Does the South Beach Diet Work?

The south beach diet has been around for quite some time now. Using a three phase system where you eat differently depending on what stage you are at in the program. The question is really, after going through so much hard work and effort does south beach diet work? Let's look at it in detail to find out what really is going on.

Phase 1 - During phase 1 of the diet you are very restricted in eating, you are not allowed to consume foods such as bread, rice, potatoes, pasta or baked goods. Even traditionally healthy foods such as fruit are off limits, and obviously it should come as no surprise to you that candy, cake, cookies, ice cream and alcohol are off the menu as well. This is to last for about 2 weeks and is the hardest and most strict part of the diet, focusing mainly on consuming 62% from fat (healthy fats obtained through lean meat) 28% protein and 10% carbohydrates.

This means you will be consuming mainly fish, sea foods, soybeans and fish oil with mayonnaise and soft margarine as alternative sources. The aim of this phase is for you to shed as much weight as possible (most experts quote between 8-13 pounds in the 2 weeks). However, when I tried using this it was very hard to stick to the meal plans and subsequently only lost 5 pounds over the course of 2 weeks.

Phase 2 - Although phase 2 is not as stringent as phase 1 with the gradual introduction of more carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes, whole grain bread, whole grain rice, whole wheat pasta and some types of fruit, expect to see your weight decrease in smaller steps. The diet expects users to have already lost significant amounts of weight during phase 1, and stage 2 is more about gradual weight loss towards your ideal weight goal. I am skeptical about the effectiveness of this phase as well.

The problem is, after going through phase 1, phase 2 does little to quench the urge of the body to eat foods which we were forbidden from. You must have great self determination to continue in this phase (which could last a VERY long time if you have a lot of weight to lose) and it relies heavily on having good success in phase 1 (which I did not have) to motivate you to continue. I tried to follow this diet to my best abilities, and although I didn't lose any weight, I did however manage to maintain my new weight from phase 1.

Phase 3 - I never managed to reach phase 3, although I do have all the The materials relating to it. The diet of stage 3 is very similar to Stage 2, consuming 33% protein, 28% carbohydrate and 39% fat diet, the diet is now likely to maintain a lifestyle that one. Unfortunately for someone like me, live life to the fullest and experience different types of food as a diet sufficient to really like it for what I believed

In conclusion, even if I lose weight, I managed to keep for several weeks, there was no dietenjoyment for me and since I did not really see great results in the first phase I slowly slumped back into my old ways and my old weight.