I did the south beach diet last year and lost 35 pounds. I cut out all sugared sodas and would have 1-2 diet cokes per week. I cut out all white foods and anything processed...stuck with fruits and veggies, lean meats, etc. I would eat 5 small meals per day rather than 3 big ones.
the hardest part was cutting out any sugar (even most fruits) and all caffeine for the first two weeks...the way it was explained to me is that caffeine was causing a slow down in metabolism (I was horrible about drinking LOTS of coffee and pounding down 2-3 Monster energies per day). It was part of recalibrating my taste buds and cravings.
I cut all that out, switched to drinking mostly just water and little things like walking to the store half a mile away to pick up a few items rather than hopping in the care and driving there. I would walk to get my lunch. I didn't go on a big exercise binge, but changed the way I ate and adding in the walking, etc.
I think what happens is what was stated here...people will use the diet coke to justify ordering an extra burger, but that caffeine is also causing issues.
That said, I've recently gained a lot of the weight back (preggo sympathy weight) mainly due to moving away from the 5 small meals per day thing, bringing back the caffeine, bigger food portions, etc.
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