It is almost the end of day 2 of Phase I of the South Beach Diet and I can safely say that I am STARVING!

Yesterday went okay, I wasn't working so I had to time to cook and eat small snacks whenever I wanted or needed them, but today was different. It was back to school for students and teachers alike and that includes myself. That means my alarm clock was set to go off at 5 a.m. I woke up around 3:30 with terrible hunger pangs and a massive headache. I lay in bed trying my hardest to sleep because I have learned the hard way that every minute counts! I don't think I ever managed to fall back asleep. So, after getting out of bed around 5, I was elated to fix and eat breakfast. I had 2 1/2 mini quiche cups, which are a mixture of spinach, peppers, cheese, and liquid egg substitute, mixed and baked in muffin cups for about 20 minutes. I also had 2 pieces of turkey bacon (which is delicious). I noticed that my hands were shaking as I brought a piece of bacon up to my mouth. This was a little strange. After I ate all that and washed it down with a glass of skim milk, I was still hungry, funny feeling, and shaky. I ate a tablespoon of peanut butter and this seemed to fill me up pretty well.

I packed lots of things (or so I thought) in my lunch; including peanuts, leftover baked salmon, jell-o, string cheese, celery and laughing cow, and a small salad with somewhat homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing. I was, for the most part, really hungry all day. I had a meeting after school and didn't have a chance to grab a snack. The meeting leader had provided some candy (suckers, Hershey kisses, etc) for us to eat while we worked. It took ALL of my willpower to not break down and grab a Hershey kiss. I found myself being distracted from the tasks at hand because I was so focused on resisting the urge to grab the kiss and inhale it. Luckily, I had a small piece of laughing cow cheese in my car, and I savored it until the very last bite. Although I was pretty miserable from being so hungry, I was happy that I took my time to savor and enjoy the cheese. That is something that I have always struggled with in regards to food. I eat too fast and don't take the time to enjoy what I eat. This diet is helping me to do just that.

On the car ride home, I decided that it was absolutely necessary for me to stop by the store and stock up on more acceptable things for me to eat. I bought some fat free yogurt (I'm still not positive if that's okay to eat), sugar free hard candy, sugar free pudding pops, pistachios, and a large salad for dinner. I noticed that I had a hard time remembering what I wanted to get at the store. I had to constantly get my SBD book out of my purse and refer to it. This struck me as odd because I have always had a good short term memory. Possible side effects?

I couldn't even finish my salad and it wasn't necessarily because I was full. It was as though I had been so hungry all day that I had lost my appetite. Sounds crazy, I know. I waited a little bit and ate a sugar free pudding pop. Delicious. That has been maybe 20 minutes ago and I'm already hungry again and my headache is back. At this point, I really just want to be able to sleep through the night.

I can't blame all of these bad feelings entire on the South Beach Diet. In its defense, I am not eating nearly as much as the daily meal plans specify. The meal plans would have me doing some form of light cooking for every meal, every day. I just don't like to cook that much. Not to mention all of that food would be extremely expensive! So, like I said before, this is kind of my own abbreviated version of the SBD. I am pretty sure that if I ate as much as the meal plans advise, I wouldn't be this hungry.

Another thing that I'm almost positive is contributing to my struggles is the fact that I gorged myself on every thing I could keep my hands on for the past weeks in anticipation of the SBD. Soo much junk food. It was fun while it lasted, but I'm definitely paying for it now. Also, I ate until I was so full I felt sick. I can only imagine how much I stretched my stomach out. It only makes sense that I'm so hungry all the time. I would have to be eating the same amount that I was when I was pigging out to feel satisfied and full. If the SBD is something you are considering, I would strongly advise you to NOT overeat for the 2 weeks prior to starting the diet.

One more thing, I weight myself Sunday morning and I weighed the most I have ever weighed in my whole life! That is what is motivating me right now! Another weigh in on Wednesday, I think.

Happy Dieting!