Don't have time for Dukan anymore :(

[bijouxdolly]

Is anyone else finding it hard to do Dukan properly when you are time constrained? I'm at uni full time (in my final year) and working full time and I just don't seem to have enough time to follow the plan properly. I get fed at work (my food bill would double if I took food to work) but only set meals, so tend to break on PP days cos there's nothing DD friendly I can have unless I do a morning shift which is rare.

In all honestly I've given up, but I really don't want to. I saw great results and had lost a stone but it's all creeping back on now cos I simply don't have time.

How does everyone else manage around work, kids, studies etc?! I don't have kids, God help me if I did! Dukan would never have even started.

I really want to carry on with Dukan but I just can't see how I can. Someone must be able to help?

 

[Maintainer]

I've tried to post three times and have deleted my words as they might be thought patronising or worse.

I honestly don't know what to say to you!

The gist of what I was trying to say is that many of us have busy lives, but we all find time for what's important/necessary etc etc. I'm a good multitasker. OK you might be busier than some with uni AND full time work, but many Dukan recipes take but minutes, and chickens can be thrown in the oven to bake.

I expect you're feeling a bit down at the moment. Can you remember that lovely feeling of being in ketosis, in control of one's weight and food intake, and feeling the weight drop off? That might help!

 

[Atropos]

Bijouxdolly: I know how you feel - in fact, I'm lying in bed as I type this at 6.30am, grumbling that I have to get up up early and cook and shower and pack food and put on the laundry, before catching a 7.30 train to go to the first of my two jobs. I need the sleep!

But then I remember that it's been the same for 20 years, and for twenty years I was always going to "sort the eating thing out later when I have more time" and every year I added weight until I was exactly twice the weight I started out as, and still expanding, with health problems starting to kick in to make it worse.

There's never an ideal time - but not doing it while you can may make the job even harder a year or two or twenty from now.

 

[Dgirl]

The key to this diet is to be organised. In just over an hour I bake 12 muffins, 12 mini quiches for freezing and cook enough chicken strips for a couple of days. Lunches tend to be chopped ham or tuna with cottage cheese (no time needed there). For PV days casseroles can be bunged in the oven whilst you get on with something else. You DO have to be disciplined in setting aside say, 1 hr on the weekend and 1hr midweek to get some stuff cooked and frozen. Omelettes are also quick.

You've done so well on this diet it would a pity to give up now because if you do you'll probably find your next new years resolution will be to lose weight!

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[bijouxdolly]

Thanks for the replies. I am feeling a bit down about it and I'm pissed off with myself for not being organised. For some reason my weight has shot down another 2lbs this morning despite eating what I wanted yesterday. I will go grill some chicken and have it as a snack at work later on, it's PV day so I can have the chicken salad as my main meal. It doesn't help that I'm surrounded by pastries, cakes and sugary goodness all day

As I said, I don't want to give up so will be carrying on as good as I can. Thanks again

 

[xehorus]

I cook the night before and take it to work with me. I have bought a cool bag, an ice block to keep food cool, cutlery, foil containers.

I have to travel due to work and take lots of things with me. The key to this is you have to plan ahead and cook the night before and take the food with you. Go to Lidl they have great things that are cheap.

I learned to cook on this diet... and i am not doing bad at all!
My first meals were horrible but little by little i started getting the hang of it.

Try not to quit... all you have to do is get organised and do what I did.. but the thing is you need to take food with you everywhere!

Good luck!

 

[Sander23]

Can you do PV days easily with the food they provide you at work? I have read that some people are able to make this work with just PV days.... I think if you don't go back to eating loads of carbs and fat you can at least avoid having the weight creep back on during this last year of uni. It is much easier to get your weight under control and where you want it before moving on to kids, marriage, career. This is the time when you focus on you - your goals, your needs, your happiness.

 

[bijouxdolly]

Can you do PV days easily with the food they provide you at work? I have read that some people are able to make this work with just PV days.... I think if you don't go back to eating loads of carbs and fat you can at least avoid having the weight creep back on during this last year of uni. It is much easier to get your weight under control and where you want it before moving on to kids, marriage, career. This is the time when you focus on you - your goals, your needs, your happiness.

Yeah I can but I work so much I constantly have PV days or non-Dukan days and the weight is piling back on. I've just ordered some compartment lunchboxes so hopefully I can start taking different things to work with me and actually stick to PP days. I have next week off so gonna do a mini attack (well, PP days) while I can to kick start things.

 

[Atropos]

Bijouxdolly - try organising your PV/PP schedule to fit your work schedule, so it's always PV if you work, PP on your day off - even 5pv/2pp would be better than random "non-Dukan days", as a single day off can undo the work of the previous week.

 

[bijouxdolly]

I work different shifts every week so it's hard to get a pattern, I've tried it before and I never show a loss after PV days so it's no good to me. I've put in my new details on the calculator and I'm just gonna start again from attack. Weirdly my goal is only the day after what it would've been originally :/

 

[Brownie_Earthquake]

Generally you won't see a loss after a PV day because you're retaining extra water weight.

Unfortunately you can't rely on the website calculator for a goal date now - it's not taking into consideration the familiarity your body now has with the diet.

Restarting again will not result in the same losses as when you began - it won't be as significant and it won't be as fast - so you'll have to be prepared to stick with it.

 

[Sander23]

I hope your compartment lunchboxes help you work it out - keeping with a PP/PV rotation is the best approach.

But if it doesn't work out for you, before throwing in the towel weigh yourself after a PV day and then spend the week doing the PV days without any non Dukan days - the water weight should stabilize and then you should start to see small weekly losses. Don't weigh daily, it will ruin your motivation because you will see the water weight going up and down during the week.

 

[bijouxdolly]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm back on it again and determined to stick to it, you people are good for motivation when people like me say they want to give up! I love MiniMiners