South Beach diet advice

W

woodie

Cathlete
Hello! As you can tell from my posts I am trying to get a meal plan together for the next couple of months. I want to drop around 60 pounds by July 15th and I will be working out to Cathe and Taebo 5-6 tiems a week (cardio) 3-4 times a week (weights). Can someone tell me about South Beach? Did you find you were tired while trying to work out? Did you find you were hungry during the first phase? Trying to amke a decision. Thanks!

Lisa
 
Hi Lisa,

The best advice I can give you is you have to eat as natural as you possibly can. Fresh fruits and vegies, if you have to, white meat only, seafood (certain fish without mercury), no white flour, or sugar, and very little salt. I found avocado ,nuts and flaxseed to be your best bet for fat intake. Watch your calory intake and do Cathe's Jan-March weight loss rotations. There is no pills or magic remedy for loosing weight, just plane hard work. Eventually, you will come to love the taste of your natural foods and your creativity with them, and enjoy your workouts as well. Don't let people fool you, if you take in more calories, than your body can assimulate, you will gain weight.

Remember, the more processed the food is, the more likely it has chemicals in it that hurts your body, and/not good for you. The food industry have to put chemicals in the processed food to preserve it. As you gain control over processed food, you will realize that you have more energy, strength, remembering better, and your skin (ichiness or otherwise) will go away. And you sleep better at night.

NOTE: Even the oils such as olive oil, cornoil, canola oil, are processed. Don't use them. If you have to, use canola oil spray for just a second to prevent sticking on your pans.

We haven't evolved enough yet to just sit around and indulge in any food we would like to eat or eat as much as we can without consequences. Our foods we eat today, are not good for human consumption. I'm not saying you can't eat this food, because since we live in this time frame you have to make exceptions, so you can feel like you are among the living. Just eat it in moderation.

Oh boy, I'm rattling, sorry about that. Please take care of yourself as best as you can.

Sincerely,
Janie
 
Hi Lisa,

I'm doing a modified version of SBD Phase 2 right now. I did Phase 1 just a few weeks ago and found that I didn't have as much energy for my cardio workouts. I wasn't hungry though. I was already eating similar foods to the SBD Phase 1 foods so I basically was just cutting out fruit and whole grains from my regular diet but adding in a serving of nuts and eating LF cheese instead of FF cheese.

Here's a website that I found helpful for learning about SBD: http://www.mizfrogspad.com/south_beach_diet.htm

Also, take a look at the Success Stories forum here on Cathe's site. There's a thread about South Beach Diet there.

I've had a lot of success on the Weight Watchers plan. I've lost about 65 lbs since September 2003. The first 45 lbs. came off a lot faster for me than the last 20 lbs. (too much cheating!) I started with the Flex Points plan and switched to their Core Plan in September 2004. Right now, I'm experimenting with different eating plans that are similar to WW's Core. I find SBD and WW Core Plan to be pretty similar. I'm trying to figure out a sensible eating plan right now...

I hope this helps you a little.

Michelle
 
I'm sure my opnion will be the minority, but I think its good to hear all sides so i'll throw it out there to you for consideration :)

I tried South Beach and lasted a little over a week. I was so weak and tired i could barely workout, and only wanted to sleep. When i would try to work out i'd get very dizzy and light headed very quickly. More importantly , i didn't feel good following the diet. I just felt "gross" for lack of a better word.

My roomate also followed the south beach diet. She loved it. She did notice a slight drop in energy, but otherwise, she ahd no complaints and lost 10 pounds in the first 2 weeks. I, gained 3 pounds because my body thought it was starving.

The main difference between my roomate and I is that I workout hard jsut about every day and only have a few pounds to lose (wich are vanity pounds, not health pounds). My roomate does not work out and needs to lose about 40 lbs.

Basically it comes down to: you have to try it to find out if it works for you. I believe that if you are very active, you should start with phase 2. Phase one will drop your energy too low and be counterproductive.

again, just my $.02!

Good luck!!!
 
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