This 100 pounds starts melting away today!!

[Overcomer2012]

Tomorrow is Day 1 on South Beach for me. I'm a true Newbie. Never done it before. I am currently at 275. Would love to lose at least 76 pounds by my 45 birthday which is in October. That gives me about 35 weeks to do it in.........at around 2pds. a week it can be done. Worried a little about this Phase I stuff. I don't like headaches, but I need to get off the Pepsi. It's my downfall. I'm starting to have stomach pains and I'm sure that the 30 years of drinking high test pop has done some damage to the lining of my stomach.....Whether we want to or not, there comes a time in life when we just gotta let things go. Well I hope everyone has a Healthy Food Consumption Week. Going to spend this week Overcoming my sugar (mainly Pepsi) cravings. TTYL

[bec]

Good luck!!!

Make sure you have some plan for how to immediately deal with cravings. Having healthy, easy snacks right on hand will help. Make sure you hydrate, and consider some other caffeine source as you get off the pop. Dealing with sugar cravings on top of caffeine withdrawal is going to be hard!

[Overcomer2012]

Bec Thanks for the advice. I currently have dill pickle spears as my snack if I need it.

Today has went well. I have started to feel a little mentally loopy and a tad bit headachy for the past few hours but its not too bad. I plugged my menu into calorie count and all the nutrients came up fine except for my sodium (3300) and my fiber (14). This is what I ate.

1cup Cott. Cheese 1% 7 oz. Baked Cod
1 cup Lo Sod. V8 2 cups Asparagus (canned)
1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Yogurt

1cup Cott Cheese 1% 1 cup Skim Milk
2 cups Lo Sod. V8

Anyone have any ideas on vegetables with a high amount of fiber?

[Kimboroni]

Is that all you ate all day? How did you break that down into meals and snacks? I'm having a hard time seeing that as an SB menu. Check out the meal templates in the FAQ for some help with meal design.

If you stop drinking so much V8 and start eating more actual vegetables, that should solve both the high sodium problem and the low fiber issue.

[Magna]

I agree - each of the individual foods is OK, but the amounts are out of balance. A phase 1 menu should be much heavier on vegetables and lighter on protein foods like cottage cheese. Do have a look at the phase 1 "how to adapt your meal plan" template, as well as the phase 1 "foods to enjoy."

[Overcomer2012]

My total calorie intake has been in the 1100's everyday since starting SB. Is that a good average?

[Kimboroni]

It's not really a calorie counting kind of plan, so there's no measure for that. But generally speaking, it's probably a little low.

Judging by your menu of actual foods eaten (which is the kind of plan SB is), it doesn't look like you're eating foods in the right proportions. Protein is a little overboard, with not enough good carbs or good fats.

[Overcomer2012]

I'm still having issues with not getting enough fiber. I know I should be eating more foods like broccoli, brussel sprouts, but they give me horrible bloating/gas discomfort. When Phase II starts I want have any problems getting the 25g of fiber per day that I NEED from sources such as Whole grain English Muffins, and they don't cause me discomfort. Today I feel constipated and bloated. If I get past my digestive problems, everything else is going great. I woke up today feeling really good when it comes to my energy and mental status. After 4 days of SB eating, I'm feeling much better.

Here's a new list of what my diet has been like over the past three days. I have added black beans into my diet over the past two days. I love them, I just rinse them and add them to my salad, but it seems like I get that hungry, empty feeling in my stomach within about 15 min. after I eat them. Don't know about that. Let ne know if the protein shakes I'm drinking are OK for the diet.

Whole egg and 3 egg whites
1 tsp EVOO
1 cup mushroom, onion, tomato

1 cup Skim Milk
1 Protein Shake (100 cals., 1g fat, 15 carbs, 14 Prot.)

1/3 cup Black Beans
2 cups Lettuce, onion, cucumbers
2TBs Light Ranch

Protein Shake

4oz. Pork Sirloin
2 cups Asparagus

yogurt

Thanking you in advance,
Overcomer 2012

[Kimboroni]

That's definitely an improvement overall!

I've never heard of a small serving of beans causing hunger-- more likely suspects would be the light ranch and/or the lack of a protein serving at lunch.

We can't tell much about the protein shake without seeing an ingredient list. But it's probably not necessary to drink 2 protein shakes a day in addition to the other proteins that you're eating. It would be better to have some real food at those snacks, like some veggies or a serving of nuts.

Did you get your good fats with dinner?

[Magna]

I'm still having issues with not getting enough fiber. I know I should be eating more foods like broccoli, brussel sprouts, but they give me horrible bloating/gas discomfort.

I see you are eating a variety of other vegetables, so I would encourage you not to be so harsh with yourself about the ones you're not eating. If black beans are causing you a problem for some reason, you might try another kind of legume - all types have a lot of fiber.

Some other things you can try:
Make sure you're not eating anything you're allergic or sensitive to.
If you can, try using Beano before eating the vegetables that cause gas.
Broccoli and brussels sprouts are cruciferous vegetables, but not the only ones. You can also try eating others like cauliflower, kohlrabi, or cabbage.
Try including small amounts of the vegetables you want to get used to - for example, in soups or salads or as a garnish.

Also, some people here have posted that they got fairly bad gas/bloating when first eating a lot of vegetables, but it improved as they got used to eating so many.

[Overcomer2012]

Kimboroni and Magna

Thanks for your input. I did some experimenting and I think it is my salad dressing (Hidden Valley Ranch Light) that is the culprit for the empty feeling in my stomach right after I eat. I ate the beans alone with some onions and it didn't happen so it wasn't them. During my further experiments I've found that my salad plus a heavier protein such as 4oz, of chicken breast ( instead of .5 cottage cheese ) will also keep that empty feeling away. I should probably change dressings but I just don't want to. The HVR light only has 3g sugar per serving, and it says "sugar" as like the fourth or fifth ingredient, so it's not a no-no dressing. Isn't t 5g or less OK? My taste buds are definately changing. I can really taste the vinegar in my dressing which is something I've never noticed and I've been using this dressing for years.

My bloating and constipation are totally gone. It's actually quite the opposite now. All these vegetables, yogurt, and beans are producing the effect that you hear they are suppose to. This makes me extremely pleased with the diet in this area. I think my body was rebeling last week, it wasn't used to more than a slice of tomato and leaf of lettuce on a drive thru burger. I think my body is believing that I am going to stick to this and changing accordingly.

Started Week II yesterday. I don't have a scale at home, so when I posted my weight last week it was what I had weighed at the Dr. office about six weeks ago. Well I stopped by my Dr's yesterday and weighed myself and I weighed the same 275. I know I lost some last week. Whether it was weight, water, inches, I am smaller....around the middle definately. When I am sitting and look down, I see more of my legs than I used too. I am very pleased with the way things are going. I don't want to add more than 1 serving of fruit and 1 serving of grain to my Phase II. Thats all I can think of that I would want or need extra to eat.....maybe an apple and an wg english muffin. I geuss I'll see how things play out.

[Kimboroni]

That's great that you're starting to see some positive results!

As for the salad dressing, it's not a horrible choice. 3g of sugar per 2 tablespoon serving is the maximum suggested for salad dressing, so that's okay. But it also could have some high GI starches that could be causing problems, too. And then it's not only what's in it, but also what's not in it-- adequate good fats, which is one of the main purposes of a salad dressing for SB. You can get that in other ways as well-- olives or avocado, for example.

[mireya]

How's it going? I was just thinking celery spread with peanut butter might make a good snack substitution for the protein shakes...