I've stuck to Phase I religiously for two weeks - low fat meats, cheeses, and allowed veggies. No bread/crackers/rice/sugar/pasta/potatoes etc. I have not lost one pound, and to put it mildly I'm discouraged.

I am exercising a few days/week but I doubt it is a fat-to-muscle conversion that makes it OK not to lose.

I'm seeing other posts about this SB failure, so I know I'm not the only one. I'm not diabetic, don't have any metabolic disorders that I'm aware of. Is it possible that there is a small segment of the population that the SB Diet doesn't work for, or is there some little tiny glitch that throws it off?? Like 21 peanuts instead of 20??

Cranky in PA (kfz)

Well, I did used to hear jokes along the lines that 'SB is a lot like Atkins, only without the weight loss'. So, it may not be the right dietary approach for everyone, although it does seem to work for enough people to keep it's popularity up.

Perhaps the people SB works for have a generally high CCLL (Critical Carb Level for Losing). In the Atkins plan, during the Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL) phase, one of the goals is to discover what is your individual CCLL. For some people the CCLL turns out to be fairly low like 30 net g. carbs per day, but for others (say, active males) it can be much higher, say 80 net g. carbs per day.

Still, not eating bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc.; it does seems like you should have lost some weight. Are you eating a lot of fruit? Many fruits are much like candy when it comes to sugar levels.

If not fruit, it could be that you've consumed some hidden carbs. For example, something that seems really innocent can be quite high in sugar; eg., most basalmic vinegars run 10-15 g. carb per serving.

I don't blame you for feeling discouraged after being so faithful. Perhaps if you post some of your sample menus we can see if there are some hidden carbs or other problematic foods.

__________________
~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.

Welcome, kfz.

Ditto what Teel suggested. Maybe we can help you spot some culprit.

__________________

Well, the CCLL is an Atkins concept, a program with which I'm much more familiar than South Beach.

I would surely have a hard time with all the low fat foods. They tend to be a bit carbier than the naturally fat items and, for me, it's the good fats permitted in the Atkins program that I believe made it easier for me to stick with it. Fats are more slowly digested and, therefore, one doesn't become as hungry as quickly. True for me, anyway.

That having been said, I'm not trying to "convert" you to another program. LOL! I just know more about the one I happen to follow.

In any event, a couple of things you point out yourself might be worth investigating:

More water and a LOT less diet soda.
Fewer nuts and certainly no peanuts (to begin with, anyway.)
Late night snacking.

Those are things you might want to tweak a bit and see if this works better for you.

__________________

I just spot checked a few of those foods (as close a match as i could find anyway) in Fitday.com to see how they add up.

"Juice, Tomato and Vegetable, low sodium: runs 9 g net carb per cup
Scrambled egg, made from packaged liquid mixture: 4 g per cup
Soy milk runs from 1 to 15 g carb per cup (probably many are sweetened?)
dry splenda packets run about .5 g (it can add up over the course of a day)
low fat french dressing per 1/4 cup : 14 g. carb
low fat cottage cheese per cup: 6 g
low fat ricotta per 1/2 cup 6 g

So, some not so bad, some not so good - depending on amount eaten. I find it's quite easy for a splash of coffee cream to hit 1/4 cup rather than a TBS if I'm not watching it, LOL! Again, if you use basalmic vinegar in your salad dressing, that can a fair amount of sugars.

I'd recommend that you check the nutrtion labels to see what the carb count is for some of your favorites. It can be very helpful to log your food intake with a computer tracker for a while. The Fitday.com tracker is free, and many people use it. Dietpower.com offers a 15-30 day free trial of its software, which has many features I like.

__________________
~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.

Thanks Maggie and Teelbee - I appreciate your feedback. Gives me a couple of things to think about,

Karen

hi karen!
the thing about SBD is that it is NOT a low carb diet ... it is about the RIGHT carbs. you should not be counting carbs on SBD.

i honestly think your sample menus look pretty good! i would say maybe a few more veggies and more water. but it looks like you've read the book and stuck to the plan. peanuts are ok on P1 SBD, so don't worry.

i lost about 20 lbs on SBD last year (from 150 to 130 lbs), and i found that i lost the most weight AFTER the first two weeks. so maybe once you [sloooowly] start adding back in your fruits and whole grains, you'll see the scale move.

also, are you exercising? that was a key component for me.

best of luck and keep us updated.

oh .... by the way, how much are you trying to lose???

Hey there cgilson -

Thanks for taking the time to write. I'd like to lose 15 - 20 pounds.

Since my posts above, I stopped eating nuts entirely, and replaced diet soda with water. Since then I dropped 4.5 pounds, yay. Not sure if that was it, but it sure didn't hurt. I have found my system is strange in that it takes a couple of weeks for a response (aka weight loss) even when I'm moving in the right direction as far as changes in eating habits. The weight sure seems to come on faster though!

My mindset in the past has been watching fat and sugar, rather than carbohydrates, so this is new to me. And as you said, the right carbohydrates are OK, and I'm still learning what they are.

I bought George Stella's Living Low Carb book which seems good. Does anyone have experience with his recipes?

And yes I've been pretty active; getting to the gym at least a few days a week. I have found no matter how much I watch what I eat, if I don't exercise I don't lose weight.

Thanks everybody for your words, and feel free to continue to send suggestions. It's all been very helpful,

Karen

Hi, Just wanted to check in and see how you are doing? I have been on SB for almost three years now. It becomes a way of life after a while. However you do get to learn what works for you and what doesn't. For example - SB says you can eat ricotta cheese - every time I do, I seem to put on the weight, when I stop, the weight drops back down. Also, one very important thing about "sugar-free" - you need to watch the sugar alcohols, they can be just as bad, if not worse than regular sugar. Sugar-free substitutes like lactitol, and maltitol are by far the worse and whatever you do stay away from aspartame - that to me is like pure poison. I use "Stevia", you can get it at any supermarket in the "healthy" section or at a healthfood store - it isn't bad once you get use to it. By the way, I too like nuts, but I find that I need to stay away from them, I just can't eat a few, so for breakfast, I eat two slices of Ezekial Bread which you can get from a healthfood store or grocery store (it's all natural, no sugars) and 2 Tbsps. all natural peanut butter, no sugar or salt and that seems to satisfy me till lunch time. Oh well, hope this information helps. Good luck!!