South Beach Dieters Group Meet Here!

[irislady]

John, DH and I also ran into a stall during our first 3-4 weeks on SB. Shelia is right in saying to get past it you need to add more exercise and cut back on your carbs, even the good ones. Add more protein and calcium.

This kind of stall happens on nearly all kinds of diets. It takes your body less energy to "operate" now that you've lost the 15 lbs. unless you've also added a considerable amount of muscle. That means you have to boost your calorie expenditure with either longer periods of exercise or more strenuous exercise, or both. And cut back on your caloric intake, mostly by reducing your carb and fat intake. An easy way to increase the workoad during exercise is to use either handweights or ankle weights. (Just be careful not to over-strain your joints.)

Some people just won't see an additional weight loss unless they keep their carb intake in the low- to low/mod. range of 30-50 g. of carbs per day.

Do get one of the better carb/calorie/fat reference books and honestly calculate what you are consuming all day. Add in everything you've eaten or had to drink. Even sugarless gum has calories. (You really should measure your food to get the most accurate calculation. What seems to be "a cup" of something is often more like a cup and a half.

Shae

[Times Prince]

Just got back from cruise on the 8th. Weighed myself before and after and actually lost a couple. I didn't skimp on the food, just ate the right stuff and got lots of exercise along the way. Snorkeling makes a great full body exercise :) . Oh yeah, I ate some of the "wrong" stuff too, but cannot resist the fantastic rolls they serve on the Grand Princess. It didn't hurt me for some reason.

On the subject of stalling, our doc advised us just to drink more water. That somehow cleans your system a little and the weight loss can continue at a slower pace. It worked for a while. Everyone's body is different. I gain when my wife loses, and vice versa. After the cruise we went back to phase I and have lost 5 lb.

[marvholly]

ColoradoJuli
Could you send me some of your Temps, Pleeeese. Had between 8-10 inches of snow Fri eve/Sat am. I have to street park. Town plow buried my car. Took me over 30 min to dig myself out this am in 9 degree weather. Good thing we have little/no wind today.

[Cindyrella]

I'm so excited! I had trouble going back on SB and was not very sucessful in phase 1. I tried Phase 1 again but finally got off my butt and started exercising. I was only able to get on the treadmill 3x last week but when I weighed in this morning I'd lost 4 lbs! Yay! This might not seem like much but I'm almost half way to my goal so this gives me incentive to keep at it. We're going to Reno with friends this coming weekend so I hope I can maintain.

[adoptmom]

Marvholly- I hope it's warmer up in your neck of the woods tomorrow. We're going to ski right across the lake from you in Michigan. Tami

For Shae, the other Hoosier on the list-

For those of you who are Hoosiers, this is so accurate it hurts. Really.
To those of you who are displaced Hoosiers, you may get homesick. This is
especially true for small town Hoosiers and not as much for the big city
(Indianapolis) Hoosiers.


GUIDELINES FOR UNDERSTANDING "THE HOOSIER CULTURE":_

- Know the state casserole.

The state casserole consists of canned green beans, Campbell's cream of
mushroom soup, and dried onions. You can safely take this casserole to any
social event and know that you will be accepted.

- Get used to food festivals.

The Indiana General Assembly, in an effort to grow bigger athletes, passed
legislation years ago requiring every incorporated community to have at
least one festival per year dedicated to a high-fat food. It is your duty
as a Hoosier to attend these festivals and buy at least one elephant ear.

- Know the geography.

Of Florida, that is. There are Hoosiers who couldn't tell you where
Evansville is but they know the exact distance from Fort Myers to Bonita
Springs. That's because all Hoosiers go to Florida in the winter. Or plan
to when they retire. Or are related to retired Hoosiers who have a place in
Sarasota. Hoosiers consider Florida to be the Lower Peninsula of Indiana.

- If you can't afford to spend the winter in Florida, use the state excuse
..... which is that you stay here because you enjoy the change of season.
You'll be lying, but that's OK. We've all done it.

- Speaking of Indiana weather, wear layers or die.

The thing to remember about Indiana seasons is that they can occur at
anytime. We have spring-like days in January and wintry weekends in October.
April is capable of providing a sampling of all four seasons in a single
24-hour period. For these reasons, Indiana is the Layering Capital of the
World. Even layering, however, can pose danger. Golfers have been known to
dress for hypothermia and end up dead of heat stroke because they couldn't
strip off their layers of plaid fast enough on a changeable spring morning.

- Don't take Indiana place names literally.

If a town has the same name as a foreign city -- Valparaiso and Versailles,
for example -- you must not pronounce them the way the foreigners do lest
you come under suspicion as a spy. Also, East Enterprise has no counterpart
on the west side of the state. South Bend is in the north. North Vernon is
in the south and French Lick isn't what you think either.

- Become mulch literate.

Hoosiers love mulch and appreciate its subtle differences. Learn the
difference between hardwood, cypress and pine bark at a minimum. Researchers
think the state affinity for mulch derives from its relatively flat terrain.
People have a subconscious need for topography, and when it can't be
supplied naturally, they are more likely to make little mulch hillocks in
their front yards.

- You gotta know sports.

In order to talk sports with obsessive fans in Indiana, you have to be
knowledgeable on the three levels -- professional, college and high school.
The truly expert Indiana sports fan knows not only the name of the hotshot
center at Abercrombie and Fitch High School, but also what colleges he's
interested in, how much he bench-presses, who he took to the prom, and what
he got on his biology quiz last week.

- Remember that Hoosiers are never the first to embrace trends.

When they do embrace them, they do so with a Midwestern pragmatism. For
example, if you see a Hoosier with a nose ring, there's a good chance he's
had it undercoated to guard against rust.

- The best way to sell something in Indiana is to attach the term "Amish" to
it.

The product need not be genuinely Amish. This would explain the existence of
Amish moo shu pork.


YOU KNOW YOU'RE FROM INDIANA WHEN:

You think the state Bird is Larry.

You can say "French Lick" without laughing out loud.

There's actually a college near you named "Ball State."

You know Batesville is the casket-making capital of the world and you're
proud of it.

You could never figure out spring forward-fall back, so screw Daylight
Savings Time!

Your feelings get hurt whenever someone points out the acronym for Purdue
University is PU.

You know several people who have hit a deer.

Down south to you means Kentucky.

You have no problem spelling or pronouncing Terre Haute.

Your school classes were canceled because of cold.

Your school classes were canceled because of heat.

You know what the phrase "knee-high by the Fourth of July" means.

You've heard of Euchre, you know how to play Euchre, and you are a master of
Euchre.

You've seen a running car, with nobody in it, in the parking lot of the
grocery store, no matter what time of year it is.

Detassling was your first job. Bailing hay, your second. Or you could stack
hay, swim in the pond to clean off and then have the strength to play a
couple of games of hoops, all in the same barn lot on the same day.

You say things like catty-wampus and kitty corner and know what they mean.

You install security lights on your house and garage, then leave them both
unlocked.

You carry jumper cables in your car regularly.

You drink pop.

You catch frogs at the crick.

If you want someone to hear you, you holler at 'em.

You know that baling wire was the predecessor to duct tape.

You know that strangers are the only ones who come to your front door.

Kids and dogs ride in the passenger seats of cars and the backs of pickups.

You think nothing of driving on the roads and being stuck behind a farm
implement in spring and fall. You just hope it's not a hog truck or a manure
spreader.

High school basketball games draw bigger crowds on the weekend than movie
theaters, IF you have a movie theater.

Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

The local paper covers national and international headlines on one page but
requires six for local sports.

You can repeat the scores of the last eight NBA games, but unless the MVP is
a Hoosier, you are not sure who he is.

You can see at least two basketball hoops from your yard.

You can name every one of Bobby Knight's exploits over the last few years.

The biggest question of your youth was IU or Purdue.

Indianapolis is the BIG CITY.

Getting stuck by a train is a legitimate excuse for being late to school or
work.

Everyone knows who the town cops are, where they live, and whether they're
at home or on duty.

You've been to the Covered Bridge Festival. And you took back roads to get
there. Why sit in traffic?

To you, tenderloin is not an expensive cut of beef, but a big, salty,
breaded, & fried piece of pork served on a bun with pickle.

You end your sentences with prepositions, as in "Where's it at?" or "Where's
he going to?"


If you are a Hoosier or have Hoosier roots you will have read this and found
everything to be perfectly normal. In fact, isn't that the way it is
everywhere?

[WeirdEyes]

Cindyrella, congrats on the 4 lb loss!!!! :D

[irislady]

Tami, Your Hoosier Guidelines are all too true... thanks for sharing! My Hoosier friends can tell I wasn't born a Hoosier because of 3 things... I can't play Euchre and can't stand basketball. (Honestly, the sound of the shoes squeaking gives me a horrible headache), and we rarely go to FL. One item the guide forgot is that our state tree should be the basketball goal post. In some neighborhoods every house has one even if there's never been a kid who lived there! For our town of Newburgh "THE" Florida destination of choice is Destin. Everybody leaves Newburgh during spring break... and they all see each other in Destin. It's like they migrate in a big flock.

The blizzard missed us...hooray. Only got half an inch, and it melted already. It was 43 today.

Cindy, good work losing that 4 pounds. Keep it up, and you'll be at your goal in no time.

I think I may have over-done it on the eliptical trainer at the Y this morning. My buns are burnin' this afternoon. I found out their personal athletic trainers are only $25 an hour, a fraction of cost at our old club. I think I'm going to sign up for some PAT sessions so I can really get a customized workout session going.

Our shore excursions for our Alaska cruise were available yesterday, so DH and I booked one in each port. We've got all day in Juneau, so may add another one there. It seems so much more real once we can book the excursions.

Shae

[ColoradoJuli]

I had a good weekend. I haven't weighed myself, but I am sure that I haven't put on any weight. It has been hard to be good because DH offered me a cold frosty mug of beer Saturday night! Boy did it look good! I just stuck with my diet Pepsi. Now that I think about it, I could have put the Pepsi in a giant frosty mug! Next time!

I made a HUGE salad on Thursday night and have been munching on it ever since. It sure helps me out to have things like that ready in the fridge. I do so much better eating when things are already ready. If nothing is ready, I frequently will skip meals!:eek: I know, I know...bad Juli!

Well, our weather was beautiful again. It reached the mid-60s. I had the door to the office open and it was nice to get some fresh air. My kitty cat (Diamond) enjoyed the opportunity to go between the house and the office. She loves it when she can come and go as she wishes.

I had a scarey thought a few minutes ago that I had planned nothing for dinner. Then I went to the fridge to get some string cheese and saw the steaks that I had pulled out of the freezer last night for dinner tonight! Wow! I actually planned ahead!

[adoptmom]

Shae- Wow! I can't believe how long that thing was. It didn't look that long when I posted it. :eek: It was too funny though. I'm with you on the basketball. Can't stand it. I haven't gotten the Florida connection either. It's nice but I wouldnt' want to live there, especially in the summer. I hate heat and Humidity and central Indiana has more than enough of both of those, thanks!

We skied today in Michigan. It was so much fun. I really think that if we HAD to move I'd go someplace where we could ski and iceskate more often.

Tami

[irislady]

Tami, I was glad to hear that you had so much fun skiing. What a great way to exercise, too. Have you been to Wisconsin? That's where I'd choose if I had to live someplace with lots of cold weather. We love Colorado, too, but I think I'm so used to such high humidity that I had a terrible time adjusting to their dryness. I overheard an instructor at the Y talk about snowboarding at Paoli Peaks last weekend. Have you been there?

I bought George Stella's cookbook this weekend, but haven't made any of the recipes yet. I'll have to adjust most of them since George likes more fat than I'm comfortable with.
Shae

[WeirdEyes]

Shae, our Florida destination of choice is Destin also! I buy most of my cruise clothes at the Silver Sands Outlet Mall. I love that place!!! We'll be headed down there the first weekend in May to do some shopping.

Since you were a personal trainer, is it better to do cardio first or strength training first? I did cardio first last night and was so tired, I couldn't hardly do any weight lifting. Should I do it the other way around? Thanks!!!!!!

[Cindyrella]

adoptmom:

Move up here to North Idaho! We have a beautiful ski hill 40 minutes away--all freeway and several others 1 hr. away. Plus there's always Canada only 100 miles or so north. We also live on a huge lake(too big to freeze) but there are several other smaller ones that do freeze for ice skating and ice fishing. My sister an I counted all the lakes close to us and quit at 50. Summers are mild except for 2 weeks in August where we break 100. No humidity. We have an old ski boat and we ski, wakeboard, etc in the summer. We also own some lake property with 2 other couples--no cabin there yet, just a dock but its sure is nice to spend a summer there. Come for a visit, you'll love it!:D

[adoptmom]

Shae- I lived in Colorado for a while. You get used to the dryness and altitude, you just learn to become one with the lotion. :D I'm glad my family is all here close by but I miss Pike's Peak.

Cindyrella- You're right. I probably would love Idaho. It's a state I haven't made it to yet, but that will definitely be a must visit in the winter so we can ski. Some day I also want to try luge or skeleton. I can see myself having a blast with that.

Tami

[adoptmom]

Oh I forgot! We have been to Paoli Peaks and they have a great kids program there. However, the drive is more arduous from here to PP and there really aren't any cheap hotels nearby that I've found. Last time we stayed at French Lick which was a disaster.

Tami

[ColoradoJuli]

I am being very good this week and so far have lost 6 lbs. That is the two that I put on during the cruise and 4 of the 10 pounds that I put on over the holidays! It feels so good when the scale starts moving down and all your hard work is paying off! $600 in my savings account!

It is true that it is very dry here. The altitude has never bothered me and I have severe asthma. The lack of humidity is very nice in the summer, but your skin does feel like an alligator during the winter. Tami is right, you do become one with your lotion. You also end up buying expensive lotions because they are the only ones that work. I have found one from Camille Beckman that has glycerin in the ingredients and it does wonders for the skin. You also become very close to your lip balm. I have found Natural Ice and it works great. Only challenge is that not many places are carrying it in the States, but I have some good friends that frequently go to Canada and they always bring me home some, plus Canada has flavors, the US only has the orginal flavor.

Cindyrella - I had to laugh when you said that you have a ski hill. We were in Wisconsin a few years ago and saw their ski hills. The were an absolute riot after skiing the mountains of Colorado.

Tami - Glad you had a good time skiing. Do I remember correctly that you are headed out here this winter for a ski vacation? or was that Angie?

[fun2travel]

Tami,
I have been looking at this thread a bit tonight. This question is off subject, but maybe you can help me. I noticed many pages ago you mentioned an adoption agency in Texas you used.. my daughter is trying to adopt and only finds agencies that cost $23,000- 28,000. They are not rich. I wonder if you have any insight or ideas I might share with her. Thanks for your time and sorry to everyone else. I am on South Beach though! I think exercise is the key to making this or any program work....

[Cindyrella]

Juli,

Guess I mispoke, I didn't mean "hill" but mountain. I think our higgest ski mt. is 6,500 ft, probably doesn't compare to Colorado :)

[irislady]

fun2travel, I agree with you entirely about the importance of exercise. You can lose some weight on most diets if you cut your number of calorie below what you use, but to be truly healthy you really need to add exercise and/ or some type of physical activity.

Shelia, funny that you should ask that question about which to do first, weights or cardio. That came up yesterday while talking to one of the trainers. He said the same thing I had been taught years ago. If weight loss/control is your main goal doing cardio first is probably your best bet. However, if you found it too tiring to do the cardio first, do half your cardio first, do your weight routine, and then do the second half of the cardio. It really won't lessen the benefit of the cardio workout to split it in half if you do a min. of 15 mins. each half. If you are serious about bulking up muscle then do some stretching and light cardio exercise first to warm up your muscles, then do your weight workout, rest a bit, then do the cardio. It does seem that you need to find what works best for you. On upper body day I used to prefer doing weights first, then cardio. For lower body it was cardio then weights. I'm not quite sure what will work best this time around.

One thing the trainer stressed yesterday was NOT to do more than 45 mins. of cardio a day. Another piece of advice is still being given these days... do weight training only every other day if you do total body, or alternate days if you split your training into upper and lower body. When I was in training to be a PAT I was told that it was okay, even desireable, to exercise the stomach every day. The trainer said yesterday that stomach, too, should only be done every other day. Regardless of which kind of exercise you're doing be sure to drink plenty of water. Drink BEFORE you feel thirsty. By the time you feel thirsty you're already dehydrated.

Cindyrella, DH and I plan to get out to Idaho someday, but I couldn't live anywhere where it gets that cold in the winter. I never realized how much I dislike extremely cold til we lived in N. Ohio their 3 coldest & snowiest winters ever recorded (at least up til that time.)

Tami, I didn't really think about how there wouldn't be much else around Paoli Peaks. Most people from here just run up there and back. There's not really a good way to get there with our lack of north south interstates from here.

Juli, great going! Keep up the great work. The scenery there in CO is worth the cost of skin lotions. (I had trouble with nose bleeds, though.) We loved Pike's Peak, too.
Shae

[WeirdEyes]

Shae, thanks so much for the workout tips! I'll continue to do the cardio first. I should be okay after today. I didn't workout last night due to attending my Mom's b'day dinner. My abs are soooooooooooooo sore today! I couldn't turn over in bed last night without grunting! :eek: I rested them yesterday so I'll work them again tonight. I am only doing strength training using a stability ball and hand weights. I have 3 and 5 lb weights. I don't want to "bulk up," but tone. Can I accomplish this with 45 mins of cardio (5-6 days/week) and then strength training (3 days/week)?

Cindy, Tami, & Juli, I've never been to Colorado or Idaho and would love to go one day. I told DH that when we retire we need to buy an RV and see the US and Canada. We'd have to through cruises in there also. ;) Must be nice living in such beautiful states.

[adoptmom]

Juli- that must have been Angie. i'd love to but with a new baby coming our vacation will most likely be where ever the baby is from since we will have to spend a week there getting paperwork done.

Fun- Adoption prices vary for a lot of different factors, including race of the child and any medical factors. Sad fact, but true. We use Plan Lovong Adoptions in McMinnville, OR. [url]www.planlovingadoptions.org[/url] We've used them for all 3 of our children and are in process of adopting again right now. We're waiting on the homestudy to be finished. They contract through several agencies in the south and west. The agency where our American children came from was Alternatives in Motion in either Houston, or Humble TX. Unfortunately the orphanage where our Indian daughter came from had to close due to political corruption in India. Your daughter is welcome to e-mail me at [email]chef@parknstore.com[/email] for more information. Just have her be sure to put adoption in the subject or she might get added to our homeschool group by mistake! :rolleyes:

Shae- I have a friend who lives in Evansville and I swear. You cant get there from here. I hate that drive. I know that alot of people are irritatied about extending 69 through their backyards but we need it so badly.

shelia- :D We tell the kids all the time that when they move out and we retire we're going to sell the house and buy a big RV. Then we'll spend 3 months of each year at their house parked in the driveway. We will have 4 kids so it will work out perfectly.

I'm happy today. I lost 2 of the 4 I gained this weekend. Hopefully the rest that I need to lose to hit my goal this week will come off quickly.

well, I'm off. We have new baby goats again so I have to go make a goat check.

Tami

[WeirdEyes]

[QUOTE] shelia- :D We tell the kids all the time that when they move out and we retire we're going to sell the house and buy a big RV. Then we'll spend 3 months of each year at their house parked in the driveway. We will have 4 kids so it will work out perfectly.[/QUOTE]
Tami, I tell my son all of the time that we're going to move wherever he is living. I like your RV idea. Maybe we can do that. ;) Congrats on losing the weight!!!!

[raytownlady]

I am desparate, I really need your support. I have tried the SBD twice and each time for various reasons I have fallen off the wagon. How do you stay committed to this lifestyle change. I saw a commercial the other day and it said something that really hit me. Losing weight is not about what your giving up it's more about what your getting in return.

I've got 50 pounds to lose where do I begin/ should I start with phase 1 ?

How do I get over the love of carbs

Thanks

[irislady]

Raytownlady, welcome. Yes, you can do it this time, and yes, you do need to start with Phase 1 unless you only have a few little pounds to lose. I strongly suggest reading the book and using it for reference. It helps to know why and how SB works. Positive feedback and helpful tips from this post were so helpful in my success with South Beach. The other very important thing for DH and I was to prepare for success by literally giving away, or in the least, moving out of sight, anything that wasn't legal on Phase 1. I really had doubted that my carve cravings would ever be cut, but I went on SB because I felt I could see a weight loss even if the cravings were still there. Both DH and I were so surprised that not only did we start seeing a weight loss within the first week or two, but that those cravings really had disappeared. For us the key was no cheating at all the first couple of weeks. By the 4th or 5th day with no carbs we really didn't want any sweets or snacks. We stayed on Phase 1 for 3 weeks, the maximum amount of time, then very slowly added the healthy carbs. Unless you break that craving cycle SB will be hard to stick with. Another tip that most of us swear by... Plan all your meals in advance. You're far less likely to eat the wrong stuff if the right food is handy.

To be honest I felt really crummy my first 4 days on SB. I used to eat so many carbs that I really went through almost withdrawl symptoms. I had terrible hot flashes and some nausea. They completely disappeared by the 4th or 5th day... the same time that the cravings left. Also, the insomnia I had for years also disappeared, so I actually started feeling better and more alert every morning.

Shelia, you should have no trouble toning and maintaining weight loss with that workout schedule. You will eventually have to do more reps. of each exercise to increase your toning or add a little more weight after a while because it will become just too easy for your body to do. I'm not sure I agree with the 45 min. max aerobic work per day that the trainer stated. I think if you do 45 mins. in the morning it isn't a waste of time or harmful to do another 30 mins. or so in the late afternoon or evening. (That's just my opinion, though.)

I'm going to do my workout at home this morning because one of my dogs is having 2 minor surgeries this AM, and I really don't want to be away from the house if the vet has to call. He shouldn't need to, but I'm a worrier when it comes to my "fuzzy kids" (3 Australian Shepherds). This one is my only boy, and he's just an exceptional guy. Poor thing caught a tick borne disease, Ehrlichiosis, this summer, and was on antibiotics for months. He's had so many blood tests lately that now when we pull into the vet's lot he cries pitifully. Makes me feel so bad even though the vet has assured me there's little or no pain when he draws blood. Now he has growths on his gums (almost always benign) and one on his eyelid that need to be removed before they cause infections since they are already irritated.

Tami, congratulations on losing the 2 lbs. Hope the next ones go easily for you.

I've got a physical scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. I'm kind of anxious to see what my cholesterol, blood sugar, etc. will be. I won't have those tests done til Friday morning, though, because my appt. tomorrow is too late in the day for me to fast that long. I was down yet another pound so I haven't quite found that balance of carbs that's best for maintenance. I either gain or I lose. I'm 5 pounds below the original 10 I wanted, but I think once I get more toned it will be good weight for me. Right now I feel a little saggy, especially in the arms and waist. Got to get the muscles firmer.
Shae

[cruiserforlife]

Morning all,

Just thought I'd check in before we leave tomorrow @8am for FL.
Will board the Sun on friday for 10 glorious days...can't wait.

Just closed on our first house yesterday so we'll have that to look forward to when we return.

Actually had some lasagna last night (good carbo loading?) and will try to remain good while cruising but won't beat myself up over it if I happen to slip...too many good temptations there,right?

Thanks to all the regulars (you know who you are!) for all the help and great advise on this thread...I really appreciate it.

Will check-in when I return and good luck to everyone with their weight loss goals.

Take care,

John

[chris2597]

I havent posted in awhile....but have been reading almost daily.....I had great success with SB, loosing a total of 22 pounds.....Had a couple of glitches during the holidays and gained one pound....Well last weekend I was totally out of control.....I ate and ate....I gained 3 more pounds/../ How do you get back on track again....I have tried all week and cant seem to get the mementum back....Any secrets to success out there??