New to the South Beach Diet

[bre]

Hello, I was excited to find this site in my google searches and look forward to being able to keep contact with other people also on the SB diet. This is the first time I've tried it but I hope it goes well. I am a vegetarian and with that have come accustomed to eating more breads and carbs than need be so it will be tricky to cut back. Did people find after Phase 1 of the diet you crave these less? I'm also attempting to train for a half marathon in may and am a little concerned about getting the nutrition I need to be active on this diet, but losing the extra weight I hope will help carry me through.

[RedRox]

Welcome and good luck with your training! That's exciting! And yes you may in fact need to modify your nutrition to meet your training requirements. That's OK. It's adaptable enough to manage that as well. I know several others on another board who both run and bike as endurance activities and do just fine.

And yes I do think P1 helps you get past some of the physical cravings for pastas and breads but the mental desires may take longer or not go away at all. (my daughter is an ovo-lacto-pesce vegetarian so I do get that that sometimes means a pastatarian! Can you say mac 'n cheese! LOL!) I do think what happens over time is that we just start to enjoy so many of the other positive benefits of this program that "risking" the return of the negatives by overindulging in grains (even whole ones) just seems less and less "worth it". And there are so many other good foods to eat that we don't miss them as much either. That's sort of my experience anyway!

[bre]

Thank you! I also am an ovo-lacto-pesce vegetarian so I can get protein from fish but I will miss that homemade mac and cheese I failed to mention the fact that I'm also in culinary school studying Pastries so the no sugar for 2 weeks will be rough but I'll appreciate the excuse not to try everything.

[logmyloss.com]

I bet the no sugar for two weeks will be tough in your circumstance. I have found, for me, that I can turn that around in my favor though. For example, I actually keep a bowl of a candy I like on my desk at work. I find it empowers me to know it is there every day and I am saying no to it. I know, kind of strange, but it works for me.

[Jilly_Bean]

Welcome, bre!

I think we all have to do what works for us. The no sugar is not only a two week thing, though, in case you think Phase 2 allows sugar.

For me, sugar is an addictive substance. I have to leave it totally alone or I don't know when to stop. But, the beauty is that once I have it out of my system (which Phase 1 does a good job of beginning the process), I find it much easier to say no to it.

Good luck!