So this South Beach Diet thing actually works!

[geniph]

My husband and I decided to go on it awhile ago, because I'd been doing some reading, and it sounded both sensible and healthy to me. We just finished the first phase - the strictest phase of the diet, which is two weeks long - and he's lost 12 pounds, and it's come visibly off his belly! (He has about 80 pounds total to lose.) I've lost 8 pounds of the 15 I wanted to lose, and I have a waistline again. Neither of us have been hungry or had any difficulty with the limitations of the diet.

He's felt great the whole time, but I discovered something interesting - apparently I am a "sugar addict." I wouldn't have thought so, because I'm not a binge eater and have never eaten all that much sweets, but I had a nagging minor headache for the first week that only went away if I drank a glass of V8 juice (which I don't much care for, but fruit juices are proscribed the first two weeks). I guess the daily wine and couple of cookies have been enough to keep me hooked on the stuff. I really feel much better this week now that I've gotten over my sugar addiction and cravings.

The other thing I found really surprising is that our food bills have been much LOWER on this diet. I was expecting it to be expensive, but it's really been instructive to find out just how much prepared foods actually cost. We've been buying a lot of fresh fish and shellfish and lots of fresh vegetables, and we've spent less than half what we'd usually spend on food by not buying packaged foods (and my wine, of course).

The diet differs from Atkins in several respects - it emphasizes only lean cuts of meats, lowfat dairy, and it's not low-carb per se - it differentiates between carbs with a high glycemic index and those with a low index. The low-index carbs can be eaten at will - there's no portion sizes or calorie counting of most foods. Atkins really wasn't workable for me, as I don't eat red meat, so the dietary options in induction would have been too limited. I also liked that saturated fats and trans fats are no-no's on South Beach. You can add most fruits back after the two-week Phase I, and I can have wine again in moderation starting tonight.

I highly recommend this diet. We've found it very easy to keep to, and have really made some beneficial dietary changes. It was developed by a cardiologist frustrated with the inability of his obese patients to stay on diets like Pritikin or such over the long term. The weight you lose in Phase I really does come off the belly, just like the ads say. At least it did for John and I, and our weight-loss goals are very different - he's clinically obese according to his doctors and I just wanted to get back under 125 and eat more healthily.

Anybody else trying this?

[Lisa0825]

1. It's very similar to the diet I did a few years back

through Quick Weight Loss Centers. I lost almost 50 pounds in 4 months on it. Unfortunately, NO diet is any good if you don't keep up the healthy habits. I fell back into convenience foods and stopped exercisiing, and put the weight back on. But it really IS a very good, healthy diet. I felt great on it. I am planning to start it up again this month.

[Jack from Charlotte]

2. Any diet that restricts calories below maintenance levels.....

works. It usually takes about 13 to 14 times your body weight in calories to do so. (Example: weight is 185 X 13 = 2405 calories per day to lose weight) along with some moderate exercise. The more exercise, the quicker the loss.

So if The South Beach Diet, the Hollywood Beach Diet or the Hallandale Beach Diet restricts your calories below maintenance levels for you..... yes it works.

[Skittles]

4. they are all fads

eat less and exercise more is the key to lifelong weight maintnance.

[geniph]

6. I agree with you on most of them

but this one is really sensible. The whole idea is to eat enough to always be satisfied and never let your blood sugar drop. What matters is what you eat, that it's not empty calories and not foods that raise blood sugar too quickly. That's not a fad, that's good sense. Just eating less doesn't work for a lot of people, because they put themselves on starvation diets, which guarantees cravings and also slows weight loss. It's also hard to maintain for life. The idea of South Beach is to eschew or limit high-glycemic-index foods for life, and when you want chips or a piece of cheesecake, you can always step back to a stricter phase of the diet for a week or so.

I basically didn't eat for most of January because I had a severe digestive system upset. I lost about 4 pounds the whole month, because my body conserves fat in starvation mode. Most people's bodies do. On this, I've lost 8 pounds in two weeks. I'm not a fad dieter - hell, I'm not a dieter, I think most of them are disastrously unhealthy, but this one makes very good sense. And it does work.

[geniph]

7. You don't count calories or limit portions at all

so it's simpler than figuring calories, or counting carbs. You simply limit your intake of high-fat and high-glycemic-index foods. That will, by default, tend to be a lower-calorie diet than the average American diet, but it will also be much healthier than starving yourself. The big difference between this and calorie-counting is that the whole goal is never to be hungry. And you're not. I had to actually make myself eat snacks between meals.

[MiddleRiverRefugee]

3. Ms. ubp and I Started South Beach in mid-January...

..with pretty good results. I'm down 17 pounds since January 18. My weight loss goal is also 80 pounds, but in one year. I've been advised against rapid weight loss, and this seems to work okay.

Lately I've had a good deal of the 'old' cravings, but that's probably because of (1) elevated stress; and (2) when I started SB I steadfastly refused to give up caffeine. That didn't bother me much in Phase I but now that we're on Phase II and I'm bringing back in some carbs & sugars I'm wondering if it's starting.

[radwriter0555]

5. I just finally joined the gym 3 weeks ago, and go 3 times a week for

an hour... I'm already seeing a difference, a MASSIVE difference in my energy levels. I'm AWAKE now.. I have energy, I want to be MORE active. My mood is SO much better, I just feel better all the way around so far.

I feel more lean, which is a step in the right direction, and I know I'm burning the calories better, daily.

I was spurred by this knee injury in November. I didn't want to drive for 3 hours a day to physical therapy, so I joined the gym instead to get the all-over benefit.

Some days it's hard to motivate to get there, but I HAVE to or else I will be old and fat and gross AND hungry!

[geniph]

8. I can exercise now, but it's hard for my husband

at his weight, his balance is funky and he gets breathless, so we can't do the exercises that were keeping us fit and happy before - walking is painful for his feet, and his balance is too poor for inline skating or dancing. He has to lose some weight before we can go back to exercising. I really miss skating, too, but I don't like to skate alone. It sucks if you fall and break something and you're by yourself. I did that several years ago.

[CO Liberal]

9. As Long As It Works Better Than The South Park Diet

[geniph]

10. I don't want to be Starvin' Marvin!

You can't make me!

Screw you guys, I'm goin' home!

[Gin]

11. v8 juice has sugars...is that ok to do in phase 1?

gin