My Dukan Diary

DAY SIX - SEVEN : LAST DAYS of Dukan attack - READ ON FOR WEIGHT LOSS RESULT

2011-03-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, I wasn't here for the last days of my diet. That's because I was having to travel for work. I had to drive 1200 miles to a meeting, staying in hotels. I was prepared with hard boiled eggs, fish cooked and packed and yoghurts, all in a cool bag.

Day 6 was OK - I had porridge before I left and had boiled eggs from my packed lunch while all around me had tapas and beers :(. Then in the evening I had some cheese triangles and some fish. I was incredibly hungry and tired. I had a Colacao in the bar.

Day 7 was bad.

By 6pm I made the decision that it was impossible to keep on going without carbs because I just couldn't drive any more. I felt weak and sick and dizzy. I gave up on the attack phase and allowed myself to have a dinner menu which was salad, followed by fish with vegetables and a coffee. I felt awful all night like I had a terrible hangover, and went to bed at 9pm.

However, Dukan had predicted I would do seven days and lose 6lbs so let's see...

So I am now on Phase 2 Dukan! When I got home on Day 8 of my Dukan Diet I weighed myself, and I weighed 84Kg! That's a total loss of 5Kg in a week on the Dukan Attack phase, which is actually 11lbs! My target weight was to lose 6lbs, so I am really pleased with the outcome so far.

I think what I will do is keep on the diet now, and when I want to push it I think I will have a total attack day. I think what I have learnt is you cannot and absolutely must not, do any strenuous exercise or activity including driving or travelling or anything else out of the ordinary while on Dukan attack phase. You have to be completely focused and not interrupted, and have access to your own kitchen.

Also I think it is quite a difficult diet if you don't eat meat like me. Still, it worked really well.

All in all, a good diet technique and I feel much better for it so far!

DAY FIVE - Attack diet! I've lost weight!

2011-03-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

I just weighed myself and I now weigh just over 85 kg! That's 4 kilos in 5 days!

So today this is what I have had:

DAY FIVE ATTACK!

Breakfast

Frozen yoghurt

Green Tea

Lunch

Omelette and oat slices

Philadelphia cheese with salmon

Flan

Dinner

Fish soup made the same as before, but with panga instead of crabsticks

Jelly and low fat pouring cream

DAY FOUR - DUKAN Diet Attack Phase

2011-03-23T03:11:00.000-07:00

Today I feel more able to handle the diet. By yesterday evening I was desperate to eat at 6pm, so I spent ages cooking my little meal and ended up managing to eat at 7pm. I have discovered these jellies that are 14 kcals no fat no sugar no fruit so I had one of those with some frozen yoghurt which felt like a feast but came to only 48 Kcals, 0% fat, 0% sugar!

I called my friend in the UK and was told to stop whingeing and bear it - I think I can. Near agony going shopping with my skinny husband, who bought crisps, croissants and chocolate wafers Oh and some milk for me. Huzzah. :(

I just keep imagining a weighing scale of pleasure. On one side is all the cakes and sweets I ever had and on the other is the pain of the diet. The pleasure and pain now have to balance, so the pain is going to have to be pretty heavy! I don't feel at all dizzy or sick or starving like on other extreme diets but I do have a bit of a headache that is recognisable from these kinds of diets. It's still better than being fat, and if I feel really bad I will stop. I think this is just another level my body is going through and if I do today OK it will be easier tomorrow.

Menu today DAY 4 DUKAN ATTACK!

Breakfast

Colacao Fiber

Flan (Creme Caramel egg dessert, 0% fat)

Lunch

Oatbran slices

2 Boiled eggs

Philadelphia cheese

Dinner

Tuna steaks with chilli

Frozen yoghurt and jelly

DUKAN Diet - Attack Recipe - Oatbran slices

2011-03-22T03:43:00.000-07:00

Oatbran is your cornerstone for Dukan attack phase, and needs to be incorporated. Only problem is, it's really boring! So I have been inventive and come up with this staple recipe to replace bread and toast.

You will need:

Oatbran

Oatbran powder/flakes
Water
Olive oil (Virgin)
Sea Salt

Slick a hot, dry pan with a teaspoon of oil on a low heat (Remember olive oil has a low smoke heat)

Get a cup and mix a handful of oatbran with a splash of cold water and a generous pinch of sea salt until like putty. Too runny? Add more oatbran.

With a fork and fingers, flatten out the oatbran mix on a slippy board until about 2 mm thick. (thickness of a fork prong)

When the oil is hot, lay the oatbran flats in the pan and wait until the top side is starting to bubble. Turn with a flat spatula. Repeat until the flats are cooked well enough to slide in the pan without help and are golden.

Serve with soft cheese and fish.

DAY THREE - Dukan Diet Attack Phase

2011-03-22T03:32:00.000-07:00

HOW AM I?
I had a good night's sleep last night and have woken up not hungry. I did however have an allergic attack in the night, which was weird. I had to take an antihistamine. I broke out in hives all down my neck which started weeping. Very weird. Maybe too much protein or my body getting a bit crazy! So I now have a "neck of meth" look. I seem to remember this when I detoxed, that my body broke out in zits. No zits so far though. However, I have had the worst diarrhoea ever, explosive in fact, going on forever. Three times. Not uncomfortable, just enema-like. Maybe that's the point?

I think the menu today will be as follows:

DAY THREE DUKAN MENU
Breakfast
I wasn't hungry, so I had a Colacao Fiber drink
Water

Lunch
Salmon chunks (fresh cooked)
Oatbran slices (see next post for recipe)
Philadelphia Cheese
Fat and sugar free jelly with non fat cream (I am lucky the Spanish make artifical stuff like this - no fruit!)

Dinner
Leftover Prawn and Surimi Fish Chowder

Dukan Diet - Attack Recipe - FROZEN YOGHURT with cardamon and cinnamon

2011-03-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

Take a plain/unflavoured 0% fat yoghurt in its pot and take off the lid. Keep the lid for after. Crush a tiny amount of cardamon and cinnamon powder together. Mix into the yoghurt. Place the lid on top and stand in the freezer for 24 hours lid up. When you want to eat it, remove the lid and cut around the rim with scissors. Once you have done this you will be able to peel away the plastic pot easily. Serve.

Here is my one (the pattern is brilliant and courtesy of the yoghurt pot shape!):

Chowder recipe - Prawn and Sumiri Spanish Style Chowder - Dukan Style

2011-03-21T06:24:00.000-07:00

Sumiri is processed crab like crabsticks

I was actually really bored with what I bought which was some prawns and sumiri/crabsticks that I was going to just grill and have with some Philadelphia cheese.

Then I remembered the Spanish often eat a cream fish soup so I had a try.

DUKAN RECIPE - Spanish fish chowder (2 servings)

You will need:
Three handfuls of prawns
About ten crabsticks/ two handfuls of Sumiri
One clove of garlic
Paprika
Seasalt
Olive oil
Low fat pouring cream

Dukan Fish Soup Recipe

Half fill a pan with water and add the defrosted seafood, with the sumiri or crabsticks chopped into pieces. Add a teaspoon of paprika and a teaspoon and a half of seasalt. Add a slosh of olive oil. Prick the garlic clove with a fork and put the garlic, whole, into the pot. Boil this for about five minutes until the crabsticks break up into strips. Take out the garlic and add a tablespoon of low fat pouring cream. Serve.

The actual result is in the photo I took just now, above. It tasted great, and I am full up!

DAY TWO Dukan diet - Attack Phase - Pondering True Weight Vs. BMI

2011-03-21T03:19:00.000-07:00

I am up and eating my porridge and feeling a big craving for juice.

The night was OK but I smell. Of sweat. Not nice, but it's the ketones coming on. My armpits are the worst. I also had really weird dreams. My breath is OK, but then I brush my teeth a lot and have always been fussy about that, plus I have been downing water. I had to go pee a lot in the night too, which is unusual for me.

I am hungry today, and thinking what to eat. So the menu today is going to be:
Breakfast
Colacao Fiber
Porridge

Lunch
Prawns cooked with spices with cream cheese
Cup of coffee
Frozen yoghurt (It took 24 hours for them to freeze in their pots - they are ready today and delicious)

Dinner
Omelette
Cup of peppermint tea

I also received an email today from Pierre Dukan's website. Despite being a marketing tool, it has some interesting information:

You should know that the way we do our calculation, for each decade after the age of 18, your True Weight increases by around 2 pounds (1 kg).
If we limit ourselves to using the traditional BMI, you ought to have a BMI of 36.72. However, although the BMI is a good tracking tool it takes only your weight and size into account. It doesn't look at your age, or your gender, how easily you put on weight, how many diets you have tried, how heavy your bone structure is or your family history! So according to this all-purpose index, you ought to have a BMI between 22 and 24. It is precisely because most of my patients cannot relate to this calculation that I created the True Weight.
You have a heavy bone structure. You may have exactly the same figure as another person, but you weigh more. A bone structure with 700 bones, that's heavy! I have to bear this in mind and add on a couple of pounds when calculating your True Weight.
Finally, as far as pregnancies are concerned, you have been pregnant once. Because you have carried your child your stable weight is increased by just over two pounds (1 kg).

98 Pounds - The 'magic' number

According to the BMI calculation, to be a healthy weight I need to weigh 97 pounds/6 Stone 12/44 Kg!!! For years I have suffered thinking this should be the healthy weight for me, as I reckon millions of other women do. Despite being fat, I am only a size UK 12 top and UK 14-16 bottom. When I was 9 stone I was size 6-8 top and size 10 bottom - when I was this weight people told me I looked too skinny. If I was to go down to 44Kg I would be less than a size 0!

I looked up 98 pounds famous people, and this is what I found (Click headings for original sources):

My BMI is considered 'anorexic' by the media

Tori Spelling

"Tori Spelling recently spoke of her weight-loss success after the birth of her second child, daughter Stella, now almost 10-months-old. And although the 35-year-old actress has always been slim, friends are concerned that her weight has hit an all-time scary low - 98 pounds! Is Tori sick?"

Mila Kunis

"Doing publicity rounds for her new film "Black Swan" Mila Kunis revealed she went on a punishing diet and exercise regime that sent her weight down to 98 pounds! Kunis plays the part of a ballerina. According to E! Online, the actress said her weight loss was so extreme it concerned her family."My mom freaked out," Kunis said. "She was like, 'You have to promise me this isn't going to affect you.' I was like, 'I promise it won't, but it might take me a little time to be OK with having a little more fat on me.I could see why this industry is so f****d up, because ... I would literally look at myself in the mirror and I was like, 'Oh my God!' I had no shape, no boobs, no ass ... all you saw was the bone. I was like, 'This looks gross.'"
Angelina Jolie
"Brad Pitt is reportedly petrified that Angelina Jolie has hit a low ninety-eight pounds. Star Magazine snitches that Angie recently collapsed leaving BF Brad Pitt worrying about her inability to eat."

So I am going to see what happens to my body, but it seems even the media has agreed that my BMI is ANOREXIC. I am not happy with my True Weight of 9 stone 8, but it's a goal I suppose. Anyway, let's see how today goes with the diet.

Day One - Dukan Diet ATTACK PHASE! Recipes and Tips

2011-03-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

I read about the Dukan Diet, a low carb diet (New Atkins) last night and decided I have to try it as I am now fat and it's starting to be a problem into my thirties. I live in Spain where it is difficult to get diet foods so trying something where I can eat fish and eggs is perfect. I don't eat meat so this is a challenge but I can get a range of fish unlike anything in the UK or US or other landlocked areas.
The allowed foods list - Attack Phase
Meat
Fish/Seafood
Eggs
Skimmed dairy without sugar
Nothing else at all!
You also have to have oat bran or oats and 1.5 litres of water every day.

WEIGHT
I am FAT. I weigh 89kg and I am 156cm. That's the same as Ricky Gervais at his fattest!!
My BMI is OBESE. You can find out how overweight you are on the Dukan website and get your True Weight and diet forecast. Here is mine:

I have therefore decided that I am doing the Attack phase for seven days. This should ensure a 6lb loss of weight. Seven days seems OK. I am going to do this diary to keep busy. Hopefully some people will join me and we can keep motivated!

FOOD DIARY DAY 1
Breakfast -Oats and water porridge, Iced Tea
Lunch-

Flan - without the sauce and low-sugar!

Pangrilled Swordfish steak with garlic and herbs Philadelphia low fat soft cheese - Grill a piece of fish in a hot dry pan with 1 tsp sunflower oil and 1 tbsp of philadelphia cheese or Quark.Add sea salt. Flan (Low sugar Spanish Creme Caramel Egg dessert). ColaCao 0% sugars with added fibre (Green jar)

Oeufs Mollets

Dinner - Oeufs Mollets - Boil two eggs for 6 minutes which makes them hard boil, then softens the middle again. Place in cold water, then shell.Low fat Caesar dressing on top.Water and a cup of peppermint tea.

EXERCISE
On the attack phase, you cannot exercise that much. I did my 20 minutes walk on the beach to give me some extra friction. Not taxing at all. Despite being fat, I have always done some sports. I kind of feel like I want to do some running or weights but I'm not allowed. I can see why though, I feel full up to the neck with fish and eggs. Tomorrow I think I will exercise after breakfast instead.

TIPS SO FAR
1.I think my saviour will be the ColaCao Fiber hot chocolate drink. It has added bran fibre which is perfect for this diet. I'm lucky I like plain porridge I guess.
2.I am also going to freeze up some ice cube trays of yoghurt today. In Spain they have these flavoured yoghurts 0% fat and sugar but they taste like fruits and biscuits. I am going to try those. I am not keen on a fridge yoghurt but if it's frozen it should be like ice cream. I'm not big on sugar but I do like a small sweet thing after dinner.
3.I have chopped and frozen all my vegetables and nuts from the fridge. This means my husband can still have normal meals while I am doing this. I also won't waste anything I bought before.
4.Exercising might be best before lunch to save that funny tummy feeling.

HOW AM I?
I'm OK. Lunch was a bit miserable (made the mistake of making the fish for my husband too and he hated it) but we are watching comedy shows during meals! Arrested Development is the day's choice. Helps me forget how boring the food is. I'm not hungry at all.
Healthwise, I feel OK, more energy than usual. A bit nervy. Must be the ketones kicking in!
I must just remember Ricky Gervais at his fattest...