« Bono gets it | Main | Panera outlets »
March 21, 2006
South Beach Diet - day 1
At the risk of boring the 5 or so readers of my blog. Today marks the first day of my foray into the world of fad dieting. My wife and dad have both had great success with the South Beach Diet (SBD), and I really need to lose about 15-20 lbs. I'm currently 205, and I'd like to reach 185-190 within 2 months. I tried the eat sensibly approach, and didn't lose a pound. Of course, I still consumed a similar amount of beer...
The first two weeks of the SBD are kinda weird. You cut out ALL carbs, including fruit. About the only thing you can eat is meat and some low carb vegetables (no corn or carrots). The goal of this stage is to: 1. Teach you about carbs, so that you're more aware of them in stage two, and 2. break your body's "addiction" to sugar (ie. metabolized carbohydrates.) If stage one works as intended, the craving for carbs should be reduced dramatically. The diet's founder, Arthur Agatston, calls this insulin resistance syndrome. I don't think anyone would say that stage one is "healthy," but it is necessary. Kinda like quitting cold turkey; ironically something I CAN eat during stage one.
Anyway, after stage one, you can add a bunch of things back into your diet. Whole grain breads, wine (I'll probably diverge from the path and allow beer -- beer is considered a major taboo with SBD.) All of this is to be consumed in moderation, and hopefully in much smaller quantities than before the diet. We'll see how it goes.
Here's what I've eaten today so far (a bunch of violations are pointed out).
1. 3 fried eggs (not the best egg choice since it's fried, but I didn't use butter)
2. 2 slices of cheddar cheese (these weren't low fat as required)
3. handful of pistachios (I think I had 25 -- which is too many)
4. chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A without the bun, 2 pickle slices (fried, grilled would have been better)
5. Coffee (I'm not cutting this out, but I think decaf is recommended.)
I'm desperate for some fruit, but I really want to see if this whole carb-switch/reduced craving thing works, so I'm going to try my best to avoid carbs entirely during this phase.
Posted by mark at March 21, 2006 12:02 PM Subscribe (FeedBurner)
Comments
I had considered the SBD, until I saw the "No carbs for the first two weeks thing." And it's not just the beer, either. My diet relies heavily on bread, pasta and potatoes. I don't think I can get rid of those at all. Good luck!
Posted by: jonathan at March 21, 2006 12:52 PM
Good Luck, Mark (not said with sarcasm). I have also been super motivated by your THIN wife...I am going to embark on this diet again in April. I did this in May last year, but the whole "cancer" thing happened and I just didn't care about weight anymore (go figure). But all that is behind me and I need to diet again! I wish you much success!
Posted by: Kara at March 21, 2006 6:27 PM
It worked with some success at our house. Going back to eating badly after you're done kinda ruins it though. :)
Posted by: Topher at March 22, 2006 12:35 AM
I like all your caveats! Sounds like a diet I woudl have, eating stuff with similar constituent parts as stuff on the list... wine (hmmmmm, beer). Cheese (hmmmm, chees in a can?!). Good luck, maybe next time in town when I give you a hug I'll be able to clasp my hands together.
So when are you shipping me your kegging equipment?
Posted by: Nate at March 23, 2006 1:01 PM
Anyone find it funny that it is abbreviated SBD? I think all that protein actually causes SBD's, but that is my thought, any real evidence for that?
Posted by: Nate at March 25, 2006 5:03 PM
I would have to agree that intestinally speaking, the SBD does indeed cause SBD flatulence. Thanks for tainting my blog with your distinct brand of childishness Nate. ;-)
Posted by: Mark Veerman at March 25, 2006 5:23 PM