Dukan-5:2 - the trial

[kellmo]

Hello everyone, I am 32 years old, mother of 2, wife, teaching assistant and part time trainee teacher at Edgehill university. I am currently about 10 stone (ideal weight would be about 9 stone 3/4...) HOWEVER, I have had a hell of a journey to get to here! I started back in June 2012 with Cambridge, I quickly swapped to Slim and Save to save money and have a little variety. I got to goal weight (9 stone 13) in November 2012 and I have been maintaining (after losing another 6lbs) with Dukan. To cut a long story short, I don't think Dukan is working for me. I am looking to eat healthier (more 'proper' foods and less protein heavy meals, less sweetener, less eggs, less non fat yogurt!) - I have to change my diet plan as I am just desperate to eat a normal, sensible, healthy way and I also NEED to because of my eldest daughter. She is only 8 and very underweight - the GP has told us we need to build her up - she needs to gain up to 18kgs (!!!!!) and so to be quite honest, this was the incentive I needed to stop Dukan and find a better way of eating/living. My daughter needs proper food (not that I have put her on Dukan or anything - she eats well!) but she will needs full fat foods which quite frankly I do not have the willpower to resist at times. I have been considering that surely all that protein is not too good for me and I have recently been really poorly (with a cough that lasted 6 weeks and ended in me breaking my ribs through coughing so much!) This blasted illness also made me realise that during my recovery I was eating nowhere near enough carbs to get better - my body was running on empty - no wonder it took me so long to recover - I have been EXHAUSTED! and now..... now I'm better I have self-sabotaged my eating plan and completely binged since Thursday dinner (it's now Sat night and I still haven't stopped!) - I need to change. I have decided to try the 5:2 approach - I think it would work well for me. I know I can do it - I have done VLCD, I can do this AND the bonus is I can eat properly on my up days. I am planning fruit,veg etc which is limited on Dukan (hence the reason I'm rapidly going off it). I obviously will have the occasional treat (as I do now with Dukan) but this way I think would just be.....more....me! SO, I would really appreciate some help, advice and support? I am big into planning my meals - tracking calories and cooking from scratch (when uni work permits) - I like lists of 'go to' foods which I can stock up on in times of need.... I have a bank of them now but not sure they'd be appropriate for IF. I suppose I want a healthier lifestyle, to lose 10lbs or so and maintain that - FOREVER. I appreciate any comments, help etc... Thanks, Kellmo x oooh - could somebody also explain what % of my cals I should be having just to lose 10lbs??? then maintain?? thank you x x

 

[kellmo]

Heloooooooo?!?! ????

 

[KMeek]

Hello,
I have only been doing a similar plan for just over a week now. I am on the JUDDD plan so I am doing alternate day fasts I have 500cal on a fast day and then a normal day next. I am so far finding it a lot easier than restricting calories every day as the end is always in sight. I'm sorry I can't help you wih the 5:2 diet but hopefully someone will come along who knows more. Wishing you luck x

 

[kellmo]

Hello,
I have only been doing a similar plan for just over a week now. I am on the JUDDD plan so I am doing alternate day fasts I have 500cal on a fast day and then a normal day next. I am so far finding it a lot easier than restricting calories every day as the end is always in sight. I'm sorry I can't help you wih the 5:2 diet but hopefully someone will come along who knows more. Wishing you luck x

Thanks very much... How are you finding it? Can you give me examples of what you eat?! Thanks in advance x

 

[Derbynanny]

good luck starting IF

I am also doing Juddd but I have also read Michael Mosleys book , he recommends 500 calories for women on fast days. The juddd website has a formula for working out the exact down day calories based on your activity light and weight (i think) but in the book i am pretty sure he says most women are fine with 500 calories

I always do 500 calories and track my DD calories on MFP but do not count on UP days this works for me but i know others find it necessary to keep an eye on their UP day cals

There is some great info and support at The 5:2 Fast Diet Forums | 2 Day Fast Diet international support group

A typical DD for me is only tea/black coffee/herbal teas until about 1 ish then a bowl of home made soup then in the evening a homemade meal with lots of veggies
today it is qoorn steak strips in a fajita seasoned stir fry

A lot of people use ready meals or shakes on DD but I like to eat home cooked food but it is figuring out what works

Good luck with your journey

Teresa

 

[superclaire999]

Good luck it's by far the most enjoyable diet as you only have to be on a diet 2/3 days a week and can be flexible, keep us posted on how u get on

 

[kellmo]

Thank you all so much for your replies x

 

[KMeek]

Thanks very much... How are you finding it? Can you give me examples of what you eat?! Thanks in advance x

I am finding it ok so far but I am still new to it all. I usually have a soup for my lunch after 1pm and then I have a low calorie packaged meal topped up with veg. I would like to eventually make my own dinners but as I am just starting it is easier to have the calories all counted out ready especially as I work 12hour shifts. On the normal days I just eat as healthy as I can but have had the odd treat.

 

[kellmo]

I know what you mean - having to plan your meals (dd) can take up so much time at the beginning of any new eating plan - it's time consuming and daunting also, thanks for your help. I've been googling recipes which are manageable with a hectic lifestyle, I've found a few so far which I can cook from scratch and some I can just 'go to' (like ww soups) - I like having go to food, stops me panicking!

 

[kellmo]

My 1st DD

Breakfast (managed to last until 11:15)
- plain oat so simple with skimmed milk. Tea.

Lunch - homemade tomato and red pepper soup. SF flavoured water.

Tea - was supposed to be a warbutons sandwich thin with turkey rashers but none left in the freezer so I had soup again! With the turkey rashers.

Snack - sugar free jelly

 

[kellmo]

Day no.2 - up day (decided to do UD, DD until I get to goal)

Weight - 9 stone 13.

Breakfast - homemade granola, fat free fromage frais, banana, tea.

Snack - popcorn and mini eggs at pics (shared with 3 kids !)

Lunch - chicken burrito with salad and guacamole

Snack - small banana

Tea - chicken curry with salad. (Half a tbsp rice)
Fresh pineapple.
2 mini Lindor eggs.

30 minute walk with dog.
Lots of water and SF juice.

Feel GREAT!

 

[GottaBslim]

Hi

I've was doing 5:2 for about 7 weeks as I only needed to lose half a stone. I'd lost 3.5 stone through diet and exercise but I couldn't shift the last half stone. Plus, I was getting so fed up of not being able to eat the foods I wanted, like a slice of cake! I was starting to develop an eating disorder so I knew I had to change. 5:2 suited me perfectly. On my eat days I ate! I made up for not eating and had all the foods I had totally cut from my diet. I remember the first week I had McDonald's, the last time I had eaten McDonalds was about 18 months previous. I also had a Chinese take out, again, food I had restricted.

On my down days I only ever ate an evenin meal, that works better for me. I would eat potatoes, chicken, veg and gravy. Plus that worked for us as a family too.

I've been maintaining for a couple of weeks now, doing 6:1 and its working fine for me. I'm still eating for England, had a take out Saturday and Sunday night, but this diet works for me! I have kept up with my exercise, even managing a run whilst fasting.

It works, I just wish it had been available or discussed when I first started to diet cos I reckon I would have reached my goal weight quicker.

Tips I picked up, I needed caffeine, I switched to drinking hazelnut milk, which is about half the cals of semi skimmed milk, tastes great in coffee. If I was ever hungry at dinner times I would julienne a courgette (to look like noodles) and stir fry with some onion, much rooms and pepper, that was low calorie and got me threw a couple of times.

Good luck.

 

[kellmo]

Hi

I've was doing 5:2 for about 7 weeks as I only needed to lose half a stone. I'd lost 3.5 stone through diet and exercise but I couldn't shift the last half stone. Plus, I was getting so fed up of not being able to eat the foods I wanted, like a slice of cake! I was starting to develop an eating disorder so I knew I had to change. 5:2 suited me perfectly. On my eat days I ate! I made up for not eating and had all the foods I had totally cut from my diet. I remember the first week I had McDonald's, the last time I had eaten McDonalds was about 18 months previous. I also had a Chinese take out, again, food I had restricted.

On my down days I only ever ate an evenin meal, that works better for me. I would eat potatoes, chicken, veg and gravy. Plus that worked for us as a family too.

I've been maintaining for a couple of weeks now, doing 6:1 and its working fine for me. I'm still eating for England, had a take out Saturday and Sunday night, but this diet works for me! I have kept up with my exercise, even managing a run whilst fasting.

It works, I just wish it had been available or discussed when I first started to diet cos I reckon I would have reached my goal weight quicker.

Tips I picked up, I needed caffeine, I switched to drinking hazelnut milk, which is about half the cals of semi skimmed milk, tastes great in coffee. If I was ever hungry at dinner times I would julienne a courgette (to look like noodles) and stir fry with some onion, much rooms and pepper, that was low calorie and got me threw a couple of times.

Good luck.

Wow! Thanks so much, this is just what I needed to hear, I too lost 4 and a half stone with a VLCD and then dukan but can no longer do it.

To be quite honest I too felt like I was on the verge of an eating disorder, I ate so much one day I went up to the toilet to be sick but I didn't - something stopped me but I now recognise that as a sign that this just wasn't working for me. Luckily I do only have half a stone to lose so alternating UD/DD should make this quicker (got my cousins wedding a week on Saturday and an unforgiving frock!)

The veg stir fry sounds yum and very easy- I love veg so ill have no problem doing that. I'm going to try and track my down days calories on MFP but this is harder when I try and make things from scratch - the new scales I've ordered will help with this. I'm looking forward to having a few easy, simple meals I can cook when I need to.

What diet/s did you do to lose the weight? It's a massive amount - well done!

Thanks again, this is starting to feel more and more achievable!

Kellmo x

 

[Lanarkwitch]

Hi there, glad you're settling into the plan, it's really quite easy, the only thing I would say is with you being so close to goal that you might find the weigh loss is quite slow so don't panic if the weight isn't falling off. Also expect to go a bit mad occasionally on an UP day, it's quite normal. I tend to have just milky drinks during the day on a DD and then a S & S pack for dinner, low cal hot choc for bedtime, DD's get easier as you go along xx

 

[kellmo]

Hi there, glad you're settling into the plan, it's really quite easy, the only thing I would say is with you being so close to goal that you might find the weigh loss is quite slow so don't panic if the weight isn't falling off. Also expect to go a bit mad occasionally on an UP day, it's quite normal. I tend to have just milky drinks during the day on a DD and then a S & S pack for dinner, low cal hot choc for bedtime, DD's get easier as you go along xx

Hi ,

Thanks. Yeah I understand that the weight loss may be slow but for me this is more about eating a balanced, healthy yet scrummy and realistic food, not so much dramatic weight loss. It's also about maintaining my weight now for life which ive realised is much, much harder to do than lose the damned stuff in the first place! Another DD today to try and get ready for this wedding in 9 days! My husband is starting it too tomorrow, he and I saw the horizon program last year and were shocked!

I admire you just having milky drinks and the a sns pack but that isn't for me! I have had enough VLCD food to last me a lifetime and I'm too busy enjoying 'normal' food to go back!

Oh, I can certainly see a few piggy up days in my future!

Kellmo x

 

[Derbynanny]

Maintaining is my issue too. If I can lose another half stone and maintain that with this lifestyle I will be ecstatic

 

[kellmo]

Maintaining is my issue too. If I can lose another half stone and maintain that with this lifestyle I will be ecstatic

Snap! How long have you been JUDDing/IF'ing/5:2 ing???

 

[GottaBslim]

I lost weight just by using MFP so calorie counting and exercise, I run about 3 miles every night, not much, but it's something better than nothing. Plus, I walk everywhere and quite often will walk the long way home after I've taken the boys to school, which is about 2 miles.

However, my weight stalled. No matter what I did that last half stone was just not for shifting - that was 4 months of trying - I wondered if my body had just got use to eating so little around 1400 cals a day that with everything I was doing it was just holding into what fat I had left. I had watched the Horizon documentary last year and considered doing 5:2 then. But it was this year, middle of January that I started 5:2. For the first couple of weeks I really did go to town on my eat days, so much food I had restricted I ate again. I was expecting to maintain my weight so I was shocked when I saw the scales going down. I only weighed in once a month. I put 100% faith in 5:2. I gave myself a target of 2 months. If I'd lost nothing I would just stick at 5:2 as it was a better way of eating for me. But!!! After the scales every month went down. So after 2 months I had lost that last half stone.

I am now maintaining. So only 6:1. It's only been a couple of weeks but Im the same weight I was when I stopped 5:2. Thing is, if my weight creeps up I now know to add another fast day.

 

[Derbynanny]

I have only been juddding again 2 weeks but had done it before Christmas and got to a happy weight but after Christmas holiday I was training for a marathon and couldn't work my running around fast days . But I then got injured and have had to stop running .

I have never done vlcd always done ww sw and a career dieter cos I can never maintain and enjoy life .

Juddd is perfect for me

 

[kellmo]

I have only been juddding again 2 weeks but had done it before Christmas and got to a happy weight but after Christmas holiday I was training for a marathon and couldn't work my running around fast days . But I then got injured and have had to stop running .

I have never done vlcd always done ww sw and a career dieter cos I can never maintain and enjoy life .

Juddd is perfect for me

Sounds amazing! Shame about your injury - hope you recover soon x