Praying for a Dukan miracle

[miss14]

Soooo like many others I have tried many many diets; starvation, binging/purging, weight watchers, calorie counting, very low calorie and most recently Slimming World and 5:2 fasting. I liked Slimming World, however felt I needed something a bit more strict and structured. So started 5:2 (the only diet I have ever lost a substantial amount of weight on) but it took me straight back to my old, unhealthy binging/purging behaviours. Then just binging and not purging. So now I am left at my heaviest weight EVER and am not happy. Have not given Dukan a go before but it seems a lot different to any diet I have done before. I like the fact that it is very strict in the first phase and gives initial big weight loss: exactly what I need right now! And lots of people on here seem to have done amazingly on it! So bought the book and although I have not read it all yet, I am starting tomorrow! Would LOVE any advice about it, and as I will be posting my food plan on here, any thoughts on what I am eating would be much appreciated.

Calculating my stats on the online Dukan calculator tells me I should only do attack for 3 days, but going to try and manage 5 to get a good effect. It also tells me I should be at goal weight at the end of May.. amazing!!! And literally just in time for my holiday. Really hope I can stick to this!

Stats:
Current weight: 11st 7lbs
'True' weight: 9st 10lbs
Goal date: 29/05/14

Plan for Day 1:
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs x 2
Dinner: FF greek yogurt, oatbran + cinnamon
Tea: 2 chicken breasts, roasted (no skin)

Having a look around this forum and hopefully going to try some muffins people speak about soon.. just want to get the basics right first!
Wish me luck!!

 

[Maintainer]

Morning miss and welcome,

I'm very glad you've bought the book and will be having a read before you start. Staying five days on attack won't necessarily bring you a greater weight loss as longer attack periods are usually only beneficial to really heavy people, so you'd be better moving onto alternate PP and PV days as soon as you can.

Your breakfast and tea look fine to me, but your lunch is rather light to say the least...

It's amazing to see that you'll be at target in May but remember that the diet is only half over at target... you then move onto phase 3 (of 4).

Good luck
x

 

[miss14]

Thanks Maintainer! I'm going to change my plan a bit I think..
B- Yogurt + cinnamon
D - Galette with ham slices
T - Roast chicken breast

Hopefully will fill me up a bit more.. now just to attempt to make this notoriously difficult Galette! Also have updated my stats as have weighed myself as my official weigh in this morning and calculated my true weight again. EXCITED to get started!

 

[miss14]

First day went well! Breakfast was fat free greek yogurt with cinnamon, then made two galette's for lunch. Not sure why but I had it in my head that on attack you could have 3tbsp of oat bran but now realised its only 1.5.. doh! Ill just make up for it tomorrow by not having any, hope thats OK. But they were lovely! A lot nicer than I expected. I had them with slices of ham and chicken. Have also realised that my ham is probably a bit high in salt content so when I next need some I'll try and get some a bit lower. Tea was two chicken breasts with scrambled egg + chives; one yolk, one egg white. I realise that I ate 3 eggs today rather than two but again I'll try and make up for that during the week.. My cholesterol isn't bad though so shouldn't be too much of a problem!

Feeling slimmer already! Managed to get to the gym and go on a good jog today, I haven't been in ages so that was a good boost for me. But am going to be wary of not doing too much too soon. Looking forward to tomorrow!

 

[Maintainer]

Excellent. Ooops on the oatbran double up... yes you're right to avoid ham and cook from scratch where you can. It's a great feeling having control again of one's food intake. You might be hungrier today... so feel free to eat more protein. Do you like fish? prawns? Steak?

 

[miss14]

Yes I like prawns, steak etc so I'm going to Aldi after work and going to pick loads up. Especially tinned tuna, I find it really fills me up! Just had a peek at your progress.. wow!! How amazing! Well done

 

[Bonkers]

Hey miss14

Welcome to Dukan xx

 

[miss14]

Thanks Bonkers your weight loss is fab looking at your stats, was that all with Dukan?

Today went well! Good start to the day when I weighed myself and had lost 1 1/2 lbs! Great start! Food was:
Breakfast- FF yogurt + cinnamon
Dinner- 2 boiled eggs, pieces of ham and chicken. more ff yogurt
Snack- Tin of tuna, ham slices, ff fruit yogurt
Tea- 2 homemade burgers, ff vanilla yogurt

Didn't actually realise how much yogurt I ate today! Went shopping and bought loads of protein - eggs, turkey steaks, beef steaks, prawns, tuna, white fish.. great stuff! Back on the oat bran tomorrow and have made another galette for lunch with chicken slices and a chicken breast. Not feeling any more slim today but have been drinking lots and also weeing lots; must be all the toxins getting out of my system (hopefully!). Looking forward to continuing tomorrow

Also, I am going to a party on Saturday and was wondering if anyone had any advice: I should be starting Cruise that day, but don't think there will be anything Dukan-friendly to eat! Its not an option to eat something before/after as its very far away and have to travel. I have a few options:
1) Just try and pick out Dukan foods, then continue on Cruise the following day
2) Enjoy myself, eat what I want and start on Cruise the following day
3) Same options as above but do an extra couple of days of Attack to give me a kicks start again.
Opinions would be great!

 

[Maintainer]

I'm glad you've got yourself some proper food in to be able to cook some meals... you're doing very well...

2) really isn't advised. Most of us have seen that our first or perhaps second stab at this diet has always been the most successful and coming off so early could really mess things up for you.
3) would be a no no... overeating then attack isn't recommended.

1) is the best but are you sure we can't help find a way for you to eat beforehand. There are plenty of foods you could travel with, indeed I eat dinner twice a week in the car or on the train... Worst case scenario, if you prefer to not eat a thing on your journey, can you not go for "dinner" before turning up at the party? You can usually find a steak + undressed salad in most places.

PS - if you look closely at my stats, yes I lost lots of weight years ago (not on Dukan) but it's been a hard battle ever since, which is why I really urge you not to lose the momentum on this great start you've had.

x

 

[miss14]

Thanks Maintainer, obviously I'll try my best but just a bit worried that I won't be able to find anything to eat Dukan friendly, which will send me off the wagon completely!
Feel a bit strange today.. Feeling quite lethargic and weak, and also like I'm missing something from my diet. I know that I'm just starting to miss all the sugar and carbs but its leaving be a bit depleted. Weighed myself this morning though and have lost another 2lbs!! Couldn't believe it because I don't feel that much lighter, but that means I am 3 1/2 lighter than when I started on Tuesday! Weighing in at 11st 4lb So thats real motivation to keep going

Todays plan:
Breakfast - ff natural yogurt + cinnamon
Dinner - galette with chicken slices and extra chicken breast. fruit yogurt (is it true you can have max 2 of these per day? I had one yesterday and it didn't seem to sow my progress, but will keep an eye on it because I know they do have extra carbs from the fruit)
Tea - homemade meatloaf, cottage cheese. more ff yogurt

Hope everyone is having a great Dukan day

 

[ceridwen]

Hi miss14! You're doing really well so far, so I agree with maintainer that if possible try not to break your diet completely at the buffet. It might be worth taking a packed lunch with some sort of protein, you can then fill up on that before the party and avoid all the tempting foods - even if it's just a couple of boiled eggs? Is is a buffet, if so, hopefully they'll be a few options at the party you can go for.

I thought you weren't allowed fruit yogurts, but I think the rules may have changed slightly?

Hope you kept with it today!

 

[miss14]

Ceridwen - thanks! I think I'm going to try my hardest to keep to the plan, I'm sure there will be something I can eat! Going to try a PV day so maybe they will have carrot sticks and stuff, fingers crossed! I thought my book said we were allowed 2 fruit yogurts max per day? I am planning to cut them out completely and just have the vanilla ones but didn't want to waste them as they would have gone out of date.

Had another good day today! Although I felt a bit blergh I know its going well so don't want to sabotage my progress
Breakfast - FF Yogurt
Dinner - galette + chicken slices, one chicken breast. fruit yogurt (last one!)
Snack - boiled egg, 4 seafood sticks, bit more ff yogurt
Tea - homemade meatloaf with lots of spices + cottage cheese... lovely!

Planned to have another vanilla yogurt after my tea but I'm feeling full, so not going to have it for the sake of it. Which is a good step for me because I have a tendency to take the 'unlimited' food thing to extremes, especially when I'm bored. So just took myself off to bed and having lots of fluids. Went to the gym today and had a good run again; jogged for 20 mins non stop. Felt great because even though I struggled, I pushed on which I was so happy about. Going to keep doing 20 mins for the rest of the week, and start increasing it next week hopefully. Will be so happy when I'm able to do 30 mins without stopping!
Again, don't feel particularly slimmer but the scales will tell tomorrow!

 

[Maintainer]

The book is a little out of date alas and fruit yoghurts aren't ok on attack, which I believe you are still on... but it's probably time for your body to have some veggies and move onto cruise anyway. Too long a period on attack often isn't beneficial, but be aware that there could be a slight rise on the scales when you have veg and salad because of the water... once in cruise, fruit yoghurts count as a "tolerated" food, of which there are several; these are ok but are restricted to two a day, and can slow your loss so they're really to hang onto under a desperate moment to enjoy after a few weeks/months on the diet.

Hope you have something to eat before the party... how do you plan to deal with the drink issue? Say you're driving?

 

[miss14]

Maintainer - ahhh right, how silly. How do you find out the more up to date information? I am going to do one last day on attack (today) and then move onto cruise tomorrow. Very excited for some veggies haha! Drinking won't be an issue because I am sharing the driving, so thats good. I'm not an overly big drinker at the minute anyway because I work so much (60+ hour weeks).

Was a little disappointed by the scales this morning as it says I have put on 0.25lb! I know its not much though so not disheartened. There are a few reasons this might have happened: I didn't drink as much as I should of yesterday, I went to the gym (so muscles may still be heavy) and.. TMI.. I haven't been to the toilet for a few days. I don't go every day anyway so its not a major issue for me, but going to try and drink as much water as possible today so sort myself out!

 

[Bonkers]

Thanks Bonkers your weight loss is fab looking at your stats, was that all with Dukan?

Didn't actually realise how much yogurt I ate today!

Also, I am going to a party on Saturday and was wondering if anyone had any advice: I should be starting Cruise that day, but don't think there will be anything Dukan-friendly to eat! Its not an option to eat something before/after as its very far away and have to travel. I have a few options:
1) Just try and pick out Dukan foods, then continue on Cruise the following day
2) Enjoy myself, eat what I want and start on Cruise the following day
3) Same options as above but do an extra couple of days of Attack to give me a kicks start again.
Opinions would be great!

Thanks miss14 - yes all on Dukan. Love this plan!

Oh I eat loads of yogurt as well and so far hasnt affected my loss. Dukan says no more than a kg of dairy a say - and I know I go well over with a large coffee, yogurt and skimmed milk powder for my sweet treats .

If it stalls you, you may need to eliminate or reduce completely.

How did Sat go?

Feeling quite lethargic and weak, and also like I'm missing something from my diet. I know that I'm just starting to miss all the sugar and carbs but its leaving be a bit depleted. Weighed myself this morning though and have lost another 2lbs!! Couldn't believe it because I don't feel that much lighter, but that means I am 3 1/2 lighter than when I started on Tuesday! Weighing in at 11st 4lb So thats real motivation to keep going

Plow through it - its just carb flu! Once you done with attack you will be over it and feel more energetic!

Ceridwen - thanks! I think I'm going to try my hardest to keep to the plan, I'm sure there will be something I can eat! Going to try a PV day so maybe they will have carrot sticks and stuff, fingers crossed! I thought my book said we were allowed 2 fruit yogurts max per day? I am planning to cut them out completely and just have the vanilla ones but didn't want to waste them as they would have gone out of date.

Which is a good step for me because I have a tendency to take the 'unlimited' food thing to extremes, especially when I'm bored.

Didn't bother with fruit yogurts at all so no comment.

I also take "unlimited" to the extremes! I eat all the time! Dont be scared to (as long as its allowed ).

Maintainer - ahhh right, how silly. How do you find out the more up to date information? I am going to do one last day on attack (today) and then move onto cruise tomorrow. Very excited for some veggies haha! Drinking won't be an issue because I am sharing the driving, so thats good. I'm not an overly big drinker at the minute anyway because I work so much (60+ hour weeks).

Was a little disappointed by the scales this morning as it says I have put on 0.25lb! I know its not much though so not disheartened. There are a few reasons this might have happened: I didn't drink as much as I should of yesterday, I went to the gym (so muscles may still be heavy) and.. TMI.. I haven't been to the toilet for a few days. I don't go every day anyway so its not a major issue for me, but going to try and drink as much water as possible today so sort myself out!

hehehe... enjoy your veggies.

0.25lbs is nothing and all movements will sort themselves out when you start eating your veggies

 

[Maintainer]

More up to date info is usually available here... the books were written quite a few years ago, but now that he has online coaching, people often update us... and we've had people who are being coached paste info for us. I was coached but a long time ago. Otherwise "google is your friend"...

We usually advise to try these things and, if they work for you, great!

How did it go at the weekend? (We've all been there...)
x