In October of 2007 my life was in a down hill spiral. I had no energy, no drive. I couldn’t play with my daughter or even do basic housework. My first thought was depression, but as a certified counselor I knew I didn’t have enough symptoms to be diagnosed. The desire to lead my normal life was there, just not the energy. With this decided it seemed pertinent that I find the cause. I looked at every aspect of my life to determine where things went wrong.

As I looked at the path my life had taken I realized that I had become stagnant. I stopped exercising long before I was unable to exercise and I gained weight. No I got fat! I gained almost 60 pounds over the course of 3 years. I had never been slim, but I had always been healthy. I thought to myself, “Surely this can’t be just because I don’t get as much exercise.” So I began to look at other things that could cause me to gain weight.

I looked over the side affects of my medications and found nothing that suggested weight gain. Then, reluctantly, I looked at my diet. I was so sure that I was feeding my family a healthy diet that I didn’t want to believe otherwise. Wow was I wrong! I found that I was consuming almost double the amount of calories as I truly needed. Even with this much consumption I was still not getting the nutrients I needed. I decided then and there that for the good of my family and me it was time for a change. I started investigating diets.

I must have looked at a dozen online diets. They all seemed the same. Cut back on food until your starving then so much time exercising that you don’t have time for anything else. There were some problems with this method. The first problem: I don’t have the willpower to stay hungry. The second: I have a family and a job to think about. I can’t spend 2 hours a day exercising and still achieve everything else I need to achieve. In addition to this I didn’t have the energy to walk around the block. There was realistically no way I would stick to a full blow exercise program. Then I found the South Beach Diet. It was wonderful!

The South Beach diet is a three phase program developed by a cardiologist named Dr. Arthur Agatston. It promised that it would keep me full and healthy, while little by little increasing my energy level. I decided to give it a try. The first couple of weeks were a little difficult for me because I couldn’t eat any type of starches. I love potatoes and pasta. When I read this all I could think is, “No way can I make it 2 weeks without a noodle.” It was much easier than I thought. There were lots of delicious foods available on the diet. After the first week I didn’t even think about it. I had no cravings! I fixed full meals that both family and I could eat. Even, dessert! The exercise necessary was just as easy.

I started by taking the stairs wherever I went. By my fourth day I was feeling better than I had in months. I started walking my daughter to school every morning. By my seventh day I felt amazing, but still wasn’t sure the South Beach Diet was all it claimed to be.

I had noticed a rise in my grocery bill that seemed to outweigh the decrease in my weight. After thinking it over I decided, “In it for a penny, in it for a pound.” A few days later I knew that I had made the right choice. After dinner one night I realized that I actually felt restless. Not because I felt guilty about what I didn’t get done that day, but because everything was done and I still had energy. I took my daughter for a walk for the first time in almost a year. Soon I found myself becoming more and more active.

I bought a workout DVD to use in the evening instead of watching television. I walked to the grocery store and to visit friends. I was burning more calories than I was taking in and thanks to the South Beach diet I was doing it in a healthy way. I had lessened my intake of calories, bad carbohydrates, and bad fats. I was making my heart healthier and the pounds were falling off! Better yet the extra money that it cost to buy fresh food I was saving in gas. I could shop at the local farmers market and keep the money I normally would spend on gas right here in my community.

The best decision I have ever made was to add the South Beach diet to my life. It taught me what foods are healthy and how to use them to improve my life. The South Beach diet also gave me the energy I needed to learn that a little exercise goes a long way. You do not have to spend hours a day exercising. You do not have to starve. You just have to make simple changes slowly. Buy healthy fresh food. Walk anywhere you’re able. Play active games with your kids. Go dancing instead of going out to a movie. Bake a low calories low carb recipe from scratch instead of using the box. I promise you’ll feel better than you ever have.

I am a year and a half user at the time of this writing. The second phase took about six months, but eventually I managed to lose almost 80 pounds. I weigh less at 31 years of age than I did in my late teens. The best part the South Beach diet provides me with support for as long as I choose to use it. The third phase provides rules for maintaining weight and if I do start putting weight back on I simply go back to the first phase.

Rakesh Sharma “Jack” is a freelance copywriter, SEO writer and eBook expert based in India with more than 10 years of experience. He has written dozens of eBooks, hundreds of research reports and thousands of articles on various topics. He provides web content writing, article writing, and article marketing and directory submission services to his clients worldwide. To know more about him and his services, please visit: http://www.aurumwriters.com.

A diet, in the area of weight loss, is the controlled ingestion of food and drink. The South Beach Diet offers a program primarily based on the balancing of foods and the person’s metabolism. The diet incorporates a premise that you should consume combinations of good carbohydrates and good fats. Dietary programs developed for weight loss vary in methodology and in food types allowable. Unlike other dietary programs which ban certain food groups entirely, the South Beach Diet promotes “good” versus “bad” items in the various categories. As an example, whole wheat bakery products are good, while products made with white processed flours are bad.

To attain a healthy lifestyle, the diet one selects to follow must accomplish several things. If the dietary plan is too restrictive, adherence to it may be short-lived. Most people prefer a diet where they have multiple choices and a wide selection of foods. When the dieter is a lover of pasta, a weight loss plan that prohibits ingestion of carbohydrates will lead to failure. Giving up the foods you love can lead to cravings that could result in binges. One of the most positive aspects of the South Beach Diet is that it includes every food group. It is much easier for a dieter on the South Beach Diet program to stay on track.

Additionally, when the foods or meals in the diet require excessive preparation, the dieter may quit. Diets where you need to soak, grind, pulverize, dehydrate or sprout and then mix or blend, can be overwhelming. The level of commitment required to maintain a diet this complicated is generally not common. Thankfully, adopting the South Beach Diet into your lifestyle won’t increase food preparation times. Because there is no additional effort involved in meal preparation, it will not be another daily laborious task. With everyone’s busy lives, the South Beach Diet offers easy to prepare meals.

There is nothing more aggravating than not being able to find something you need. Several popular diets require visits to specialty stores or ordering of hard to find products. If ingredients required in a diet plan are difficult to acquire, the person trying to lose weight will eventually abandon the program. Frustration typically does not help to achieve weight loss. Add to this the cost of some of these unusual ingredients, and most dieters will admit defeat. In contrast, the South Beach Diet can easily be followed purchasing items found in any local grocery market. The dieter has no problem obtaining items like chicken, fish, wild rice, whole wheat pasta and tomatoes.

Diets that require a mathematics’ major to keep track of calories consumed and calories burned may work for some people. However, if the person trying to lose weight does not like to tabulate balance sheets, this is not a good choice for them. Many of these diets require you to carry around a reference book and become adept at estimating the quantity of consumption. Some of these weight loss programs have you converting or tallying points for both foods eaten and forms of exercise. Again the dieter may need a cross-reference handy to ensure accuracy.

Even the most dedicated person following their weight loss plan closely will likely forget to log every item. Using a system that necessitates the dieter knowing what their “outstanding balance” of remaining calories is can become tedious. Additionally, many of these dietary plans do not promote healthy eating. As long as the maximum calories or points are not exceeded, the dieter may consume any food in any combinations. The South Beach Diet relies on knowing what foods are good for the body. Distinguishing the difference between four ounces or five ounces of chicken breast is inconsequential.

Meal replacement plans have been touted as successfully helping to shed pounds. If you are strict about adhering to this method, you will probably lose weight while on the dietary plan. Most diets of this type have the dieter mixing some sort of shake or beverage instead of a meal. There are protein-based versions and low-fat versions, and combinations of both. Some of these weight loss programs recommend replacing two meals a day with a shake. The problem with a diet of this type is two-fold for most dieters. The first issue with this weight loss plan being the additional cost of the meal replacement product. Once again, the person trying to lose weight must be willing to purchase the shake mix for an extended period of time. The second problem is that there is nothing for the dieter to chew.

Medical studies have proven that the act of chewing is important in satiating the body. Specific to weight loss programs, foods that are chewed can stave off hunger for longer periods of time than liquid consumption. Following the South Beach Diet does not require replacing foodstuffs with a liquid regimen. The dieter can enjoy complete meals.

The best part about the South Beach Diet is that it can be followed anywhere, in any setting. Above and beyond the physical dietary requirements of a weight loss program, are the social aspects the diet affects. When a person is on a very restrictive diet, going out to dinner or dining at a friend’s house can be awkward. Socializing often includes eating. When a weight loss plan and dieting impact your ability to relax in a social setting, you are doomed to failure.

The South Beach Diet is more about good food choices than anything else. It is about adopting a healthy eating regimen by learning what foods provide the optimum benefit for your body. A diet or weight loss program must be easy to incorporate into the dieter’s daily routine to be successful. Many who have realized success in reaching their ideal weight have used the South Beach Diet for the myriad of reasons outlined here.
Attaining the weight loss goal is the primary reason people start a new diet. With the South Beach Diet, you’ll do more than succeed in losing the weight and keeping it off, you’ll embark on a life full of healthy eating.

Rakesh Sharma “Jack” is a freelance copywriter, SEO writer and eBook expert based in India with more than 10 years of experience. He has written dozens of eBooks, hundreds of research reports and thousands of articles on various topics. He provides web content writing, article writing, and article marketing and directory submission services to his clients worldwide. To know more about him and his services, please visit: http://www.aurumwriters.com.