South Beach/Low Carb for the experts

[niccig]

I'm doing South Beach again. I'm part way through week 2 of Phase 1, though I did do a modified Phase 1 the week before (was on vacation, so not totally on Phase 1). I've lost about 8 lbs.

My question is can I continue with Phase 1 for another week. I've read that you can, but they don't recommend it long term as it's not a feasible eating plan. I'm not feeling deprived at all, maybe because I didn't eat carbs at every meal before this. DH is on an even more strict low carb and I've found some recipes that we can both have. Rhubarb satisfies my fruit need.

I feel good and I do think low carb is better for me with my thyroid issues.

I want to start back exercising though and I start grad classes today. Maybe I should move to Phase 2 at the end of the week and have the 1 carb a day to help fuel that and deal with slower weight loss in weeks ahead.

Thoughts from the experienced low carbers?
Thanks.

[nfowife]

I've been doing low carb (more atkins than SB) for about 6 months. But, the past 2 months I have been very lax and I am working on getting back to strict.
Anyhow, from my experience the first 2-3 weeks of low carb are the hardest. If you are doing fine, and feeling good, you will probably not notice any difference when you exercise, especially if you are starting a new exercise plan. I do bootcamp classes 4-5 times a week and have not seen a big noticeable difference related to my carb intake.
If you were a big runner beforehand and just made a drastic dietary change, then you might see some difference. But in your situation I think you will be fine.

lowcarbfriends.com has a great forum if you want to check it out!

[daisysmom]

I do low carb, but not truly low fat like South Beach espouses. I don't do what I would call a 'high fat' diet really either, but I use a greek based salad dressing for lunch every day which is not lite, and I eat fage 2% yougurt every morning. For dinner, I eat smallish servings of whatever we make, so it may be a high-fat steak, but I wouldn't say generally I am Adkins. And I eat a ton of veggies, so heck maybe I am not truly low carb.

But all that in mind, I would say to stick to phase I if you are still feeling good. I basically have one fruit every other day or so, sometimes every day and sometimes I may go a few days. I think fruit has antioxidant value, but I don't feel like I "need" it for fuel. When I was running 45-60 minutes at a time, however, I could not be this low carb. But I do Jillian Michaels' workouts now which is more weight lifting based, and I am fine being low carb on that.

I personally believe that I (or we, generally) don't need grains for carbs, or milk. But I eat them rarely, for enjoyment's sake. I do like the occasional fruit, but I find low-carb very doable all the time.

[echoesofspring]

I've done phase 1 for multiple weeks before, I think the biggest risk for me would probably be falling off the wagon in food boredom, kwim? A lot of times when I do SB I sort of stick to phase 1.5 for a while - mostly phase 1 with some fruit/minimal carbs added in.

My FIL would tell you he's been doing phase 1 for 5+ years now. That's not entirely true, but pretty close. He was prediabetic when he went on SB and managed to stave it off for several years (unfortunately he is diabetic now, but he also has other medical issues I think have contributed to that...), as well as get off of several other medications - he's definitely someone for whom the diet seemed to change their blood chemistry....

Congrats on the weight loss!