Part 3: The Final Frontier…what exactly did Mommy eat on this DIET???

What did I eat for those two very strict months that I followed this diet?  I basically ate to live, not lived to eat!  In the South Beach Diet book there is an exact list of “Foods to Enjoy” and “Foods to Avoid” for each phase and this really helps.  I used to copy that list and put it in my purse to look through as I was grocery shopping.  Plus they have meal plans you can follow if you need the extra help each day.  On top of that, they have an awesome amount of amazing recipes to follow.  The book makes everything extremely simple for you, and it also gives you perspective from other people’s success stories.  There are many south beach books out there now, my Mom has the most updated version and the pocketbook version, I have the original version and the website is also very helpful too.  Not to mention the many other websites and recipes out there that are South Beach friendly.

I am not going to go through everyday of what I ate on my diet because this would be WAY too long.  But, I will give you my favorite things I ate, the food switches I made, tips, my go-to snacks, and meal plan examples for each phase, including the “maintenance phase” (Phase 3), which I currently try to follow.  Overall I learned that dieting is really not eating less, it’s just eating the right things, which eventually lets you eat SOME of the wrong things…in moderation, that is!

The Switches (to help cut the calories, carbs and fat):

-Sugar for sugar substitute

-Regular flour for whole flour or whole-wheat pastry flour

-Butter for Smart Balance

-eggs for egg whites

-regular mayo for some type of light mayo (I like the Olive Oil mayo by Hellman’s)

-honey mustard to Dijon mustard

-regular bread crumbs to whole wheat bread crumbs

-Regular chocolate and hard candy for sugar free chocolates and sugar free hard candy

-Peanut butter for natural peanut butter (I like Skippy Natural)

-Regular maple syrup for sugar free maple syrup

-Second helpings at meals to just adding more vegetables that help fill you up so you don’t need that second helping

-Bread/wraps to make a sandwich for pieces of lettuce

-Regular cooking spray for olive oil cooking spray

-Vegetable and/or Canola Oil to Olive Oil

-Ketchup in recipes to tomato paste in recipes

-Sugary cereals to Fiber One Original with berries

-Instant Maple brown sugar oatmeal to Old Fashioned Rolled Oats with fruit or sugar free jam or sugar free syrup

-Regular pancake mix for whole-wheat flour and oatmeal homemade pancake mix

-Bacon for turkey or Canadian bacon

-White bread to wheat bread

-Potato Chips to baked Sweet Potato chips

-Fries to Sweet Potato fries

-Granola bars to South Beach Diet Snack bars (the whipped Peanut butter ones are my favorite) or a handful of nuts (pecans, walnuts or almonds…just a small amount really can fill you up)

Favorite Snacks:

-Fruit, especially berries

-half of an Avocado

-String cheese

-A few slices of a reduced fat cheese

-A handful of nuts

-Sweet potato salt and vinegar chips

-Russell Stover sugar free coconut crème chocolates

-Celery stuffed with peanut butter or laughing cow cheese

-Humus with veggies for dipping

-Hard-boiled egg

-fruit smoothies (made with nonfat Greek or regular yogurt)

-kale chips (if you can’t find them at the store, you can always make your own)

-South Beach Mocha Frappe

-South Beach Chilled Chai Tea Latte

-Sugar free hot chocolate with fat free RediWhip

Here are some meal plan examples:

Phase 1:

Breakfast:

-6 oz. vegetable juice cocktail (I like V8 low sodium)

-Egg white omelet with half a slice of low salt 2% American cheese

-1-2 slices turkey bacon

-decaffeinated tea with few drops of skim milk and a teaspoon of sugar substitute

(coffee is allowed as well, either regular or decaf, I just don’t like coffee)

Midmorning snack:

-mozzarella string cheese (low moisture, part skim)

Lunch:

-1 Turkey rollup (rollups are a large piece of romaine or Boston Bibb lettuce with light mayo, I like the South Beach cilantro mayo, it is delicious, a slice of turkey topped with scallions and either roasted red peppers or fresh red peppers)

-2 Ham rollups (made the same way as the turkey roll-ups except with boiled ham cold cut)

-Sugar free Jell-O with a tablespoon of fat free whipped cream

Midafternoon snack:

-celery stuffed with 1 wedge of Laughing Cow Light cheese

Dinner:

-Tossed salad (mixed greens, cucumbers, green peppers, tomatoes) with Balsamic Vinegar dressing (their recipe is easy and yummy, but you can always just use oil and vinegar or buy a fat free low sugar oil and vinegar based dressing)

-Surprise South Beach Mashed “Potatoes” (not really potatoes, instead steamed cauliflower with half and half and smart balance and a few other ingredients blended together)

-spinach stuffed mushrooms

-Marinated London Broil (a south beach marinade with yummy spices)

Dessert:

Peanut Butter non-flour cookies (you can have 1 or 2, my favorite cookie on this diet and one of my husband’s favorite cookies now too, http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2007/10/recipe-for-flourless-sugar-free-peanut.html)

*What did I drink besides that tomato juice and tea in the morning???  WATER!!!  And lots of it, and sometimes I threw in some lemon too.  NO SODA, FRUIT JUICE, OR ALCOHOL ON THIS PHASE!!!*

Phase 2:

Breakfast:

-6 oz. vegetable juice cocktail

-1 poached egg

-1 slice Canadian bacon

-half a whole wheat English muffin

-regular or decaf tea with skim milk and sugar substitute

Midmorning snack: (if needed, once Phase 2 kicks in you will find yourself not always needing to snack as much)

-3-4 slices of an apple with a tablespoon of natural peanut butter

Lunch:

-South Beach Greek Salad

-1/4 cup of blueberries or raspberries

Midafternoon snack: (I found that I did still need the midafternoon snack, but some people say they don’t always need it)

-4 oz. nonfat sugar free Greek yogurt with a few tablespoons of chopped nuts and a dash of sugar substitute

Dinner:

Easy Chicken in Wine Sauce

Italian Style Spaghetti Squash

Steamed Broccoli

Dessert:

-Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Phase 3

Breakfast:

-Wheat flour & Oatmeal blueberry pancakes with Sugar free Syrup and more fresh blueberries on top

-6 oz.  vegetable juice cocktail

Midmorning snack: (if needed)

-fruit smoothie (fresh fruit, fat free milk, nonfat plain Greek yogurt, and tablespoon of splenda and/or a splash of orange juice)

Lunch:

-South Beach Gazpacho with a few slices of low fat cheese on the side

-veggies with hummus

Midafternoon snack:

-Sweet Potato Pop-up chips

Dinner:

-Lemon Pepper salmon with dill yogurt dipping sauce

-Spiced Quinoa

-Garden Salad

Dessert:

-1/2 cup of half churned ice cream

Here’s a list of some great websites I used:

-Southbeachdiet.com

-Kaylynskitchen.com

-Theleangreenbean.com

-Skinnytatste.com

-Noshandnourish.com

And there it is!!  Now do I follow this Phase 3 maintenance stage super strictly?  Well, I do follow it, but I make my own alterations to it.  I am pretty strict during the weekdays and splurge a little on the weekends. But what’s wonderful and I now know what I should and shouldn’t be eating, I have much better knowledge about the healthy foods versus the not so healthy foods.  So the things I shouldn’t be eating I eat in moderation, or if I have a day where I didn’t moderate as well, I will go back to mostly Phase 1 for the next day.

I also used to weigh myself daily, now I weigh myself once or twice a week to make sure that I am staying on track and I and happy to write that I have maintained my 30 pound weight loss.  Exercising is a big part of this too, on a good week I exercise 5-6 days and then on a week where I have a lot going on or am just too tired or busy to do it, I make sure that I exercise at least 4 times a week.  Exercising and eating better have just become a part of my life now, a part of my daily routine so much so that I feel badly when I eat too many unhealthy foods or don’t have the time to fit in exercise.  Now that I have lost the weight though, I have some wiggle room, so I try not to be too hard on myself because we all have to a live a little sometimes.

To sum it up, my first diet (and exercising 5 TO 6 DAYS PER WEEK) got me drop to 32 pounds and to live much a healthier lifestyle!  I now feel like a better person and Mom too both mentally and physically for giving my body, mind, and spirit an overhaul.

Your body changes as you get older and it especially does after you have a child.  It will never look exactly the same as it once did, but embrace yourself and try do not be too hard on yourself, because all that you have gone through has made you the person you are today.  You can do this diet too, once you are ready to, and if you do, like me you will get some of the confidence back you were missing before.  I have a nice little extra swing in my step, which helps me to keep up even better with the little apple of my eye.  Where do toddlers get their energy from anyway?  Most likely their youth, all that sleep they get, or even food perhaps??  Man, it is a viscous cycle!!

~J