Successfully dieting is a two-part deal. You want to take those extra pounds off, but you also want to keep them off once they are gone. And the truth is that the only way that you can keep those pounds off is to make permanent eating changes.

The weight loss rate promised by the South Beach Diet isn’t actually realistic. There could be an 8- to 13-pound weight loss registered on your bathroom scale after two weeks of following the South Beach Diet — but the weight loss will be more than half excess water loss rather than a real reduction in body fat.

That said, I find the South Beach Diet to be a very wholesome and healthy diet with a good variety of food choices. It’s a diet you can learn to live with — permanently. It affects a lifestyle change in that you learn to make better food choices.

The idea behind the South Beach Diet is a three-phase eating program that was designed by Dr. Arthur Agatston, a highly respected cardiologist. The first two phases of the diet last for specified periods of time and affect loss of body fat. The third phase is supposed to last for the rest of the dieter’s life. (That’s the part that helps you maintain your ideal body weight rather than regain weight you’ve lost.)

The South Beach Diet puts the emphasis on the consumption of “good carbohydrates” and “good fats” as opposed to “bad carbohydrates” and “bad fats.” I do like the fact that there is a lot of instruction offered to dieters about food and how your body deals with different foods. When you understand the process, it’s so much easier to make effective changes.