Working on Dukan - My journal to a slimmer me.

[Pjamber]

Hello all!
I've read many diaries and I really feel they help individuals become successful with the Dukan Diet, so I decided to start my own.
So, far:
5th day - 6 lbs down. Tomorrow will be my first pv day and I'm excited to see what my final loss is for the attack phase.
I've seen all sorts of losses from everyone's diaries, so I think I'm in the "normal" range for losses, which is really nice.
I've also been thinking about food very differently because of this focus on protein. I've just eaten so very little of it until now. I never knew how important it was.

 

[Pjamber]

So, my husband and I have moved to a completely new location. New city, in a new state...it's even in a completely new part of the U.S. Long story short, we don't know anyone. Tonight, while making my second pv dinner, a couple from our church called and asked us to a picnic. Because I'm incredibly social, I want to meet people. So, we went. They provided everything, since it was so last minute, but there were hamburgers, cheeseburgers, all the toppings, baked beans, chips with dip, and even cherry pie. I didn't want to explain to everyone that I'm on a diet and can pretty much not eat any of what was there, so I ate a hamburger - and I tried to get the smallest bun with the longest grilled burger - and I only had mustard with one pickle. I only ate cucumbers for a side. I had to eat a piece of pie, though. It was homemade. She'd talked about it today at church. There was no way that I could have avoided it without 1. being rude, or 2. explaining about the diet. So, that's what I had. The whole time I was telling myself that I was going to go home and work it all off. I told myself that I was going back the protein diet for a week, just because of this slip up. But, I want to know what you all do. When a slip up occurs, what happens? More attack phase? Just get back to the pv/pp?

 

[Paulinegin]

Hey PJ

Regular Cruise - PV/PP - and forget yesterday

P x

 

[Pjamber]

Thanks! I will just keep going!

 

[sididd]

We are all human and slip from time to time , never dwell on it and carry on xxx life does get in the way of our dieting from time to time, good luck

 

[Pjamber]

Well, weighing in yesterday was a sad day. I had gained about 1.6 pounds, which put me back up to 158. Since yesterday was a pp day, I knew that I would be able to get back on track and I tried hard not slip up. That one picnic dinner really made me want all sorts of things more than ever! But, I stayed the course. This morning when I woke up, I found that I had lost not just the 1.6 lbs, but also .4 more! I'm now officially 156.0 lbs and, wow, do I not want to slip up again. It's pv day, but I'm not going crazy and I'm taking a relatively long bike ride today across town.
I just have to keep at it!

 

[Pjamber]

Today I'm up .6 lbs. I'm not sure what's up with that. I ate really well yesterday and went for a 7 mile bike ride with my husband. But, I know that working out usually takes about two weeks to show up on my body - so, there's that.
But, even though I'm .6 lbs up, I decided to try on a shirt that I haven't been able to wear in at least a year and...it fits! YAY! So, .6 up, cute shirt fits. I feel like this is a win day, regardless.

 

[sididd]

PJ, Measuring is a get measure a Dukan seems to eat your body fat, I found I lost lots of inches compared to my weight loss and wish I had measured at the beginning of my journey xxx

 

[Maintainer]

Pjamber - you're very tall and your stats look great. Are you sure you need to be on such a drastic diet as this? I respect that it's your personal choice but it can really mess up your metabolism so is it worth it when you're already 21 BMI?

 

[Pjamber]

Thanks for the advice, Sididd! I think that I'll start measuring myself. I have noticed that clothes are fitting so much better.
Maintainer - While I do have a very nice BMI, I'm using DD to relearn how to eat and choose food properly, which I think is what the Dukan Diet does as an end goal. Both of my parents are obese and both of my siblings were/are overweight/obese. I find that, because I grew up in a household where food was eaten when you were sad or happy or tired or bored, I constantly crave foods that are terrible for me - like cake, donuts, and others. I overeat and overeat the wrong things. Additionally, when I'm stressed or upset, I'll just mindlessly eat. In the last 6 months because I've been pretty depressed, I've gained more than 20 lbs - which I lost most of before I actually started DD. I actually don't think the Dukan Diet is drastic, at all. While reading the book, I realized that, while weightloss is the primary reason for him developing it, learning proper nutrition and relearning how to eat was the end goal. I'm also not on a 1pp/1pv schedule. I'm on the 2pp/5pv schedule (for some reason, he calls it the 2/7 rhythm).

 

[Maintainer]

Thank you for taking the time to respond Pjamber. x

 

[Pjamber]

I've maintained my weight for the past few days. This past saturday, I went for an 18 mile bike ride - I almost died it was so hard - and because of that, I ate a lot of things that aren't Dukan approved, which I think is fine. I'm usually not that active, but I've decided that when I do do a lot of physical activity, I should make sure that I have protein and other things to eat up for energy. The next day was a pv day. Yesterday was supposed to be a pp day - Mondays and Thursdays - but, my husband and I went to a baseball game and there were $1 hotdogs. A DOLLAR! So, today will be a pp day and then I'll continue on with the usual.
I'm really impressed by how I look at food now, actually. I've only been on this diet for a little over two weeks and I already notice how poorly I used to eat and how poorly people just generally eat. There's so much starch and carbs going on that it's ridiculous. I mean, muffins for breakfast? How does that even work out health-wise unless they're bran and with a side of some protein? What about a huge thing of waffles or pancakes? I wish everyone could read this book and realize these things.

 

[Pjamber]

I've maintained my weight for the past couple of days after I went up a couple of pounds from eating non-dukan foods at a picnic over the weekend. After every pp day, though, it seems to slip off.
I've been craving bread lately. I don't even really like bread, but apparently, I miss it. And pancakes. I made up a pancake recipe from a waffle recipe that I found online and I've been able to curb most of my sweet tooth cravings that way. I found a fat free, sugar free syrup that I mix with cocoa powder for a fun topping to the pancakes and it's pretty awesome. So far, I've made cinnamon pancakes, chocolate pancakes, regular pancakes, and today I made chocolate with some nutmeg pancakes - definitely my favorite. Last night I made some regular pancakes into a pancake cake and made a low fat chocolate cream cheese frosting. So, apparently my "time of the month" has me really wanting pancakes on Dukan.
What I've noticed today is that my body is SUPER dehydrated. I've lived dehydrated pretty much my entire life, and this is the first time that I've consistently drank enough water, but I think my body is adapting to this amount of water now and wants more. How much water do you all drink in a day?

 

[Maintainer]

I drink a lot of water. Probably 3-4 litres a day in the summer. Smiling at your pancake cravings! Have you tried the Dukan galette? Or the Dukan pancake?

Here's an old pancake thread here which might amuse you (and interest others who've forgotten the tolerated ingredient free pancake recipe!)

http://www.minimins.com/dukan-diet/260871-pancake-day.html

 

[Pjamber]

Awesome! Thanks! I'll be trying these out soon. Maybe in about an hour for lunch, actually!

 

[Pjamber]

I went through all of the essential vitamins and nutrients that a person needs every day and cross referenced them with foods that the vitamins and nutrients can be found in. Some people might think that the Dukan Diet doesn't offer a person all of the essentials, but, now I can say after a night of research, that it does. The next time I tell someone that I'm on the Dukan Diet, I'm going to do it more confidently, because I know it not only helps me understand how to eat properly and lose weight, but it's also very nutritionally sound. After I compile information on the side effects of too little of the nutrients, I'll make a write up of my research.
So far, I know that I'll be buying more spinach, though - it can help with 11 nutrients and vitamins. And, I completely understand why oat bran is essential on the diet, it helps one get about 9 vitamins!

 

[Maintainer]

Interesting stuff Pj. One of the main side effects most of us find when doing Dukan properly is constipation! Rhubarb helps somewhat, and the addition of wheatbran too, but alas the lack of fibre in this diet makes it difficult for some to feel comfortable. As an old timer on the original French version of the diet, when 1 tablespoon of wheatbran was allowed each day (tolerated ingredients didn't exist then, and all pork was banned!), I don't have that problem so much...

With the constant tweaks happening to the diet, and different ones in different versions of the books brought out in different countries, I think it would be good if some consistency were forthcoming from the Dukan diet folk.

 

[Pjamber]

Me too. I didn't even know about "tolerated" items until last week. The word was never slipped into my version of the Dukan Diet. There doesn't appear to be limits on dairy either in my book, but I've seen where some editions do limit dairy.

Through my research, I found that a person needs about 25 grams of fiber everyday for healthiness. On PP days that can be difficult. In my book there's no mention of being able to eat rhubarb on pp days, but we're supposed to eat 2 tbsp of oat bran a day - even in PP days - and oat bran has a lot of fiber in it. I have probably eaten more fiber consistently on this diet than my usual eating.
For any PV days there's lots of options: 1 cup of boiled broccoli has 5.1 grams in it. One cup of boiled brussels sprouts has 4.1. One cup of boiled spinach has 4.3 (who likes it this way, though?). One cup of boiled green beans has 4 grams. One chopped cup of cabbage has 2.2. One diced cup of rhubarb does have 2.2 grams. Medium zucchini has 2 grams. One medium raw carrot has 1.7 grams, one medium tomato has 1.5 grams. one medium cucumber has 1.4, one stalk of celery has .6 grams. BUT, the best vegetable to use is an artichoke with 10.3 in a medium cooked artichoke.
There's two types of fiber, though: soluble and insoluble. Soluble makes you feel full and slows things down in digestion, it's bulk forming. Insoluble fiber is what moves things through your body. Some vegetables give you both!
Types of soluble: artichokes, oat bran, carrots, cucumber, celery.
Types of insoluble: artichokes, zucchini, celery, broccoli, cabbage, onion, tomatoes, carrots, green beans, and dark leafy vegetables and root vegetable skins.
This isn't even a complete list and I'm sure there's many more vegetables that would be on the list.

 

[Maintainer]

I bet you'd be fascinated by My Fitness Pal (www.myfitnesspal.co.uk). Now not on Dukan, but making yet another attempt to lose weight nonetheless, I religiously plug in all my foods each meal each day. I'm surprised at how high carb my intake is given that I'm not eaten bread, pasta, rice, etc.

 

[Pjamber]

Myfitnesspal does seem pretty cool! I really like how it tallies up some of the vitamins and the printable reports are nice! I've used other online things before to track how I'm eating and how healthy I'm being and this one seems pretty neat in that aspect. I might have to put in a weeks worth of food to see how it all looks. It's sad that it only looks at how much fiber you've taken in for vitamins and minerals, though. There's so many more vitamins and minerals that are essential when being healthy. Thanks for this!