South Beach Chat
 

I'm so inspired by the wonderfulness of South Beach ~ am starting this thread in case anyone else wants to chat about how it's making a difference in their lives. Or just SoBe stuff in general!

Am astonished at how much better I'm feeling already (and I'm only on week two of Phase I after switching over to the beach). Am also shocked to believe I could actually live this way forever and not miss a thing.

Would love to hear anything on your mind re: South Beach! :)

Cheers,
Sass

I'm really happy for you that you are having such a good go of it this time!!

It has surely changed my life.... :agree: :D

Judy Im amazed at your weight loss and maintenance. Do you have an exercise regimen, or just the dog walking?

I just want to know what I can do to maximize my results.

South Beach Chat
 

Hi Sass,

happy to hear you're feeling good about SB. I feel the same way too!I'm a return beacher who came back the end of this past Aug and glad I did.I feel
this time around I have paid better attention to what my body was telling me.
Before I just didn't know what was doing what!I added too many things at
once and came to a complete halt. I can't do everything that Dr. A suggests,
but thats the beauty of the program. It has to suit your lifestyle. I feel that
there will not be a problem with this WOE for the rest of my lifetime. I'm comfortable with the good choices we have and I do not concentrate on what
I can't have. Those days are long gone out of my thoughts. I'm still finding out what I can do where my body doesn't gain. However,I'm pretty sure at this time what I can handle. It took awhile but I'm glad I stayed around to do
it right this time. As far as exercise I started walking about a month maybe less into the program with grumpy thoughts because I didn't want to be
bothered. I started with 10 minutes. Now 5 months into program my walking
time is 50 minutes before breakfast everyday with a goal of 1 hr a day.
Healthy eating and exercieing go hand in hand. Judy has been a big inspiration for me and a helping hand. We are all here for one another,so
that is my story up to now. I think this is a good thread to have started.
I feel better then I ever. This WOE has been a vaulable help to my hiatal
hernia and GERD so to me I'm thankful and this is the year my goal will be reached. Lots of success to you..................Sissy

Hi All:

Judy, you have inspired many of us, so it's an honor that you're post number two!!!!! :)

And Sissy, thanks for sharing your story. (I'm still smiling from the description of walking "with grumpy thoughts"--that's just such a perfect way to describe my forays into exercise, too.) That's wonderful that it's been so great for you! And wow, on the walking practice you've developed. That's fantastic! Am also very impressed with how you are approaching and experimenting and figuring out what works for you and doesn't. I can already tell that I'm nervous about Phase II and may stay on Phase I for a few weeks longer because I want so desperately to lose some before slowing down!!! So any advice on the re-adding of foods is welcome. You are doing great with the loss, by the way!!!! Woohoo!!!

I don't know if I mentioned this anywhere else, but I was looking at People magazine this week and they had the "Half Their Weight" story and one of the women had lost her weight on SBD. Was so happy to see that there! I am always questing around on the web for SBD success stories. Don't think they update them enough on the official SBD site (though JUDY, your story is AWESOME! best one there). Have found them other places around the web, but would love to make a site where there are links to all of them. Just for those days when I need inspiration. Hey, maybe I will do that...to ponder. Hmmmmm. ;)

Sass...I strongly suggest that when you finish your 2 weeks of phase I, that you begin phase II by adding in 1 fruit serving a day ie: 1 serving of berries 3/4 cup.

Thats all...just 1 fruit.....it'll be OK...I promise!! ;)

Second week, you will add 1 starchy veggie ( sweet potato or butternut squash) and go to 2 fruits. I suggest to steer clear of grains for a while. :idea:

Some do this for 3 days the first week of phase II....you can do it that way too. :cool:

Ok, I will do it, Judy! But only because you promised. ;)

At your weight Dee....it'd be great if you started to lift some weights and do some toning ie: Pilates or yoga. It will help your body a lot!! :agree:

I did only walking while I was losing but I was huge and could barely do that. I walk 4-5 hours a day and it hurt when I was still 270. I lifted weights this past year and am ashamed that I have not worked out in a while...but want to get back to it as I felt great when I was doing it.

Exercise has always been my Achilles' Heel with any plan I've tried. I've discovered that I'm a social exerciser--I love classes and any kind of group exercise activity. I seem to need that kick in the butt to keep going! Right now, I'm part of a small group of friends that meets twice a week to do exercise videos together. It's fun, we mix it up a bit, and I don't miss because I don't want to disappoint my friends! Tonight we did Tae Bo and it was a blast. :D

Renee + exercise = procrastiation! :lol:
It's been almost 3 months since I did any serious exercising. Basically since starting at the new store. I keep telling myself that I will make the time to do it this afternoon...tomorrow morning....tomorrow night...in a coupe of days...yadda, yadda, yadda. I definitely need to get my butt in gear and just do it already! Maybe this afternoon :p

Great Thread.

My story is long so I'll try and make it short. :lol:
Started SB in July 2004. Hubby was doing it with me. He made his goal in Dec 2004. Then he lost a bit more and maintained his goal weight since then. :thup:

Me I'm still working towards my goal. I've learned a lot about body and what I need to eat to keep loosing.
I added back in too many extras along the way and done a pretty good job of maintaining.
But thats not good as I did this before I reached my goal. :agree:

Judy and this forum has kept me going. I know a lot about what not to do now!!!! ;)

So with the New Year, time to just get back at.

Stick to the plan, use the foods, meal charts. It works if you do it by the book. :idea:
:wave:

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for coming to chat.

Skippie, thanks for sharing your story! Very cool that you've learned about what works for you. Seems like I've been trying to figure that out for myself forever!!!

Renee: I feel you...am in the same boat! Drawerful of exercise DVDs and not a second to do them. (Sundancer, I LOVE Tae Bo, too. Very centering and makes me feel strong. Billy is sooooo cool.)

Sigh. Exercise = another goal to add to my neverending Working On It To-Do List! :lol:

I agree with Katrina. I'm a social exerciser but I've been getting better. I have work out DVD's at home and I have an elliptical machine. I don't mind the cardio, but I'm not a fan of strength training. A few years ago I had a personal trainer who pushed me and was there showing me what to do and that made me accountable and therefore I did it. Now that Im not working and don't belong to a gym, strength training is a little more difficult for me. I'll just have to become more disciplined, I found a website that gives me tons of strength training exercises I can do without any equipment. Just have to get off my BUTT!!!

South Beach Chat
 

Well Good Morning Everyone :wave:

Looks like I'm coming around to posting on the boards other then my journal.
Guess I really am a "sissy" at heart. :lol:

I was scared of everything when I first started but being as young as I am :lol: the score was quite clear to me. Sass,I too didn't want to move on
to P2 but Judy told me the same thing as she is saying to you.It works!
Don't be afraid to move on by adding 1 fruit the first week and then adding
a veggie starch the following. This how I learned about how my bode works.
I eat berries,pea soup and buttenut squash wo any problems. its when I try
putting to many things tog that my bode reacted. For instant one day I did,cranberries,swt potato,wasa,apple etc. and of course for me this show a
gain. Not much but enough to make me aware. So when I'm having swt.
potato,I don't eat the butternut squash same meal or same day, I usually wait
a few days or sometimes a week,but this is what works for my body.
I'm sure I have either totally confused you or hopefully not made you more
scared. But anyway good talking with you and keep up the good work.
I also eat off of a 8 inch plate,a bigger one for salad.
Renee.......I too was bummed out about excercise and it was something you
couldn't tell me that it was the right thing to do. I did not want to period,
But Judy again was the inspiration for my doing this. I'm going to make her blush so I better quit. Have a successful day.

Skippie
I hope you are doing great with you knee and lots of luck to you

This has been a great thread for me to read!! THANKS!!!

My "story"
I have been overweight pretty much my entire life, or struggled with food at anyrate. I had a phase (1991-1994) that I struggled with eating disorders (other than over-eating) I am 6' tall... and for those 3 years weighed about 130-140. NOT healthy. In 1994 I went on the Depo Provera shot... WOW WHAT A MISTAKE for someone with "food issues" I literally gained 80 pounds in 3 months. I spent from 1995-2004 "dieting" yo yoing. but for the most part just going up and up and up.sigh. In 2004 i was diagnosed with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome. One of the "problems" with this disease is that my body over produces insulin... so if i eat something that requires insulin (any carb/sugar) my body makes too much insulin for what is actually required, because of that, it causes me to "need" (crave) other sugary things... to use up that insulin... so it is a very never ending circle.

In 2005 my dr said... GO ON SOUTH BEACH. You will feel better with in 10 days. And you will be able to avoid needing medication to deal with this. I did.. it worked. I felt BETTER THAN I"D FELT since before i could remember. I had clarity of thought, energy, motivation, i wasn't hungry all the time, i didn't crave the sweets. AMAZING. I started SBD on May 15, 2005. I followed it "perfectly" (a perfect first 2 weeks, 1 new item every week etc. in phase 2) I lost close to 80 pounds between May and October. Then I started working out. And was HUNGRY. I built up to running 2-3 miles a day. So i added some more food. ANd started adding grains. I didn't have a problem... because i was working out so much. I continued to lose. In January 2006 I was running outside, slipped, fell, hurt my self. And had to quit working out for almsost 2 months... only i didn't quit eating. I got depressed. I ate more.... I kept telling myself "i was ok" but i wasn't. I got sloppier and sloppier.... until i wasn't doing it.

I tried starting again in Jan 07... that lasted about 3 days, because i started "tweeking" the plan that soon. BAD IDEA.

So..... here i am... Jan 2008 and DETERMINED to do this. I LOVED how i felt and looked (even though I still had another 80 pounds to lose... you can hide lots when you are 6' tall!) when i was doing south beach.. BY THE BOOK!

So far, in my 1 week of phase 1.... NO CHEATS. AND i am working out. Not running, but doing yoga/pliates 2x a week, and water aerobics and swimming laps 2 days a week. the other 3 days i am trying to make sure i do "something" active.

For me the BIGGEST FACTORS to success are:
1. eating enough that i don't get hungry. When im STARVING, i am more likely to cheat.
2. being prepared. Having foods ready for when if i DO get to that HUNGRY stage.
3. WATER WATER WATER!!!! and then another glass of WATER!!!
4. REWARDS!!! yep I'll admit it... i do "tricks for treats". Example... my bday is Feb 1.... I've promised myself a PEDICURE (gotta have cute toes if you are doing yoga right???) if ive been PERFECTLY on SB Plan AND worked out NO LESS than 3 times a week between now and then! :)

Ok, that is a wayyyyyyyyyyy long post... I hope that someone can find something helpful in it, and wasn't too bored by it!

Today, I worked up a "first draft" of a little SBD site and would love if you would take a look sometime and let me know about other recipe places (and success stories) to add! Link to it is in my journal. (Put it there instead of here in case I have to change the link later--want to be able to edit it!)

Back later to catch up...hope you all are having an excellent day!!! :)

Hi folks, just wanted to add my 10c's into the thread.

I personally love SB, it's healthy, you can eat lots of great looking and tasting food, but above all - you lose weight and LOOK fabulous, and not only all that, but it's SIMPLE to do too!! What more could you ask?! :lol:

I was looking about some of you feeling apprehensive about adding in stuff - I was like this when I started out on Atkins, and actually, I never got above the induction phase of carbs for months - far too long for my body to cope with. Judy and I joke about my "carb phobia" but let me tell you - it's very easy to become carb phobic - so my advice to you guys is JUST GO FOR IT!!

As long as you don't add in too much too soon you'll be fine :D The most valuable lesson I learnt was that if you add too much too soon you end up in pickle because you don't know what food is reacting well and what foods are not. Make sure when you add fruit or friendly starches you do it very S L O W L Y - like a new item a week - and see how you go.

From this learning process I have found out that I can eat sweet potatoes, sweetcorn, butternut squash, parsnips, and some whole grains - but not wheat of any kind.

Good luck to all of you starting out, you'll be fine - and continued luck to those of you who are still going - the journey, no matter how tough it might seem is SO worth it! :thup:

Thanks for this info. I'll be starting phase II next Tuesday and wanted to have a plan in place so I didn't blow it. I'll be making a copy of this little gem. :read2:
Edited to add: Do you recommend sticking with the same fruit for the first week or could you have a different one each day?

You can have a different fruit each day if thats what you like. Some try to stick with berries first week just to keep it low as berries are the lowest in carbs. I know that there are wonderful pears out now and good apples too.

I love seasonal fruit. :yum: In the summer, I love it when cherries show up. :cool: and peaches too. :yum:

Glad to see more posts here.
We all have different issues to work thru to get to our goal. But the support here is just wonderful.

Sissy, Thanks I'm doing better each week with my knee. Have a follow up with my doc tomorrow. The damage is done no getting around that. But I do have less pain than before.
My biggest issue now is just how stiff it gets when I sit, and I still have swelling in my knee. Just wish I could rid of the extra fluid my entire body likes. :lol:

Have a good hump day everyone. :wave:

Grains is what did me in. I added too many, too fast and thought just because it's WW it would be fine. WRONG!

However, the first time I started out adding in fruit I think I did it too quickly because I was having two different fruits a day and I realise now that it kicked in cravings for other sweeter stuff. I then went back and added in just berries for a week and that was fine, but then adding in apples and berries made me crave again...so I tend to eat apples just on their own without another fruit that day - I think I pinpointed that it was them which made me crave sweet stuff. I can eat berries and oranges on the same ay and it doesn't do that - strange!

Obviously it's personal to you though, so you may find like Judy said you can mix them up!

Good luck!

South Beach Chat
 

I too added to much too soon and that did me in also the first time around.
I didn't know what was doing what. I'm very comfortable with SB and I now can see my loss. My dd gave me a shirt quite awhile ago and I couldn't even get it past my chest so now I can wear it and its a XL, My sizes ranged any
where from 1X-3X depending on style. I still have a ways to go but I see a
difference and so does my family. I love seasonal fruits too and eat them when
they come out. We cruise alot and one of my favorite fruits on board is papaya
the orange flesh kind. yummy. Yes,I have come a long way baby and will makemy goal this year. Don't you just love I can't make anything short,it always has to be a book :lol:

Skippie so glad you are doing so well,I'll have to come over to your journal and
gossip with you tomorrow.

Sissy :wave:

:thup: :agree: Yup!! You got it!! :cool:

Grains do me in every time!! I try over and over to try different ways of eating them, but the simple fact is - my body hates grains - especially wheat which makes me crave like a wild woman.

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories!!! So glad to get to know you.

I think I'm already carb-phobic! Didn't even know there was such a thing but I'm filled with trepidation at the thought of adding anything "back" in. Especially since I didn't lose anything this morning...

Know this is my Atkinsesque mindset playing games with me, but I really do feel petrified. I'm not surprised that so many people have had the same experience of increased cravings (and eventual tweaking) when adding back. It's confusing, IMHO, bc the SBD book, if you look at the original menu plan, just adds in a bunch of them right away on phase 2 with oatmeal AND two servings of strawberries on the first day! It just says to "gradually introduce" stuff. I am so happy to have all of your advice on this step because I'm petrified. This is one example of why I got so frustrated with the book and wouldn't commit to South Beach for a long time (seriously, it doesn't even have the charts, which to me are the golden backbone of the plan). Ok, end of fearful vent! Sorry!

Oh, and one quick question: how many times a week can we have tuna? I know we are supposed to watch it somewhat bc of mercury, but I LOVE tuna salad with celery sticks...had it a few days ago and have been dreaming about it ever since. :lol:

If it wasn't for Judy posting the food lists and meal plans I don't think I would have ever switched over from Atkins to SB (even though my weight wasn't budging no matter how I tweaked things). I knew if I added all those grains back in the way it is shown in the book I would never have lost any weight. This board has been a life saver for me in that regard. I am SOOOOO much happier eating the SB way than I ever was on Atkins.

As for the tuna: I eat it whenever the mood strikes. I can't say as I have ever really worried about the mercury content.

Thank you, Renee! Really appreciate your input on that. Clearly, it's working for you! (Wow, in fact.)

(What would we do without Judy? She is the South Beach Goddess!!)

Not a goddess Sass! :blush: but thanks!
I just really believe in this plan...or my modified version of it. ;)

I wrote this in my J today.....I've said this way too any times all over this site....the SB people got it wrong with pushing grains so fast. I do eat them a bit but not they way they suggest and I do think that for weight loss, if you are not doing heavy exercise, you can't lose and eat grain.

Starchy veggies and some fruit are fine....and it does get our carb level up so that we don't do damage to our thyroid...as some do when they stay on Induction too long. It helps our weight loss to keep playing around with the levels of starches and fruits that we eat as we lose.....staying at the same level for too long can cause stalls. Our bodies do adapt if we eat the same levels for too long. That is why there are those who do carb cycling....it keeps the body guessing.

For those of us with lots to lose, its important to have this awareness. As I was losing, I saw what others were doing staying at 20 carbs a day and stuck with no loss....I just kept doing my thing adding in and taking them back out every few days...and my weight kept going down. :cool:

This makes so much sense. Thanks for sharing that with us, Judy.

I am always looking for SBD success stories online, and it's hard to find big losses sustained, with a few notable exceptions. :)

I am wondering what you think of this...what if we used low-carb tortillas in Phase II instead of whole wheat to make pizzas or wraps occasionally? Most of the time I'm fine with no grains, but once in awhile I crave those two foods.

Ok, that raises a bunch of questions, actually. Like...

If we wanted to bake something, could we use Carb Quick?
Are sugarfree products always going to be ok?
And most pressing...what are the best yogurt choices (because all I keep finding are fat-free with TONS of sugar, blech)? I've heard Fage is good but I'll have to hike up to Whole Foods to get that. :)

Thanks, all. I'm sorry to have so many questions but am trying to build my little beach hut solidly. ;)