quest1mark

one of my girlfriends recently came home from college and shes been on the south beach diet. let me tell you, she lost 20 lbs and she looks fabulous.

i dont know much about the diet, but from what she tells me that theres three phases with each lasting 2 weeks.

the first deals with eating lean meats, salad, and plenty of liquids. no sweets (including fruits), alcohol, or carbohydrates. in the second phase (thats the phase shes in now) you introduce your body with the carbs that you limited yourself in the first phase of the diet. and in the final third phase, you pretty much watch which foods you can eat without gaining weight.

she says the good thing about this is that without the carbs you can eat a lot of healthy foods, without feeling full. compared to the atkins diet where you eat all the protein you want, the south beach is safer because it doesnt allow for all the cholesterol that the atkins does.

but this is only from what i got from my friend. i was wondering if any of you guys are currently on a diet, south beach, atkins, or whatever and how its going for you.

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cantseeme

My wife's been on the south beach diet a couple times.

She got through the first phase twice and into the second phase, but then crashed at halloween and christmas. It's tough for her because we both should be doing it if either of us are.

Plus, when you need somethign sweet, those low carb snacks suck.

Good luck.

cait987

All these diets going around at the moment are pretty dumb honestly, If you want to lose weight you must exercise and save calories no diet is gonna make it easier. Personally, your friend lost weight because she either 1.) exercised alot and burned off everything and naturally lost weight 2.) starved herself and all she lost was muscle, Honestly, whenever you want to cut carbs you have to eat more fats its just the way it works all foods must be high in either 1.) protein 2.) Carbs 3.) Fats, you need all of them to grow and honestly if you cut one out your doing more harm then good.

Shrug maybe im just not giving the diet enough credit and it doesnt work but for the most part most of these diets just make you work your ass off and then say the diet did it or they make you starve youself and you really dont get lighter you just lose muscle mass. For girls however this isnt really a issue since girls dont want to be super muscular but hey to each his own

Boo

Atkins works and SBD must because it is a glamorous Atkins clone.

I use Atkins to speed the weight off. I don't have a large goal like some people, but I am currently 54 pounds heavier than I was at age 18. My personal numbers are 234/196/ (I don't know my goal as I did alot of weight lifting/martial arts in 2000 and 2001 and gained some mass but I think I can get near to 175 with 10-15% body fat).
If all Atkins does is burn muscle then I probably couldn't stand up after losing 38 pounds of muscle mass in the last year. I am fortunate in that I gained all the weight in a short time. When I take weight off it isn't easy for me to put back on. I am however now in loose fitting 36" pants and I can see my belt. I was in 38" pants that fit tight and we'll not talk about my belly. My exercise includes a my work, walks on the treadmill and remodeling my home.

Some people can't burn the fat off bacause of disability, age, time, etc... They need a way of losing it metabolically or surgery. There are people out there that are heavy and need to lose alot of weight to enhance their future health. These aren't the "I got fat on Nintendo and the internet" people. They aren't young couch potatos, they are veterans, mothers and grandparents.

We may have been full grown for 25 years. We don't want to grow any more. We want our bodies to benefit from not having to carry extra weight. We know the benefits of maintaining a small waistline and that quality of life is a daily prayer.

I am not a bacon and egg devouring no-carb maniac. You can eat lots of other foods that don't have the high fats if you choose to.

People that lose the weight on Atkins and gain it right back are..... Not following Atkins. They are making up a diet as they go along. Maybe they can call it the Low-Carb Yo-Yo diet.

When following Atkins, I feel better, I lose weight.

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SiN

/moving to Health and Fitness bcause you don't seem to be making any specific cooking requests/discussions.

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jfelco

i learned a simple equation in one of my health classes:
food comsumption (carbs, fats, protien, calories) = physical activity (exercising, walking, sports: basically burning energy)
if one is greater than the other, more physical activity, then fat should be cut down, vice versa, if one eats more than they burn, they will gain weight.
most diets from what i know help control the intake/consumption, if they just diet and not use the energy, then the results are minimal. we eat for the energy, which inturn should be used. some eat because they can appreciate a good meal, so they ontinue to eat. there are cases where people have a naturally fast metabolism, so they can eat whatever and not gain weight, i wish i was like that.
just my $.02

cait987

Sorry Boo, I didnt mean to say what I said like that what I really meant is from what ive seen the attkins diet makes you do whatever a normal dieting person should do but gives you a guide on how to do it.

What you said is true however, and I didnt say atkin burned muscle mass what I said was alot of diets sorta make you starve yourself to minimum calorie consumption and still do alot of exercise you will lose weight some fat but also some muscle. The bodys natural reaction is to break down muscle if you are starving to break down fat because muscle provides more energy I beleive? However, the body breaks down fat to continue moving the legs / arms / whatever if the body doesnt have enough energy to contine moving which is how the most weight loss possible can be done (and why aerobics/cardio is the best exercise you can do). It happens because the body is about to collapse due to a lack of air since your outtake is greater then intake the body uses fat cells to provide energy for the body which in return destroys fat. I beleive it is called Lactic Acid Respiration?

So sorry about that Boo I didnt mean to annoy/threaten you I was just expressing my opinion on the atkins/SB diet, since as far as Ive seen (my mom owns the atkins book) they make you do what any normal dieter is susposed to do but give you a guide to make it a bit easier to plan ahead.

Boo

Boo doesn't get annoyed or threatened so don't worry. I was just responding to what I thought your points were.

Lactic Acid Respiration... I don't know much about it, but the last time I heard that was on a 17 Y/O kid that had a heart attack while playing football. He was out of shape due to an illness and tried to keep up with his teammates. You have to really push yourself hard to start LAR.

Muscle mass and Atkins.

http://atkins.com/helpatkins/newfaq/...uscleMass.html

Doesn't ketosis lead to loss of muscle mass?

The notion that the Atkins Nutritional ApproachTM—high in protein, which builds muscle, and fat, which is used for energy—will force your body to break down muscle is incorrect. Only individuals on very low-calorie diets can lose muscle mass, because they have an inadequate protein intake. Atkins, however, is not calorie restricted (this isn't an invitation for gorging, but a recommendation to eat until you are no longer hungry) and the high protein intake required offsets any possible loss of body mass.

I also noticed a few people posting that their weights were steady on Atkins but they were losing inches. I believe from reading their notes that they are actually losing fat and gaining muscle due to their workouts. Muscle weighs more.

IMO - If I need to take a little health risk to gain a large health benefit it is worth it. So if I diet for 8 weeks in a year and (eat a healthy diet the rest) and lose 34 pounds that were stressing my heart then it is better for my overall health in the long run.

If you know anyone that is doing or thinking of doing Atkins please make sure they are informed on it. There are waaaay too many completely newbie questions being asked at Atkins Friends forums.

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skier

i'm pretty sure your fat stores are used up before your body begins to eat at your muscle tissue (there are the glycogen stores to go through before the fat of course). Muscle mass loss is only because of extreme starvation or when they aren't used and atrophy. You don't use it, you lose it.

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vapusforever

NICE

Plan9Senior

Didn't catch that... nice eye vapusforever.

quest1mark

Averett

Just bumping this thread up..

I'm considering trying out this diet. I just bought the book tonight. I'm moving into my own place so it'll be easy for me to fix my own meals and have what I want without having to worry about anyone else in the house. I'm also going to start working out (best intentions anyway!) so I'm sure that will help me.

Idealy I'd like to lose 20-25lbs. I don't think I'm fat by any means (5'8 160lbs at the moment.. eek...) but I'd like to be in better shape. My eating habits are really horrible and maybe this will give me a bit of discipline to eat better and try other foods. There are a lot of foods/recieps in this book that I've never had before, hopefully I'll like them.

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sadatx

You're not the first Atkins follower to call it that. I disagree. I mean you might as well call it a sugarbusters clone too. But you obviously have respect for the Atkins Diet and I gotta respect that if it worked for you.

There are some important differences between South Beach and Atkins. First your body does not go into Ketosis on South Beach. You're allowed a wider selection of veggies at first and there's a lower protein intake. It is a lowfat diet. Very low fat. The first phase (okay, now that sounds like Atkins, I'll give you that) only lasts two weeks. Then you're allowed the good carbs: fruits, whole grains, and all of that.

I'm just finishing up the two week first phase. And now I'm probably moving on to Body for Life. I was eating a lot of carbs, and a lot of sugar. And usually had one or two big meals a day. South Beach really broke me of those bad habits (at least so far). I'm eating alot healthier now and my vegetable intake has increased ten-fold. I think the book has some great recipes, which really helped me through it. In fact I'd say the recipes are the highlight.

But I don't think the book is good long term (at least not for me). And I wouldn't reccomend it for that. I would reccomend South Beach over Atkins though.

I did have lower energy a various time (because of calorie restriction I'm sure). I'd say be strict with the diet for the first few days. The if you're having lower energy allow yourself little snacks (on top of the snacks in the diet). Some orange or apple juice here, a piece of whole grain bread there, or a small piece of candy. But you have to be sparse with these. And if you find that they lead you to more carbs, you might just have to go cold turkey for the first phase.

But remember. If you're too strict with any diet, you pprobably won't be on it for long.

Cardinal Syn

The diet was a success for me. But i also incorperated EXERCISE to my plan. I am off it now but following it loosly At the moment. But always EXERCISE. This diet is just showing you a better way of eating. Not like the atkins diet which is alot of differences once you read the book.

All in all just eat healthy and exercise and you will shed the pounds.

Boo

I personally believe that ketosis is not bad if done for a reasonable amount of time and done correctly. SB seems to utilize the Atkins method of breaking the sugar/carb addiction initially. After that I am a bit concerned at the amount of carbs allowed immediately.

The Atkins approach seems to taylor the carb amount to each persons body. You can add carbs in increments and when you stop losing weight you drop a bit and resume losing weight. Add too many carbs and you start to gain.

Maybe SB is just a lenient Atkins. No expert on SB here, but the similarities smell of Advertising.

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Phaenx

Someone recently did a study on the Atkins fad diets and concluded that people lose fat because the diet tricks them into eating less calories then they burn (of course, it's not all fat when the weight scale is going down, you dehydrate your muscles/skin as well I believe). That's fine and dandy, but you can do that by learning how to eat and exercize properly, and let me tell you, I'll take the diet I'm on right now over hamburgers with no buns any day of the week.

These diets are bad for your health man, what's the benefit of losing 20 pounds if you're all sickly?

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"I went shopping last night at like 1am. The place was empty and this old woman just making polite conversation said to me, 'where is everyone??' I replied, 'In bed, same place you and I should be!' Took me ten minutes to figure out why she gave me a dirty look." --Some guy

Averett

Yeah, I've already decided that there's no way I can do this diet. Just have to eat better


Like no more 2 helpings of meat loaf and 2 baked potatos for dinner

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Plan9Senior

Oh my! /slaps Averett's hand as she reaches for seconds

sadatx

Technically, from what I've read, Ketosis isn't damaging as long as you don't do it for a long period of time and as long as you're HEALTHY TO BEGIN WITH. Very important, because if you have a kidney disfunction that you don't know about Ketosis will quickly put you in a state of poor health.


The amount of carbs allowed immediately isn't much at all really. Then you incorporate more after two weeks.

I have to disagree with you on this point. I believe Atkins goes to long with out incorporating enough carbohydrates.

When you consume too much of anything (even something as essential as carbohydrates) it's unhealthy and you need to break yourself of the habit. However you can't just go off of something your body needs for a long period of time without it also being bad for you.

Carbohydrates, "watered carbons", are essential to carbon based life forms such as ourselves. They contain Carbon, need that, Hydrogen and Oxygen, those are pretty darn important too, and Energy, and we of course need energy.

Carbohydrates are as important as protiens and lipids (fats). It's really all about balance when you're talking about the way you should eat for the rest of your life.

The first diet book I read was FIT FOR LIFE. I had never read a diet book before so I thought that I should take it as gospel. I felt better at first on it. But my energy was uneven and it became harder and harder to stay on. Many years, and many diets, later I've finally learned that a diet is a short term thing that should be done with the hopes of reaching a short term goal. After that you should just try to find balance. And here's a hint, you won't find it in any diet book.

Yakk

sadatx, all organic goop contains carbon and hydrogen.

If I remember my rusty organic chemistry, fats also contain oxygen, and protiens contain nitrogen? Don't recall if protiens contain any oxygen. But, you might notice that the air around us is full of 02... heh.

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Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.

greyeyes

I find the best diet for me is to do an assload of cardio and aviod eating as much as I would normally (I supplement eating with other things that keep my mind off hunger like working extra at my job (which ironically is making other people fat and contributing to the obesity epidemic in the US, I work at outback steakhouse), working out more (cardio mainly, if I feel the need to gain mass I eat as much as I can, healthy stuff of corse, while cutting down on cardio and working on the machines that are provided at my apt complex), or some other activity. In my opinion regular diets are too restrictive and honestly I dont like other people telling me what I can and cannot do, especially when it comes to eating. This is my uneducated advice, it is UNEDUCATED so you dont have to listen to me, I am just trying to help you out by telling you what works for me and giving you extra options in your dieting Odyssey.

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Boo

*snip
My energy was up and down too, I fixed it by accident when I first started Atkins. Atkins eliminated the sugars that were causing the roller coaster. Everyone is different, one thing this diet seems to do is isolate food allergies, sugar tolerances, and addictions.

Never start a diet without seeking a Dr's advice. Especially if you are currently having problems. That applies to any diet.

I eat as diverse of a menu as this diet allows. I only use the fats the first few days as they are needed to start the ball rolling. Then I limit myself to 20-25 carbs (required to maintain brain function), take my supplements, fiber and go to eggs, lean meat, fish and too much chicken and veggies. And water, and more water.

Between Atkins, I eat lots of fruit, oatmeal 1-2 times a day, watch fats and still drop a pound or 2. I personally believe that it is as important to remove extra weight as it is to do cardio and eat the preferred foods. I say this because I have several health issues that are ALL hinging on my weight gain in 2000.

I am within 15 pounds of goal and I feel good so something must be working. The tale of the tape says 3 belt loops now open. I only wish that I had measured before starting as I had quite a beer belly going.

I will post my bloodwork when complete. I think it will tell alot.

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sadatx

Oxygen? In the air? Holy Crap! All this time I thought I was breathing the ether. Maybe I'm just not up on all the modern scientific advances. Excuse me for a second, it's time for my blood-letting to cleanse my viens.



Okay, I deserved that for not making myself clear. How carbohydrates deliver those elements to your body and how those elements bond together to form a carbohydrate is why they're important.

(And by your reasoning, we shouldn't need to breathe at all: we get plenty of oxygen from H2O, right?)


That's great! Let us know when you reach your goal. Sounds like you're almost there. (If you want to push your body even further after you've reached your goal try the Body for Life plan).