of sugar though) like bumble bee tuna and chicken salad in a can, lowfat yogurt with sugar, lowfat cottage cheese with sugar and even ice-cream bars with 0 carbs and 3g of sugar and I still have been losing weight. I'm sure if I totally cut sugar period it would be more. But I'm still satisfied with the SBD so far. Is this because of such an extreme change in my diet I was still able to lose this weight even though I didn't cut out ALL SUGAR? I still have cut out all carbs like bread, cereal, cookies, crackers and so on and so on. Has anyone else been successful with the SBD without completely cutting out ALL sugar completely?

5 times a day LOL! Wow! Thanks for the response, Brie! I do have about 20 pounds to lose to get to my goal. I have been exercising about 3 times a day so I'm sure thats helping. But I'm guessing since its such an extreme with the no carb diet that has a lot of to do with it. Thanks for the high spirit words and I wish u the best of luck as well! I will post my weight loss total at the end of the two weeks!

Hi Nathan.

Well I guess we are in the same boat with the goal of losing the same amount of weight.. I have lost 6lbs in the first week. I know I said I wasn't going to check the scale, but I couldn't resist. I have not cheated at all. Today, as a matter of fact, I took my 3 kids to the movies and they got candy and popcorn and I didn't even crave any of it. Im very proud of myself.. Well good luck. Are you having trouble finding things to eat for lunch and dinner..If so, I could give you some ideas.. Let me know.

I'm currently on my 4th day of south beach. i went to red lobster last night and ate... 5 cheese biscuits!!! i intended to only eat a half of one, but went way, way, way overboard. thankfully, no weight was gained. I've already lost 5 pounds. only 20 more to go!

I am glad that I found an updated blog. After visiting the doctor last week and being told to calorie count, I decided to try SBD. I am starting phase 1 tomorrow.

I went to the doctor because I needed to talk medicine because my husband and I are going to try to get pregnant again. My GP said that he'd like to see me gain very little if any weight. He wanted me to start Weight Watchers, but I told him I'd need to talk with my OB. He assured me that my OB probably wouldn't argue because of my current weight and height. After talking with my husband and craving sweets since I've been told to count calories, I decided to get my book out. I'll keep you updated. Hopefully it will work.

Brie,
I'm curious how you are doing at this point on SBD. I just started myself for the first time. I did weight watchers several years ago and slowly did lose a lot of weight (about 20-25 pounds). I kept that off for about 5 years, but now I am back were I started. :( I'm hoping SBD will be just the trick.

Good luck to you!
Christine

Brie, I hope you are still doing well on the diet. I am impressed with your ability to stay on the diet without cheating. I am also on SBD again after losing 45 pounds three years ago, and came across your blog. I have put back on about 15 pounds in the past year and know that I have to begin phase 1 again to really get a good start. I need to take off that 15 pounds and another 15 that I wanted to lose initially. Hopefully, I can find that determination that you seem to have found to be successful again.
As for what type of eating you will do once you attain your goal weight, all I can say is that South Beach Diet is an amazing program that was written with your whole life in mind. Dr. Agatston makes it extremely clear that he wants you to start this diet with the goal of changing your eating habits for life. The first two weeks are the hardest, but like you said, if you can stick with it for the first week you will lose the desire to eat things that you shouldn't in order to lose the weight.
Congratulations to you for making exercise important in your life, especially with kids to care for. It really does make a difference in how quickly the weight comes off.
You have inspired me to take my weight loss seriously. Thanks for that and good luck to you!
(Something that helped me tremendously was SBD's 30 Minutes or Less Cookbook - it has a yellow cover. I hate cooking, and all of the recipes in this book are quick and easy. Amazingly, the recipes turn out just about as good as if you were eating in a restaurant.)