The Dukan Diet

Tomorrow marks a full month complete of this diet. It hasn't been the easiest thing, but what diet is?

Reasoning for the diet

Well there are several reasons I started this diet. One I'd been looking for a way to lose the rest of my baby weight and my marriage weight. I knew breastfeeding had gotten me as far as I was going to go, and I needed something to get the rest of that weight off. Second, I needed some kind of regimen to stick too. e are pretty healthy eaters. We never hardly ever eat out. Pretty much everything we eat is homemade. We stay away from processed foods, and try to always have lots of veggies and fruits. But I knew I needed something to stick too to lose the rest of this weight. Third, we are going to Hawaii next month, and I was beyond terrified to have to put a bathing suit on. Fourth (which really should be the first) is a friend at church said that she lost 30 lbs last year, and I asked how!?! And she told me about this diet. She has been so encouraging, supportive, and complementary! It's great, she's like my own personal coach. She is inspiration because she said she lost the weight between March and May 2012, and today March 2013 she hasn't put any weight back on.

Breakdown of the diet:

There are 4 stages to this diet. 1. The Attack Phase 2. The Cruise Phase 3. The Consolidation Phase 4. The Stabilization Phase.

1. The Attack Phase: This phase ranges from 2-10 days long. It depends on how much weight you have to lose, and will be given to you in a chart when you calculate your True Weight on this website. I had to do this phase for 3 days. This phase is known as the pure protein phase. You can eat as much lean protein as you like. You can also have non-fat dairy, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of Oat Bran a day. No vegetables, fruits, or carbs. For more particulars on what food you can eat you can google and find the list of 100 foods you can eat. 

2. The Cruise Phase: You stay in the phase until you have lost all your weight and are down to your true weight. On the website it'll give you a guesstimate of how long it'll take. The average being 2-3 lbs lost a week. There are several ways to do this phase. I have been following the every other day option. Meaning, every other day I am allowed to eat vegetables. I rotate between Protein and Vegetable (PV) Days and then Pure Protein (PP) days. The list of allowed vegetables is also easily accessible and should be on the 100 foods list.

3. The Consolidation Phase: You are suppose to slowly reincorporate fruits and carbs in this phase. The phase last 5 days per pound lost. You only do pure protein days once a week. Then you can have your vegetables every day other than that one. You also incorporate 1 piece of fruit, 2 slices of bread, and a serving of cheese on your PV days. You are also allowed 2 celebration meals a week. This helps your body to learn how to stay at your true weight.

4. The Stabilization Phase: After completing the consolidation phase you are allowed to eat whatever you want again. The diet's only stipulation for maintaining weight is that you have one Pure Protein day a week. The diet suggests every Thursday.

My Experience

My experience thus far has been 90% good 10% ehh. The first week was extremely hard for me. I didn't really prepare for the diet. I thought I could just start and make do with the food we had in the house. WRONG! Plus add on top of that the fact that the week I started was the week before I got my period and so hormones were consistently trying to get the better of me. Then I realized how I'm not much of a protein eater-what was I thinking!?! But by the end of the first week I had lost 5 lbs. So I was satisfied, and decided to keep going.

Now that a month has gone by I am down 14.4 lbs. And my goal is to lose a total of 30 lbs. So I'm almost halfway there. I have loved losing the weight. I'm feeling like myself again.

Pros to this diet:

- There is no limit on how much food you can eat. As long as you eat the food on the list of acceptable foods

- Weight does come off quickly

- You don't have to exercise a ton. He recommends 30 minute walks. It is also said you shouldn't do high intensity stuff. But I've been doing crossfit and feel just fine (btw I LOVE crossfit, I'll have to blog about that too, but look it up if you don't know what it is).

- It teaches how to cook without a bunch of oil.

- You LOVE veggies because they add variety

- You learn to keep things that you can eat on hand.

Cons to this diet:

- I know that the nonfat dairy I'm eating isn't the best thing out there. I know that it is highly processed, but I'm losing weight, so as selfish as it is, it's working so I'll eat it for now. After the diet is over then I'll go back to more non-processed foods. No artificial coloring. Etc.

- It is a TON of meat. Like I said I didn't realize how I'm not a meat eater. It's been fine, and I've found things that I like, but oh how I miss fruit and bread :) They are my weakness though, so no wonder I'm losing so much weight.

- There aren't any good sweets. I know there never are on diets. But I did buy the cookbook and have looked for recipes online, but none are very good. 

- I've never been a huge chocolate fan, but since I've started this diet it's the only thing I want. Haha

- Meat is expensive. So we've been spending more than we're used to on groceries. Granted we've stayed within our $300 a month budget, but we use to spend 30-40 dollars for a week of food, now we spend 60-70.
- On week 3 I noticed I wasn't losing weight as quickly as I had, and so I did some research and realized that too much nonfat dairy and make you not lose weight. So I cut back on the yogurt and cottage cheese, and off the weight came again.

We've found some great recipes that we love! On my PP days Tyler just adds a side to our dinner, and we keep snacks for him around. Cheating hasn't been a problem for me because I'd feel bad if I ate something I'm not supposed to. So I just don't.

Overall, I'm SO happy with the results. I've never really done a diet before, so it's been an eye opener of what it really takes to lose weight. But a good lesson for me (oh the conflicts I've had with thinking about when I get pregnant again and again and again, and having to re-lose all the weight, but 1. I'm going to try to not gain so much next time and 2. At least by the time I'm done having kids I won't have 100s of pounds to lose, right?) (You girls that don't even have to try to lose weight but it just comes off, I envy you SO much! That is definitely not me)

I'll try to post updates as I go, but pre-marriage weight here I come!