South Beach Diet: Week One

Weight in January 2011: 196
Weight in March 2011 after two weeks of SBD: 182
Weight before E's delivery in December 2011: 221

Weigh in on January 7, 2012: 184
Current weight: 179
Pounds lost so far: 5

If you've read any of my tabs or archives or have been following for a while (bless you), you will know that I'm a big fan of the South Beach Diet. The reasons are very simple:

-When I had my awful appointment with my OB and she told me about my grim diagnosis for ever having kids naturally and sent me right to the RE, she told me that the South Beach Diet was the best diet for fertility.

-While I was trying the SBD for the first time and doing the strict no carb phase, I got pregnant.

-I have researched and agree with most (explained below) of the science behind the program.

I've never really done SBD for an extended period of time because as I said, I got pregnant and needed to have a more varied diet for my health and the baby's. It comes in three phases:

Phase One: This is kind of a "detox" phase to rid your body of any insulin resistance that might have built up due to over consumption of carbs and sugar. During this two week phase, you have essentially NO carb-y foods: no bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar, grains of any kind, potatoes or even carrots, which have a high glycemic index. Also no fruit or alcohol.

Phase Two: This compromises the majority of the weight loss period. You are able to add back in fruit and good "slow" carbs made from whole grains, but in reduced quantities. You can also have wine,

Phase Three: Maintenance phase, which is fairly self-explanatory.

The science behind is fairly simple. When you eat something with carbs, your body processes the sugar or carbs into blood sugar. Your pancreas then secretes insulin to "unlock" your cells so they can absorb the sugar. When you eat something with a lot of sugar or carbs, your blood sugar spikes rapidly and your pancreas goes into overtime secreting a bunch of insulin. This causes your blood sugar to drop rapidly, which alarms the body into sending out hunger signals and causing you to crave more high carb food. The SBD foods are more about creating a gentle rise and fall of blood sugar instead of sudden spikes and drops.

(Another book I'm reading, The Fertility Diet, also talks about healthy carbs and blood sugar in relation to fertility, but more on that later).

I know that the less I weigh, the better chance I have of getting pregnant, so I've decided to really try to lose some more weight before I meet with my OB on March 7, so a friend and I jumped back on the SBD program. It's really cheap - just buy the paperback at a book store and you're set!

Phase One, to be honest, totally sucks balls. The first day you feel kind of off and funny, and hungry. Meals are all about protein, vegetables and low fat dairy. You have to stop yourself a million times from just reaching for whatever is handy to snack on and make yourself grab a string cheese or some almonds or something.

Day two you feel like absolute CRAP. Not only are you starving and grumpy, but you might wind up with a bad headache or a kind of fuzzy, floaty feeling.

Day three you almost decide to say screw it and quit. You're watching your husband scarf down a piece of beautiful French bread and you seriously consider ripping it from his unsuspecting hands and scarfing it down. The headache is still there and though the floaty feeling is somewhat diminished, you are just plain sick and tired. You drink a glass of one percent milk before bed and wonder how you will make it through the next 11 days.

Day four...oh. You wake up feeling...hungry? You eat your turkey bacon and eggs and are halfway through the morning before you realize you don't feel like crap anymore! In fact, you feel clear-headed and kind of energized.

So, in summary, if you can make it through the first four days, you will feel a lot better! I'm on day seven, and I haven't had a headache or any kind of tummy upset (when I eat junk those are fairly common). I have lots of energy.

And yes, it is hard to go no carb in a world full of carbivores (made that one up). Tonight said husband was eating said bread with the delicious soup I made while I had a spinach salad. Yesterday we helped a friend move and they brought in McD's for breakfast (I had turkey bacon and eggs at home before), pizza for lunch (I had a salad) and a big container of homemade chocolate chip cookies sitting out all day.

But you know what? It's not that hard to resist. I am doing what I'm doing for a reason, and that reason is very important to me.

What have you done to improve your chances of conceiving? Have you doctors recommended anything for you to do or not do? I'm curious.

Thanks for stopping by today!