Dukan Diet Day 9: Penultimate day of attack...

So today am down in total by 4.6kg!! That's cracked the 10lb mark (quarter of the way there - woohoo!)
However - I felt hungry for the first time today - maybe I didn't eat enough yesterday, or had something which has upset my blood sugars??? Made me a bit down and moody throughout the day, which made it a bit harder today. Mood+Food very closely linked for me, but I'm happy to say I did not blow my eating plan!

Also had some pretty painful physio - thought I was in for some nice massage, but no! Some pokey fingers in the sore bits and back cracked like an ice-cube tray!

Menu today...

Brekkie
Tea, coffee and greek 0% yoghurt

Some fromage frais

Lunch
half river cobbler fishcake from yesterday

Was still hungry after lunch, so had 2 scrambled eggs with chives and a wee bit of smoked salmon

Smoked salmon & caper tartare - lovely (though less capers next time!)


Dinner:
glass 0% lemonade (which has really bloated me out)
turkey in a yoghurt, turmeric, and madras marinade and yoghurt and mint dip - however this was left to dry out in the oven by the boyfriend - tsk!!

Tea, water

Felt a little better by the end of the day, but was a real shift in my mood during. (That, plus the sun stubbornly stayed hidden away!)

Dukan Diet Day 8 - results and menu - a day late....!

So yesterday was about 0.4kg down!

Felt really good, not hungry, concentrating - despite working from home!

Menu:
Dbl espresso and greek 0% yog for brekkie

Activia 0% plain yoghurt as a snack

half an oatbran and smoked river cobbler/chive fishcake - yum: very satisfying!



5 tiger prawns with lime and chilli

oatbran breaded chicken goujons with herbs and spices


(The boyfriend had roast squash chips with his!)


Yummy!

Activia vanilla yoghurt 0%

Tea & Water

Dieting observations over the years....

1) Drink crap loads of water. And I mean tons.
This makes you look better, your eyes clearer, your skin glow, flushes out salt and toxins, prevents water retention, makes you feel fuller, prevents false hunger pangs and helps fight constipation, allegedly!
Also, if, like me, you think that all this bottle water propaganda is baloney, then the tap-stuff is mighty cheap!
http://www.weightlossforall.com/benefits-water-drinking.htm




2) Everyone has a different physiology.
For instance, my rat-bag, jammy little brothers do not put on weight at all. And they exist on pizza, pork-pies, beer and crisps. True: they will have heart attacks, but all the same, they have not changed weight since starting upper school, and have not been an ounce overweight in their lives, so they will look fab until they keel over with shooting pains in their arms. Unfair genetics, I say!
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/slow-metabolism/AN00618



3) BMI versus weight versus muscle
I am approximately *mutters* lbs 'overweight, according to the BMI, however, did you know that overweight used to be 28 and above rather than the 25 and above it is now. That was when the statistics for obesity shot up overnight...
According to our friend the BMI, for my height: 5ft 7'', I could be a 'healthy' weight at anything between approx 9st to 11st 3lb (though this varies wildly depending on whose chart you use).
People with large frames or muscle mass frequently come up as overweight on the BMI.
http://www.brighthub.com/health/diet-nutrition/articles/16635.aspx

4) The difference between 'mouth-hunger' and 'tummy-hunger'
Do you just want something to put in your mouth, or are you actually hungry??
Try (one time at least!) eating a normal plate of food whilst blindfolded, or with your eyes shut (not messy food, I hasten to add!). I bet you'd leave a lot more of it if you couldn't see it there... A lot of us these days are very reluctant to 'waste' food, even if we don't want it. If you're really not hungry, don't eat it - save it for another day or give it to the dog. If you really can't trust yourself, squirt fairy liquid over it!
http://www.megahowto.com/how-to-distinguish-between-physical-and-psychological-hunger



5) Try and focus on what you're eating
Like me, have you ever started eating something delicious and the next minute it's all gone with scant memories of actually eating it? Are you zoning out when you're eating?? Be present with your food and enjoy it.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zoning-out-while-eating-only-to-sadly-realize-all-your-foods-gone/

6) Eat 'The French' way...
The first few mouthfuls of anything delicious are always the best.
http://frenchwomendontgetfat.com/

7) Certain foods ARE addictive! (I KNEW IT!)
If you get hungry, are you also cranky, forgetful and completely irrational?? This can lead to cravings for foods that trigger the release of neurotransmitters such as serotonin or dopamine to feel better - and where do you think we find these?? Comfort food...

Serotonin is responsible for the calming and relaxation states with a general sense of well being. High levels of serotonin can cause a person to feel sluggish and drowsy. Low levels of serotonin will cause intense food cravings. Serotonin is released in the brain as a result of eating carbohydrates such as fruits, breads, grains and vegetables to a lesser extent. Lower GI foods are a better bet to help stabilise this.

On the other hand:
Dopamine and norepinephrine are responsible for alertness, increased energy with quicker, more accurate reaction times. Protein consumption causes these two neurotransmitters to be released in the brain. Good protein sources include meat, chicken, fish, nuts, soy products, eggs and dairy products. (hey, maybe that's why I'm in such a good mood!)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7533668/Junk-food-as-addictive-as-heroin-and-smoking.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/5673512/Why-junk-food-really-is-addictive.html
http://www.more2hug.com/moodfood.html

I loves ya in whatever package you come...

MWAH!!

Lou x

Dukan Diet Day 7: Results after 7 days attack...

Hey all!

So...*drum roll*.....the figures are in...

9.2lbs lost!!! (4.2kg) - this leave 13.8kg to go (almost a quarter down!)
12 inches lost in measurements (mostly from waist, but I measured my waist, bust, abdomen and hips)
MUCH more energy
Moods a lot more stable, and positive
Better concentration (by-product of less artificial additives etc??)
Skin looks good, eyes are clear
Sleeping well
Have not exercised AT ALL - cannot as have whiplash and pulled a calf muscle, too! (*yikes!*)
and best of all.....NO HUNGER THROUGHOUT!!

Downside:
VERY expensive!!

So I'm very positive, but also still tentative: I want it not just to keep going, but to be able to maintain the loss once I am at my target.

It's been pretty easy so far as I have been at home, and in charge of cooking and food prep, but if I am going to be doing this for 15 weeks at least (according to my dukan chart), then it may get tricky maintaining PP/PV when eating away from home (it's hardly convenient to have to take an emergency chicken breast or yoghurt in your handbag!!)
Am thinking sashimi/biltong/jerky could be my saviour when out and about.... yum-yum-yum...

That aside: almost a quarter or the weigh there (you see what I did there??), and should hopefully feel it in my clothes soon... next mini target: 5kg, and then 8kg, (which means only 10 to go!) and then 9kg, which will mean I have lost half the weight!

Observations

Not sure how much the newly re-discovered sun has to do with it, but I find I am very positive and motivated (the diet results help, too!).
My skin looks good from all the water, and especially the backs of my thighs feel smoother, and my jeans are baggier (yippee!)

Cannot WAIT to get back to exercising - am hoping to not have lost much strength/flexibility after being off for 4 weeks - will all the protein help??

Am not in ketosis at all - wonder if the carbs in the yoghurt or all the water is preventing this??

Will look into making my own jerky, and also yoghurt next week.

Dukan Diet Day 7: Attack more!

Right - forgot to weigh myself first thing so I didn't bother in the end, as I was working for the first time in 2 weeks.

Was not hungry at all this morning, so managed perfectly well on a dbl espresson at 8am and then a greek 0% yog at 9.30 until about 12.45 when I had some poached vietnamese river cobbler for lunch (a fish...!) - not quite so nice as smoked haddock, IMHO, more like cod, and was quite 'wet' so may bake it tomorrow.

Had a little fromage frais in the afternoon, and then started on dinner at about 5.45, once I'd finished work.
Thought I'd make 'mediterranean-style turkey' in a yoghurt marinade, with lemon, garlic, onion, coriander, cumin, sweet paprika, saffron and coriander seeds. I did the boyfriend some chopped roasted veggies (peppers, courgette, cherry tomatoes with garlic, onion, rosemary, olive oil, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and mixed spice.



Unfortunately, I had overcooked the turkey and overspiced it to buggery - yuck!

Had a few mouthfuls and then fobbed it off on the boyfriend.

So for dinner, I ended up making something else:
1 egg, 3tbsp quark, skim milk, 3tbsp oatbran, chives, black pepper - whisked this up with an idea to make a stodgy omelette - however, half of it stuck to the pan, and the other half wouldn't cook, so I ended up chopping some smoked salmon into it, mushing it all up into a fishcake shape and making a most delicious fishcake, with a little extra lite philly - very, very satisfying :-) Would be very good with other smoked fish (perhaps some of the cobbler tomorrow...?)



Am now off to get my frozen yoghurt for pud... only 3 more days on attack (though I have no probs with it, and possibly could do more...)

OMG!

OHMYGOD - I don't think I can wear heels with the new calf injury!!!! NOOOOOOO!

Day 6 Menu...

Today has flown past, probably because I will be working, albeit from home, tomorrow... pffff! Better than Homes Under The Hammer at any rate.

Today - went shopping and it cost me an arm and a leg....! Then I pulled the muscle in my calf - booooooo.

Brekkie:
poached smoked haddock

double espresso & cup of tea

Snack:
activia fat-free natural yoghurt

Lunch:
Tried to make a sweet oatbran pancake with splenda and vanilla extract, but burnt it and it tasted bloody awful!
So... I had a scrambled egg with chives and some smoked salmon


Dinner:
Organic corn-fed chicken breast, marinaded in yoghurt, turmeric, and Kashmir curry paste, cooked with mustard seed, onion, garlic, garam masala, cumin seeds and some more yoghurt and a little water

semi-frozen vanilla fat-free activia yoghurt (yummers!)

Lots of tea, and loads of water

Dukan Diet Day 6: Attackkkkkk!!

YAY! Another 0.2kg down! 3.8kg in all :-) Will attack for another 2 days as I have such a lot of weight to lose and see how I feel after this.

In other news, am allowed to work from home for rest of week and actually allowed back to work next week - yay!

Dukan Diet Day 5 - Still Attacking...

Day 5 menu:

Poached smoked haddock
0% fat greek yoghurt, dbl espresso (OMG - no more blockage!!!)

Had my first oatbran pancake with smoked salmon and extra low-fat philly with chopped chives for lunch.
Not just a case of enduring, but enjoying - I was very pleasantly surprised!



0.1% fat activia yoghurt as snack

Shrimp, cooked in a little thai red curry paste and yoghurt (yum!)



Had a mix of tbsp 0% quark, tbsp 0% normandy fromage frais and 0.1% yoghurt mixed with 1/2tsp splenda and teeny drop of vanilla extract and orange extract :-)

Tea and water a-go-go!!

Dukan Diet Day 5: Attack continues....

Hey there! So, this morning, no loss or gain, but then...I checked the tape measure...

I am thrilled to find that I have lost 11 inches in all!!!
Waist - loss of 3.5"
Tummy/abdomen - loss of 2"
Hips - loss of 3"
Bust - loss of 2.5 (booooo!!)

So glad I took the measurements now - was sick at the results when I did, though!!

Dukan Diet Basics...

Hi all,

Since I have been asked several times about this, I thought I'd best give the low-down of the Dukan Diet...and why I am on it!!

When I went to uni at 19yrs old after having had no weight probs at all, I reckoned I could just eat anything I wanted. And did!! I existed on bread, cereal, pringles and mini chicken kievs - got myself into some great habits there and have had probs ever since!!
(Check out www.thedukandiet.org and www.thedukandiet.co.uk, and even the Daily Mail pages, between them they have the outline for the diet. Also, the Dukan Diet facebook fan page is super helpful.)

The basics are: there are 4 stages, 2 for losing weight, and 2 for maintaining the loss, getting your body settled with the change, and then staying slim.

Stage 1: Attack!! The basics are 2-10 days (depending on how much you need to lose) where you just eat protein (chicken, turkey, beef, seafood, fish, eggs), and fat-free dairy (yoghurt, fromage frais, quark, cottage cheese etc) and drink tons of water and the occasional sugar/carb/fat free fizzy drinks as a treat. This stage shocks the body and should cut out cravings and hunger - it is the most restrictive, but you can lose between 2 and 10lbs in the period.

Stage 2: Cruise - the is the stage where you lose at a slower, but steadier pace (on average 2lbs a week) until you reach your target. And you do this by alterating pure protein days (PP) with protein/low-fat dairy plus non-starchy vegetables(PV) - think you can do 1 PP/1 PV or 3 PP/3 PV up to 5 PP/5 PV as suited.

Stage 3: Stabilisation
Once you reach your target weight, as decided on the Dukan site, you go into stabilisation mode. The idea behind this is that you don't then go berserk and go straight back to eating badly since your body and metabolism are not yet used to your new weight. This consists of still eating PV but you must have 2 'celebration' meals per week where nothing is off limits - the only thing is there has to be at least a days gap between, and you cannot have seconds of anything. You can also introduce:
- one serving of fruit per day. All the fruits are authorized but bananas, grapes, cherries and nuts.
- 2 slices of whole wheat bread per day.
- one serving of cheese per day (around 40g).
- 2 serving of starch food per week (pasta, couscous - 7 oz / lentils, rice, potatoes - 5 oz). Avoid butter and oil as much as you can to cook those.
- once or twice per week, you can have the following new meats: lamb, pork, ham.
In order to counter balance those unrestricted meals, you need to keep one, just one day of PP per week. Try to pick up the same day every week, like the monday. It's up to you to decide for the day but you need to stick with that day as much as possible.
This stage continues for different periods of time dependant on how many pounds you have lost: 4 days for every 1/2 pound, so if you lose 20lbs, you will be in this phase for 120 days.

Stage 4: Consolidation
Easy - eat as you would like (hopefully, well!), the only rule you follow is that one day per week you eat pure protein. That's it!

Hope it makes sense?
I understand it's not for everyone, but I am good when I have rules to follow - I am terrible when I have leeway: if I eat sugar or starch I then want more after an hour or I end up in a terrible mood!! Sad, I know, but I got myself into this crappy relationship with food, by ''treating'' myself whenever I was sad or grumpy with food!!

Dukan Diet Day 4 - Still Attacking...

Quick update: another 0.4kg down!! I thought I wouldn't lose today but all good! Now have lost 3.4kg, which is 7lbs 4oz!!!! Yay!

Dukan Diet Day 3 - Attack!!

Well, blimey!! Would you look at that: 3kg down after 2 days (I have to weigh myself first thing in the morning!) - 2.2kg on day 1, and 0.8 on day 2 - woohoo!!

Funny thing is I feel really bloated and chubby today - having a bit of a weird belly too... Ah well, still not hungry or craving and VERY motivated. Need to do a bit more exercise though.

Menu for Day 3:

Brekkie: hot cup of water, poached smoked haddock, greek 0% yoghurt
Snack: 0% fromage frais
Lunch: smoked salmon and scrambled eggs with chives & black pepper
Snack: grilled turkey breast, marinaded in thai red curry paste, yoghurt and a little low-fat coconut milk
Dinner: bbq'd butterflied chicken breast, marinaded in yoghurt turmeric and tandoori masaala mix (the veggies in the pic are for my boyfriend!)
Frozen fat-free yoghurt with vanilla and splenda



Tons of water (about 8 pints) and tea

Yum-yum-yum

And happy with the way things are going, but felt a bit dicky-tummied today and like I would not be losing any weight, oddly enough. Also, worried about the next few months of eating fat-free protein and vegetable when it comes to eating out and with friends: I also live with my boyfriend and we eat together, so may have to be cooking for a while! We will see...!

Dukan Diet Day 2: Attack some more...!

Well, a beautiful hot, sunny day today which always lifts the spirits. That plus 2.2kg gone put a huge smile on my face, and so to make the most of having to get up super early to see the physio (and some kind of excrutiatingly painful sports massage on my neck), I put the roof down on Des (my car), and headed off to spend the day at my parent's house with my recuperating dad (he ruptured his achille's tendon trying to 'push' his car nearer to a petrol pump.... :-\), and the two maniacal dogs.

Packed up some Dukan friendly food, and some of the unfriendly stuff to make lunch for ma & pa and got out in the back garden all day: reading, throwing a ball for the obsessive-ball-catching border collie, and then sitting watching the pondlife with the fish/tadpole/water-snail/baby-fish-obsessive spaniel.

Day 2 menu:

Brekkie:-
Poached smoked haddock
sm pot fat-free natural yoghurt

Snack:-
Scrambled egg with skim milk and some low-fat ham
some turkey breast slices

Lunch:-
Turkey breast fillet marinaded in fat-free yoghurt, turmeric and tandoori masaala mix (fat & sugar free)

Dinner:-
Butterflied grilled chicken breast with lemon, black pepper and smoked paprika

Lots of tea
About 12 pints of water

(not much exercise, I'm afraid!)

If I manage to get any sleep after all this water, I shall post results in morning (when I usually weigh the least!!)

Day 2 Dukan:

just a quick post, but still promising...
the scales, they say 2.2kg after ONE day!!! woop-woop! *little victory dance*

LOL

Love it... the Ad that has come up in my sidebar is imploring you to 'eradicate hunger...' - what? Mine??

Dukan Diet Day 1 - Attack!!

Since I am signed off of pole with whiplash for a little while yet, I am hoping to make a strong, slim comeback!

40lbs to go, and I'm on the Attack!

Day 1 of Dukan commences with little trouble... Have joined Dukan facebook site, added some Dukan buddies, and started this blog!

I had stocked up and was home with no appointments all day, so no excuses for not being able to make food properly!

Today's menu...
Brekkie:
Poached smoked haddock
1 pot natural fat-free yoghurt

Snack:
few tsps fat-free fromage frais

Lunch:
1 scrambled egg with skim milk, black pepper, chives, smoked salmon, dollop of fat-free fromage frais
7 tiger prawns dry fried with chilli, lime and garlic

Snack:
Few tsps fat-free greek yoghurt

Dinner:
Slow-roasted sirloin stewing beef rubbed in paprika and mustard powder, roasted for 8 hours with onion, garlic, oxo cube, water and cracked black pepper (beef only eaten!)
Few spoons of fromage frais with cinnamon and a little splenda.

Loads of tea with skim milk, and 7 pints water. Exercise: 45min walk round the lake, several trips up and down the stairs to the loo to keep peeing!

Am hoping to see some results on the scale in the morning, and have taken some vital measurements as well (which I am not brave enough to post just yet!)

The Dukan Diet

So.... diet #1299350... The Dukan Diet

I have always had better results, and felt better when I leave out carbs, starches and sugars, so when I read about the Dukan Diet (www.dukandiet.org and www.dukandiet.co.uk) in the Daily Mail the other day (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1267585/The-Dukan-Diet-Want-stay-slim-Eat-want--Thursdays.html), I felt the faint rumblings of possibility and hope once more...

Basically, the Dukan Diet consists of 4-phases: attack, cruise, consolidation and stabilisation.

http://www.thedukandiet.org/Program/Main.html

"The method comprises 4 successive steps: the Attack phase with purely natural proteins to boot-start a fast weight loss in less than a week, the Weight Loss phase with alternative proteins during which you'll reach your target weight, the Stabilization phase with the re-introduction of all type of foods and finally the definitive Cruise phase."

So, having read as much as I could find online about this diet, I ran a trolley around costco and Tesco grabbing as much meat and fat-free dairy as I could afford, and prepared to start....

My Diet Hell....

OK, so in all honesty, I have porked up A LOT since last November... I'd say I have put on about 20lbs ( -ohmygod saying it out loud makes it even WORSE!), and even before then, I was trying to lose weight!

I am a bit of a dieting afficionado: I'm quite good at dieting, I'm just not good at staying thin.

In the last ten years, I have tried with varying results:

Slimming World (lost 6lbs in 5 months - very frustrating)

Smoking (...No. Just no. Have not touched tobacco in over 7 years now)

Rosemary Conley (lost about 7lbs in about 3 months, and all my interest)

Weight-watchers (negligible - was so fed up with counting everything!)

Atkins (best results: have previously lost something like 30lbs in 6 months, kept it off for all of about 3 months, then gradually put it back on, with some extra besides!)

South Beach (lost 9lbs in first wk and then fell off the wagon)

Alli (*shudder. Oh, the side effects...)

Gym obsession (great, but expensive and time-consuming. Would be great if I could have kept it up. Made me into a very boring, very hungry person!)

Starvation (lasted about 3 days and surprisingly only lost about 2lbs)

The Maple Syrup Diet (felt great first time, after about 4 days had lost 11lbs, but invariably I end up cold, irritable and then binge)

Low G.I. (pretty good, but always lose focus)
Various slimming tablets (very little effect, mostly make my mood swings almost bi-polar!)

Hypnotherapy (only went twice, but greatest effect was my hand going numb - I would try this again, if just for the therapy side)

You name it really, I've tried it...!

So now I am at the point where I just want to have a healthy relationship with food, not constantly obsessing over it: Seriously, if I know there's a pack of pringles in the building, I cannot rest!

I want to be able to overcome the psychological aspects of my compulsive eating as well as the physical hunger.

Introduction...

Hello!

My name is Lou and I am many things:
31 *groan*
In I.T. *double groan*
A Pole-Dancer/Instructor
Thoroughly addicted to high heels
A compulsive eater
Accident Prone.

I am aiming to improve at least 2 of these points...