March 1, 2013 A birthday trip to Florida in mid January, a hectic work schedule since then, and a new romance have gotten my good eating habits off track, or rather, never got them back on track. Kathy and I decided, starting today, we are going back to Phase 1. I will be eating chicken, fish, turkey bacon and eggs all weekend to get the carb cravings out of my system. As a result of my indulging, I haven't gotten the 5 lbs off so it's time to get serious. This picture was taken last week -- I look fine but I can feel I'm not where I like to be.
November 21, 2012
One year maintained at 40 lbs lost. EASILY maintained, I might add. I would show a before and after picture but I don't have very many "before" photos because I deleted most of them!
(Future generations may think humans suddenly got better looking around the 1990s. Will they realize the phenomenon coincides with the demise of film? In the olden days, you wouldn't know that you looked bad in a photo until days, weeks, or even months after it was taken. If Sally had been captured with her eyes closed, making a weird face, or at an unflattering angle, oh well. The photo couldn't be retaken so it was kept. Now, we have the power of immediate view and DELETE -- no horrors need remain!)
September 10, 2012
I tracked my weight loss progress on this spreadsheet. (Clicking on the link will take you to my Dropbox folder so you can download a copy of the Excel file.) Entering your weight will put a mark on the graph. If you know how to use Excel you can adjust the dates to fit whenever you start your journey to the new fantastic you!
Here is what my chart looked like from June 16, 2011 to 28 weeks and 40 lbs later. Each dot is one week:
June 16, 2012
Today is the one year anniversary of my Dukan diet. Still maintaining easily at 41 lbs down. My success has inspired a few friends to try it. The most recent success is Julie, down 30 lbs as of last week. What are you waiting for?
I went on a vacation trip to Scotland last month. I didn't go nuts but I enjoyed eating pub food...veggie tart, pizza, fish and chips (french fries! my first in nearly a year!) Came home a few pounds up. Got back on the protein/low carbs upon my return and was back to 143-144 within a week.
I have eaten a giant omelette for breakfast nearly every day of the last year. It's my favorite meal of the day.
I use Egg Beaters with some sort of meat (Low salt turkey bacon, Jimmy Dean turkey sausage crumbles, chicken sausage), and Breakstone's fat-free cottage cheese, topped with a drizzle of Heinz reduced sugar ketchup. YUM!
I feel the need to firm up a little so I have to try to get to the gym more often but other than that, it's all good. This was the first year where bathing suit shopping didn't make me want to cry. My waist is 5 inches (!) smaller than it was this time last year. Hips also 5 inches less, yay! And the chest too. Oh well, you can't have everything!
March 9, 2012
Still holding steady at 41 lbs. lost. I have been able to have an occasional splurge of pizza, pasta, bread, or dessert without gaining, as long as I get back to my now-standard avoidance of starchy carbs the next day. My annual doctor's appointment is on Monday and I can't wait for him to notice what I weighed last year vs. what I weigh today. And if he doesn't notice, I'll be sure to point it out!
December 31, 2011
No new resolutions for 2012 but one goal, set last year, for the looming 50th birthday was to not look like a "dumpy old lady" when the day arrived. Thanks to Dr. Dukan, I succeeded! I indulged in a few cookies at work, my stepfather's tasty pecan, apple, and cherry pies over Christmas, and a few other non-approved snacks. I was up 6 lbs when I got back home a week ago. But I did two protein days and am back to the target weight today. I cannot even believe it myself, but I now weigh only 11 lbs more than I did in high school 33 years ago! (Total of 40 lbs lost since June). It's now a way of life for me. I have re-introduced a few formerly off-limits foods -- Quaker Oats lightly salted or buttered popcorn flavor rice cakes, cheese, wine, and an occasional pizza -- but I seem to be maintaining fine. Been trying to get to the gym a few times a week also.
Saturday, October 15
Dukan in a nutshell...
Important things to remember are to eat 1.5 tablespoons of oat bran (not oat bran cereal...just oat bran) each day (I eat mine in my Egg Beaters omelet at breakfast) and to drink water.
I eat chicken, fish, low-sodium turkey bacon, low-sodium lunch meat (as an occasional convenience food for lunch), Eggbeaters omelettes, fat-free cottage cheese, fat-free Greek yogurt with a packet of Wild Strawberry Crystal Light in it (raspberry is good too), sugar-free Jello cups, latte with sugar-free syrup and skim milk, salad and all veggies except potatoes and corn, Jello sugar-free pudding or sugar-free chocolate mousse. That's about all I eat. Occasionally I toss in a lean burger or sirloin steak. Please note that I have never starved, felt deprived, exercised like a maniac, paid money for weird food or pills, or needed to employ willpower. Yet, it worked anyway!
The first two phases of the diet don't allow cheese, nuts, or high-fat foods. My scheduled time for the second phase is over but I don't plan to quit.
Go to http://www.dukandiet.com/ and complete the "calculate your true weight" questionnaire to get your weight loss schedule.
Get the book to understand how it all works:
A list of allowed foods for the first and second phases. (This link takes you to someone else's blog, not mine.)
I have used both of these brands of oat bran:
Mother's is more finely ground and not as noticeable in the omelette.
Hodgson's Mill brand is a little heftier if you want to eat it like oatmeal.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Along with removing some too-big items from my closet, I cleaned out the pantry yesterday. All these items that I don't want to eat anymore went to a friend with two growing boys and a 6'4" husband!
I kept one or two cans of beans but will use them sparingly after the last of the unwanted pounds are gone. I have kept a favorite old pair of jeans in the back of the closet that I wore on a milestone birthday in 1992. I tried them on last night...and was shocked to discover they almost fit! Yay!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
I hit 157 this morning. That's 27 lbs! My Dukan diet chart puts me at 155 on September 23... still three weeks away. I'm way ahead of schedule and I even had a plateau of about two weeks earlier this month. I was working crazy hours and unable to get to the gym, then had a business trip. I think that threw me off a bit, but I didn't gain; just didn't lose. And best of all, I didn't have the urge to go off the plan! Ten weeks and I haven't had bread, doughnuts or birthday cake at the office, pasta, pizza, or crackers.
I have not been super strict about my Protein vs. Protein and veggie days. I've had veggies almost every day with no ill effect. I'm not losing weight as fast but it's still dropping and I'm ahead of schedule anyway so if I want veggies, I eat them. My Jello sugar-free chocolate mousse may not be technically allowed either but a girl needs a little chocolate.
Great discovery...Yogurt is back on the menu. I can't take fat-free and unflavored. Too terrible! But a friend told me about fat-free Greek yogurt with Crystal Light wild strawberry or raspberry ice powder in it. I was worried about not getting enough calcium so this solves that and it's delicious to boot. I don't like Crystal Light as a drink, but somehow in the yogurt, the diet-y taste isn't noticeable.
To keep this whole loss in perspective...the first time I joined Weight Watchers it was because I was horrified by my weight -- 157! At the time, my 30th birthday was looming, and I felt terrible. I got down to 145 and was very happy there. Now the 50th birthday is looming and I think I could be 145 again! How cool would that be? I still have 4 months until then...it's DUKAN DO-able!
I'm still waiting for any acquaintance who doesn't already know I'm on a diet to notice that I've lost weight! Nobody has noticed! I'm 5'8" so I can carry a few pounds, and it tends to go to my middle rather than rear which is easier to camouflage under the right clothes, but still! Oh well, I notice! Now that my middle is four inches smaller, I go without a jacket sometimes!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
I say Dukan Can Do! I hit the 20 lb-down mark on Friday. Six weeks! Seriously, if you're tyring to lose weight, you are nuts if you don't give this a try. I am stunned at how well it's working for me. The menopause midriff that prevented me from breathing during forward fold and child's pose at yoga is gone!
If you think you'll feel deprived without the sugar and carbs, don't worry. That's what I thought. But it's amazing that once you get it out of your system, you don't miss it. I think the sugar is a drug...the more you have, the more you want. Everything I ate was full of sugar, even things that I didn't realize were full of it...like my beloved Cheerios or Special K and skim milk. My treat of choice these days is iced coffee with sugar-free vanilla or hazelnut with a splash of milk.
I feel great and best of all, in control! My head is not filled with thoughts of food anymore. I eat only when I'm hungry -- but I'm hardly ever hungry unless it's been a very long time since my last meal -- and I always stop eating before I'm stuffed. Tonight I turned away a plate of french fries that the waiter accidentally brought with my bunless burger -- and I was by myself so it wasn't even peer pressure that kept me from nibbling! That would not have happened before!
A few more pounds and the pants in my closet will be unwearable! Oh darn! (Time to get that sewing machine out of mothballs and do some takin' in!)
Saturday, July 9, 2011
12 lbs gone in one month -- no willpower required! My two friends, Rollanda, the menopause midriff above the belly button, and Bellinda, the pooch below the belly button, are almost gone! My co-worker and I are doing the Dukan Diet -- it's high-protein, and very, very low sugar and carbs.
Unlike Atkins and South Beach, no high-fat meats and cheeses or nuts are allowed. Go to the site
At work we always have snacks and I ate whatever was around, and if I wasn't eating any, I was thinking about tyring to resist it. In the last three weeks at work we've had bagels, cupcakes, cookies, chocolate, and birthday cake, and I didn't have one bite, and was not even tempted! It's not that I've "decided" I'm not going to have them, it's that the urge for them has disappeared.
I do miss bread, but haven't had trouble going without. Eggs, Eggbeaters, chicken, lean beef, fish, tofu, and turkey bacon are my new best friends. Your fiber comes from 1.5 tablespoons of oat bran per day. I mix mine in my omelette. It has no weird taste and it gives the eggs a little more heft that does fill you up.If I need "dessert" I have the sugar free jello snacks (tasty and only 10 calories...I splurge and have 2!) or a chocolate flavored protein drink on ice that actually tastes pretty good (EAS dark chocolate), or a latte with sugar-free syrup. The protein drink is not technically allowed on the Dukan diet but it's the only chocolate option I have so I have one every few days. After the attack phase you can have as many non-starchy vegetables as you want on alternating days so a big salad with fat-free dressing or side dishes of broccoli, green beans, squash, etc add variety.
I also joined the gym and have been going every day. Planet Fitness...it was only $40 to join, and $10 per month. I don't know how they can stay in business! But they have a zillion machines so no waiting. Better yet, they're open 24 hours a day during the week, so even if I work late, I can still go and do 30 minutes. I mix it up and do something different everyday. But what seems to work best for me is the elliptical set on a high "step" and high resistance. There is a row of TVs set on every channel to take your mind off the boring exercise.
I know that it's easier for me to work the new menu and exercise into my schedule because I don't have a family to work around so it may be more of a challenge for those of you who do. The pounds may come off slower but they will come off!
Twelve more pounds and I'll be at my goal weight but I actually think I might be able to go 5 lbs lower! That would put me at a weight not seen since the early-1990s! Anyhow, if you had told me a month ago that I would not be hungry, and not have sugar cravings, I would have said you were crazy. But it's true!
I don't have too many "before" pictures because I deleted them if they were terrible, of course. But here is one from February 2011.
