Re: Re: Help Me! Talk to Me......

February 28, 2004

I'm so sorry...I should have wrote my name at the end of the email. or Donnie as I refer to him is my "hubby", I suppose it shows up Ledford because the account is actually in his name, my name is Sue.

"Hi there, my name is Sue"

I've thought about the protein thing also...I've been trying to watch exactly what I'm eating lately too. It's possible I'm not eating enough protein, that's one reason I've cut back on the oatmeal in the mornings and gone back to eggs, (I'm so sick of eggs!) For lunch today, I cooked several chicken tenders along with peppers and onions, and ate a little less salad than I normally eat. I really love veggies, and maybe I've been going too heavy with them and slacking off the protein. I don't like fish at all, chicken is my fav with beef a little further down the road. I'll try to keep a close eye on this...I sure do hope it helps. I don't want to quit and I'm not really tempted, I just want to get back to losing again...just a tiny little 20 more pounds.

Maybe this has to with my age also, I'm 45 and I guess going thur menopause but as my Marine son says, "adapt and overcome". LOL

Thanks for helping me Vie.

SueReminder: The South Beach Diet is not low-carb. Nor is it low-fat. The South Beach Diet teaches you to rely on the right carbs and the right fats-the good ones-and enables you to live quite happily without the bad carbs and bad fats. For more on this WOE please read "The South Beach Diet" by Arthur Agatston, MD. ISBN 1-57954-814-8

February 28, 2004

I'm so sorry...I should have wrote my name at the end of the email. or Donnie as I refer to him is my "hubby", I suppose it shows up Ledford because the account is actually in his name, my name is Sue.

"Hi there, my name is Sue"

I've thought about the protein thing also...I've been trying to watch exactly what I'm eating lately too. It's possible I'm not eating enough protein, that's one reason I've cut back on the oatmeal in the mornings and gone back to eggs, (I'm so sick of eggs!) For lunch today, I cooked several chicken tenders along with peppers and onions, and ate a little less salad than I normally eat. I really love veggies, and maybe I've been going too heavy with them and slacking off the protein. I don't like fish at all, chicken is my fav with beef a little further down the road. I'll try to keep a close eye on this...I sure do hope it helps. I don't want to quit and I'm not really tempted, I just want to get back to losing again...just a tiny little 20 more pounds.

Maybe this has to with my age also, I'm 45 and I guess going thur menopause but as my Marine son says, "adapt and overcome". LOL

Thanks for helping me Vie.

SueReminder: The South Beach Diet is not low-carb. Nor is it low-fat. The South Beach Diet teaches you to rely on the right carbs and the right fats-the good ones-and enables you to live quite happily without the bad carbs and bad fats. For more on this WOE please read "The South Beach Diet" by Arthur Agatston, MD. ISBN 1-57954-814-8

February 28, 2004

This is brilliant! I suspected that you had to keep your body fooled by switching diets every so often, but it never occured to me that you should change every couple of days or so! I copied and printed this and I think I am going to put it into practice. I am so glad you posted this! Joyce D.

Re: Help Me! Talk to Me......

,I'm new to this and still feeling my way around with this diet. My concern is health. I do not want to do anything which would ultimately jeoparidize the long term health of my body, so I still feel like I'm in an experimental phase. I'm adherring to the plan, but I'm also trying to be very aware of how my body responds and what I am hearing of others' progress.I have succesfully done Weight Watchers in the past, and I really did like it. I simply became tired of counting points. It allowed you to eat anything as long as you kept your daily intake within a certain point range. If you ate a 5 point candy bar, you pretty much gave up your 5 point lunch. Each day had a point range, say between 20 and 25 points. If you only ate 20 points you could bank the 5 you didn't eat, and sometime during that week you could use the accumulation of your banked points and eat more than the 25 points you were alloted during the day. Your bank cleared and started over one day each week (you chose the day). Basically it taught you portion control as well as healthier eating. Points were based on fat and fiber content as well as calories, so higher fiber foods had a lower point value.Something I have learned through the years of studying nutrition and health is that our bodies can reach a set point. Our metabolisms can level off. Part of the reason the Weight Watchers point range worked so well was because you could eat at the top of the range one day and the bottom of the range the next and in-between on another day and one day you could use your banked points and eat above your range. This would keep your metabolism from reaching a set point. For some who still seemed to reach a plateau, there was the Plan which utilized the Weight Watcher's point plan, but took a look at the WEEKLY range and modified it so that there would be 2 really low days, one really high day, a high day, and 2 moderate days. The bigger variant seemed to help those who had reached a plateau.There is also another plan out there called Biogenesis which works along similar principles. They focus a great deal on lifting weights, but their 2 week set diet plan (rather dull to repeat it again and again) works off this same theory of fooling your metabolism.Now, with the South Beach diet plan, I wonder if you could do something similar. Just recently, on another board, an individual shared with me that she had reached a plateau and someone told her to up her protiens. When she did this she began to loose again. By uping her protiens a bit, she would have been increasing her calories, and, it seems to me, this would be similar to fooling your body so that it would not reach a set point. I wonder if you ate a higher amount of protien a couple of days a week, a lower amount a couple of days a week, and a moderate amount a couple of days a week if it would help you, or you could try a combination of altering the carbs and the protiens so that you had a couple of high calorie days, a couple of low calorie days, and a couple of moderate days. Of course these would not be right next to each other. It would look something like this - a moderate day, a low day, a high day, a low day, a moderate day, a low day, a high day, etc. It's certainly worth a try, and you wouldn't be breaking from the plan and altering the benefits of working with the glycemic index and the consumption of good carbs.If you decide to give this a try, I would be very interested in hearing how it works for you. I am only finishing up week 3, but I thought this would be my next step if I quit loosing. Honestly, if this diet plan doesn't work for me, I will return to the Weight Watchers plan, but I believe there have got to be benefits to the healthier eating of whole grains, limited sugar, etc. I also like the fact that, as long as I eat food on the plan, I don't have to count calories, carbs., points, etc. ) I have even thought of utilizing the Weight Watchers point system with the food choices of South Beach if it became necessary.Good-luck!Vie

February 28, 2004

This is brilliant! I suspected that you had to keep your body fooled by switching diets every so often, but it never occured to me that you should change every couple of days or so! I copied and printed this and I think I am going to put it into practice. I am so glad you posted this! Joyce D.

Re: Help Me! Talk to Me......

,I'm new to this and still feeling my way around with this diet. My concern is health. I do not want to do anything which would ultimately jeoparidize the long term health of my body, so I still feel like I'm in an experimental phase. I'm adherring to the plan, but I'm also trying to be very aware of how my body responds and what I am hearing of others' progress.I have succesfully done Weight Watchers in the past, and I really did like it. I simply became tired of counting points. It allowed you to eat anything as long as you kept your daily intake within a certain point range. If you ate a 5 point candy bar, you pretty much gave up your 5 point lunch. Each day had a point range, say between 20 and 25 points. If you only ate 20 points you could bank the 5 you didn't eat, and sometime during that week you could use the accumulation of your banked points and eat more than the 25 points you were alloted during the day. Your bank cleared and started over one day each week (you chose the day). Basically it taught you portion control as well as healthier eating. Points were based on fat and fiber content as well as calories, so higher fiber foods had a lower point value.Something I have learned through the years of studying nutrition and health is that our bodies can reach a set point. Our metabolisms can level off. Part of the reason the Weight Watchers point range worked so well was because you could eat at the top of the range one day and the bottom of the range the next and in-between on another day and one day you could use your banked points and eat above your range. This would keep your metabolism from reaching a set point. For some who still seemed to reach a plateau, there was the Plan which utilized the Weight Watcher's point plan, but took a look at the WEEKLY range and modified it so that there would be 2 really low days, one really high day, a high day, and 2 moderate days. The bigger variant seemed to help those who had reached a plateau.There is also another plan out there called Biogenesis which works along similar principles. They focus a great deal on lifting weights, but their 2 week set diet plan (rather dull to repeat it again and again) works off this same theory of fooling your metabolism.Now, with the South Beach diet plan, I wonder if you could do something similar. Just recently, on another board, an individual shared with me that she had reached a plateau and someone told her to up her protiens. When she did this she began to loose again. By uping her protiens a bit, she would have been increasing her calories, and, it seems to me, this would be similar to fooling your body so that it would not reach a set point. I wonder if you ate a higher amount of protien a couple of days a week, a lower amount a couple of days a week, and a moderate amount a couple of days a week if it would help you, or you could try a combination of altering the carbs and the protiens so that you had a couple of high calorie days, a couple of low calorie days, and a couple of moderate days. Of course these would not be right next to each other. It would look something like this - a moderate day, a low day, a high day, a low day, a moderate day, a low day, a high day, etc. It's certainly worth a try, and you wouldn't be breaking from the plan and altering the benefits of working with the glycemic index and the consumption of good carbs.If you decide to give this a try, I would be very interested in hearing how it works for you. I am only finishing up week 3, but I thought this would be my next step if I quit loosing. Honestly, if this diet plan doesn't work for me, I will return to the Weight Watchers plan, but I believe there have got to be benefits to the healthier eating of whole grains, limited sugar, etc. I also like the fact that, as long as I eat food on the plan, I don't have to count calories, carbs., points, etc. ) I have even thought of utilizing the Weight Watchers point system with the food choices of South Beach if it became necessary.Good-luck!Vie

February 29, 2004

Sue,

Why don't you list what you typically eat during a couple of days and let us look at it?

Re: Re: Help Me! Talk to Me......

I'm so sorry...I should have wrote my name at the end of the email. or Donnie as I refer to him is my "hubby", I suppose it shows up Ledford because the account is actually in his name, my name is Sue.

"Hi there, my name is Sue"

I've thought about the protein thing also...I've been trying to watch exactly what I'm eating lately too. It's possible I'm not eating enough protein, that's one reason I've cut back on the oatmeal in the mornings and gone back to eggs, (I'm so sick of eggs!) For lunch today, I cooked several chicken tenders along with peppers and onions, and ate a little less salad than I normally eat. I really love veggies, and maybe I've been going too heavy with them and slacking off the protein. I don't like fish at all, chicken is my fav with beef a little further down the road. I'll try to keep a close eye on this...I sure do hope it helps. I don't want to quit and I'm not really tempted, I just want to get back to losing again...just a tiny little 20 more pounds.

Maybe this has to with my age also, I'm 45 and I guess going thur menopause but as my Marine son says, "adapt and overcome". LOL

Thanks for helping me Vie.

SueReminder: The South Beach Diet is not low-carb. Nor is it low-fat. The South Beach Diet teaches you to rely on the right carbs and the right fats-the good ones-and enables you to live quite happily without the bad carbs and bad fats. For more on this WOE please read "The South Beach Diet" by Arthur Agatston, MD. ISBN 1-57954-814-8 Reminder: The South Beach Diet is not low-carb. Nor is it low-fat. The South Beach Diet teaches you to rely on the right carbs and the right fats-the good ones-and enables you to live quite happily without the bad carbs and bad fats. For more on this WOE please read "The South Beach Diet" by Arthur Agatston, MD. ISBN 1-57954-814-8

February 29, 2004

Sue,

Why don't you list what you typically eat during a couple of days and let us look at it?

Re: Re: Help Me! Talk to Me......

I'm so sorry...I should have wrote my name at the end of the email. or Donnie as I refer to him is my "hubby", I suppose it shows up Ledford because the account is actually in his name, my name is Sue.

"Hi there, my name is Sue"

I've thought about the protein thing also...I've been trying to watch exactly what I'm eating lately too. It's possible I'm not eating enough protein, that's one reason I've cut back on the oatmeal in the mornings and gone back to eggs, (I'm so sick of eggs!) For lunch today, I cooked several chicken tenders along with peppers and onions, and ate a little less salad than I normally eat. I really love veggies, and maybe I've been going too heavy with them and slacking off the protein. I don't like fish at all, chicken is my fav with beef a little further down the road. I'll try to keep a close eye on this...I sure do hope it helps. I don't want to quit and I'm not really tempted, I just want to get back to losing again...just a tiny little 20 more pounds.

Maybe this has to with my age also, I'm 45 and I guess going thur menopause but as my Marine son says, "adapt and overcome". LOL

Thanks for helping me Vie.

SueReminder: The South Beach Diet is not low-carb. Nor is it low-fat. The South Beach Diet teaches you to rely on the right carbs and the right fats-the good ones-and enables you to live quite happily without the bad carbs and bad fats. For more on this WOE please read "The South Beach Diet" by Arthur Agatston, MD. ISBN 1-57954-814-8 Reminder: The South Beach Diet is not low-carb. Nor is it low-fat. The South Beach Diet teaches you to rely on the right carbs and the right fats-the good ones-and enables you to live quite happily without the bad carbs and bad fats. For more on this WOE please read "The South Beach Diet" by Arthur Agatston, MD. ISBN 1-57954-814-8

February 29, 2004

I follow SB and then work at eating WW points. I know I don't HAVE to restrict proteins, but before I started restricting them I wasn't losing any weight at all. I'm a REAL compulsive overeater and I will eat until I am sick if I don't set limits on quantities.

Crazy, but true.

Meg

Re: Help Me! Talk to Me......

,I'm new to this and still feeling my way around with this diet. My concern is health. I do not want to do anything which would ultimately jeoparidize the long term health of my body, so I still feel like I'm in an experimental phase. I'm adherring to the plan, but I'm also trying to be very aware of how my body responds and what I am hearing of others' progress.I have succesfully done Weight Watchers in the past, and I really did like it. I simply became tired of counting points. It allowed you to eat anything as long as you kept your daily intake within a certain point range. If you ate a 5 point candy bar, you pretty much gave up your 5 point lunch. Each day had a point range, say between 20 and 25 points. If you only ate 20 points you could bank the 5 you didn't eat, and sometime during that week you could use the accumulation of your banked points and eat more than the 25 points you were alloted during the day. Your bank cleared and started over one day each week (you chose the day). Basically it taught you portion control as well as healthier eating. Points were based on fat and fiber content as well as calories, so higher fiber foods had a lower point value.Something I have learned through the years of studying nutrition and health is that our bodies can reach a set point. Our metabolisms can level off. Part of the reason the Weight Watchers point range worked so well was because you could eat at the top of the range one day and the bottom of the range the next and in-between on another day and one day you could use your banked points and eat above your range. This would keep your metabolism from reaching a set point. For some who still seemed to reach a plateau, there was the Plan which utilized the Weight Watcher's point plan, but took a look at the WEEKLY range and modified it so that there would be 2 really low days, one really high day, a high day, and 2 moderate days. The bigger variant seemed to help those who had reached a plateau.There is also another plan out there called Biogenesis which works along similar principles. They focus a great deal on lifting weights, but their 2 week set diet plan (rather dull to repeat it again and again) works off this same theory of fooling your metabolism.Now, with the South Beach diet plan, I wonder if you could do something similar. Just recently, on another board, an individual shared with me that she had reached a plateau and someone told her to up her protiens. When she did this she began to loose again. By uping her protiens a bit, she would have been increasing her calories, and, it seems to me, this would be similar to fooling your body so that it would not reach a set point. I wonder if you ate a higher amount of protien a couple of days a week, a lower amount a couple of days a week, and a moderate amount a couple of days a week if it would help you, or you could try a combination of altering the carbs and the protiens so that you had a couple of high calorie days, a couple of low calorie days, and a couple of moderate days. Of course these would not be right next to each other. It would look something like this - a moderate day, a low day, a high day, a low day, a moderate day, a low day, a high day, etc. It's certainly worth a try, and you wouldn't be breaking from the plan and altering the benefits of working with the glycemic index and the consumption of good carbs.If you decide to give this a try, I would be very interested in hearing how it works for you. I am only finishing up week 3, but I thought this would be my next step if I quit loosing. Honestly, if this diet plan doesn't work for me, I will return to the Weight Watchers plan, but I believe there have got to be benefits to the healthier eating of whole grains, limited sugar, etc. I also like the fact that, as long as I eat food on the plan, I don't have to count calories, carbs., points, etc. ) I have even thought of utilizing the Weight Watchers point system with the food choices of South Beach if it became necessary.Good-luck!VieReminder: The South Beach Diet is not low-carb. Nor is it low-fat. The South Beach Diet teaches you to rely on the right carbs and the right fats-the good ones-and enables you to live quite happily without the bad carbs and bad fats. For more on this WOE please read "The South Beach Diet" by Arthur Agatston, MD. ISBN 1-57954-814-8

February 29, 2004

I follow SB and then work at eating WW points. I know I don't HAVE to restrict proteins, but before I started restricting them I wasn't losing any weight at all. I'm a REAL compulsive overeater and I will eat until I am sick if I don't set limits on quantities.

Crazy, but true.

Meg

Re: Help Me! Talk to Me......

,I'm new to this and still feeling my way around with this diet. My concern is health. I do not want to do anything which would ultimately jeoparidize the long term health of my body, so I still feel like I'm in an experimental phase. I'm adherring to the plan, but I'm also trying to be very aware of how my body responds and what I am hearing of others' progress.I have succesfully done Weight Watchers in the past, and I really did like it. I simply became tired of counting points. It allowed you to eat anything as long as you kept your daily intake within a certain point range. If you ate a 5 point candy bar, you pretty much gave up your 5 point lunch. Each day had a point range, say between 20 and 25 points. If you only ate 20 points you could bank the 5 you didn't eat, and sometime during that week you could use the accumulation of your banked points and eat more than the 25 points you were alloted during the day. Your bank cleared and started over one day each week (you chose the day). Basically it taught you portion control as well as healthier eating. Points were based on fat and fiber content as well as calories, so higher fiber foods had a lower point value.Something I have learned through the years of studying nutrition and health is that our bodies can reach a set point. Our metabolisms can level off. Part of the reason the Weight Watchers point range worked so well was because you could eat at the top of the range one day and the bottom of the range the next and in-between on another day and one day you could use your banked points and eat above your range. This would keep your metabolism from reaching a set point. For some who still seemed to reach a plateau, there was the Plan which utilized the Weight Watcher's point plan, but took a look at the WEEKLY range and modified it so that there would be 2 really low days, one really high day, a high day, and 2 moderate days. The bigger variant seemed to help those who had reached a plateau.There is also another plan out there called Biogenesis which works along similar principles. They focus a great deal on lifting weights, but their 2 week set diet plan (rather dull to repeat it again and again) works off this same theory of fooling your metabolism.Now, with the South Beach diet plan, I wonder if you could do something similar. Just recently, on another board, an individual shared with me that she had reached a plateau and someone told her to up her protiens. When she did this she began to loose again. By uping her protiens a bit, she would have been increasing her calories, and, it seems to me, this would be similar to fooling your body so that it would not reach a set point. I wonder if you ate a higher amount of protien a couple of days a week, a lower amount a couple of days a week, and a moderate amount a couple of days a week if it would help you, or you could try a combination of altering the carbs and the protiens so that you had a couple of high calorie days, a couple of low calorie days, and a couple of moderate days. Of course these would not be right next to each other. It would look something like this - a moderate day, a low day, a high day, a low day, a moderate day, a low day, a high day, etc. It's certainly worth a try, and you wouldn't be breaking from the plan and altering the benefits of working with the glycemic index and the consumption of good carbs.If you decide to give this a try, I would be very interested in hearing how it works for you. I am only finishing up week 3, but I thought this would be my next step if I quit loosing. Honestly, if this diet plan doesn't work for me, I will return to the Weight Watchers plan, but I believe there have got to be benefits to the healthier eating of whole grains, limited sugar, etc. I also like the fact that, as long as I eat food on the plan, I don't have to count calories, carbs., points, etc. ) I have even thought of utilizing the Weight Watchers point system with the food choices of South Beach if it became necessary.Good-luck!VieReminder: The South Beach Diet is not low-carb. Nor is it low-fat. The South Beach Diet teaches you to rely on the right carbs and the right fats-the good ones-and enables you to live quite happily without the bad carbs and bad fats. For more on this WOE please read "The South Beach Diet" by Arthur Agatston, MD. ISBN 1-57954-814-8

March 1, 2004

I thought about counting calories, but that is the main reason I picked this diet, counting anything gets very tiresome after a while.

This was yesterday:

3 fried eggs

(church)

grilled large chopped sirloin patty, about a 1 1/2 cups of lettuce, topped with broccoli, radishes, red peppers, mozzerella chesse, one boiled egg and Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing

(I was very, very full after eating this.)

After a short nap...I had about 3/4 cup of Jello and one cup of coffee.

For supper

grilled chicken breast taco salad...tomatoes, onions, FF sour cream and salsa

When you write it out it doesn't seem like that much, but I always get totally full, and I never allow myself to be hungry. I do eat a lot of salad instead of cooked veggies, I've always loved raw veggies over the cooked version. I had been eating 1/2 cup of oat bran every morning, but decided to go back to eggs as much as I possibly could. I always eat at least one salad every day, usually at lunch.

I am 5' 7' 145 to 150 is my goal. The 7th of this month will be 8 months eating this way for me, I've come too far to quit or give up, and I've become like programmed to eating this way, I hate to start over and reprogram to another method. I'm not sure I could, this was so much easier that most others I had tried. And I've been stuck for 4 months, I can't imagine the starvation mode lasting that long...I could be wrong. After the first couple of months with this diet, I'd sort of stall out, then 3 weeks to a month I'd drop anywhere from 3 to 5 pounds. But this time, it just isn't happening. This is what I found at the Prevention site in reference to this:

Beesmom: Can you tell me about weight loss "plateaus" and how to overcome them? I started SBD in September, lost 14 lbs, but I've been stalled ever since Thanksgiving. I've been on Phase 1 again since New Year's Day, but no weight loss. I need to lose 15-20 lbs more. Dr. Agatston : We find several reasons for plateauing. One is when the ideal weight has been achieved for an individual, which is indicated by excellent blood chemistries. Yet from the

individual's viewpoint, she feels like she wants to lose more weight. The test of whether the diet has worked is the absence of cravings. If you are feeling well and are not having cravings, then the diet has worked optimally. If there are still cravings, there is a good chance that you are consuming the wrong foods or too much of a recommended food such as peanuts. If you have lost your cravings yet still want to lose more weight, it becomes necessary to increase your metabolism through an exercise program. It will be necessary to increase aerobic exercise and some resistance training, which will increase your muscle and bone mass and thereby increase your metabolism. Trying to lose more weight by using self-discipline to severely restrict calories will generally lead to yo-yo dieting. I hope this is helpful.

Thanks for all your help, Sue

lexigrandma1 wrote:

> > > Reminder: The South Beach Diet is not low-carb. Nor is it low-fat. The South Beach Diet teaches you to rely on the right carbs and the right fats-the good ones-and enables you to live quite happily without the bad carbs and bad fats. > > For more on this WOE please read "The South Beach Diet" by Arthur Agatston, MD. ISBN 1-57954-814-8 > > > >

March 2, 2004

Sue,

Are you eating any carbs? Bread, rice, fruit? If not, adding these things back in could help. Your metabolism may be idling instead of burning hot.

Re: Re: Help Me! Talk to Me......

I thought about counting calories, but that is the main reason I picked this diet, counting anything gets very tiresome after a while.

This was yesterday:

3 fried eggs

(church)

grilled large chopped sirloin patty, about a 1 1/2 cups of lettuce, topped with broccoli, radishes, red peppers, mozzerella chesse, one boiled egg and Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing

(I was very, very full after eating this.)

After a short nap...I had about 3/4 cup of Jello and one cup of coffee.

For supper

grilled chicken breast taco salad...tomatoes, onions, FF sour cream and salsa

When you write it out it doesn't seem like that much, but I always get totally full, and I never allow myself to be hungry. I do eat a lot of salad instead of cooked veggies, I've always loved raw veggies over the cooked version. I had been eating 1/2 cup of oat bran every morning, but decided to go back to eggs as much as I possibly could. I always eat at least one salad every day, usually at lunch.

I am 5' 7' 145 to 150 is my goal. The 7th of this month will be 8 months eating this way for me, I've come too far to quit or give up, and I've become like programmed to eating this way, I hate to start over and reprogram to another method. I'm not sure I could, this was so much easier that most others I had tried. And I've been stuck for 4 months, I can't imagine the starvation mode lasting that long...I could be wrong. After the first couple of months with this diet, I'd sort of stall out, then 3 weeks to a month I'd drop anywhere from 3 to 5 pounds. But this time, it just isn't happening. This is what I found at the Prevention site in reference to this:

Beesmom: Can you tell me about weight loss "plateaus" and how to overcome them? I started SBD in September, lost 14 lbs, but I've been stalled ever since Thanksgiving. I've been on Phase 1 again since New Year's Day, but no weight loss. I need to lose 15-20 lbs more. Dr. Agatston : We find several reasons for plateauing. One is when the ideal weight has been achieved for an individual, which is indicated by excellent blood chemistries. Yet from ! the individual's viewpoint, she feels like she wants to lose more weight. The test of whether the diet has worked is the absence of cravings. If you are feeling well and are not having cravings, then the diet has worked optimally. If there are still cravings, there is a good chance that you are consuming the wrong foods or too much of a recommended food such as peanuts. If you have lost your cravings yet still want to lose more weight, it becomes necessary to increase your metabolism through an exercise program. It will be necessary to increase aerobic exercise and some resistance training, which will increase your muscle and bone mass and thereby increase your metabolism. Trying to lose more weight by using self-discipline to severely restrict calories will generally lead to yo-yo dieting. I hope this is helpful.

Thanks for all your help, Sue

lexigrandma1 wrote:

> > > Reminder: The South Beach Diet is not low-carb. Nor is it low-fat. The South Beach Diet teaches you to rely on the right carbs and the right fats-the good ones-and enables you to live quite happily without the bad carbs and bad fats. > > For more on this WOE please read "The South Beach Diet" by Arthur Agatston, MD. ISBN 1-57954-814-8 > > > >

March 2, 2004

I think I understand what you are saying Vie, I will give it a try and start using different recipes and foods and alternating with the protein and veggies. After a weekend of pumping up my protein, including Monday, I weighed 169 this morning. I must also admit, I do have IBS, and I had a really bad day yesterday…bad days usually mean I have to stay very close to a potty. Health wise, I feel much better than I did this time a year ago, more energy, sleep better, my blood pressure has improved, (I just saw my doctor at the end of January, I also have Sleep Apnea). My cravings are gone, I cook potatoes every night for my hubby, he has Oreo’s, peanut butter cups, caramel cups, pop tarts, sugary cereal…all these and more in this

house, and they never bother me…not even on BAD days. Bless hubby’s heart, he tells everyone he is on a diet too because I no longer fry anything and he’s eating more salad, and no…he says this in all honesty. LOL

I have to admit, I don’t think there is anyway I could keep up with you in the exercise department! You’re a POWERHOUSE! I’m very impressed.

You’ve been very helpful, I thank you so very much.Have a great day, Suevstankosky wrote:

Once again, Sue, it's not plateauing because of a starvation mode that I referred to earlier, it's plateauing because the body is used to a set amount of food. Even though you might be eating different things, if you are eating about the same amount daily then your body can become accustomed to this and hit a "set point". To fool your metabolism you shake it up a bit by eating larger amounts sandwiched in-between smaller amounts with moderate days in-between those. Even on Weight Watchers the point system wasn't quite enough for some; they had to change it more drastically than most but still didn't stray from a "weekly" point total. Maybe this won't work, but it is worth a try. Try this:Day 1 - light on the protein Day 2 - moderate on the proteinDay 3 - light on the protein Day 4 -

really high Day 5 - light Day 6 - moderately highDay 7 - moderateYou can read more about this at: http://losing2gether0.tripod.com/losingtogether/id45.htmlEven though it's a different plan, it's the same concept. I know exercise is supposed to help the metabolism too, but I don't have good luck with it for some reason. I have worked up to running 16 miles a week (4 miles a day/4 days a week) and kept that up for several months yet didn't budge on the scale. After that I tried a 90 min. aerobic class with light weights during cool down, 3 days a week for several months and nothing. My daughter and I started on Columbus day last fall and walked 25 miles a week, keeping our body in the fat zone while walking, until the new year and nothing. I'm trying weights this time around to see if it will work. I've always

been a healthy eater - boneless, skinless chicken breasts; stainless steel cooking (no oils); fat free or reduced fat products; no chips or snacks; no soda; lots of water; lots of vegies; etc., but I do love food, so I have probably eaten too large of portions and more desserts or chocolate than I should have to become 40 lbs. overweight. About 7 years ago I put on 20 lbs. in a 2 month period, so I went in to visit the doctor. After a big run around I was told that now that I was over 30 I just needed to start doing aerobic activity at least 3 days a week for 30 min. a day. ) If that were true, the doctor must have just solved the obesity problems of America - he would have been a genius! Later, looking back, I realized that had been a very down time for me in my life, and I believed body chemicals must have played a big part in it. I believe now we are starting to learn more and more about

this. At the time I came to believe this I hadn't ready anything about it. The other 20 lbs. I have gained have come gradually over the past 7 years, and that I do believe to be somewhat age-related - not needing to eat as much as I still love to do.Two years ago I decided exercise wasn't going to cut it for me, and I needed to do some kind of dieting. That's when I did Weight Watchers, but I fell off the wagon at an out-of-town conference and spiraled into a self-destructive "I want to eat what I want to eat" mode. I went back to exercise and have just recently decided it's time to be serious about dieting again. I am constantly reading about health and fitness. If I had to go to school all over again I would go into research in health and fitness. I love hearing other's personal experiences in the health field and what has worked for them.I have to admire you! 7 months is a

long time to be dedicated. You really should be commended - way to go! Your eating choices are healthy. Despite the plateau, how do you feel health wise?Is there anyone else on this board who has been doing this as long as Sue? Have you too hit a plateau? What have you found to work?Vie> > > > > > > Reminder: The South Beach Diet is not low-carb. Nor is it low-> fat. The South Beach Diet teaches

you to rely on the right carbs and > the right fats-the good ones-and enables you to live quite happily > without the bad carbs and bad fats. > > > > For more on this WOE please read "The South Beach Diet" by Arthur > Agatston, MD. ISBN 1-57954-814-8 > > > > > > > >

March 2, 2004