Dukan Do It

As I mentioned in Monday's post, this week I started the Dukan diet.

Have you heard of it?

My friend and co-worker started a Dukan craze in our office after she lost some significant weight on the diet over the last few months. She looks and feels incredible! After a lot of coaxing and overall misery with my weight, I finally decided to give it a try. It also helps that my parents and sisters are doing it too, and I even convinced Shaun to give it a go with me.

I want to note that I do not believe that I'm grossly overweight. I've never been a 'skinny' person and always carried an extra 10-15 pounds around but I do not think I have a warped body image and think that I am noticeably enormous or anything like that. But, I do think I could weight less in a healthy way.

My starting weight at the beginning of this diet was actually to the exact pound of what I weighed when I got pregnant with Penelope. And while I'm thrilled to be back to my pre-pregnancy weight (and have been for quite some time now), I wasn't really happy with my weight at that time...nor am I happy with it now.

So as summer approaches, I felt the need to do something a little more drastic than Weight Watchers, which I inevitably cheat on every weekend. I need something with real guidelines to jump start my weight loss and hopefully then I'll be able to transition into a more WW-friendly lifestyle.

To read more about the Dukan diet (I hate that word too), I suggest combing through their website and reading the book. My copy is arriving today so I started semi-ad-hoc, but I didn't want to wait anymore to begin in fear that I'd change my mind and also I was so ready to start my journey to a happier weight.

To give you the cliff notes version, Dukan has 4 phases. After calculating your true weight on their website, it will tell you for how long to do each phase. Based on my goal weight and starting weight, I should reach my goal by June 30. We shall see!

The Attack Phase is three days for me. In this phase, you are to follow high protein with minimal fat and fat free dairy.

I'm not going to lie...it has not been easy.

I've never eaten so much meat in my life. Starting tomorrow, I can incorporate vegetables which I know will be a total game changer. Let me interject by saying that I don't really condone a diet or lifestyle that doesn't allow vegetables. It seems weird and wrong to me, like dogs in strollers or people who don't own TVs.
But since it's just three days, I'm willing to go with it. And as today is day 3, and I've lost 2 pounds so far, I found the motivation to push through one more day and I know that tomorrow will be a total game changer. I already have so many meal and snack ideas! 

To give you an idea of what I've been eating, I put together the below sample day's menu:

Breakfast: Dukan 'pancake' with sugar-free syrup*; coffee

Snack: 0% plain Greek yogurt w/cocoa powder & sweetener; English breakfast tea

Lunch: Turkey burger w/reduced sugar ketchup; turkey pepperoni & string cheese

Snack: hard-boiled egg, fat free cottage cheese w/cinnamon, vanilla extract & sweetener

Dinner: scrambled eggs w/fat free cheddar cheese; 2 grilled chicken sausages

Snack: sugar-free/fat-free Jell-O

 I'm not really thrilled with the amount of eggs I've been consuming or the amount of sweetener. I hope to even all of this out once the Attack phase is done! 

Overall, I've felt pretty good. A little hungry. Yesterday I was in client meetings all day and someone brought in Levain chocolate chip cookies. That was really really hard to resist, but I did it. And felt great about it afterward! I plan to keep you posted with meal and snack ideas as I'm excited to get creative in the kitchen...a feeling I haven't had in a long time.

All of this being said, please note that I'm not an expert and so please don't take any of this as canon. I haven't even read the book yet. So if you are interested in starting this lifestyle change, then I suggest going through the proper motions, like reading about it first. Do as I say and not as I do and all that.

I hope you are having a great Wednesday!

What have you been eating lately?

Are you into 'diets' or 'lifestyle changes'?

What healthy foods have you been eating lately?

Comments

[Kimberly]

It definitely gets a bit better...veggie days are easier, just a few more options. Overall, there is a lot of food and I have eaten so much chicken its gross. I do have to say, I stopped thinking about it as too restrictive after the first week and a half and now it is more just the way I eat. Also, makes you realize how bad you were eating before...and how little you need to survive!

I agree with the use of sweeteners...I just tell myself it is for a short period of time and then I can go back to normal! I find that when in doubt, eat a greek yogurt because it is SO filling. For motivation, I have lost 11-12 lbs in 3 weeks!

[Tina | Mademoiselle Gourmande]

I'm alwayss too afraid of failing when it comes to diets. So I just eat healthier, which sometimes works out and sometimes doesn't... haha. I think it's great that you do it!
And when I read 11 lbs in three weeks? That's amazing. Maybe I should try something like this too... But then there is all the great food... Oh well. :)

[Sherri]

HI! I am curious after looking over the website, and have done something similar in the past. A couple of questions I wondered if you'd be willing to answer:
- did you sign up and are you participating on-line?
- are you using the oat bran? were you able to buy it in your grocery store?
- are you using their supplements they have on the website? I'm wondering if after you sign up if they suggest all these other "add-ons" that they want you to take....
I'm very intrigued, as my husband and I have been "dieting" together the last couple of weeks (this week is our 3rd week). But I think something like this could help BOTH of us...
Thanks!!