75 Days of Perseverance!

[chocolate_bananas]

Hi there!

My name is Keeley, i'm 25 and mum to 2 little girls age 5 and 2. I am a para-legal from the north west.

I have been a member of Minimins for a while and have lost weight sucessfully on Slimming World and by calorie counting. The reason i am having a go at Dukan is because i like the rigid rules...i simply can't eat sugar and carbs in moderation anymore, i have had so many little binges the last couple of months, my weight was 11st 7lb yesterday, up 13lbs from February! I want to get it all out of my system and stop the cravings, then introduce carbs very slowly and go from there. I'm not sure i should ever eat anything sugary again...i literally lose control! It is so addictive.

So, as i said earlier, i weighed in yesterday morning at 11st 7lbs, so 161lbs. To be fair, i knew that some of this would be water weight as i have gone crazy the last few days with food.

I want to get to 9st 12lbs, my true weight according to the official website, which means 22lbs to lose. It estimates that i should be at my goal by the end of June (75 days to be exact) and in consolidation until early October...lets see!

Apart from a weight wise goal, i also have another goal...i want my waist to shrink to 28 inches! It was 30 inches last week, i didn't even bother to measure it yesterday morning due to how bloated i was! I hope that the reduced carbs can really help me with this goal as anytime i have cut them down a little in the past my tummy has always gone a lot flatter.

So...yesterday...

Breakfast - None. I was so bloated from the night before i just could not face any.
Lunch - 200g chicken tikka, 1 fat free yoghurt with 3/4 tablespoon of oatbran.
Dinner - 2 grilled trout fillets, 1 ff yoghurt with 3/4 tablespoon of oatbran.
Supper - 2 egg omlette with 4 slices of chopped ham.

I drank 4 litres of water, but this is normal for me. I have been drinking a minimum of 3 litres a day since January 2011.

I exercised for an hour in the morning morning, i am a regular exerciser anyway so i don't think it will make much of a difference to my weightloss. I felt like i needed to to get rid of the bloat.

I read that you should walk for 20 minutes a day during attack...i will make sure i do 20 minutes of some form of exercise, i am not expecting to be able to do my usual hour now that i am eliminating most carbs, although i would hope to be able to build up to this again eventually.

Going to do a seperate post for today...

 

[chocolate_bananas]

Day 2:

I didn't mention in the last post how long i would be doing attack for, i am planning 5 days. I will weigh in each day, but then it will be in 5 day increments from then on. I can't wait 7 days so i'm compromising with 5! I was aiming for 6lbs off in the attack phase...i weighed in after day 1 and lost...drumroll...5lbs!!!

That was some serious water weight!

So i now have 18lbs to lose and i weigh 11st 2lb. I would love love love to get another 3lbs off in these 4 remaining days but any additional loss now will be amazing, i'm pretty happy with that loss already. I do feel a lot less bloated today too which is good.

I am a bit worried about the poop effects that this way of eating can have. I will have the oatbran as i should and going to have 4 teaspoons of Benefibre in my water throughout the day, it is half a gram of carbs per spoon but i think this is outweighed by the fact that i shouldn't get bunged up!

So today so far i have had a WW bacon omlette, and i have drank 1 litre of water. The bacon tasted a bit salty so i probably shouldn't have eaten it but it was very low fat and i cut any fat off that you could see (a tiny amount but better to be safe!). It was delicious though. I must say i am not missing carbs yet and have not been hungry but of course it is very early days yet!

The plan is to have quorn steaks for lunch and cajun chicken for tea. I will have 2 yoghurts with oatbran too and i have some ham and things for snacking if i want it. I'm going to do 20 minutes of a workout dvd this evening, i am not able to get out to do any walking, my 2 year old has woken up covered in chicken pox! So we are staying in all day. Thankfully my older daughter had them when she was a baby so it will just be the one to deal with. She is coping fine so far anyway, it will just be a hassle for me with work and things this week!

Anyway i am off to read some posts and get some ideas for recipes once i come off attack. I wish i had done some proper research before i went shopping then i would have known to buy some quark and sweetener and things, but hey ho i should be able to go by Thursday/Friday.

 

[ellie1969]

what did the dukan site say to do attack for as 5 days is quite a long period for someone with so little to lose ?

 

[chocolate_bananas]

Hmm my replies are not posting!!

It said to do it for 3 days, then 72 days on cruise. I wanted to do the extra couple of days to make up for a huge bingeathon last week, and then it leaves me with 14 x 5 day blocks to weigh after (70 days total). And yes i totally get how anal that sounds!!

 

[ellie1969]

if it said 3 days then id stick with that as you wont actually lose anymore by extending it.... the real weight is lost when you go into cruise

 

[chocolate_bananas]

if it said 3 days then id stick with that as you wont actually lose anymore by extending it.... the real weight is lost when you go into cruise

Thanks for your advice, i will see how i feel tomorrow!

 

[Winnie C]

You'll be at your goal in no time at all X

 

[chocolate_bananas]

It seems that i can't add up! I wrote that i initially had 22lbs to lose, when in fact it was 23!

So on to the rest of today...

For lunch i had 2 grilled quorn steaks and a ff yoghurt with oatbran.

For tea i had 2 chicken breasts dry fried in cajun spices followed by a ff yoghurt with oatbran.

I have also snacked on a pack of ham throughout the day and drank a further 3 litres of water, so that's 4 in total.

I did a 15 minute workout and tbh i did feel the lack of energy I wondered if i could do a half an hour one but there was no chance.

I read the FAQ's earlier, i wish i had bothered to look before posting, both of my questions about eggs and pv/pp routines were answered in there...:sigh:

I would love an omlette right now, i just fancy one but it's 2 eggs per day only on attack and i am aware that i am not following it too strictly as it is as i'm having muller lights and quorn (which there are confliciting opinions on), i am also eating packaged ham which i know can be salty (although it is very low in fat), so i at least need to stick to this rule.

I will weigh in the morning and after todays loss i will be suprised if the scale has budged. I aimed for 6lbs for attack but i would secretly love to lose 8lbs which would put me back to my initial weight of 10st 13 which i was before i went on my binge marathon. I guess it is possible as i put it on so quickly.

Anyway...i have had a bath and about to dry my hair then get to bed, my dad is going to look after my 2 year old tomorrow as she's not ill with the chicken pox at all so i can go into work.

I may be able to pop on during my lunch break tomorrow but more than likely i will update tomorrow evening.

Nitey night all xxx

 

[Maintainer]

Good to read you. As we always say, while you're losing having them (Mullers etc!), go ahead. It'll be easy enough to rectify your menus if/when you stall later on. Also, cutting down on salt, processed meat etc is where I'd advise you to rethink as soon as your losses slow.
x

 

[chocolate_bananas]

Day 3 - 72 days to go

Hello campers!

Registered a loss of another 2lbs on the scale this morning! So 7lbs total. I feel like i have cheated though, in no way was my real weight 11st 7lbs on Sunday, i think i was around the 11st 3lbs mark. My stomach was so visibly bloated on Sunday morning, so that first day i reckon i just got rid of all of that.

I have not had a single headache today, i am feeling pretty good actually. I did a workout dvd when i got in from work, i did 20 minutes but i could have stretched it to half an hour had i not had my chicken pocked child running around my feet that's what i'm going to aim for tomorrow.

Menu for today...

Breakfast - 2 ff yoghurts and 1.5 tablespoons of oatbran
Lunch - 1.5 large tikka chicken breasts cut into chunks
Tea - 4 quorn sausages, the rest if the ww bacon, 2 large eggs scrambled with a splash of skimmed milk.

I have also drank 4 litres of water.

I'm not buying the bacon again, it tasted so so salty, even saltier than yesterday! The pack is finished now anyway. I looked at the carb content of the sausages because i know they arn't strictly allowed, especially on attack. Comes to 20g for all 4, this seemed high to me. Coupled with the salty bacon i'm a little apprehensive about weigh in tomorrow. I'm not munching on any ham tonight, i'll season and grill a chicken breast if i get peckish...i have had enough salt for the day i think!

I am wondering when the cravings are going to kick in, i havn't wanted chocolate or missed bread yet which is so unlike me. Am i coming out of the carb haze now and experiencing true hunger without the highs and lows of eating crap? Feels good tbh, i feel quite in control which is saying something considering the week before i started Dukan...i was completely out of control.

So the plan for the remaining days of attack is to up the exercise by 10 minutes and stay off the salty stuff. I will allow myself a few slices of ham but definitely no salty bacon. I'd like another 1lb off in the next 2 days of attack, taking me to my original 10st 13lbs from before i went off the rails.

I am so excited to go on to cruise, just going to push through the next 2 days and then i should be well on my way. Hopefully with only 15lbs to lose. I need to plan my meals for the week ready for when i go shopping on Thursday morning, i'v decided to do the 1/1 alternating days to begin with, i do like the idea of 4pp then 3pv for fri-sun but i don't want to experiment too much yet whilst i'm still a baby Dukaneer.

Off to read posts and diaries.

Ta ta xxx

 

[Winnie C]

Hi Keeley,
I am also wondering when the cravings are going to kick in, I feel a bit weird as I haven't felt at all hungry or experienced any horrible side affects.
All good though X
Speak soon

 

[chocolate_bananas]

Day 4 (attack) - 71 days to go

Good evening,

I have decided to list the current day and remaining days in the title bar. Those 71 days will be gone before i know it. I really hope i can knuckle down and reach my goal when predicted.

Hopped on the scales this morning to find i have lost another 1lb, so i am now 10st 13 and have 15lbs to lose. If i stay at this weight until i reach cruise on Friday then i hope to lose 1lb in every 5 day segment which should take me to my goal nicely (it sounds so easy written down ). If i manage to lose another 1lb then i will be ahead of the game and only have a stone to go until i reach my 'true' weight.

Food today:

Breakfast - 2 ff yoghurts and 1.5 tbs oatbran
Lunch - Mexican chicken (chilli and lime marinade)
Dinner - Cajun chicken
Supper - Ham omlette

I have drank the usual 4 litres of water and stretched my workout to 30 minutes so it's all good.

I can see that today was a bit chickeny, i ate big portions too, i'm hoping to avoid chicken altogether tomorrow!

I have been cruising () around the recipes section to make a meal plan for when i go shopping tomorrow, 7 meals, 1 attack, 3 pp and 3 pv. Some of the ones i have chosen are quich, chilli, meatballs...i am also looking forward to trying a couple of desserts and some muffins so i have got sillicon cases on my list.

I was wondering what i should cook for my girls, then i realised, they can still eat the same as me...i can just add a little pasta and rice and things for them, in fact i think they would really enjoy some of the recipes i have picked out...who said dukan was a hassle?!!?

I will be introducing wheat bran from tomorrow (if i manage to pick some up, if not then definitely on the first day of cruise), i have not been for a poop for 2 days now. I don't feel bunged up or anything like that, it is just so strange to me not to go daily.

Anyway i am off to cook up my omlette and watch Prison Break on Netflix (why didn't anyone make me watch this years ago...it's addictive!)

xxx

 

[ellie1969]

looking good so far... yes your girls can eat whatever your having.... i never cook seperate meals ... I just give potatoes rice pasta etc to whoever needs fattening up lol. pots of chilli & bologneses are great family favourates packed full of veg so i can just have the meat portion while they have pasta or rice. same with casseroles and stews and bulk cooking so there is a portion in the fridge for my next pv days lunch .... today i have turkey chilli

your 75 days will be up before you know it

 

[chocolate_bananas]

Day 5 (attack) - 70 days to go

Greetings...

Breakfast - Nothing! Bit of a rushed morning
Lunch - 2 quorn peppered grill steaks, pack of chicken slices, ff yoghurt and oat bran
Tea - 6 mini tuna quiche's, 2 cajun chicken breasts, ff yoghurt and oat bran
Supper - Ham omlette

Shamefully i had no time for breki this morning, i went straight for the food shop after the school run but i was strangely not hungry nor tempted by the goodies! I think i have made up for it with what i have eaten for the rest of the day anyhow.

I bought myself a new set of bathroom scales from Asda, mine are just an old dial set, these are electronic ones and show 1/4lb losses, that's all i need and it was only a tenner, they are Salter aswell! They had one for £20 that shows like 200g losses and measures water weight and everything but i would get obsessive with them i know i would.

I hopped on when i got home and had lost another 1lb! So i am 10st 12 now and have 1st to lose, it's the last days of attack today so i will have my final weight for starting cruise tomorrow. I am so pleased with what the dukan way of life has done for me so far, i know a LOT of that was water weight but i feel great and sort of feel a bit 'sucked' in...i didn't realise just how much carbs bloated me. I am going to measure my waist tomorrow and every second weigh in i think, so every 10 days. I would love a couple of inches off it when this 14lbs has gone.

And btw my food bill was absolutely shocking! £111!! Yes £20 of this was scales, multi vits, some silicon bakeware etc but still! After all of this is gone i will have to start going to the market, i have never really needed to go but my shopping bill seems to have doubled so i don't think i have a choice! Just shows how cheap carby stuff is like a big bag of pasta, i never really bought that much meat and fish before.

Anyway, i have been thinking about this ketosis malarky. I have done a search in the dukan section of this forum and read what others have had to say in the past, and i know it is not mentioned in the book but it is in a lot of dukan related things i found in google. Apparantly the attack phase is supposed to make you go into a light ketosis phase, if you eat less than 50g carbs then this should induce you into ketosis and i have been eating less than this. I was just curious whether i was in it or not because aside from a few headaches the first 2 days i feel really really good. One website said to look into the toilet when you have had a pee and if there are little white bits then this means you are in ketosis...so i did Took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust but when they did i seen the little bits so i think i am in ketosis...which should mean that my body is burning off pure fat for fuel, and hopefully not muscle!

I will be out of it tomorrow obviously when i get munching on veggies, but i guess aside from water loss, that's what explains the big losses during the attack phase.

I'm off to have a bath now anyway, i know i talk far far tooooo much!

Going to have an omlette whilst watching prison break *drooooool* (at the omlette...not the men! )

 

[chocolate_bananas]

Day 6 (PV) - 69 days to go!

This is an entry in place of last nights, i will do one for today this evening.

I was too busy on Ebay and Amazon getting all the bits and bobs for by little girls birthday party in 2 weeks, she has never had a 'big' birthday party before...she won't be having one again for a while it's cost me just over £200 so far and i have to get the food on top of that, aswell as birthday cake and she will be getting a new party dress. She knows that she won't be getting much in the way of presents from me, just something small to open on her birthday, she gets lots from others anyway.

Lets get back to it...

Yesterday was my first day of cruise and a pv day I got on the scales to do an official weigh in after attack and i hadn't lost anymore weight, this was my body telling me that it was time to move on!

Breakfast - 5 mini tuna and red onion quiches
Lunch - Hot and spicy chicken on mixed leaves, lots of red onion, salsa with jalepenos. I did not have room for my yoghurt...seriously! Shocking that i can get full without carbs I ate it when i got in from work instead.
Tea - Smoked haddock with broccoli and carrots
Supper - 4 toffee cupcakes and ff yoghurt

I drank 4 litres of water and did a 40 minute workout. Now i am on cruise i am going to alternate the days i exercise, so i just do it on pv days, see how i get on with that for the next 10 days. I did feel puffed really early on in my workout, i couldn't push it like i can with carbs, but i did some research and have read that apparently when you usually exercise the first 20 minutes is burning off the glucose before your body needs to burn fat, but with a low carb diet your body is using those fat reserves almost straight away! Great hey! I guess i don't actually NEED to do a full hour anymore.

I made toffee cupcakes yesterday, 4 a day will be my oat bran allowance used up. They were so easy and really taste delicious (i could really taste the toffee flavour) but they are quite small and didn't rise much. I am going to try another muffin recipe when these have ran out, i would like to get them a bit bigger like some i have seen on a muffin recipe in the recipe section. The Truvia was nice, i didn't get any artificial taste or after taste at all, worth the investment i say.

I also tried smoked haddock for the first time, a nice big piece. I found that it was ok but quite salty, i don't think i will be buying it again, i much prefer trout and salmon.

I will be back with todays menu later xxx

 

[chocolate_bananas]

Day 7 (PP) - 68 days to go!

Hello

Well today has been a break from the norm in terms of weight and cravings! After my catch up entry this morning i weighed myself and found that i was half a pound heavier (i'll only record my weight every 5 days though)! I have been so hungry all day too, not craving carbs as such, just food in general so i have eaten quite a lot. The little gain didn't upset me, i was prepared for it after reading some other diaries, especially as it was a pv day before, it was just the fact that i was so hungry, i had to keep munching to try to keep it at bay. I did have a little victory though, i took my girls to a birthday party and resisted absolutely everything naughty Instead i had 2 little bags of mattesons hot and spicy bites...now i know that these are not 100% dukan friendly but they are better than getting so hungry and scoffing cake. They were my back up in my bag after my big lunch, i needed to eat them in the first half hour too!

I have been thinkin that i hope this is not how it is going to be from now on, i have loved not having cravings and feeling more in control. I looked at my calendar earlier and it seems that my TOTM is due tomorrow! So that SHOULD explain the little gain and extreme hunger. I usually know when it is due because i get so bloated but i'm really not that bad this month at all...now that has to be down to having a reduction in carbs. (I do hope i have not got my dates mixed up though! No...it has been 4 weeks i'm 90% sure )

Food for the day:

Breakfast - 3 scrambled eggs, 3 turkey rashers, 3 quorn sausages
Snack - 4 toffee cupcakes
Lunch - 3 (pretty chunky for trout!) grilled trout fillets, ff yoghurt
Snack - Another ff yoghurt
Extra snack - 2 bags of Mattesons bites
Tea - 2 large chicken breasts stuffed with extra light philly, garlic, chives and chopped ham, then wrapped in more ham and oven baked, then another ff yoghurt!
Supper - The rest of the pack of ham, 2 sf jellies, 2 thick slices of chicken

I have drank 3.5 litres of water and as planned, done no exercise. I do find it difficult to drink 4 litres when i'm not exercising so i am pleased with the 3.5 that i managed.

Tea was gorgeous btw!! I will definitely be making that again, next time i might dip them in egg and cover in oat bran rather than the ham to make proper chicken kievs.

I am already planning a big breakfast omlette tomorrow packed full of mushrooms, i'm still hungry Going to go to bed soon, i have not been getting enough sleep and i expect that will be contributing to this also.

I hope tomorrow is a bit smoother xxx

 

[chocolate_bananas]

Day 8 (PV) - 67 days to go!

I'm writing tonights entry a bit earlier, the girls are at my mums having a bath (we live next door to each other) so i may as well do it now.

Today has been a lot better than yesterday hunger wise, i havn't felt that hungry at all really but then i have given myself quite big meals to try and nip it in the bud so to speak.

Breakfast - An absolute beast of an omlette! 3 eggs, skimmed milk, loads of ham, loads of red onion and mushrooms. It was so big i left about a quarter of it. Really delicious though and kept me full for a good while.
Lunch - I made the chilli from the top sticky in the recipes thread...it was devine. I had a big bowl of that followed by a ff yoghurt and my last 4 toffee cupcakes.
Tea - Another bowl of the chilli followed by a ff yoghurt.
I used a spoon of the yoghurt to make some choccy cheesecake topping also from the same recipe thread which i will have later...i had a quick taste and it was lovely.

As you can see i have eaten a fair bit but at least i have not been hungry, and i have not eaten to the point where i am stuffed at all. I have also been using the maximum 2 tolerated items the last couple of days. Just like with the mullers i am going to keep this up at the beginning, it helps keep me on track whilst i am learning the ropes and i will have things to cut down on should i stall.

My period still hasn't shown btw, and i am not bloated. I can sometimes be out by a few days and i have woken with a pimple this morning, something i havn't had in a long time so i *think* i have got my dates right.

I weighed in at 10st 11lbs this morning, so that's 1.5lbs down from yesterday. I fully expect it go pop back up again tomorrow after the amount of veggies in my omlette and chilli. I should not be weighing everyday anway!! I said i wasn't going to! I'm not recording my weight until the official day though.

I found my workout a lot easier today than i did on Friday. I don't know if it was the omlette i had eaten a couple of hours before or the fact that my body has got slightly more used to eating this way now. I was still a very sweaty betty but i didn't feel like my legs were going to fall off at the end. I'm hoping i can build by endurance up again because i do like to push myself.

I'm off to catch up on some posts and things xxx

 

[sididd]

Greetings...

Breakfast - Nothing! Bit of a rushed morning
Lunch - 2 quorn peppered grill steaks, pack of chicken slices, ff yoghurt and oat bran
Tea - 6 mini tuna quiche's, 2 cajun chicken breasts, ff yoghurt and oat bran
Supper - Ham omlette

Shamefully i had no time for breki this morning, i went straight for the food shop after the school run but i was strangely not hungry nor tempted by the goodies! I think i have made up for it with what i have eaten for the rest of the day anyhow.

I bought myself a new set of bathroom scales from Asda, mine are just an old dial set, these are electronic ones and show 1/4lb losses, that's all i need and it was only a tenner, they are Salter aswell! They had one for £20 that shows like 200g losses and measures water weight and everything but i would get obsessive with them i know i would.

I hopped on when i got home and had lost another 1lb! So i am 10st 12 now and have 1st to lose, it's the last days of attack today so i will have my final weight for starting cruise tomorrow. I am so pleased with what the dukan way of life has done for me so far, i know a LOT of that was water weight but i feel great and sort of feel a bit 'sucked' in...i didn't realise just how much carbs bloated me. I am going to measure my waist tomorrow and every second weigh in i think, so every 10 days. I would love a couple of inches off it when this 14lbs has gone.

And btw my food bill was absolutely shocking! £111!! Yes £20 of this was scales, multi vits, some silicon bakeware etc but still! After all of this is gone i will have to start going to the market, i have never really needed to go but my shopping bill seems to have doubled so i don't think i have a choice! Just shows how cheap carby stuff is like a big bag of pasta, i never really bought that much meat and fish before.

Anyway, i have been thinking about this ketosis malarky. I have done a search in the dukan section of this forum and read what others have had to say in the past, and i know it is not mentioned in the book but it is in a lot of dukan related things i found in google. Apparantly the attack phase is supposed to make you go into a light ketosis phase, if you eat less than 50g carbs then this should induce you into ketosis and i have been eating less than this. I was just curious whether i was in it or not because aside from a few headaches the first 2 days i feel really really good. One website said to look into the toilet when you have had a pee and if there are little white bits then this means you are in ketosis...so i did Took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust but when they did i seen the little bits so i think i am in ketosis...which should mean that my body is burning off pure fat for fuel, and hopefully not muscle!

I will be out of it tomorrow obviously when i get munching on veggies, but i guess aside from water loss, that's what explains the big losses during the attack phase.

I'm off to have a bath now anyway, i know i talk far far tooooo much!

Going to have an omlette whilst watching prison break *drooooool* (at the omlette...not the men! )

Well I didn't know that about our wee, I had noticed it was very cloudy with white speckles, thanks for that info x

 

[chocolate_bananas]

An extra update to add what i have just eaten!

I had a pack of chicken 5 spice pieces from Asda, a 200g pack, which i was going to take into work tomorrow to have for lunch with a yoghurt.

Anyway, i had a tub of quark open which needed eating today so i decided to chop all the chicken up and made 9 quiches out of it. They are much deeper than the tuna ones i made the other day and i got the cooking time right, i have just munched 3 and they were deeeelicious! I have got 6 now for lunch tomorrow, that with a yoghurt should fill me up nicely.

Just wanted to add that incase i forget tomorrow!

 

[Winnie C]

Can I come & live with you choccie b - your menus sound GREAT ! x I am going to copy