The Atkins and South Beach diets both ban alcohol completely during the first few weeks of the diet.


>I also drink a lot of water, year round. I don't keep track of it but it must be a gallon a day. It isn't keeping me thin, though. We have met so you know I am not fat but could stand to lose 20 pounds. OK, maybe 25 <g>.
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>>I eat anything I want, yet I maintain the same weight. It could be because I drink a gallon of water each day. I'm told that will keep you thin, or make you thinner.
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>>>>>I was talking to a dietician Monday morning and she was surprisingly realistic. Anyway, knowing that I like meat and carbs, she said that the idea is to quarter your dinner plate. One quarter for meat, one quarter for carbs, and the other half for veggies. I said to her, "So what you're really telling me is that I need to buy bigger plates?"
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>>>>I've alos heard that you should eat regularly. If you skip meals as a way of "losing weight" you body goes into starvation mode and starts hanging onto everything you eat and laying down fat.
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>>>I had pretty good success with the South Beach Diet a few years ago. That was one of the principles. Following the suggested eating schedules, it almost seemed like too much food. Three meals a day plus mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. The idea was to fill you up on vegetables (especially) and other healthy, but not necessarily bland, food like fish and chicken so you didn't have as many cravings for the old double cheeseburger and fries. Few if any carbs and little if any sugar, which were the two things that probably kept me from sticking with it. The list of verboten foods practically looked like my grocery list, including some things I had not thought of as unhealthy or fattening (orange juice, cereal, pasta).