Health Check - to check it really works

Having been on the Dukan Diet plan for a while - in fact reaching the stage soon where I will be unfettered by rules six days a week - I thought it was time to make sure all was well.

I saw my doctor and she pointed out that I should have a blood test since it had been a while since my cholesterol levels were checked. (Last time was a few years back and then my LDLs were on the high side). The high protein element of the Dukan Diet ("all that meat" as some people falsely lament) has resulted in criticism that the plan can force cholesterol levels up.

My blood test results showed that I am in good health, my cholesterol, blood sugars etc were all fine. indeed my cholesterol levels have dropped since I was last checked. Now that my weight is in the normal range and I intend to keep it that way, my risk of heart disease has gone to normal levels. 

A quick aside. We are all mortal. Even those who take good care of themselves can get sick. Poor diet and obesity increase the risks. Good diet and a healthy weight reduce the risks. There is still a risk, but that is life. Smokers often defend themselves by saying even non smokers get cancer. This is true, because it is impossible to eliminate all possibilities of illness. But why increase the chances? Smokers and fat people have considerably more health problems than non smokers and slim people. 

Live well and live long! After my visit to the doctor I am more confident that I have made the right decisions to succeed in that goal!

Always lots of positives to losing weight. Trouser belts!

I have a habit of harping on about how pleased I am with myself after losing so much weight. Occasionally I feel guilty about this, but why should I? If you have lost a lot of weight, you have done something to be proud of.


I've written similar posts before. There are benefits to losing weight, big and small, that you would not have expected when you decided to do it. You will have had a list of reasons that made you decide to do it, but when you reach your target you should examine your life and note the changes you might not have expected.


Today for me it's trouser belts. 

I have a number of belts and had a very satisfactory session some time ago shortening them. My belts were mostly too good to get rid of when they became loose on their last hole, and I discovered that it is better to shorten the belt than to punch additional holes. I have two reasons for this. Firstly, shortening the belt felt more like a statement that I wouldn't need a longer belt again. Secondly there is an aesthetic consideration; cutting extra holes just means you get a longer flap of leather hanging out of the buckle. Most belts can be shortened easily, provided you can remove the buckle. You have to cut the belt at the buckle end, not the curved tongue. If the buckle doesn't come off, then you can't shorten the belt neatly, unless you have it done professionally. 

There is a further choice: buy new belts!


This made me think about belts. As a fat person I needed belts. They kept my trousers up as they went around my belly, or got caught under it. They stopped the waistband of my trousers rolling over. Without a belt, my trousers were clinging precariously to the tapering slope of my body. Without a tight grip, they would tend to slide down.


It occurred to me that I never used to wear belts back in my early twenties and before in my teens. I didn't need them because my body did not conspire against my trousers! I don't need the belt now either! I choose to put a belt on because I think it looks better. 


Actually, this is not quite true. I occasionally need a belt because I have kept trousers that are really too big around the waist, but are too good for me to discard. I cinch in that big waistband around my normal waist. I don't need a belt provided the trousers are the right size!


Looking for all the positives to losing weight is inspiring and will help you to stay committed to keeping your svelte new shape.


Why don't you send me your own thoughts on this? What have you gained by losing weight?

End of a phase in sight

I realised I haven't posted for a while. Sorry to anyone checking my blog regularly!

As you know I'm working my way through the third phase of the Dukan Diet and I'm now a couple of weeks from the end. It's the sort of point when you can start to think that you could just skip to the next phase. After all what difference will it make? 

The difference it will make is that it will show indiscipline. It will demonstrate a lack of control. Sad to say, but anyone who has been seriously overweight for any length of time, got into that position because of indiscipline and no self-control. Losing weight and staying at the correct weight is as much about taking charge and being in control as it is about shedding the pounds. 

I have been on this programme for over seven months. My weight reached my target way back in mid-October, as I've told you all. Since then every day when I look at the scales I have been gratified to see stability. I am in the process of relearning how to eat properly.

It is true that at this stage I may well have learnt all there is to learn and I could move on now and skip the final weeks of this consolidation stage. But what would I be telling myself if I did that? I would be saying that it's OK to cut corners. If I can cut a few corners now, then I can probably do the same later on. Then if that's OK, maybe a few more. That is the beginning of the slide down to where I was before I started.

The truth is this programme is not difficult to follow. It is not too constraining. I'm not hungry and I eat well. We have dinner parties, I enjoy deserts and a few glasses of wine. In fact there is very little that I want to eat that I can't enjoy during the course of a week. 

The key, I believe, is learning to think about food, which helps you to appreciate it better. You learn to appreciate how good the food is and what it does. The point to sticking to a plan is to teach yourself that you can stick to a plan! You are not a quitter and at the same time you can enjoy your life and your food. 

You also learn that if you've eaten enough today, why not save the treat which tempts you to another day? You will appreciate it more tomorrow than if you stuff it on top of everything else you've eaten today. That is the discipline which will keep you slim and enjoying your food. 

Alcohol and weight loss

Dr Dukan recently posted on the subject of alcohol on his UK website. He was explaining why he decided on an approach to alcohol and why he decided there was no reason to modify this advice for his UK followers.

Alcohol is highly calorific. Notwithstanding the social and health problems attributed to alcohol in the UK at the moment I think in fact people drink far less than they did in the past. For many years alcoholic drinks - mainly beer in the case of the UK - fulfilled two roles. The first was they provided the only safe drink as our early towns polluted their water supplies. Even before we understood sterility, the brewing process and the alcohol itself destroyed the microbes which brought water-borne disease to those communities. 

The second great function was to provide calories. Beer can be viewed as liquid bread and the calories in it meant it was an essential element in an often inadequate diet. It is hardly surprising that governments quickly saw the potential and taxed and regulated this vital foodstuff!

As we have seen before it is only in recent times that we have had the luxury of diets which provide us with too many calories leading to the weight problems I and many others have struggled with. 

Dr Dukan advises that when losing weight you should cut alcoholic drinks from your diet. Two reasons for this. First of all is the calories they provide. Although there is evidence that moderate consumption of certain drinks provides protection from heart disease, there is very little nutrition in alcohol or the drinks it is a part of. 

The main nutritional element is calories, and calories which are readily available. Dr Dukan says they will become fat straight away. My first reaction to this was one of disbelief. I think you need to qualify it. If your calories from alcohol are not consumed straight away, they will quickly form fat because they are so easily extracted. 

Certain foods do cause fat to be laid down more readily than others. Corn provides a form of fructose which is very popular with the food industry and sweetens many products; soft drinks, baked products etc. It is the same source of sugar which producers of foie gras noted years ago cause the fat to build up in the liver and create the fatty delicacy which is in effect the result of a liver disease. Doctors have noted the same effect in children's livers who consume excessive amounts of processed foods containing corn syrup.

I can therefore accept the possibility that the body will turn excess calories form alcohol more quickly to fat. There is another problem with alcohol and that is the effect of alcohol on our minds. Drink gets you drunk and when you are under the influence of alcohol your resolve weakens. You are more likely to eat things which are not part of your diet. Alcohol also effects your hydration.

So while you are in the weight loss phases of your diet, follow Dr Dukan's advice and don't drink alcohol. You can drink (sensibly) during the Consolidation phase and obviously when you get to the stabilisation phase. Remember that alcohol is a source of calories, the calories per gram of alcohol is about as high as any other food and the body can metabolise these calories easily. When you reestablish your regular eating habits, I hope you can enjoy a drink if that is your pleasure. Please remember that alcohol should be on the list of luxury, non-essential foods that you should treat yourself with. Do not overdo it!  

Good News when you reach your target weight

The time arrives when you look at the scales and you see that you have got to the weight you aimed at when you started losing weight. I remember it well. While I had been very positive all the time I was progressing to that target, actually getting there gave me a sense of achievement that ranks with the other big ones in life; getting a driving licence; graduating; getting my first job, or first promotion. It is a life-changing, empowering achievement. You will feel great and you should enjoy that feeling because you have earned it. It is your hard work, with the support of those around you, which has brought you to this point.

There are two important considerations as you reach this milestone. The first one is to accept the achievement and stop. Many people think, having got this far, that they should build a safety margin or should aim straight away for something else. Do not do this. You set out with a goal in sight. do not start moving the finishing line. The weight you aimed at should have been your "ideal weight", based on your physique and your diet history. If you start aiming at something else now, you will set yourself up for failure. Be proud of what you have done and consolidate that.

The second consideration is to ensure your work is not undone straight away. Many diet programmes leave you at this point with congratulations but without giving you a clear path to follow. The result is that a lot of slimmers put back the weight - and often a bit more - and find they are once more overweight, demoralised and looking for another way to shed the fat. 

The Dukan Diet offers a continuing programme to first of all ensure you don't pile it all back on and secondly show you how to carry on with your life and your new weight. Phase three of the diet is the Consolidation Phase. This sets out some more rules enabling you to eat more, eat a more varied diet and get used to this for an extended period before going onto living as a slim person.

The first big change is that instead of alternating between protein and vegetable and protein days, you only have one day a week as a protein only day. The other six are based on the vegetable and protein days. What you can eat is expanded by allowing measured portions of starchy food, fruit, cheese and even some "celebration meals" when pretty much anything goes. Read the book, or check the website for full details of exactly what you can eat. Or send me a comment asking for more information! I'm happy to help if that's what my readers want.

I've been following this phase for the past four months. I still have a month and a half to go. The phase lasts a long time, ten days for every kilo lost (work on five days for every pound if you use the imperial/traditional measures). This sounds like a long time, but the reality is that it is quite easy to follow this phase and it seems like there's a lot to eat after having lived under the discipline of the first two phases.

It takes some bravery to start to eat more. Part of you will be very scared to put your achievements at risk by eating more, especially the foods that you avoided because they are the sources of the calories that put you in the place you were. This phase is not about losing weight, so it is entirely logical that you will eat more to maintain your weight. Up to now you have been eating less than you need so that you consumed your stored fat.

The truth is that the restricted diet you have been following to slim down could only be a temporary phase. Good health relies on a varied and balanced diet, providing nutrition from all food groups. Balance is the key and reestablishing a good balance is what you are setting out to do. The starchy high calorie foods were the source of the fat, this is true: your eating habits and the lack of balance in your diet were the real cause of the problem. Following the rules, eating the expanded range of food in this controlled way will help you to establish the good habits for the rest of your life.

Remember to enjoy your food and really savour it. Remember to stop eating when you have had enough! If you are eating a couple of slices of bread, you will probably want a bit less of the other things you ate. When you have your celebration meals, remember the rule of not taking second helpings. Develop those good habits which you can take forward.

Remember the exercise. Enjoy your daily walk. Don't forget the oat bran. Remember to keep drinking water and that often when you fancy a snack, you are probably thirsty, so have a glass of water and see if you still want to eat something.

I'll tell you some more about this phase and how it unfolds, including some more graphs of my weight record, over the next few days. 

Lose weight without the drama

In my last post I included a graph showing just how steady and rapid my loss of weight had been as I followed the Dukan Diet. I have to say one of the problems with recounting this story is that there is very little in the way of a story to tell. for a good story you need conflict, challenge, obstacles to overcome. My diet experience had none of that.

I could have been very lucky. I don't expect that everyone has quite such an easy time or such significant and rapid success. 

Have a look at my last post and look at the graph again. It is not a perfectly straight line. Whatever you do however zealously you follow the rules of the diet, there will be days when your weight does not go down and there will even be days when it inexplicably goes up. Whatever your previous history of dieting, has been, do not panic. Do not make a drama out of a minor matter. Persevere and you will see that you will start to get slimmer again. You don't have to starve yourself or look for ever more drastic things to do. Keep doing what you have been doing. Don't go hungry. Above all else keep drinking plenty of water.

There are several things which might make your weightloss slow, or stop or even go into reverse temporarily. If you are eating your lean protein and not eating starchy foods or more than minimal amounts of fat, then it is extremely unlikely that you will be taking on board more exploitable calories than you use. Our activity levels vary, which change the way we use calories. This might make your weight loss curve flatten out. The most likely causes of any halt to slimming or even a reverse will be linked to fluid retention and dietary transit.

Fluid retention is when the body does not allow water to circulate and exit the body. It can be linked to illness, but it will fluctuate naturally. Please don't assume you are unwell if your weight sticks for a couple of days. You will also not resolve fluid retention by drinking less. Strangely enough the opposite is true. Drink more water, watch your salt intake and take a walk. 

Look at what else you are eating. On the days you eat vegetables the fibre these provide can also be the reason for water retention. Understand this fact, but don't worry about it. The fibre is also essential for dietary transit. When only taking protein and the only fibre you consume is the oat bran, this can slow dietary transit and cause some constipation. The fibrous vegetable matter you take on the vegetable days relieve this. I found the actual effect could reverse. This is because it takes time for food to pass through our systems. The days I ate vegetables were the days I found my dietary transit was slower (I hope you appreciate the delicate way I describe a rather indelicate but totally natural business...) The fibre didn't work its way through until I was on a protein only day. 

This is why it is important to keep a diary and possibly plot a graph of your progress. Once you have overcome your first setback and seen how quickly things settle back after a short pause in weightloss and once you have written down the facts about how you handled this, you will be better placed to deal with any subsequent stalling. 

It makes for a boring story, but an easier path to the weight you want to be.     

Weight loss results, my progress record

 

I wanted to show you this chart. I kept a record of my weight loss progress. It was a way of keeping track of where I was on my way to my target weight. I had seen some examples of these charts, so I wanted to be able to reassure myself if things slowed down or if I hit a weightloss plateau. 

On many diets, you start losing weight rapidly but this slows down. I think this is a natural thing because one of the facts about losing weight is that a lighter person needs fewer calories than a heavier one. At the beginning of a weight loss plan, you will be consuming more calories than you will later on. Keeping records, weighing myself often, were part of my plan to get a good idea about my body and how it consumed energy, how my weight would fluctuate. This is a good idea because even over the course of a day, you will see your weight rise and fall. I recorded my weight first thing because this was usually the lowest weight I would be at during a day.

Look at the graph I attached at the top. There are a few hiccups along the line, because there were a few days when I didn't lose any weight or even put some back. Nevertheless the overall path of that line is remarkably straight. There was almost no discernible change in the rate at which I lost weight over the course of the period covered. 

Look at the date line along along the bottom. The whole thing took just two and a half months. 

I would like you to be inspired by my success. I can't guarantee you the same results that I had. No diet will do the work for you. You will need to be motivated and you will do better if you are supported by your friends and loved ones. You need to be honest with yourself and confident to follow the plan. I am showing you what can be done, because I did it. I hope you will be able to achieve something comparable, or perhaps something even better!   

Positive Protein Days

Part of the deal with the Dukan Diet is the Protein Days. Dr Dukan, who has found that his clients (he says patients) respond best to clear instructions, recommends choosing Thursday as the day. During the Cruise phase, every other day is a protein day. After the cruise, during the Consolidation and the Stabilisation - in other words forever - part of the deal is to choose that one day of the week when you only eat lean proteins from the groups in the first part of the plan. In fact there are further restrictions when the other six days are free from any rules other than ones own good sense and the knowledge gained losing weight.

This one day is enough to keep you on track. My weight oscilates like everyone's. It has stayed in a fairly narrow range however. I believe it is the Protein Day which keeps things running that smoothly.

Yesterday was Thursday and I try to stick to that day as the one. If other factors make this impossible, then I'll move it, but only to Wednesday or Friday. Maybe one day even this won't fit my schedule, but for now it is working well.

For breakfast I had my usual fresh-brewed coffee and an oat bran galette with fromage frais and smoked salmon. I took a packed lunch to work. I made a tuna salad from a can of tuna in brine, mixed with fat free fromage frais, some slices of pickled ginger, a couple of pickles and a pickled chili, all well seasoned. I also had a couple of hard boiled eggs and some plane fat free yoghurt. I also had the ubiquitous bottle of water.

For dinner my wife prepared some marinaded grilled chicken breasts and poached eggs. I followed this with a couple of fruit fat free yoghurts. During the day I drank some black coffee and plenty of water. Yesterday morning I weighed 76.8kg, which was fine anyway. This morning I weigh 75.9kg. I just did the maths for my American readers! 169lbs yesterday, down to 167lbs today! No hunger, no suffering. A little self control when the kids are eating biscuits after school. The food I ate was tasty and satisfying.

These rapid continuous results are what keep me convinced this plan was the best thing for me. Today I'll be having a sandwich for lunch with one of those cold sliced chicken breasts, and dinner will be something special - perhaps there'll be a salad and some other vegetables. I'll enjoy some nice Cantal cheese we bought the other day with some more wholemeal bread. 

I have no fear of the scales tomorrow! 

TV show about rapid diet plans

I'll say straight off that this may mean less to my non-UK readers. Please don't let that put you off. 

Channel 4 has a series called "Will My crash Diet Kill Me?". This week they followed four plans, Lighter Life, the Dukan Diet the Juice Diet and the Elimination Diet. Each plan involves some radical changes to your eating patters, but in every case the people who were featured lost from 1lb to 2.1lb a day during the first nine days. (That's 500g to 1kg a day). 

All these diets find ways of restricting calories and help the body live from its fat reserves. The rapid weight losses they all achieved for these people show how effective any disciplined diet programme will be.

There is a belief that rapid weight loss plans - crash diets - are dangerous. As with all these things, the truth is more complicated. There is a body of science which now believes rapid weight loss plans are a good idea for many people because they encourage good motivation and can be a good foundation to improved eating habits. 

The important rules to follow in all cases are:

1. seek medical advice in case of underlying health problems;
2. research the plans you are considering and be aware of any drawbacks;
3. follow the plan exactly;
4. avoid excessive exercise. This last one is important because any plan which severely limits your calorie intake can put a strain on the body and therefore extra stress is unwise.

Look at what we know about the Dukan Diet - the only one I know well. All these points are in the plan. The third point - follow the rules - includes the requirement to drink plenty of water. This is because processing a lot of protein puts stress on the body, but extra water will resolve this. Some people on high meat diets have complained of bad breath, constipation and fatigue. All of these problems will be lessened if you drink over a litre and a half of water a day. 

The Dukan Diet recommends that you should take only light exercise - walking. Dr Dukan advises against taking up sports or other physical activities while on the diet. 

If you live in an area where you can get 4OD to watch this programme, try it. For the rest of us, I'm sorry you haven't been able to see this excellent show. It would be of great help if you need some more encouragement to tackling your weight problems.

I can't eat all that meat!

No matter how much you may know you need to lose weight, it is a big step and you might look for excuses to put off dieting.

I know that some people I have discussed the Dukan Diet with have said they are put off by all the meat they think they will need to eat. If this is putting you off of the plan, then let me reassure you. You don't have to eat more than you want of anything.

The Dukan Diet is a plan which stresses the importance of protein and proposes a plan where for large periods you eat nothing but lean protein foods. I can understand that when you look at the volume of food on your plate currently,  there is perhaps a serving of potatoes, or rice, pasta or some other starches, a selection of vegetables, and then some meat. There is an assumption that eating purely lean protein means replacing the various foods with the same volume of meat. It doesn't. The remarkable thing about eating lean meat is that it is more satisfying and filling than the other foods. You will need to eat more protein rich foods than you would normally serve, but you do not need to replace the volume of food with the same volume of meat. Give yourself a good serving, and eat as much as you like. You should not try to force yourself to eat more than it takes to satisfy your hunger. 

The second point to remember is it is not simply a matter of tucking into steak at every meal. If you like steak, then by all means eat that. Most people like variety. Even during the phases when you are eating purely protein rich foods, there is a lot of choice. Red meat is perhaps one of the most restricted sources of the kind of protein you need for this diet. You should only eat lean beef and veal because many other cuts and certainly the meat from pork or lamb are all too fatty. You can enjoy these later in the plan, but during the main weight loss periods, the Attack and the Cruise phases, you should stick to beef and veal for your red meat. 

But there are other meats besides the red ones. A chicken breast or sliced turkey are delicious. So long as you avoid the skin and the fattier parts, you can eat as much chicken and turkey as you like. This is leaner than beef. You can also enjoy some more exotic meats, such as game. Venison and rabbit, ostrich, or kangaroo meat are all delicious. They are not difficult to obtain and offer some real variety. Their meat is really lean and they are not difficult to prepare in a variety of ways. 

Fish is the best source of protein. Even the fattiest fish is leaner than beef or veal and what is more the fat from fish is extremely good for you. Do not deep fry your fish. There are countless other ways of preparing it. Along with fish, there is shellfish. All of these delicious foods meet the requirements of the Dukan Diet. If you have not eaten fish regularly before, now would be a good time to start experimenting.

Along side your meat, poultry, game and fish, you can enjoy fat free dairy and eggs. Fat free dairy, skimmed milk, eggs and a teaspoon of cornflour will provide you with the basis for most sauces. You can enjoy all the herbs and spices and other flavourings you want. So you do not have to tuck into dry grilled meat.

So if all that meat was putting you off the diet, I hope that excuse is gone! Eat as much as you want, but no more! You won't be able to try all the options you have before the weight is gone. This I know from my own experience. 

I love my rice

My wife is Filipina and I have the privilege of knowing many Asian friends that we have met over the years. Whenever we talk about losing weight, this is the typical comment I hear from them, "I love my rice"!

This isn't a surprise. I've already previously blogged about the eating habits we learn as children and growing up. We are all a product of our upbringing and our cultures and the dominance of rice in the Asian diet is beyond question. Rice was one of the first grains cultivated, and there were paddy fields in Asia when we were eating nuts, berries and whatever we could catch in Europe.

In the Philippines - like in Malaysia, Indonesia and in fact every country in South-East Asia and beyond - rice features as the principal element for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unfortunately the same development that has resulted in weight gain in the West applies to many people in Asia. You could call it the misfortune of wealth. This is because the easy way to avoid the problem is not to get wealthy. I know this wouldn't be a serious option for anyone who can make the choice.

I read recently that the Philippines has the highest rates of obesity in Asia. Why is this? The simple answer is rising standards of living. Traditionally, the Filipinos ate a mainly rice-based diet, with vegetables and relatively little amounts of fish. They combined this with hard physical work. Many people in the Philippines - and the neighbouring countries - still live that way and they are generally not fat!

For the urban Filipino, especially in the larger cities, the problem of weight gain that is so serious in the west is just as pervasive. The urban Filipino who is living better than his countrymen did in his grandfather's time is visiting Goldilocks, Dunkin' Donuts and all the other fine food outlets which surround him. He also eats the foods he used to look forward to at fiestas and parties, but he is eating them every week. The cuisine of the Philippines is a wonderful mixture of elements: Chinese, Malay, Spanish. It is a very distinctive mixture and when we entertain and my wife cooks, it is always a hit. Now that so many Filipinos can eat these special fatty dishes - the lechon, the adobo - all piled up on plenty of rice, unfortunately the calories build up. The urban Filipino goes everywhere in his car and works in an office rather than in the fields as his ancestors did. The sums are the same as everywhere else: eat more than you need and you will get fat.

But what about rice? it is a very good food. White rice provides plenty of energy easily. That's great if you lead a demanding life. I'm afraid, if you want to follow the Dukan Diet, the rice will have to go the way of potatoes, bread, pasta and all the other delicious, energy rich starchy foods we all enjoy.

This only needs to be for the Attack and Cruise phases. The stricter you are during these phases the better -and the faster - will be your success. Then you will get to the Consolidation phase and you can start to reintroduce the wider range of foods.

Here's a suggestion for my rice-loving Asian friends. Dr Dukan recommends that during the Consolidation phase you have two slices of wholemeal bread every day (except the protein day). I suggest that instead of the bread, you could have a cup of brown rice.

You will also have your extra carb meals and your celebration meals, so you'll have other opportunities for some more rice if you want, but to make the diet palatable for those of you who have eaten rice every day - perhaps three times a day - all your life, exchanging the bread for brown rice (or red rice, or wild rice, just not polished white rice) would be the answer. It is also a solution for anyone who wants to stay gluten free.

I would really appreciate it if anyone had some thoughts on this to share with me. I am reluctant to mess around with a formula which worked so well for me, but I think I am applying some logic here which will help people. 

Surprises which come from losing weight

There are some amazing things which happen when you lose weight. I mentioned the smug feeling you get when people comment back in a post entitled "Enjoy the fruits of losing weight" which I posted back on 11 December last year.


A few other thoughts on that. Obviously I'm slimmer. So much so that hardly any of my clothes fit properly - except those I've bought since losing weight of course! The things I didn't expect, because I didn't think about it, are my watches and rings becoming loose. "Rings"! I only wear two, my wedding band and a ring which was my father's engagement ring. They were virtually stuck on my hands before, yet now slip off easily. I never thought I had fat hands!


My collar bone has reappeared. 


More significant changes are that I find I have to arrange my chair differently at work. I get closer to my desk! This is very important and has meant I am much more comfortable when I work. At first I didn't realise what had happened and wondered why my arms were stretched out. As a result the minor backache which bothered me has gone. Driving is more comfortable. I have so much more room in the car.


My energy levels have improved. I have more stamina and don't get tired so quickly. I guess when I was lugging those extra forty pounds around I was wearing myself out.  I walk further, more comfortably.


a few other health issues. I was prone to "pins and needles". Laying in bed I would have to be careful how I lay to ensure I didn't find my arm going numb. This difficulty has simply gone. My used to tell my I snored. Of course I never believed her, but now she says I don't. My weight lose has affected either her hearing or my snoring...

All these extra bonuses were totally unexpected. There is a word that I have used too often here, but it is significant: "comfortable". That is the key. I didn't particularly realise how uncomfortable it was to be so fat because I'd gained the weight over a number of years and found ways to accommodate the inconvenience. Shedding the fat has rid me of a burden I didn't realise I had and now I am reaping benefits I never expected! If you need any further motivation, there it is.  

Diet update

I've been providing background, and details of how the diet went along. I thought you might be interested in where I am today. I haven't really finished the Dukan Diet because it's a plan that effectively goes on for your whole life. It's not as intimidating as that sounds. 

I'm into the third stage called the Consolidation Phase. This is a period of readjustment, when you gradually go back to not following so many rules about what you eat. It's a long phase, but it is useful to prevent that rebound effect that so many diet plans have. How many times have you seen people who lose weight, only to put it all back, and more, very shortly after losing all the weight? Has this happened to you? That might be why you found my blog.

There is a simple fact: after losing weight you cannot simply go back to the eating habits - and lifestyle - that you followed before you slimmed down. You got fat doing what you did before and you will get fat again if you go back to that. In fact it is potentially worse, because your calorie needs are partially defined by your size; a larger person uses more calories than a smaller one, for a given activity. 

There is also a theory proposed by Dr Dukan, which I am not sure about. He says that our metabolism has a memory. If you have been fat for a long time, your body believes that the fatter version is the right one and the slimmer one you have created is an aberration. In other words, as soon as you start to eat more, your body will run at a lower pace in order to restock the depleted fat reserves. It is therefore essential to spend am extended period after losing weight on a controlled diet to get past the body's "natural tendency" to become fat again. 

Whether this is true or not, one thing is true, people who have been seriously overweight do gain weight easier than those who have not. This is no reason to give up the battle. We start with a fixed number of fat cells. When we eat more calories than we consume the body turns the excess into fat and stores this in the fat cells. I have described this natural process before and explained why evolution has selected this solution for us - and as far as I can work out, most animals. When the fat cells are all as full as possible, the body has nowhere left to store the fat. If however we continue to consume more than we need, the body cannot waste that calorie bank. So the fat cells divide. You end up with more fat cells, and more place to store your fat forever. I think this happens when the bmi reaches 31, or thereabouts. Having a greater volume of fat cells makes it easier for the body to gain weight. This isn't going to change, unless, I suppose one resorts to liposuction (in other words surgery) to remove those cells. I do not recommend anyone going under the knife.

So the Consolidation phase is either intended to outsmart the body's natural tendency to regain weight, or it is simply a way to outsmart your old habits and learn new eating behaviour to ensure you can carry on with your life a master of your weight, not its slave.

Either way, it works. I entered the Consolidation phase weighing 77.3kg. That is a healthy weight for someone of my height and build. Today I weigh 76.6kg and I have spent virtually the whole of the Consolidation Phase under the weight at which I started it. My weight has remained in a tight band between 76 and 77kg, occasionally slightly over or under. I eat more than when I was losing weight and most of the time eat pretty freely, not subject to the restrictions which applied during the Attack or Cruise phases. I have been following this phase since mid October and I will finish it in March - I'm over half way through and gaining confidence that this plan will ensure I eat a healthy, balanced but above all pleasurable diet without getting fat again. That's what we all seek.   

Continuing the Cruise Phase of the Dukan Diet: Dealing with setback

A couple of days ago I started to tell you about my experience on the Cruise Phase of the Dukan Diet. This is the time when the diet delivers the real results and gets you to the weight you want to be.

Despite claims that it is complicated, it is simply a matter of alternating the protein only days with protein and vegetable days. It is surprising to discover just what you can eat within these restrictions. I have said it many times before, but I was never hungry or dissatisfied with what I ate during the diet. 

It was when I reached the thirteenth day that the scales showed my weight was 89.6kg. The first time it was below 90kg. (90kg is more or less 200lbs, so it is just as important a landmark in imperial measurements!) This was a tremendous feeling of achievement. I was still eating galette for breakfast everyday, either with lean turkey or chicken slices. Occasionally I had what became my favourite: smoked salmon and fat free fromage frais on the galette. That is a really luxurious breakfast treat. For a more substantial meal, you can add a poached egg.

By this stage I had already experienced the first setback. As early as day six I saw my weight go up for no apparent reason. After nine days (adding the Attack) of steady weight loss this was traumatic! In the early stages of a diet it is easy to be discouraged. You aren't confident about what you are doing and, if you have been overweight for a long time you will have the nagging feeling that nothing is going to work. If you've tried other diets in the past and failed, you are sure to respond badly to any setback.

All kinds of things can change the way we lose weight. It is perfectly natural for progress to be erratic, to stop or even to go into reverse for brief periods. Subtle changes in activity, climate, health etc can change the way we retain water or all sorts of other factors which will result in a sudden halt in weight loss. 

Remember that the change is temporary. If you simply continue with the diet plan, your weight should start to go down again after a couple of days. If it hasn't in three days, consider whether you have drunk enough water, or whether you have kept up the walking. Drinking more water helps the movement of food through the system and assists the metabolic processes. 

Water is also a factor in another matter. Constipation. The restricted diet can have an unsettling effect on your regularity, especially on the days when you don't eat vegetables. The only fibre you are getting is the oat bran. Drinking plenty of water is the best way to keep things moving normally. 

There were a couple of times during the Cruise Phase that my weight either stopped going down, or even went up briefly. Having stuck to the plan the first time and then seen things get back on track, I was less concerned when it happened again. I kept records of my declining weight and could see on a graph how I was progressing. The setbacks were tiny blips on a steady downward trend. You will see this for yourself. Stick to the plan and watch the fat fall off! 

 

Exercise for the Dukan Diet Part two

Yesterday I posted on the power of walking. The easy exercise we can all do that adds to the calorie burn.

It is advisable to do some toning exercises while losing weight. Dr Dukan's books explain these very well.

He advocates a few simple exercises, which can easily be performed first thing. He suggests you do them while you are still in bed. I'd have to say that is not a good idea if you share your bed and have to get up before your partner! The exercises are not that vigorous, but it would be difficult for someone in the same bed to sleep through the routine.

I also believe in a bit of a warm up before any exercise. You should have a stretch first. Stretch your arms up above your head and rise onto your toes, count to ten and relax. Twist your upper body, first to the left, then the right. go as far as you can to the point when you feel the stretch, count to ten and relax. Put your elbow up vertically, take hold of it with your other hand, push it back, just until you feel the stretch, count to ten, relax and repeat on the other arm. Then pull each knee up as far as you can towards your chest, pulled up by your arms, in the same way. The thing about stretching is to just push it to the point where you feel the pull. I usually then bend a knee, letting the other leg stretch behind. I go as low as I can, hold as before then straighten up. Finally I try to touch my toes. I have not been able to reach them since I was in my teens - and even then it was a struggle. I just bend over as far as I can, feel the stretch and relax. I notice I get a little lower every day.

All this stretching is very gentle. You do what you can and if you haven't taken any physical exercise in a while this is a very gentle way to fire up the muscles. All this activity fires up the metabolism and raises your calorie burn, even after you stop.

The exercises themselves are again very gentle. Dr Dukan recommends some sit ups. Lay on the bed, or the sofa if your partner is still sleeping, put a pillow under your shoulders, raise your knees, then try to sit up, bending from the waist. Get as high as you can, hold for a second then lay down. Do as many as you can. Ideally start with twenty and build up to thirty. If you can't manage twenty, do what you can. As you get used to it, get lighter through the diet and as your muscles gain strength, you will do more. Do the same exercise, but put your hands around your knees and pull with your arms as well. Try the same number of repetitions. These exercises tone your stomach and shoulders.

Another good exercise, but more strenuous than you think, is to stand up, feet shoulder width apart. Then drop onto your haunches and stand up. Once again aim for twenty repetitions initially. This will shape your buttocks and thighs.

I also try some inclined press ups. I must stress that if you find it to much, don't do this, or don't do to many. Take up a position like for a press up, but with your hands on a kitchen worktop, or similar surface. Straighten your body and then do press ups. The incline takes a lot of the weight of your body off your arms and shoulders. 

As you lose weight, these exercises help your body to resume its normal shape without the fat. The high protein content of your meals helps this process and ensures your skin stays healthy but the exercise works wonders. It also raises the metabolism and therefore the calorie consumption.

Do what you can, either straight away or after you have shed the initial pounds. You will feel better and will note a sense of achievement if you have been inactive for a long time. It will speed up the weight loss, too. 

The last element to a successful Dukan Diet

I've been through the elements of the Dukan Diet - if not all the phases.I've told you about the foods that are in the diet - the most important part of a slimming diet is what you eat, after all. I've explained about the importance of protein, of oat bran and drinking plenty of water. 

Apart from what you eat - and what you don't - the other element is exercise. A lot of people run a mile at the thought. When I explained why I believe so many people are fat I suggested it was simply the ready availability of food, coupled with the easier lives we can now enjoy. Getting fat is usually simple maths. If we take in more calories than we burn, we put on weight. Losing weight is a combination of taking in less calories and using the ones we take in, and more. 

The exercise Dr Dukan recommends is very simple: walking. During the Attack phase, you should walk for twenty minutes a day. This should rise to thirty minutes during the Cruise. Part of the plan to stay trim after losing the weight is to maintain the habit of walking every day.

It is very easy not to walk. We can slip into the habit of getting in the car every time we want to go somewhere - even the shortest trips become a drive. My advice is to try to break this habit. whenever possible, don't take the car. You can find the time for the half hour walk in the diet. Add to that with a few short walks, whether to buy your paper, or to meet the children from school. The school run in the car gives the kids a bad start to their own future health and exercise ideas. You may not want them walking on their own. Why not walk them to school, and meet them on foot as well? This isn't for everyone, depending on how far school is, or whether you have to commute a distance and don't have the time to spend walking in the mornings. If that's the case, you'll have to use the car, but look at other occasions and try to leave it parked as often as possible.

Walking is an ideal exercise. You have all the equipment you need! You don't need a coach, you don't need training and you don't need to pay for membership of the pavements and parks! You most likely already own the right clothes as well. You can often combine it with other errands, like school runs, getting to work or shopping. It's less time consuming.

Walking adds a pleasure to your day. You can take those thirty minutes and use them to order your thoughts, or to look at your surroundings. You gain in so many ways. 

When you walk, try to walk briskly. Stand straight, hold your shoulders back and your head up. Breathe deeply as you walk and go at the fastest pace that is comfortable for you. As you progress through the diet, your muscles will become stronger and you will get lighter, making it easier to go further and faster. Even if it is raining or cold, you can walk outside. Some of the snow we have had lately would make it tricky, I agree, but it is better to walk in the real world where your pace varies the surface goes up and down and the view is more varied, than to get on a walking machine.

Make the most of your walk and as you get more used to it, don't feel obliged to stop at thirty minutes. If you want to walk for longer, go ahead! 

There are two other bits of exercise in Dr Dukan's plan, but I'll save them for next time...

Starting the Cruise phase of the Dukan Diet

A couple of days ago I described the brief Attack phase that launched this diet for me. I told you how the three days on a virtually exclusive pure protein diet gave my slimming a kick start and put me into a metabolic state called ketosis. 

The second phase is called the Cruise. This is the period of the diet when the rest of the excess weight is lost. During this time I alternated days of pure protein, like during the Attack, with days of pure protein and vegetables. The food is therefore more balanced and there is plenty of fibre in meals. There are only insignificant amounts of starchy foods and fats. The two main sources of calories are all but eliminated. Vegetables will include small amounts of sugars and starches and even the leanest meat has some fat in it. The important thing is the foods are filling and satisfying without providing calories in bulk and in forms easy for the body to exploit.

I recently read that the Dukan Diet is considered complicated. This surprised me. Counting calories is complicated. Pouring over charts of the calorific values of different foods, weighing every serving would be a burden. The Dukan Diet is simplicity itself. There is a list of foods you can eat, and you eat them until you have had enough! The proteins allowed are lean beef and veal, chicken and turkey, fish and shellfish. Eggs are allowed (unless you have a cholesterol problem). You can have fat free dairy products. The vegetables are even simpler. No starchy vegetables, like rice, potatoes, grains and pulses are allowed. No fruits (although things like tomatoes, squash etc, which are technically fruit are allowed). Mushrooms are fine. When it comes to preparing these foods, don't fry them in oil or butter or do any preparation involving fats. (A wipe of oil in a non-stick pan is permitted).

Not eating starchy foods is not good for the health. While this is true in the long term, the diet only requires you to give up the carbs while losing weight. The later stages reintroduce them along with the whole range of other foods you may want.

I started the Cruise diet weighing 93.2kg. I had lost 1.6kg over the three days of the Attack and felt very confident. Looking at the diary I kept of my meals, I see that I had an oat bran galette with a slice of lean chicken for breakfast - and fresh coffee. My lunch was lean turkey ham and a couple of plain fat free yoghurts. I had a couple of raw carrots as an afternoon snack. Dinner was some grilled chicken breasts, which had been rubbed with a chili spic mix. I accompanied that with a green salad, dressed with a low fat vinaigrette. I had a fat free fruit yoghurt for desert. As well as a couple of coffees and teas through the day, I drank two litres of water.  I ate my fill of all these foods and I was neither hungry nor craving to eat more. 


I weighed myself the following morning and found I was down to 92.8kg! This second day of the cruise was a protein only day. I had a similar breakfast to the first day - two tablespoons of oat bran a day is a good start to breakfast. I had quite a lot of breakfast: a chicken breast (left over from the evening before) some lean chicken ham, a couple of hard boiled eggs and plain yoghurt. When it was dinner time I had grilled tuna and yoghurt. It is a good job I enjoy my yoghurt! There are recipes in the Dukan diet book and Recipe book for low fat deserts. I have not tried them, although a couple of them look very tasty.


I drank two litres of water during that day and had a number of cups of tea and coffee, as usual. I used skimmed milk in my hot drinks and now I still do. I have not normally had full cream milk in tea since semi skimmed became regularly available. 


At the start of the third day of my diet, I weighed just 92.3kg. I had lost 900g in two days - two pounds! By the way, 93.2kg is 205lbs - or 14st 9lbs. 92.3kg is 203lbs or 14st 7lbs. 


The food was tasty and plentiful and the rapid weight loss was encouraging. I felt healthy and energetic. Each day I was taking a half hour brisk walk and I was doing everything I could to avoid lifts and escalators. They can frankly be difficult to eliminate entirely in a city like Paris. My compromise was when I could find no way out of a metro other than on an escalator, I walked up it! The metro is quite old in Paris and there are enough stations which have no escalator, or have stairs as well, so there are only a few stations where this is a real problem.


I will tell you some more over the next few days. I hope my experience is encouraging.

Getting Help

Having told you that losing weight is up to you, I can reassure you that you are unlikely to be doing this alone. We do not live in isolation. It is very unlikely that you live and work without contact with other people. If you have a family, your family members will be involved. If you live with friends or a partner, then you will have to explain to them what you are doing because they will be affected. Your friends, acquaintances and colleagues have a role in your plans. 

There is also professional help to consider. There are professional dietitians, your GP and other health practitioners who will support your efforts. The growing weight problem of the UK population is recognised as a health risk and therefore a major and increasing cost for the National Health Service. The French authorities also recognise this problem and the social costs that face the state, not to mention the human cost of potential illness, lost days working, health treatment, stress and so forth. All the countries in the developing world face the same challenge. Unless there are specific medical conditions which make following the plan I advocate undesirable for you, your health professionals will not discourage you from following this plan. If this plan is not for you, they will nevertheless support your desire to lose weight.

The Dukan Diet offers a counselling support service. I did not use it, but when I explain how I lost weight, I would encourage you to look at the support on offer by the programme. More of that later.

Assuming you live with others, share meals with others, then those people will need to know of your plans. I recommend in any case that you should treat mealtimes as social occasions. Households which sit together for their meals as often as possible are usually happier. Eating proper meals is also a good dietary practice. It is not possible to do this for every meal every single day but I have known families which have abandoned communal meals altogether. Each member of the family prepares something different whenever they fancy eating. Meals are taken from a tray, cookers and microwaves run twenty times a day, there is a tendency towards ready meals. It is easy to overeat when you follow this pattern. There is no point being over idealistic. A family which can take every single meal together is very fortunate, but I think a family should try to eat together at least once a day most days.

If you have decided to change the way you eat, you will need to tell those closest to you. They should understand what you are going to eat and what you intend to avoid. This is crucial if you do not prepare the food, or do the shopping. It is equally important to explain why you are possibly buying different things and preparing the meals differently if ever you cook or go shopping. 

Your family, your partner or your housemates should be pleased for you and encouraging. They will see that this is important to you and that you have set yourself a target. They will be curious about what you are going to do. Your spouse or partner may, if they also have a weight problem, be inspired to lose weight with you. If this happens, it is a very good thing. If you can do this together, it will be easier, since you can keep preparing food to share and you can encourage and support one another on the path to your desired weight. It is good for a couple to do things together; this can bring you closer. Even if no one else is going to join you, they will understand why you perhaps decline to share the takeaway curry or the visit to the fish and chip shop. 

As far as your workmates or other friends are concerned, you should also find most are supportive. Whether you feel the need to tell everyone straight off what you are doing depends on you and them. If you have regular lunch partners at work, then they will either have to be told or will quickly find out that you are changing your lunch habits. You will then have to explain what is going on out of common courtesy.

In any case you will find your colleagues are supportive. I did not immediately tell people what I was doing. Believe it or not, I am quite a private person, reticent about sharing and particularly reticent about sharing failure. I thought that if everyone knows I am taking this on only to fail, or give up quickly, then I will look stupid. I also feared derisory and discouraging comments which might have weakened my resolve. I did not fail quickly. I found however after a week of turning down chocolates and putting off lunch invitations I was obliged to explain. The response was positive from everyone I work with. As you will see, the weight loss from the plan produces fast, visible results. Others will notice and comment, and then you will feel as I did and be proud to say what you are doing.

I was wrong not to have told my friends and colleagues what I was up to. The support I received was almost universal. The positive energy from this encouraged me to stick to my plan. This may have been related to my fear of public failure; once others know I was more determined than ever to stick to my guns and see the plan through. In fact my workmates asked whether there was anything they should do, whether they should hide the biscuits or at least not eat them in front of me. They enquired about my progress and complimented me on my slimmer appearance. 

That is worth more than gold as you progress. You will see yourself in the mirror and you will be able to compare photos of yourself to see how you are changing. Being told you look good by someone else will raise your self-esteem and reinforce the positive side of what you are doing. Getting professional help is up to you and if you find having a trained support available then you should choose that option. Receiving an unsolicited compliment is both surprising and priceless.

Despite your possible concerns, you are almost certainly surrounded by an unpaid support network who will encourage you, point out the positive and will maybe even join you on your path to a slimmer you. But what about the pessimists? I feared doubters, and derision. There were a very few among my circle. There was one person who had heard very negative reports about the plan I chose to follow. It turned out that this person had unsuccessfully tried to lose weight and had not actually tried what I did. If you have tried other ways of losing weight unsuccessfully, perhaps someone might be sceptical about your ability to stay the course. 

Even though you will undoubtedly get more positive responses than negative ones, I will spend some time on this. Negative comments weigh heavily, whatever it is about. I once read that one needs three positives to balance a single negative.

Consider first of all what you think about the negative comment. It may be true; you may have tried unsuccessfully to diet in the past. For whatever reason that diet did not work. Analyse that if you want. The important point here – the positive point – is that you want to try to lose weight now. You have found another system to achieve what you realise you need to achieve and you have set out to reach your goal. Others may have found fault with the plan you want to try. This does not mean it will not work for you. You could think about why that person is dismissive of your ideas or doubts the weight loss programme you have chosen to try. Maybe this tells you more about them than what you want to do. If they are overweight then this probably reveals something about their psyche and their commitment.

It is not difficult to put those bad vibes into context and realise they have little worth. The truth is that you have nothing to prove to anyone else. You have decided to lose weight because you are fat and you don’t want to be fat anymore. 

What would you do if someone you knew who was overweight and told you they were going to diet? I hope you would be pleased for them and encouraging. The majority of people around you will be. Take that and be grateful and encouraged by the support. Anyone who does not join the ranks of supporters is entitled to their opinion but you do not have to listen to their negative comments. You know enough about what you are doing and, if you have taken medical advice before starting to lose weight, you know the plan is good. You know you have the strength of character to see this through. You also know that you are doing this for yourself. It will be very good to show those around you who encourage you that they have backed a winner. It will be fine for your doubters to find that despite their negativity, you reached your target and have not rebounded back to being a fat person. With a bit of luck this will encourage them to be more positive and maybe if they are also overweight they will learn from your example and try to lose weight. If you find that is true, remember how important the positive comments were to you on your journey. Be encouraging.

 Do not worry. There may be no one who suggests anything negative. You will get far more positive support and you should be encouraged. You do not need anyone to tell you that you are doing the right thing. That does not change the fact that it is very good to hear it. Buoyed up by this support, reassured by unsolicited encouraging remarks, your objective will be all the easier to reach. 

Do not be afraid to speak to your friends if you have hard patches. I would suggest you rely most on your closest circle. If you want to vary your diet, explain the things you can eat and maybe your partner can think of a way of making this more varied or interesting. My wife was particularly ingenious at this. When she realised how effective the diet was, she became determined to support me and as she does most of the cooking, worked very hard to prepare me a range of delicious satisfying meals which follow the guidance of the plan very closely. I am very fortunate and knew that before I began to lose weight. You will find that those closest to you, those who want you to succeed will be glad to put their minds to the question of finding interesting, tasty dishes.

You may have friends who have already successfully lost weight. Speak to them about what they did. It may be they reached their goals by a similar method, in which case so much the better. They will be pleased to share their experiences. Take help wherever you find it, so long as it is compatible with your plan.

Do not forget your professional support. Your doctor can provide advice. If you opt for the support package which goes with the diet plan, use it. There is also a lot of assistance available from people you don’t know who are following the same plan as you. Check the internet. You will find several blogs from others who either already have lost the weight they wanted to lose, or are on the way. I will not single out any particular blogs, except this one, because I have not looked at them all. If you want to interact with other dieters this way, I invite you to test your favourite search engine and find what is out there.