South Beach Diet

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I have personally used this plan in the past and had great results with it. However, it got a little boring to me after a few months and I quit following the plan. Some people would probably do better with it than me, because I am an extremely picky eater and did not like a lot of the choices that you have to choose from on the diet.

The South Beach Diet is divided into three phases.


1st Phase:

This is the toughest because it is the one that attempts to break all the bad habits we have accumulated. During this two week period, pretty much all carbs are restricted including bread, fruits and veggies and grains. This part of the program requires strict discipline and a real commitment to the plan. On the plus side, it is reorienting the body back to a healthy state and the stabilization of blood glucose levels. During this 1st phase, you average a weight loss of 1 lb/day. Yes, that is the absolute truth. I lost this almost to the letter in the 1st phase of this diet. After 2 weeks, I had lost 14 pounds exactly. You have to be diliegent with following the diet exactly in this phase. Be sure you all of your meals, snacks, and desserts or the results will not be as good.

2nd Phase:

Reintroduces some carbs back into the diet – but this time it is the right carbs. Say Good-bye to the simple carbohydrates like cake, cookies, candy, sodas and most bread. The diet replaces them with fruits, veggies, and whole grains. The right fats are introduced as well. No more fried foods, butter, and cream. These are replaced by olive and canola oils, and some nuts. The dieter remains in this phase of the plan for as long as it takes to get to goal weight. I never really made it to this phase. I ended up staying on the 1st phase longer than you are supposed to, because I wanted to get the weight off faster. This is not healthy for you to do this though, so I would not recommend it. Plus, you will get burned out faster.

3rd Phase:

This is the maintenance section and is the diet you will live with. A few more foods are reintroduced but by now the program looks less like a diet and more like a lifestyle. Blood sugar is stabilized and normalized and foods are consumed based on the glycemic index. I definately never made it to here. By this time, I had already burned myself out on it and quit. To much of the same foods over and over for me, because of all of my dislikes.

All in all, I ended up losing a total of 32 pounds on this diet. It took me about 3 months to do this, because the weight loss slows down drastically after the 1st 2 weeks. The downside of this for me was that I gained every bit of it back and then some, when I quit following the diet.

In my opinion the only way to lose weight and keep it off for good is to have a more active lifestyle.

Has anyone else tried this diet? Share your results. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I have never tried this particular diet, but I am currently using the Adkins Diet. I have heard that it is very similar to this diet. I'll let you know how it goes down the road.