Consolidation Dukan Did It...DukanNotSoFattys Conso Story

I figured I'd best start a new diary for my Consolidation Phase. There are bound to be just as many ups and downs as there were in the Cruise Phase.

Brief summary so far

Started Dukan on Monday 18th June 2012 18st ¼lb
Achieved True Weight Saturday 8th June 2013 11st 6½lb
Total Loss 6st 7¾lb


So I'm on day three of conso and have decided that Mondays are going to be my PP days. Main reasons for this is because very little happens on that day, I tend to use the day for tidying, baking, batch cooking, banking...so it means that I aren't going to be missing the veg or bread etc., I am planning to change my official weigh day to a Tuesday, Starch day will be a Wednesday and Celebration Meal will nearly always be a Saturday. That way I am leaving a full day between every occasion.

I'm a little nervous about having 2 slices of bread and 40g cheese as it seems a lot when you look at it on the plate, so I am slowly introducing it by half at a time. I have bought a small wholemeal hovis loaf. The slices are slightly smaller than normal and I think two of them will fall within the right weight of bread. I decided to wait until next weekend before my first celebration meal too.

On Saturday my first Conso day I had an apple chopped up with my breakfast yogurt and 20g cheese with my lunch. I didn't have any bread but I did cheat slightly and have 7 tiny chips from my daughter's plate and a single piece of chocolate from the Galaxy Cookie bar my DD had save me from Easter.

Sunday was a totally different day....started really well. I had some melon at breakfast. I had 1 slice of bread toasted with my lunch and 20g cheese. After tea DD and I sat to watch BGT recorded and I had another piece of the chocolate bar..............and that started the binge........I ate the rest of the bar (4pcs), some choc M&Ms (about 10), some sweets (about 6) and a small bag of French fries Crisps. All before bedtime.

What keeps going round in my head and I keep asking is if I had a celebration meal would the carbs and fat content have been as bad as all the sweets and chocolates. Should I feel sooo guilty about the confectionary. I do feel guilty, but it was like a switch had been flipped that said, you're at your target now, you can have these....its ok go ahead.

But its not ok, not be a long shot, and the feeling last night and my thoughts this morning has given me an insight into how easy it could be to fall into the bad habits again....so armed with this knowledge I will be very carefully monitoring what I do.

So PP Day for me today and my food plan is:

BF Porridge and Yogurt
LN 2 Boiled Eggs Mashed with Frais / Dukan Bread / Jelly n Soya Yogurt.
TE Herby Chicken with Herby Cottage Cheese / Muffin

The Soya yogurt caused me to have another moment of indecision as well. I know that the PP day is a return right back to basics back to Attack. Which means no tolerateds, and being careful what I do eat, but although I did have, occasionally, Soya Tofu during cruise, I didn't know if soya products are allowed in Attack. Having made this yogurt I suddenly realised I didn't know if I could have it today. So a look thru all my books found me one sort of answer, that on PP days he recommends you limit the lactose you have. As Soy Milk is lactose free and my yogurt was home made with soya milk I decided that yes its ok as its lactose free and full of protein. Probably completely wrong there...oops hope not.

I can see how Conso is going to be hard, though once I get into the swing of it I imagine it will be like cruise and a just a case of planning ahead. I haven't decided when to have my bread or cheese in the day, but am likely to stick to having the fruit at breakfast. I'm having egg noodles on Weds for my first starch meal, don't really fancy pasta so hoping this is ok. And my celebration meal on Saturday is a Jacket Potato with Beef Salad, with a bowl of chipsticks...not ideal I know, but its something I have missed and rather than cheat if I have it with my meal as my 'pudding&wine' LOL, I can control it.

Soooo.....all those that have followed my story with my Cruise diary, I hope you'll join me and read my Conso exploits

Good luck and look forward to reading your conso story xxx

Woop woop, you go girl! Seriously, you should be so proud of what you have already achieved! Once you get in a routine with Conso it should be easier I hope. xx

Thanks guys, that's what I'm hoping CD. Today, my PP day, has obviously gone well LOL, because I know what I'm doing. Tomorrow I am planning to have some Melon for breakfast with my Porridge and then take DD to school and join her for a slice of toast at Breakfast Club. They've been selling to kids and parents since November, but this is the first time I will have been able to join her. Can't wait.

My sister visited tonight and when she was leaving said, I don't want to hug you, you might break LOL...........silly sister. Year before last she lost loads of weight, what with one thing and another she has put a lot back on and obviously I have gone the other way for the first time ever, and its so strange to see my little sister and me be lower weight than her....but as I said to her. You will get back there one day.

Right, off to bed now, got last minute prep stuff tomorrow for DD trip, and been asked to work lunchtime. Lots of running around tomorrow with one thing and another.

You are so so organised Karin!!! I'm sure you'll do brilliant on conso - looking at your stats we are nearly the same but I started off a bit heavier than you - you've done amazing - well done and enjoy conso I have my bread and cheese for supper as a toastie!! And to be quite honest I often forget about my starch days so I just have them when I remember - usually just wholemeal pasta in a bowl which I pick at - good luck you superstar!!!

scooter said:

You are so so organised Karin!!! I'm sure you'll do brilliant on conso - looking at your stats we are nearly the same but I started off a bit heavier than you - you've done amazing - well done and enjoy conso I have my bread and cheese for supper as a toastie!! And to be quite honest I often forget about my starch days so I just have them when I remember - usually just wholemeal pasta in a bowl which I pick at - good luck you superstar!!!

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Thanks Scooter, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with it at the moment. I have my menu printed out so I can make sure I am having the right stuff, but I am not convinced I am doing it right, yet I know really I am LOL.

For instance today I had a slice of toast at breakfast club with my DD. I had some melon with my breakfast. I had some small slices of baguette at teatime...end cuts off a loaf only. and half my cheese on my cheeseburger pie. So from what I am actually allowed I had nearly all of it, just half the cheese not had....but I feel as though I have cheated and not eaten right....it was mainly the teatime bread that did that to me.....but I know the tiny bits I cut off wouldn't have made a full slice of bread. I had laid them next to each other they would have been about ¾ of a slice....so I have nothing to feel guilty about. I think part of it is that I am no longer counting my dairy or eggs which I have done for so long that I think I might be eating too much dairy now........but am I LOL.

Oh I know after a few weeks of seeing the results I will know its working, but it doesn't help does it after so long at following one way we have to change and follow another and we end up second guessing ourselves LOL.

Tomorrow is supposed to be my starch day but not sure I want it to be honest, I'll see how I feel tomorrow.

DD is going on her school trip tomorrow, away till Friday which is her birthday. Will be strange not seeing her first thing on her birthday. I am terrible, I worry about everything and have gone thru things with her so many times, cases/sleeping/activities etc LOL, daft eh, she knows exactly what shes doing but she's my little baby....still!!!!! Despite being 11 on Friday

I've really enjoyed reading your diary to date, and shall look forward to the next episode. That little teeny tiny overeat on day 1 is probably a good thing, as it's given you a small taster of how awkward leaving ketosis can be, but you pulled back immediately and had a successful PP day (not an easy feat!).

As for whether this amount of bread or cheese is "right", as you say, I think you're probably very aware of weights and measures and quantities because you always calculated so carefully your intake in cruise. Once you've seen how this Conso system works to stabilise your weight loss, you'll feel more confident, I'm sure.

I'm very proud of you!

I'm sure you're fine Karin xx just take conso at a pace that is right for you - I was weeks before I added starch meals - and still haven't had a gala - but that's the way I want to do it - I'm happy and my body is happy - everyone is different and everyone deals with situations differently - I'm not sure I could pull myself back on track after a gala so I just eat as much fruit as I want instead - although I am over the alcohol issue as I had a full bottle of wine the other night!!! - Sidd would be proud!! Ha ha - take it at your pace Karin don't think you have to add everything at once - and I'm sure you'll be surprised how hard one pp day a week is!! I hate pp thurs and sometimes make it a wed just to get it over with!! chill Mrs you're doing great xx

thank you both of you, I have to say this morning I'm in quite a bit of anguish because I had a gain and am convinced it was the bread and cheese....so I am going to do this very very very slowly. No starch to start with as for gala meals, we will see. Perhaps one slice of bread a day and a piece of fruit to start with.

Having said that, I know that many people have approached Conso in exactly the way its written and haven't gained at all. Or at least only gain within a pound or so. I don't know how long most people have waited to have their gala meals after reaching Conso, because of my blip it basically meant it was straight away and I reckon I should have waited. I'm just going to take it a day at a time (obviously) and then if I feel as though I've gained too much by the end of the week I'll just do a couple of PV days without the allowances.

Someone on here jigged it all about so that she started with half the allowances and that was all, can't remember who. Oh goodness me, stop waffling and just do it eh??? LOL, ignore me, am just being daft. We get so obsessed with the losing weight part, that its suddenly very very scary to worry about staying that weight.

I know that there is no way I can say its gone wrong when I am only in the first week of Conso, I mean honestly I have to give it a chance eh? But starch and gala can wait for a wee while I think. Having said that, there will be cake on Friday...hmmm maybe that can be starch LOL. Can't miss having a piece of DD cake.

Food today so far has been pretty much a PV day with

BF Porridge and Yogurt
LN Seaweed with Salmon & Crabstix rolled inside, asparagus too. Dukan bread with Lemon Curd
TE Tuna steak with Salad and remaining bread/muffin
SP Might just have an apple.

I'm with you all the way - we've been on such a long journey and this is another stage of that journey so it's bound to be daunting - I remember tasting bread for the first time in a year and my stomach was making all sorts of noises - dont think it could remember what bread was!!! You are bound to be apprehensive it's been a long journey and its not over yet!!! Just take it slowly and that way you can break it In gently you'll be fine xx

Hi Karin, just subscribing.

good luck in conso, you will crack this hun x

thanks Scooter. After my last post I did some googling to see what people have gone thru when starting Conso. I found a few people all saying the same thing about a slight gain or even that they were nervous LOL, one or two even had a gala meal straight away so I don't feel quite to worried about it now. I had a talk with Hubby and he said what you'll need to do is decide just what your range is, decide maybe that a gain of up to 4lb and under TW of 4lb is a happy medium so that I don't obsess about being 11st 7lb exactly. That actually got thru to me....I'm not saying I will not obsess in the future but I realised that its unrealistic to expect that I will stay the same weight from now on, that I am bound to go up and down.

So I had my bread and cheese and fruit LOL.

Had an orange for my pudding. Yum. Then had cheese on toast for supper. Oh that was so so nice. I like my toast crispy and wholemeal bread toasts very nicely. Sliced cheese and just lay it on the top, no melting. YUM!!!!

I am only going to weigh twice a week. Tuesday after my PP day and Friday before the weekend when I will have a celebration meal. If I go more than 4lb over target I am going to do a few strict PV days with reduced allowances. I think that will help me, and keep me on track otherwise I am going to go insane with this. Its all about finding that happy medium isn't it....and hopefully I've had a lightbulb moment and found it.

Thank goodness for your husband talking complete sense...... Don't forget that over the week whilst on cruise your weight was fluctuating by a couple of pounds at a time and at the end of the day it all came out in the wash????! Your weight fluctuations in conso will still happen so your dear husband has hit the nail on the head!!!! RELAX and follow the rules - the only reason people like me failed at conso is cos we didn't follow the rules!!! BTW talking about rules DD birthday cake doesn't count as a starch portion!!! SORRY!!! LOLOLOL! xxxxxxxx

Dukan Did It! Love it

P x

Hubby has certainly talked a lot of sense there. Follow Conso to the letter for the first few months - easy because there are just as many rules as there are for Cruise - and your body will get used to its new size. Stabilisation is the hard bit because you have to make choices all the time! x

Karin I have a tolerance too. Mine is 4lb over lol but never go to the lower figure. Im at top now but Im sticking to conso and if thing don't move then Ill pp a couple of days, In my opinion your hubby talks a lot of sense xxx

Thank you everyone, he's been great during the diet, lots of support and motivation and obviously seeing me talk non stop about it, its sunk in with him and he's put it in the words I needed to hear.

trudyc said:

BTW talking about rules DD birthday cake doesn't count as a starch portion!!! SORRY!!! LOLOLOL! xxxxxxxx

Awwww not fair LOl


So today I had a bit of starch...and I had all my allowances. Actually thank goodness for the bread, went with Hubby to a meeting that is another kind of agency in the hope they can help him get a job, recommended by the job centre, and have a decent rate of re-employment...so we will see. Anyhoo...we were late back as I needed to get to school to work lunch duty, so I quickly made a beef sandwich with my two slices of wholemeal bread and yum!!! had my cheese on my teatime quorn burger and an orange for breakfast. The orange was soo yummy, had almost forgotten what it could taste like. Hmmm.

Got a kiwi fruit for tomorrow. Hmmm.

My baby girl is home tomorrow, and she's 11. Ok so not my baby girl anymore, but you know where I'm coming from eh LOL Apparently they went kayaking this morning, only two of the boys fell into the water, I had images of my DD going for a swim LOL.

Right off to bed so the day comes a bit faster LOL. xx

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Awh Karin you are a worrier! "In my day" (ok ok yeah it was a long time ago), he advised once a week weighing on Conso only - the morning after the PP day. (The problem with a lot of the advice I received when moving over is that it came from people who were paying to consult with him in his Paris office, and so it's not documented in his book.) It makes sense to me though, and your husband cracked it immediately. Obviously there will be weight fluctuations during a week for anyone, let alone someone reintroducing food groups not seen for months! (I can never understand why people weigh in after gala meals either!).

As Sara says, do your Conso following the rules. OK some take it slower, and who am I to challenge that given my lack of success on Conso (although the weight consolidation/stabilisation will obviously be a heck of a lot slower and the period far longer if avoiding reintroducing things!).

Enjoy your time with your daughter! How lovely to see a Mum so excited about having her daughter home (makes me think of my Mum and I know she'd have been just the same when I'd come home from London or Paris!)

Oh Karin good gal - you are rocking conso! Happy 11th Birthday to DD - hope she has a lovely day when she gets home! x

Karin, your new photo is absolutely fab, you look awesome! DD must be proud too!