How I got Started on The South Beach Diet

Weightloss No Longer Optional!

When I started the South Beach Diet in October of 2006, weighing in at 280 lbs, I felt huge, ugly and completely unworthy to go out in public. I honestly no longer cared what clothes I wore, because everything looked horrible anyways. I was tired most of the time and had no energy to play with my kids the way I would have liked. The funny thing is feeling that way wasn't enough to make me stick seriously to any real diet for any length of time. I had zero will power, and I love food. Its not that I stress eat or anything of that sort, I just love the taste of good food...and as a general rule diet food does NOT taste good!

The thing that started my weight loss was finding out my husband weighed over 500 lbs and having his doctor tell him to consider the South Beach Diet. He was scared enough to give it a shot, and I felt I needed him to diet with me to really stick to anything for long. Accountability is a big deal to me. I read the book, and found the information made alot of since and really it seemed like something I could do without too much trouble. I had tried Atkins before but it just made me feel like crap, and the all the low fat diet options, just tasted crummy all together. This was different in alot of ways, so we gave South Beach a try for better or worse.

Good bye to Carbs!

Phase One was difficult with absolutely no carbs at all, but if anyone ever asks me I'll tell them straight up not to skip it. It really did get rid of the cravings (and I have LOTS of cravings!). With some creative thinking it ended up not tasting too bad at all. In fact I discovered I liked a few veggies I didn't know I did before. (I still hate most veggies btw...:)) I had a weight loss of about 11 lbs in three weeks. However, as the book will tell you, this is NOT the weight loss portion of the South Beach Diet. Its real purpose is to get rid of the cravings, though I also recently used it to get over my first plateau.

Phase two is great. There are so many products and recipes available, that it's honestly not that difficult. Most restaurants even have something that will work for us on the South Beach Diet. As we go along I promise to share them with you. I hope you'll share your recipies and ideas with me as well!

Well long story short (I'll give you some good details as we go, I promise), I've lost over 50lbs to date, most of that without any exercise. However, I have recently joined Curves, so I'll be building a healthy heart and body while losing weight! My husband is no longer my only motivation, in fact I have stayed on track (with only a couple of cheats along the way:)) even when he has strayed at times.

I have a long way to go but using the South Beach Diet concept I know its completely possible!