South Beach Diet Review

Overall 4.02 of 5 view all 63 reviews

parkerv
Sumter, SC

I never thought diets would work for me!

watching my weight, diabetic, a casual cook, on a budget, a healthy cook

Pros

I'm happy, My body feels better, Can still eat foods you love., Changed my view about food, Quick weight loss, diabetic friendly, consistent weight loss, Can adapt it to fit your lifestyle, I feel better about my body

Cons

First 2 wks rough!!!

JAN

2009

South Beach Diet —

I've always been thick, big-boned, full-figured, or whatever name you want to call it to soften the blow. I had decided that I was going to be big forever and was in the process of just accepting that there was nothing I could do about it. I wasn't going to "diet" because that meant that I would starve, and I'm not a nice person when I'm hungry. I was starting to exercise, but having asthma means that if I overdo it with the cardio, my chest would burn and I couldn't breathe. I was great at weightlifting, but that didn't do anything but start to bulk me up. I had given up. But then I learned that I was pregnant and started gaining weight with the pregnancy and stopped weighlifting. I started at about 220 lbs. Then creeped up to 240, then 260, 275, and finally when I had my last weigh in I weighed 301 lbs. I thought to myself this is ridiculous, I've gained 80 lbs in 9 months. I knew that this was a problem. I had almost failed my glucose testing during my pregnancy (I failed the one-hour test, but passed the three-hour test). On the day of my delivery I couldn't lay on my back. Every time I did, my blood pressure would shoot through the roof (190/110). So there I was 23 years old and weighing more than some body builders. Did I make the change then--nope. After giving birth to a beautiful daughter, I tried to exercise and do the walking thing, but I couldn't find anything that I could stick with--so I gave up. I let myself go. That was the worst thing I could have done. After the pregnancy I worked my way down to about 280 and stalled. Once I gave up my weight shot up 330 lbs. I was on blood pressure medication at 24 years old and things weren't looking good. But we all know it takes just that one moment to change your view of everything. My moment came at an amusement park in California called Knott's Berry Farm. I was taking my daughter, who was then 3, to the park with my family. It was her first time at an amusement park and she wanted to ride a ride. I stood in line for about 15 minutes waiting to get on the kiddie bus ride. I got in the seat next to my daughter and tried to buckle the belt. It wouldn't reach. I sucked in my stomach, I twisted in my seat, I tried to buckle it under my belly, but no matter what I did it wouldn't reach. Finally, the attendant came over and said quielty, "Ma'am you can't ride the ride without the seatbelt buckled". Utterly humiliated, I had to get off the ride with my daughter (she was too small to ride alone) in front of the fifteen people on the ride and the other 30 or 40 standing in line. I was completely moritified and heartbroken when I had to explain to a 3-year-old that "Mommy was too fat to ride the ride". That was it. I had had enough. A few months later, my mom came to me with this new diet she wanted to try called South Beach. I told her I wasn't going to starve myself and be hungry all the time. She reminded of the Knott's Berry Farm incident and asked that I at least give a try. If I didn't lose any weight the first two weeks then I could quit and she 'd leave me alone. I figured I could tough it out for two weeks. During that two weeks I lost almost 15 lbs! The best part is that I was never hungry. I could eat what I wanted and get full and was losing the weight. I went on to lose over 70lbs between October 2005 and May 2006! It was easy. The great thing is that it wasn't a lot of don't ever eat this again and you can't have that. If I had a bad day as far as what I ate, there was not a problem, I could just do better the next day and still lose the pounds and inches. I started fitting into clothes that I hadn't worn in years. I added color to my wardrobe again since, I'd worn black all the time to try and mask the fat. The one thing that no other program had ever done that South Beach was able to do for me, was to change my ideas about food. Even now, I don't look at food the same. I avoid white starches (white rice, white bread, white potatoes) when I can. I rarely eat a sandwhich with two slices of bread--I opt for open-face sandwiches that have one slice of bread on the bottom. On occassions, where I've tried to go back to eating like I used to eat, it feels unnatural and I don't enjoy the food. Over the past 2 years, I've gained a few pounds, during times when I was paying attention to what I was eating or I wasn't exercising enough and the cool thing is I can go right back to phase 1 and start the process again and watch the weight fall off. I really wish I had a before picture that I can show you, but I do have an after picture from the summer of 2007 when I took my daughter to Disney World and could RIDE ALL THE RIDES WITH HER!

South Beach Diet is recommended by parkerv

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Comments about parkerv’s Review

Congrats on your weight loss and being a positive role model for your daughter! My mom just finished her first two weeks on the SB diet and lost eight pounds. She's already small so that's a lot of weight for her to lose. I'm going to start the diet next week, after I go grocery shopping. I just got the book and wrote out my grocery list and have the recipes marked off that I am going to try. Stories like yours makes me feel good about this. Thank you!