Jack's amazing diary of interest!

[Jackk]

Hi! I thought I'd better create a dairy-type thread in this section so as not to flood the main forum with a load of rubbish from me! I've introduced myself a bit in this thread http://www.minimins.com/dukan-diet/213563-finally-created-account.html to give you a bit of an idea about what I'm up to.

But a bit of background info about me to set the scene!

I'm Jack, I'm 22, currently in my last year of uni, and would ideally like to lose a couple of stone over the summer

Weight loss/gain history

I'm one of those "always been overweight" people. I overate as a child and that just carried on and carried on, not that I've ever been obese as such but I've most definitely always had an overweight BMI. I.e. noticeably overweight, one of the heaviest out of my school year groups etc. This has never caused me any real trouble though - luckily I've never suffered things like bullying, have always made good friendships and don't get too down about my weight. But I need to do this and I WANT to do it for myself!! Already I'm proving to myself that i CAN discipline myself if I try hard enough!!

The most I've ever weighed has been about 14.5 stone a few years ago, and looking back at pics from when I was 18/19, it really was too much. I think over a long period between 2nd and 3rd year of uni I managed to lose some of that gradually, bringing me to about 13 and a half.
But my BIGGEST loss was last year when I was on my year abroad in Paris!! I was working in a law firm involving a LOT of walking around during the day, and often I would walk home ACROSS PARIS, so absolutely knackering!! And even though I ate terribly (most of the time), it would have been a simple intake:exercise formula that led me to come back to the UK last summer just a little over 12st

Even though I was still overweight, coming back and having people comment on how I looked better was a MASSIVE boost!! Particularly seeing as people from all different parts of my life said it without any kind of "prompting" Now unfortunately due to lifestyle circumstances I gradually crept back up to about 13st again over several months from being back, but that changes here!!

My problem with "diets" is that I've always KNOWN the principles of many of them and what to do to lose weight, but I just think "ooh I'll pick this aspect of this one and this part of that one", but of course that rarely works. For example, Dukan would be useless if I started eating a load of fruit and veg right now, despite being "healthy".

But this is it - I'm ready for this! I LOVE chicken, I LOVE prawns, I love 0% greek yogurt, cottage cheese, CRAB STICKS!! (and yes, max 8 a day I know!). In fact I've just come back from sainsburys - I need to put my stuff in the fridge!! I think I was just too excited to post on here lol!

(p.s. I know this is a LOT to write and ramble about, but it's probably the most I've ever talked about myself and my weight ever and it's nice to finally have some sort of...outlet!!)

 

[Jackk]

I'm really pleased with how well I seem to be sticking to this at the moment, and never imagined I'd come even this far! (3 days on attack)

Here are some observations I've found so far how Dukan feels:

--- Hunger and cravings have just been...well, non-existent! I enjoy the stuff I do it but so far haven't felt that "omg gimme food!" feeling that I have for the past few..years!
--- Protein-foods are REALLY filling! Who knew a cupful of prawns could be so satisfying?
--- Oat bran is the best ingredient ever! Just a spoon and a bit and in can be mixed into those wonderful galettes! I'm looking forward to trying the muffins too
--- Also, a slight...unquenchable thirst??? I mean it's good that I'm drinking lots but it's almost as if drinking isn't fully satisfying! BUT I think that may be simply due to a lack of feel-good, mouth-appeal foods which we're used to, so our mouths feel a little odd!

Oh and of course......WEEING!!! Can't BELIEVE there's so much of it! I really sympathise with the ladies here, must be even more annoying. It's just the whole go upstairs, turn on the light, lock the door....wash hands, dry hands rigmarole that's getting a bit tedious! But can't complain, if that's what we've gotta do, it's what we've gotta do

 

[Emmma]

lovely to read your story Jack, i think you'll fit in very well round here!

i had the unquenchable thirst at first as well, though i think it dies down a little after a while.

 

[soshbfly]

Great start to your Diary Jack & welcome to the forum! You sound super-motivated and positive which is just what's required to get it all started correctly. That first boost can carry tremendous momentum through some of the tougher times.

I wish you loads of luck and look forward to reading about your progress!

 

[Jackk]

Thanks I'm feeling very motivated, much more than I thought I would be. The first hurdle is simply being disciplined for 1 day, I thought I'd cave in after 2 days but the fact that tomorrow will be my 4th day is actually reassuring me that I can be disciplined if I try hard enough! And to be honest, I don't think I've had to put in too much effort either - it's not like I feel that I'm forcing myself into something because Dukan is such a good system. And I think I've noticed that from what pretty much everyone on here has said.

--

On another note, lunch today was amazing! I used my oatbran 'allowance' to make a very thin and wide galette (using a crepe pan which someone here in my uni kitchen happens to have!), and I used it to make a wrap! It was so great because it felt just like having a normal chicken wrap but obviously 10000x healthier.

And speaking of oatbran, yesterday I just mixed it in with some 0% greek yoghurt for breakfast, and despite everyone talking about how unpalatable that is, I thought it was delicious! So will probably do that again tomorrow as I wont be around to make a galette. And maybe I'll try those muffins at the weekend, although my friends will probably think I'm crazy if i start chopping up crabsticks to put on top of them...!

 

[Maintainer]

haaaa! I'm responsible for the 1/3 crabstick addition to make my muffins look pretty, but they are optional

Great start to the diary, and I'd be interested to see what you're eating specifically on a daily basis.

As for Paris... well. What can I say? Came here for a year err 25 years ago! I found it interesting also to read that you found Dukan dieting here difficult because of the lack of nutritional information on the products. Just back from a weekend in the UK, I found it hard with the "%" fat info in large print on packages! (And my poor eye sight just doesn't do these teeny tiny labels - and I'm far too vain to put my glasses on in public!).

So great to have a man around. We know you'll lose faster than we will, and we won't hold it against you (much!)

 

[soshbfly]

...So great to have a man around. We know you'll lose faster than we will, and we won't hold it against you (much!)

Speak for yourself Jo!! I'm on a "its not fair that men lose so much quicker than women" rant just now!!

 

[Maintainer]

<ssssh... I put that to throw him off the scent!>

 

[m-mouse]

<ssssh... I put that to throw him off the scent!>

Hi Jack and welcome - how do we know you're a man? Have I missed that bit? It's good to have a man around if you are

 

[Maintainer]

you wanna see PROOF Mouse?




(see here:
"It's so nice to see lots of other people with the same goals - and hopefully I, as a male just turned 22, will fit in no probs!")

 

[Jackk]

Well HOPEFULLY I might have an easier time losing it! I'm about halfway/3 quarters through the book now, and it does seem that women do have it a lot tougher, particularly with the water retention side of things! But we'll see.....

Actually, I have been weighing myself, and I have a huge smile on my face, but I don't want to "announce" it until I've completed Attack (but I can safely say I WILL be changing those stats )

As for the Paris food, actually that was a bit unfair of me to say that considering that it's the same everywhere when you buy things in places other than supermarkets. I bought stacks of stuff from individual shops which obviously wouldn't have any of the info on them. But I didn't know about Dukan when I was there, which is surprising seeing as the people I worked with were into every diet possible!

As I said earlier, I did actually lose weight in Paris because of all the walking (and in that hot summer weather! thought I was going to die, seriously!), but healthy eating was very hit and miss. French food is a tad carb-heavy...! Plus at the end of a long day at work, polishing off an entire box of jaffa cakes isn't hard at all....! (But that's the old me!)

--

Had some 0% greek yoghurt with oatbran mixed in for breakfast - I can't believe how nice it tastes! And about 10 gallons of water -- suffering the consequences now!!

 

[m-mouse]

If you think the bran is good in the yoghurt, get yourself baking some muffins or some rhubarb crumble!!!

 

[Maintainer]

Absolutely re oatbran alternatives! And mouse here makes a delicious victoria sandwich with quark filling too

 

[m-mouse]

(oops already eaten it all for today!!)

 

[Jackk]

I haven't quite ventured into quark yet...cottage cheese/fromage frais/natural yoghurt, all that I can cope with but I seem to be scared of trying quark! But seeing as so many people on here have it, I'll probably get some later on when I go shopping, see what all the fuss is about!

Just had some cottage cheese now actually - yum! I used to have a lot of the pineapple one pre-dukan, but the normal stuff is still fine! And I might experiment with some more recipes using it at the weekend, maybe liven it up a bit!

 

[Maintainer]

you of course know to buy the virtually fat free cottage cheese from Asda (which I couldn't find so I made do with a higher fat one, which I have to use sparingly!)

 

[dukandebut]

I haven't quite ventured into quark yet...cottage cheese/fromage frais/natural yoghurt, all that I can cope with but I seem to be scared of trying quark! But seeing as so many people on here have it, I'll probably get some later on when I go shopping, see what all the fuss is about!

I'd never tried Quark before this diet, Jack, and it's been a bit of a revelation to me. Use it in the same way as you would cream cheese. Great for baking, making into sauces (stir into meat juices, for instance, once the pan is off the heat) , all kinds of things and it tastes quite nice on its own, too.

 

[Jackk]

Ok I needed to share this with you...

Made myself a nice cup of coffee this morning at breakfast-time, casually waited for it to cool down for a while and then took a sip and it tasted FOUL, almost fizzy, was very weird. I thought, well it can't be the water, can't be the coffee itself, so I went over to look at the milk, I opened it up and stuck my nose in...CRAB STICKS!!!! It was horrendous!!

Looking at where the milk goes in the fridge, when the door is shut it is right next to the crab sticks! I kept them in a box but the lid was very loose fitting, so anyway I've now placed them firmly inside an industrial strength lock+store tupperware box and placed it in the empty draw at the bottom of the fridge which never ever gets used. Hopefully I will not have a repeat experience of that!

 

[dukandebut]

No wonder I can't stand crab sticks - they're industrial strength pollutants!

Forget Tupperware, Jack, you need a lead-lined box, encased in concrete! ;-)

 

[Jackk]

Day 4 and I'm happy to say that I'm following it to the letter! Last day of Attack tomorrow, will be interesting to see how that goes!

One thing I didn't quite anticipate about Dukan is the way appetite goes right down - this evening I really had no desire to eat anything (although I did obviously!)

I'm still surprised at myself for not wandering off course, hopefully this will carry on!

I was reading a bit more of the book this afternoon and I found this one sentence incredibly, incredibly motivational:

"You must realise that succumbing to any other foods, as small as the lapse may be, will be like puncturing a balloon with a needle."