South Beach Diet

What's everyone's opinion on the South Beach Diet? Is it worth a try to do it with MFP? I've tried it a couple times and didn't take it very seriously. Was thinking of it again. Right now i'm eating alot of fruit and staying under my 1200 cal. My fat is up tho. Anybody have any thoughts? I of course want to lose weight fast. I've been on MFP only for 3 days and I'm doing really good except for my fat intake.

There aren't going to be a whole lot of people on here who will tell you that losing weight fast is the right way to go, for a number of reasons. I did South Beach - my cholesterol dropped a lot. I did Weight Watchers. I did LA Weightloss. I did some really restricted program through my former chiropractor's office where supplements were going to help me only need to eat 700 calories a day. I did Herbalife. Each and every time I lost 20-30 pounds and then put it all back on again. Now I focus on making smart food choices - lean proteins, healthy fats, lots of fruits & veggies, whole grains. I don't follow any particular diet plan, although I do watch my calories. I exercise a lot. It's working. Focus on making healthy choices and the weight loss will come, and it will be sustainable.

My doctor recommended the So Be Diet when I inquired. When I showed him MFP, explained I was eating more protein, good fats, a bit lower carbs (from fruit and veggies) and logging it all, he LOVED it.

I lost about 35 pounds then and now am back to lose the last of it.

If a special diet gives you a starting point, then use it to your advantage.

For me, MFP has been my saving grace.

My doctor recommended the So Be Diet when I inquired. When I showed him MFP, explained I was eating more protein, good fats, a bit lower carbs (from fruit and veggies) and logging it all, he LOVED it.

I lost about 35 pounds then and now am back to lose the last of it.

If a special diet gives you a starting point, then use it to your advantage.

For me, MFP has been my saving grace.

This!

Also, I have found the support from the MFP community to be better than any fad diet I have ever tried. Logging and planning with MFP is the best way to be real with yourself when you are trying to look at what you are putting in your body and how to eat healthier!

I have tried SBD 3 different times. The first time was at the recommendation of my dr. The first two weeks aren't too bad but I would usually make it 11 or 12 days instead of the 14. My big thing was I love fruit and starting it during the summer wasn't an option for me. I did stay on it for a few months with success but I would stop, get preggo and the last time I tried it was almost a yr ago after my son was born. I didn't do as well with it this last time. I now just do MFP and watch what I eat. What I did pick up from SBD is whole grains. I now only eat brown rice, whole wheat bread, went from eating anything milk chocolate (can't stand it now too sweet) to occasional dark chocolate, etc. It's a good program but I hated that I was restricted from some foods. Oh but I loved that I could have whole eggs and not just the whites (Yuck).


Do what is best for you and what will help you stay on track, I like that with MFP I can still have some of the craving foods in moderation. And yes trying to loose too much weight fast isn't good. The weight didn't come on overnight. Good luck to you

Consistently eating under 1200 calories is simply a bad idea. I'm sorry but it is. For some reason, that seems to be about the cutoff where your body will start to slow your metabolism which is the last thing you want or need. An occasional dip below it is no problem. But doing it consistently? Constantly at 1000, 900 or lower is asking for your metabolism to effectively crash. And once it crashes it can take 2-3 times as long to restore as it did to crash in the first place. That's why I would normally set my MFP target around 1300 just to give myself a little wiggle room. Mentally you know you're shooting for 1200, but if you go over 1200 but below 1300 you're fine. And the difference between 1200 and 1300 calories a day is less than a pound a month. Or leave it at 1200 and know you'll go over it sometimes with exercise. And if you drop below it occasionally, no problems. Just don't do it routinely, as a matter of course. That is really asking for problems.

First, you have taken a big step in being here and I'm glad to be your friend. I'd like to help anyway I can. I know everyone wants to lose weight fast, but I look at it this way: it didn't get on fast, so it sure isn't going to come off fast. Slow and steady won the race for the tortoise and it will win it for you too. You're not really looking for a sudden weight loss but something that will be manageable long term, for the rest of your life. The yoyo diets make things worse, not better. So do things slowly, methodically, planned out, and you can get on a glide path to success you can live with forever. The multi-billion dollar diet industry is all about fast gimmicks and quick cures, knowing that they'll crash and burn and you'll be back for more. The goal here is to do things more rationally, in a way you can get a grip on things to get out of their clutches forever.

With that being said, since you're new there are a couple of terms we throw around here I want to make sure you understand. If you already know them, skip the next couple of sentences. BMR and TDEE. BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the calories your body will use to carry out basic life functions: respiratory, circulatory, cognitive functions. If you sit in a chair all day and don't move, this is what it will take to power your body. TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is basically BMR plus all the calories you spend moving, including exercise. It is what the name means: how many calories you burn in a day on average.

Now, I've taken your stats as I have them (40 year old female, 5'3", 175 pounds) and plugged them into 3 different calculators I use to help figure out BMR and TDEE for people. They are located at 3 different websites. The first is at scooby's workshop (http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/), the second is at Fat2FitRadio.com (http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/) and the third is at If it Fits Your Macro (IIFYM) (http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/). They each use slightly different formulas to come up with your BMR & TDEE. But they are fairly consistent. Respectively, your BMRs are 1518, 1524 and 1435. And assuming no physical activity (which you are doing which only works to faster weight loss), your TDEEs are 1821, 1568 and 1721. The only number I think that is way off among the whole lot of them is the 1568 TDEE. But let's take the averages (which I've usually found works best). That would put your BMR at 1492 and your TDEE at 1710. Neither of which seem unreasonable. Now the most aggressive I would think you should get initially would be TDEE-20%. So 1710-20% = 1368.

But actually if you set the target at 1300, you should have a built in deficit of about 400 calories/day. Plus the exercise you are doing should give you a nice steady 1 pound per week loss. Which is great. I'm sure you'd love more, but baby steps first. Get on the path first. Then see what you can do to maybe increase your metabolism or increase your exercise. Crawl before you walk before you run. This way you won't get frustrated when you don't get that 2 pounds a week loss right out of the box.
Because unfortunately, given your height and size and age and gender (yes all those play a factor), your metabolism isn't going to be as fast as some others. But you will get there.

At least those are my thoughts. You are certainly free to ignore them and you'd get no argument from me. Just passing along what I've learned along the way of what I know works and where some of the pitfalls are. There was a brief scene on The West Wing many years ago that I think applies:

"This guy's walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can't get out.
"A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, 'Hey you. Can you help me out?' The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.
"Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, 'Father, I'm down in this hole can you help me out?' The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on
"Then a friend walks by, 'Hey, Joe, it's me can you help me out?' And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, 'Are you stupid? Now we're both down here.' The friend says, 'Yeah, but I've been down here before and I know the way out.'"

There are lots of ways out and I don't have all the answers. And anyone who tells you that there is only one way to do things is lying through their teeth. But I think I know one way out. Others may have a better way out, Listen and learn from everyone. Then make up your own mind based on what you think seems reasonable. But anyway I can help, feel free to ask.

Thanks for the input Lee. I'm on Day 3 and i could put it t 1300 cal. What about 1250 I think i'll try that. What do you think? I'm only 5'3" so i'm not sure what calorie intake anyway. I was told by a nutritionist one time 1200 but that was a little while back. I've gained a little since then so maybe it is a good idea i go up to 1300. What are your thoughts?

I am 5'2" and petite. Wore a size 6 ring at 170+ pounds. When I was 105 pounds I looked good, not sickly. NOT that I ever have a desire to be 105 again. I was under 25 and that was me then.

Now I am 52 yrs old and at if I want to be 125 pounds, to lose 1/2 pound a week, I have to eat like 900 calories a day!. NOT happening as I have worked thru my "kill the metabolism" days and finally have my body back up and running.

The answer is to exercise, lift weights and become more active. In the past 2 years I have been very ill so I literally started by walking to the mailbox. Now I am doing more and adding more. Lifting weights, mowing the law, edging, gardening, parking the car in the back of the lot at the grocery then taking 2 laps around the store with the full carriage.

There are many schools of thought, but the only one that matters to ME is the one that worked for ME Keep trying different things but give it a month. For ME I eat 1250, exercise about 200 and I eat 80/20. 80 percent very healthy and 20 percent meh (chicken wings, French fries, pizza)

Oh and I am Gluten free so that helps a lot because I was addicted to bread! :laugh: (God I miss bread )

I hope I didn't ramble too much

leebestoad has explained things very well! I wish everyone could be so kind and thoughtful. What they have explained took me 2 years to learn on my own and without all the fancy calculators :laugh:

MFP Works! If you log every morsel of food, stay within your calorie goal, move more then move up to scheduled exercise, you will one day say "Wow, I cannot believe I thought this was so hard!"

Good luck on your journey!:flowerforyou: