South Beach Diet Pros/Cons

Terra145
Terra145 Posts: 42 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am thinking about going back to trying the South Beach Diet. Anybody have any good/bad experiences with it? I had done it previously and lost 30 lbs and kept it off until I got pregnant with my last baby. I am feeling like I really need some more defined eating guidelines. Counting calories right now is giving me too much freedom and I am not able to be successful. I would love to hear peoples thoughts about S. Beach or other things that I could try. Thanks =)

Replies

  • nixism
    nixism Posts: 258 Member
    I did it years ago, lost about 10kgs felt great but as soon as I started going back into the maintenance phase, I started putting on. I also started to feel quite sick when I intro'd the carbs back.
  • grrretel
    grrretel Posts: 4 Member
    I'm in the exact same boat - same about of weight lost and kept off until I had my daughter, calorie counting not keeping me accountable. I'm on day 3 of Phase 1 to change things up a bit. I'm already eating some carbs to keep up with the amount I exercise.
  • kenazfehu
    kenazfehu Posts: 1,188 Member
    Tried it last year. It wasn't hard after the first week, and I lost weight on it and felt good. Then I abandoned SB to enjoy holiday goodies and have never managed to talk myself back into it. Something inside me says "nononononononononono!"

    I really don't believe in abandoning entire food groups. The rhetoric doesn't convince me.
  • mulderpf
    mulderpf Posts: 209 Member
    Why not just be healthier while doing calorie counting. Cut out high fat and high calorie food, no biscuits, chips, chocolates etc - replace it with fruit and move veggies instead.

    It is a lot better than cutting out or cutting right back on specific food groups and probably healthier too and much more sustainable in the long run. You aren't ever going to have specific foods again, so rather cut down on the bad stuff and get used to that rather than cutting out altogether???
  • Ge0rgiana
    Ge0rgiana Posts: 1,649 Member
    The biggest cons are salt and processed junk. I'll drink whole milk and eat full fat cheese and organ meat, thank you. Other than that, it's a very good program.
  • shaunaruiz
    shaunaruiz Posts: 19 Member
    What I did was went to my settings and set it up manually for 40% carbs 30% protein & 30% fat. The auto setting is 55% carbs so that's a little high. South beach does have some good bars and even lunches in the refrigerator section at the grocery store. Try to do something that you can stick with so that you don't end up gaining back once you change to old habits ;) That's my advice, hope it helps :wink:
  • Ge0rgiana
    Ge0rgiana Posts: 1,649 Member
    Why not just be healthier while doing calorie counting. Cut out high fat and high calorie food, no biscuits, chips, chocolates etc - replace it with fruit and move veggies instead.

    It is a lot better than cutting out or cutting right back on specific food groups and probably healthier too and much more sustainable in the long run. You aren't ever going to have specific foods again, so rather cut down on the bad stuff and get used to that rather than cutting out altogether???

    You don't actually cut out whole food groups with South Beach. Grains for Phase 1, and then you add them back.
  • lmeasterling
    lmeasterling Posts: 139 Member
    I did it a couple of years ago when I was trying to lose weight for my wedding. For the short-term, it worked well...I dropped 24 pounds in a 3.5 month period and looked great in that dress! However, if you like carbs at ALL, I don't believe it's a long-term/sustainable solution, because when I re-integrated more carbs into my diet, I pretty much gained it all back and then some.
  • msafunk
    msafunk Posts: 163 Member
    Counting calories right now is giving me too much freedom and I am not able to be successful.

    Your diary isn't open, so I can't see at all what you're eating. Why do you feel that you are not being successful? What are your daily goals? Have you calculated your BMR and TDEE, and stuck with a number in between those? I started out trying to eat 1200-1500 calories a day, and just couldn't stick with it, but once I recalculated to net about 1600, everything became so much easier, and I'm not losing weight any slower than I was netting 1300.

    I'm not a big fan of named-diets because they trap you into sticking with the program by not teaching you how to make your own decisions. It's also difficult for a lot of people to stick with changes in diet if they're too restrictive (like 1200 calories a day).

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