South Beach Diet Chronicles

So Chris and I have been trying to get pregnant for about a year now with no avail. We have done steps to find out what is going on and one of the major factors is that I have something called PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) which in laymen's terms means I have trouble ovulating due to blood sugar in my body throwing my hormones off balance. So how do you solve this? Well you have a few options, go on birth control pill to help with the hormones...um did I mention we are trying to get prego?, or you can take Clomid to stimulate ovulation, or 3rd and usually combined with the use of Clomid, loose weight! Simple Right...not exactly. One thing my doctor recommended was going on the South Beach Diet because it really does help with blood sugar stabilization. I have struggled with my weight much my life, and both Chris and I have the desire to live a more healthy active lifestyle so we thought we would do it. We started on Monday, November 2nd and I have already lost 8 pounds! You can visually see it yet, as I am sure much of it is water weight but something is happening! There is no doubt...this is super exciting for us so I thought I would post what we have been doing so far:


Ok here is my meal plan thus far:

Day 1

Breakfast: 8:30-9am
2 Hard Boiled Eggs - you may eat the yoke!
1 or 2 Cheese Sticks (usually 1 but depends on how hungry)
1 5.5fl oz V8 Juice (for veggie, this has a little sugar in it from the carrots, but is aloud on the SBD Ph1)
1 Snack Cup Sugar Free Jello (I like this because I can't have fruit on phase 1, you may also make your own sugar free jello at home to save a little $ and then poor in travel friendly sizes, you are supposed to limit "sweet treats" to 75 calories a day, usually a jello snack pack is only 10 calories)
If I am still hungry I can either have more eggs or have some sort of raw veggie like : Cucumber, snow peas, celery, broccoli, green peppers or a salad...but usually I an not that hungry. If you want to you can have black beans or some sort of legume to go with your eggs this is ok too.

Mid Morning Snack: 11:30-Noon
a salad or veggies and dip

for the Salad on Phase 1 you must look for Salad Dressing with out Sugar! this is hard so I usually like Newman's Own Oil and Vinegar dressing...there is no sugar in this so its a safe bet, you may also use his Balsamic Vinegar Dressing...it does have a little sugar but if you use sparingly he says its ok to use on the diet...not light...usually light dressings have more carbs so always go for the Regular.

For the Dip you can buy Ranch Dressing or Dip season packets and mix it with low fat Sour Cream....you need to watch how much dip

Lunch: 1-1:30pm
Homemade Chili: 2 Cans Crushed Tomatoes (no sugar), 1 bag of dried kidney beans prepared (canned kidney beans have sugar),Zucchini, jalapeno pepper, green pepper, 1 pound Extra lean Ground Beef or Ground Turkey, Spices: (make sure they don't have sugar in them) onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, 1 or 2 cups water to help the broth.

Afternoon Snack: 3:30-4:00pm
More veggies and dip or salad, cheese stick, or sugar free jello cup, chicken or turkey (no sugar) - (Chris and I grilled an entire bag of Chicken on Saturday so we could have plenty of chicken for the week for snacks etc... makes it easy)

Dinner: 5:30-6:00pm
Mustard Curry Chicken : Take as many frozen chicken breasts as you would like rise them season with curry powder, and coat with mustard of choice (no sugar). Throw in oven around 375 until done...sometimes I turn up the oven near the end to 400 to get it extra done...the way I like it.
Side Dish: Black Beans and cilantro - throw in mini crock pot or pan and simmer canned black beans with cilantro and garlic
Additional Side: Frozen Green Beans

Evening Snack: 7:30-8:00pm
Sugar Free (No Sugar Added) Fudgesicle

Beverages:
Drink at least 8 glasses of water per day, to flush out system it helps you loose water weight too! you will pee a lot at first but your body will stabilize. (That's 2 Nalgeen 32oz Water bottles full a day)
V8 100% Vegetable Juice - Not V8 Splash or Fusion
Crystal Light or Sugar Free Drink Mixes
Diet Soda (drink sparingly)
Coffee - No sugar added, Black
Tea - Sugar Free
No Alcohol as it is high in Sugar
No more than 1 caffeinated beverage a day!

Most importantly it says if you are hungry you need to eat!!! Not eating slows down your metabolism, so I eat pretty much every 2 hours even if I don't feel super hungry...and thus I have not had that crazed starving hypoglycemic feeling. I make sure I don't eat at least 2 hrs before bed but if I am really hungry after trying to drink water and other things...it probably means I didn't eat enough at snack time or dinner time and then I will have some low cal snack...but try not to eat at least 2 hrs before bed.

That is one day on the South Beach Diet - I can give you more ideas if you would like. 4 Things I recommend if you go on the diet

1. Buy this book as it will tell you all the food you can and cannot have: South Beach Diet Good Fats/ Good Carbs
2. No need to buy the SBD cookbook Check this website out for recipies! And SBD tips: Kalyn's Kitchen
3. Check these websites out for other SBD tips and support: South Beach Diet Plan & South Beach Diet 101 & just Google it lots of sites come up with ideas and tips.
4. Check out Spark People to track your SBD success for free!

Ask me if you have any more questions! I am not a dietitian or Doctor so you will want to talk with them first but I would be happy to share some tricks and tips I found useful!