This is so true, I think it's about finding out what works best for your body....like over the time I have been LC I have recognised that if I drink at all, red wine or anything else then I retain water for a few days. Equally if I eat grains too much my weigh loss stops completely and I feel sluggish and poorly.

Keeping on plan is definately the best way to lose the weight. Obviously.

While I agree that it is an obvious thing....why is that many do not/cannot stay on plan??? and then wonder why and cry that they can't lose weight!! It gets me a little nuts!!

There are challenges to join and there is strength in numbers, if you cannot stay on plan. Master of My Domain is a strong one to join and if I was having trouble staying on plan, thats the one that I'd join.

Heres another thought...find someone who was at your weight and has lost and see what and how much they are eating

Judy, as usual, is very right about eating off plan. When I was losing the weight eating off plan was a BIG DEAL. I wasn't perfect but I reserved eating off plan for very special occaisions like a hockey game or special family gatherings. While I was in Phases I and II, I ate on plan almost all of the time. I've been living on the beach for almost 2 years and I still eat on plan more than 90% of the time. I can actually remember the number of times I've had white flour since moving to the beach. It doesn't even taste good to me anymore. The only time I have any sugar is a rare piece of bday cake or in some gorp when hiking. I haven't had a regular soda for almost 2 years...don't miss it a bit. Sugar and white flour have become my enemy...I don't even want to associate with them.

South Beach is about changing your life...not seeing how much of your old life you can hang on to. You've got to retrain yourself...SB gives you the tools to do it.

Thanks Bill!!

I'm bumping this up for those weekend off plan eaters!!

I'm putting this meal plan chart here because this is the tool that has helped me the most next to the foods list. I've found that eating small things every 2-3 hours, has been key for me to not feeling hungry and being able to stay on plan for 18 months now. The phase II meal plan chart does not emphasis snacking as much as this chart does....for those feeling hungry, snacking will be key!! If you are in phase II, where it says fruit and starch with each meal or snack, that is where you can put your fruit or starch or not.

I still don't eat 3 fruits a day, mostly 2 fruits. Many days I don't eat any starch at all, some days it is one or 2 portions. Flour is the enemy and I mean any flour, including whole grain flour. So starch for me is a whole grain or a starchy veggie or a whole grain cracker. Even low carb flour products are dangerous to me.

As far as breakfast goes, try not to think about eggs all the time...try thinking aout non- traditional breakfats that incude a salad...think FIBER! You can open a small can on tuna or salmon and throw it into a small salad, or cottage cheese w/ chopped fresh veggies or hummus w/ chopped freshh veggies or use it as a dip with veggies....the possibilities are there for you to discover.

The thing that the docotor talks about in the book is that if/when you feel hunger, don't suffer!!..eat something!!! I've always thought that losing weight required me to be hungry...but not this time and that is what has helped me to stay on this plan!! I love that doctor for this.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...961#post5703961

This is a link to a weigh in for this month. You are all invited to join if you like.

I am noticing that when we have 20-30 pounds to lose, that it seems much harder to see weight loss than when we need to lose alot more. Being that I've come from high numbers, I do recall that I could eat a lot of food at the beginning and still see weight loss!! and I mean alot of food!!

Now as I get close to my goal, and its a high goal, it is much harder to see the scale go down. I have to eat very perfectly and cleanly to see the scale go down. Any little off plan eating effects the process profoundly. So what I could get away with before, no longer works for me.

So for those that do not have a lot of weight to lose, stay as close to plan as is possible and do try to track your calories because it does make a difference. Watch your fat calories as these can go up fast ie: nuts, fats (oil, olives, avocados)

Getting a digital scale to weigh my food has helped me alot in watching portion sizes!! I get alot more than I thought I'd get.

The holiday season is upon us...temptations...comfort food...memories of years gone by...and...a big opportunity to backslide and undo what we've accomplished.

This will be my second holiday season on the beach. I was really nervous last year...this year the plan is in place and I really don't have a worry. I'm looking forward to the festivities like any other year.

I know that for Thanksgiving I'm going to eat slightly off my normal plan. I will have a SMALL portion of stuffing, I will have ONE piece of pumkin pie...beyond these things that make thanksgiving special for me, everything else I eat will be SB friendly. Waldorf Salad, baked sweet potato, veg tray, cooked veg, and of course turkey with gravey thickened with cornstarch(not great...but..ok for one day). We will be making WHOLE WHEAT dinner rolls and I'll have ONE...maybe TWO. I'll have a feast and not feel deprived. Portion control will be everything. I'll eat until satisfied...not full. We usually have around 25 people at our house for Thanksgiving...any leftovers that aren't SB friendly will go home with them.

The next day it will be back to Phase I for a few days...not a problem...I love Phase I foods and eat that way from time to time anyway.

As Christmas approaches, I'll post my approach to enjoying all that the Season has to offer.

I made it through the Holiday Season last year with no weight gain or backslide in how I eat. SB has given each of us the tools we need to do it this year.

Make a holiday plan and STICK TO IT. Know what you are going to eat and draw the line. You can get through the holidays and maintain or continue to lose. It's up to you...you just need to do it.

I felt this needed a bump to the top again.
As Bill just said the Holidays are here again. Make a plan, repeat your plan over and over.You can do it, but it will take some work. This mine and hubby's second holiday season for our lifestyle change.

It can be done, but you have to be willing to make some changes.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

FYI-
Last December I managed to lose 9 lbs over the holidays!! It can be done!!

How bad do you want it? Thats what you need to ask yourself!!

I've been gone and back again, gone an back again several times over the last 2 years. I'm not going to go into my sad story again...everytime I come back, I tell it and it seems pointless right now.
The bottom line is this..I started on Atkins 4 years ago........lost almost 40lbs and have probably gained back 20. And I was not at my goal weight! I still had another 45lbs to go!
So, I've tried to get back on atkins, but it's just too fatty and constipating! I wanted something more balanced.
I tried the Zone....too complicated.
SB seems like a good plan. I have never gone back to eating bread or pasta or potatoes, although I have reintroduced some chips and fruit. so, SB shouldn't be that hard. I don't eat redmeat unless it's bison or elk, deer, game meat. salmon and chicken, other fish. Lots of veggies.......
I think I might be eating too much. I'm not exercising at all!
I don't want to buy another book about dieting!
thanks for posting the list of foods. That will help me a great deal.
I'm hear for support and your expertise advice.
Thanks for this thread!
k

Thanks Skippie. Your words are very encouraging. I will think about going to the library for the book. I think I'm more frustrated with HAVING to look at another book. I've been worried about my weight for over 40 years and have read them all. You'd think I'd get it by now.

I will say, that these past 3 years have been more revealing, however. I finally fessed up to what I never wanted to believe.....that bread, pasta, and processed foods in general, etc are actually not good for me. I think I might be a bit wheat intolerant.

However, I am pretty discouraged and the thought of having to measure, weigh, read and calculate is just a bit overwhelming today.

But, I'm going to keep coming back here and reading posts and posting myself. It feels even more impossible with the holidays upon us. I may have to gear up for focusing after the holidays are over.

thanks again for your kind words of encouragement.
k

I'm coming up on my 2 year SB anniversery. I've been thinking lately about how I view my life on the beach. It is very different from when I first came accross the book almost 2 years ago and decided I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. When I started Phase I, I thought it seemed very restrictive and complicated...how was I ever going to live without eating processed foods and sugar. Even though it didn't seem possible, I did Phase I for 3 weeks by the book. Slowly I started to realize that there could be life without sweets, white flour, and eating all night...every night. After Phase I, I felt accomplishment and was proud that I had gone 3 whole weeks without caving in...plus I had lost some weight.

When I started Phase II it seemed that I would never get to a place that I understood what I could eat and continue losing weight. I was was still fooling myself into thinking "I'll lose some weight weight and then I can go back to hanging out with my old bad carb, bad fat, friends". A funny thing happened as I continued to use will power to eat the right foods...I was slowly transforming. My food choices became less a matter of will power and more a matter of choice. Before I really knew it, eating healthy became second nature and I began to view my old bad carb/bad fat friends as my enimies....and...I continued to lose weight.

After almost 7 months of sticking to the plan I met my goal. When I look back, the process almost seems like a dream. By using the SB principles I had essentially recreated myself. SB had helped me to learn what foods were friends and what foods were enimies. What to eat and what to avoid. How much to eat and when to stop. I had changed my eating habits. I had changed how I shop for and prepare food. All of this happened because I saw a blue book in wally world 2 years ago and decided to give it a whirl.

I'm here to to tell you that if you stick to the SB principles you can find success on the beach...but...you really need to give yourself an opportunity to find success. You need to find a way to "stick with it". You need to understand that this isn't temporary...it's a way of life. You need to understand that you can't give in. You need to know that if you work the plan your life can be transformed to where eating healthy becomes second nature...just like eating badly was second nature before.

You need to understand who your food friends really are...they are certainly not all the things you ate before SB.

I've had the following posted on my monitor for 2 years. As complicated as things might seem a first, SB is really very simple.

Don't eat bad carbs - eat good carbs.
Don't eat bad fats - eat good fats.
Don't overeat and maintain portion control.
Get some exercise - any is better than none.

Finding SB was a major milestone in my life...it gave me the tools for success...I just needed to learn how to use them.

OK... this is so, so true! I think this is such a POWERFUL statement. Simplistic, yet so Powerful! Thank you! I have to put it in my journal. I hope you don't mind...