South Beach Dieters Group Meet Here!

[chris2597]

The meatloaf sounds good....
I am now well into the time frame that I could have switched over to phase 2 but have stuck with the diet of phase 1 until this morning. I ate a small portion of 5 min. oatmeal with ff maply syrup....I know it is ok in phase 2 but it was almost traumatic for me to eat a bready substance....I hope it doesnt throw me into a bread feasting frenzy....
I am going to add chocalate extract to my shopping list so I can try it in ricotta. Is there a way to make the ricotta a bit creamier consistancy...I trie blending it with the mixer....I wonder if adding a tiny amount of skim milk would make it creamier. ??

[ColoradoJuli]

Chris - I add some fat free cool whip to the ricotta and it helps to make it creamier. I'm not sure that the maple syrup is legal. It is full of sugar. You might want to check the book again. It would be legal to do slow cook oatmeal with lowfat milk and splenda.

Tami - I'm not old enough to be in menopause, my body just decided to do it at and early age. Oh well. Meatloaf does sound good, but DH can't stand meatloaf so I guess I won't be making it.

Have a good weekend!

[chris2597]

Juli
I used sugar free maple syrup....It was called for in one of the SB recipes so I am sure it is legal....at least I hope so....
I will try the ff cool whip in the ricotta....that sounds good....
I bought some low carb, 100% wheat/grain bread....I havent tried it yet....Has anyone started including bread (legal type) in their diets....Does it start up the bread cravings again?

[adoptmom]

Chris- I haven't used the low carb bread very often because I'm not really a bread person but I use low carb tortillas all the time. I like the tortilla factory brand because they contain no corn products. My DD is allergic to corn, eggs and peanuts. She and I eat many rollups but our favorite is sunflower seed butter or macadamia-cashew butter. I also eat oatmeal or Fiber 1 cereal and I really haven't noticed an increase in cravings. Now the tiny crumb of chocolate birthday cake I had with my ricotta creme tonight.... That will be another story I'm sure. :rolleyes:

Tami

[bkreader]

I'm new to SB and to this thread. Four days into the diet. For some reason this has been my most difficult day. I'm having to make some substitutions because I intensely dislike a lot of the ingredients, such as ricotta. I made that dessert with ricotta and lime zest and had to practically hold my nose and force it down. I also dislike vegetable juice, spinach, mushrooms, and lots more.:( My favorite thing from the book is that recipe for oven-baked vegetables - they are really delicious.

Today was a big challenge - it was my son's 19th birthday and he wanted a frosted vanilla cake. I chickened out and had the DH make the cake, but I had to frost it. I am so proud I did not lick a speck of frosting off the knife afterward, just rinsed it off very thoroughly! Now most of that cake is sitting on the counter and I am NOT going to try it!

I need to lose about 80 lbs. - I'd just like to lose enough to fit into my clothes from my last cruise by the time we sail to the Bahamas on Westerdam in January.

Need to go to the kitchen and pop a cherry tomato.:o - Jane

[bkreader]

I forgot to ask about dreams. Two nights ago I dreamed very vividly that I had one piece from a gift box of chocolates. Last night I dreamed that I was sampling from a chocolate buffet! Oh well, at least it wasn't fattening!:D

Anyone have a similar experience starting SB?

[adoptmom]

Jane, Yes, the 3rd and 4th days are the hardest for me wehn I go back on phase 1. I think it has something to do with your body chemistry adjusting to your new way of eating (WOE.) I get headaches and cranky but everyone is different. I'm prone to headaches anyway.

The nice thing about SB is there are tons of veggies you can eat. I started out on atkins and happen to love green veggies but I was so sick of them I couldn't stand it by the end of induction. I'm also a big bean eater and those aren't allowed on induction but are allowed in phase 1.

If you haven't done so already I highly reccommend that you buy yourself a "Good Fats Good Carbs Guide." It's a small paperback book that fits in a purse and cost me $6 at Target. It is a great thing to refer to when you're stuck in the broccoli/cauliflower and salad rut.

Tami

[dog]

I have the south beach diet book....in which phase can you add skim milk and plain yoghurt?
:confused:

[adoptmom]

Actually my Good Fats Good Carbs lists low fat or fat free milk, soy milk, and sugar free yogurt in phase 1. If you use Soy milk though as we do in our house just be sure to watch the sugar content. the sugar free is Yech! but some of the ones I buy for the kids have quite a bit of sugar in it. I keep the plain for cooking and cereal (and add splenda!) but the other kind for my DS to drink. Cows milk irritates our asthma.

Tami

[ColoradoJuli]

Jane - Congrats on taking the first step. The first week was the toughest on me. I never realized how many carbs I ate. I too hate spinich, ricotta, and V8. I tried to force them down the first week and then realized that this is a way of life and not something for a short period of time. So I don't drink the juice. Instead I have hot tea and water in the morning. Took a little bit to get used to not having orange juice in the morning, but I have lost so much weight in 3 months (30 lbs) that it is worth not drinking juice. I completely stay away from spinach. Just can't stand it. I eat cheese sticks, eggs, yogurt. The low carb cereals and fiber are disgusting. I have tailored the plan around my likes and dislikes while still being able to stay on the WOE. It can be done. Look at the book and cookbook again and find the things that you do like. You'll be able to do it. Congrats on staying away from the cake. Way to go!!

[WeirdEyes]

Good morning everyone! I guess y'all notice that I do not post on the weekends much. I'm usually too busy since I work full-time.

Hi Jane! Welcome to the thread. You sound like you are doing well on Phase 1. I am on Phase 1 right now because I gained 12 lbs by cheating too much. I last 3.5 lbs last week and that is pretty good.

Dog, you can have skim milk and yogurt on Phase 1. Just make sure the yogurt doesn't contain any addes sugar and is low-fat. :)

[irislady]

Hi, Everybody,

I'm back after a wonderful* cruise on the Grand Princess to Canada- New England and several days visiting family in NJ. AND I only gained 2 pounds while on vacation! Better news... did Phase 1 for a few days upon return home and the 2 pounds are gone, plus I lost a bonus pound. SBD can really work even while cruising.

DH and I didn't find it all that hard to stay "legal" (Phase III) most of the time while cruising except for desserts. We had desserts just about every night. It truly helped that we're not that crazy about Princess's desserts, so we'd order one (or go to the buffet and get one... or a couple), have a few bites, then call it quits. I didn't get that sugar rush I had experienced with my first cheat, but did get an odd pain at the back of my skull that ran down into my neck each time I cheated. It was easy for me to avoid the potatoes and the bread, but DH caved in on the rolls. We both had pizza twice for lunch, but only ate some of the crust. I didn't care for Princess's barely-cooked veggies, so I ate a LOT of the legal fruits instead. We also avoided the DODs and had just wine or iced tea instead.

We were on Baja deck, but only used the elevator 4 or 5 times, and walked everywhere we could. The Grand is a very big ship so it felt like we walked half a mile every time we left our cabin which was far forward. I wish I had brought a pedometer.

(* the weather was very nice the first couple of days in Canada, cold and blustery in Bar Harbor, drizzly in Boston, and cold and windy in Newport, RI. Really rough seas from Boston to Newport on our last formal night. It caused a cancellation of the second show, and most people headed to their cabins early. We were still really glad we'd taken this cruise.)

I noticed when we got to NJ and abandoned SBD for 4 days because of the excellent pasta, pizza and Italian bakeries that the Cravings (with a capital C) for carbs returned. Even when I had the willpower to resist I was thinking about the lemon cake my sister had in the kitchen. With Halloween candy in the house when we returned I figured I really had to go back on Phase 1 long enough to break the cravings. Luckily, that also led to the loss of the vacation weight gain which was a positive reinforcement for staying on SBD. We've got another cruise coming up in January, so we'll be put to the test again...
Shae

[adoptmom]

Welcome Back Shae!

[WeirdEyes]

Hi Shae! Glad you had a great cruise. Give yourself a pat on the back for only gaining 2 lbs and then losing it so fast! :D We've missed you.

Everyone, sorry my last post contained so many typos. I guess I got careless with my proofreading before I sent it. :o

[ColoradoJuli]

Shae - Welcome back. So glad to hear that SB went well on the cruise. I will be taking my first SB cruise in January. I really haven't worried to much about staying on track, but I don't want the carb cravings to return.

Had a pretty good weekend except Friday night when we went out to eat with some dear friends. They chose Italian! :eek: I stayed away from the bread, but could not find anything to order that was SB friendly. Finally gave up and ordered Chicken Piccatta. It came with a small helping of vermicilli. I couldn't resist and ate the whole thing. It doesn't look like it affected it so far.

I can't remember the name of the product that SB is endorsing that is new to the grocery stores. Is it Momentum by General Mills? I found some Momentum food bars that are 3 carbs and taste wonderful. The fat content is 6g total with 3 of them being trans fat. The bars have actually gotten me to start eating breakfast. I think this could be the reason that I am losing more weight. Anyway, just wondered if this was the new product on the shelf that SB was endorsing.

[WeirdEyes]

Juli, I read that South Beach is endorsing some Kraft products and the products will be labeled as such. I haven't seen anything yet, but I haven't really looked. If you see anything, let us know what to look for. Thanks!!!

[irislady]

Hi. Thanks for the welcome back. I missed your advice and encouragment while gone. SBD is SO much easier when you do it with friends!

I went to the Splenda website yesterday to see if I could find some information of Brown Sugar Splenda since I couldn't find it in NJ either (and the stores there seem to have EVERYTHING). Splenda has a recipe online for making "Brown Sugar" from Splenda and from sugar-free maple syrup made from Splenda. It didn't list any particular brands for the maple syrup. No mention of any packaged brown sugar Splenda being available yet. I have seen and have bought the Sweet n Low Brown sugar. I'm not impressed with it. It doesn't melt like brown sugar.

Juli, if DH and I could stay (almost) on track with SBD on Princess, I know you can do it, too. I've read that many of the other lines are more South Beach (or Atkins) friendly than Princess. I do think it would have been harder to stay on SB if we had had more sea days, and if it had been warmer. The pizza, hamburgers, fries, hot dogs, icecream, etc. were all out by the pool, and it was usually really cold out there which made it really easy to avoid. I brought a long a small GladWare container of nuts to nibble on between meals. It really helped on the plane ride, too.

BTW... no Splenda onboard the Grand, just Equal or Sweet n Low. I don't know what NCL uses.

Shae

[bkreader]

Hi and thanks so very much for all of the encouragement. I'm almost to the end of the first week and I've lost 5 pounds so far. I'm sure that was the easiest 5. So far so good! :)
Shae, I'm so glad you enjoyed your cruise despite the nasty weather. Great work on sticking to Phase III. Right now, phase III would seem like heaven to me. - Jane

[ColoradoJuli]

Shae - Thanks so much for the information on Splenda. I always just bring a box wherever I go. I guess I could call customer relations and see what they have to say. Hmmm.

[WeirdEyes]

[quote name='bkreader']Hi and thanks so very much for all of the encouragement. I'm almost to the end of the first week and I've lost 5 pounds so far. I'm sure that was the easiest 5. So far so good! :)
Shae, I'm so glad you enjoyed your cruise despite the nasty weather. Great work on sticking to Phase III. Right now, phase III would seem like heaven to me. - Jane[/QUOTE]Jane, congratulations on losing the 5 lbs. That is great!!! :D

[kiberkid]

I have a question for all you South Beach Diet experts.. is [font=Comic Sans MS][font=Verdana][size=2]Rhubarb[/size][/font][/font] allowed? I cannot find it in my book? I have been on the diet since July & have lost about 14 lbs & I just got my friend started last week & so far she has lost about 5.

We both love stewed rhubarb but are not sure if it is a fruit that we can have.

Thanks for you help.

[WeirdEyes]

[quote name='kiberkid']I have a question for all you South Beach Diet experts.. is [font=Comic Sans MS][font=Verdana][size=2]Rhubarb[/size][/font][/font] allowed? I cannot find it in my book? I have been on the diet since July & have lost about 14 lbs & I just got my friend started last week & so far she has lost about 5.

We both love stewed rhubarb but are not sure if it is a fruit that we can have.

Thanks for you help.[/QUOTE]I've searched the web and can't find anything saying that rhubarb is allowed or disallowed. You might want to go to the prevention.com South Beach forum and ask your question. I'm sure someone on there will know it. Good luck!

[WeirdEyes]

I forgot to mention.....I went to the grocery store last night and bought some cottage cheese and it had the South Beach Diet sticker on it with Phase 1, 2, 3. I'm so happy to see this! I hope they add it to more products. The cottage cheese was 2% Breakstone or Breakridge. I can't remember the name. LOL

[chris2597]

I finally bought a scale last night.....I weighed this morning and I dont know whether to be encouraged or discouraged....I have lost 10 in three weeks....I was pretty strict the first two and have gone between phase 1 and 2 this week....My clothes are fitting well and jeans that would no where near button fit comfortably now....Is this a decent amount to loose in three weeks or should I be stricter with my eating...

[WeirdEyes]

Chris, 10 lbs in three weeks is EXCELLENT! Remember, the slower you lose, the more likely you are to keep it off. Good job! :D