Hello! thought it was about time i intoduced my self..I have been lurking here for a while wondering where to begin on all this. All the information out there can be rather daughting, but I am ready to make the plunge. I have 18 lbs to lose, my husband 35. And I have read, researched, and re-read and now I am convinced and me and my husband are ready to start phase I tomorrow. I am a little nervous because me and my husband have been through diet plan after diet plan and none of it seems to take the wieght off we both gained since we quit smoking. my husband is getting disparate (sp?) and wants to go back to smoking to lose the weight. (bad, bad move I try to tell him) so this is kind of a last ditch effort. I cant even count the diet plans we have been on and they have failed~~miserably i may add.

So...enough of my rant, here I am. I went through my kitchen and took all the stuff that is not in the diet plan to my local food bank. (Boy, did I have alot of bad carbs...more processed crap than I even thought was in there..LOL) and I am going to go to the store and re-stock my kitchen.

my question to everyone is, what is the best advice you can give for getting past phase I???

thanks for listening to my rants...

Congratulations on quitting the cigarettes to both you and your husband. I sure hope he doesn't start again. It's really difficult at first but eventually it gets easier. Hang in there. You will both be grateful in the end.

Great first move, clearing out the carbs from the pantry. Did you feel a little guilty giving it to the food bank? It's better than throwing the food in the trash because you know people will be grateful for it but still when I did this I felt a little bad because if it's not healthy for me, why should I think it's ok for anyone else?!! So I threw a few cans of tuna in with the carbs and felt a little bit better.

Because I was low-carbing before I discovered SB, I decided to skip Phase 1 and go straight to Phase 2. It's worked for me. I've lost 6.5 lbs since I started 3 weeks ago. The only tip I have for you is to whip the ricotta creme in the food processor or mixer. It makes a big difference in the texture. That ricotta creme is a life-saver when you're craving sweets. I try to have some ricotta on hand at all times. We've tried all the flavors. Vanilla and chocolate are our favorites but lemon is pretty good too.

Happy Beaching!!!

Hi

Phase 1 has been so easy for me, my 2 weeks are up on Monday and I think I will be staying on phase 1 a little longer with the exception that I will add strawberries to my woe.

This seems so much more natural to me, therefore I think thats why it has been easy to do phase 1.

Check out this website

http://www.mizfrogspad.com/south_beach_diet.htm

it has great recipes for all the phases, it might help you get through the starting process

Good Luck

Kat, I think the biggest thing for me is to NOT let myself get hungry. I keep things that are allowed in 1/2 cup rubbermaid cups so that when I get the munchies, I just have to reach into the fridge to grab something I can have. It has worked for me. When I get hungry is when the visions of cupcakes dance through my head.

Hi, glad you are fine! I agree completely, it comes natural. But you know, you ARE doing phase 2 properly - adding strawberries is adding one item that was no no in phase 1, and we are supposed to add them slowly!

Several of us experienced the hard (stall) way that phase 2 is not adding all those things from the allowed list at once. So, I would declare you are phase 2 once you add the strawberries - nice choice, fruit was one of my firsts as well! Good luck with it!

nocarbkat,

Welcome!

Before SBD I'd never been on any kind of a diet...bought the book and started on 1/9/03. I've lost 31 pound as of last friday...haven't weighed today...I had about 10 pounds more than your DH to lose...this whole thing has been painless for me...I stayed on Phase I for about 3 weeks and went into Phase II slowly...it's gone really fast...the key to SBD is that we are all different and what works for one may not work for another so it sometimes takes a little trial and error to find your exact personal formula...for me I've added things back in slowly and measured the affect on how I feel and weight loss...the one thing that makes my weight loss slow is full carb dark beer(the only kind I like)...I know that if I have some during the weekend, on Monday I'm going to weigh more...when I find that an allowed carb or cheat has an adverse affect I usually just go back to a modified Phase I for a couple of days and I continue losing...

The bet thing about SBD is that it is just a very healthy way to eat and live...I don't miss potatoes, sugar, white flour, doughnuts, or any of the other bad stuff I used to over eat.

Good luck to both of you!