Help. disillusioned Dukan

[mickonz]

I started the Dukan diet earlier this week (new year cliche , i know) and during the attack phase lost 3 lbs in 3 days. I did three days rather than 5 becasue i only want to lose a relatively small amount of weight - and in the book this was recommended. On my first cruise day I put on 3 pounds. I did exactly what it said in the book to the letter. All i had was chicken soup with vegetables -certainly not three pounds worth! By the following morning i had lost just over 1 pound. Today i did another full protein day which Dukan suggests should give yuor real weight again by the end of the day. Stll only lost a pound from my start weight. So aside from the fact that i have only lost 1 pound in 5 days, which i could have done just by eating sensibly and going to the gym, i dont understand how the scales can be going up and down so much. Why would i weigh 3 pounds more in the evening just by eating a bowl of soup and some mince with swede? I kind of want to continue , now i have broken the back of it, but it's a tricky diet to do if the rewards are going to be so scant. Can anyone explain or had similar experience.

 

[Yogi13]

Hi Mickonz I've been on Dukan 10 days, was losing well initially and then put back on or STS for 4 days and it is disillusioning. I personally never weigh myself in the evening. You are weighing not just what you eat but also what you drink too. One of the reasons I started gaining was I got bunged up (sorry if that's TMI) but it makes a difference as everything I ate was staying with me! I would stick with it and maybe stick to weighing in the morning only as evening weigh ins would break anyone's resolve IMHO. I hope it settles down for you and the weight starts heading in the right direction again as its such a big motivation when it does. I think the rapid (mainly fluid) weight loss of the attack phase kind of sets us up for disappointment when you move to PV and you regain some fluid weight but as someone said to me on another forum be assured the fat is burning off if you are sticking to the plan even if it isn't immediately evident on the scales. Good luck!

 

[willbefabulousat26]

Are you weighing at the same time every day? Your weight varies naturally by up to 7lb throughout the day due to water retention. The best time to weigh is first thing in the morning before you've eaten anything.

 

[Supertonic]

Fluid retention and 'transit' issues can make a huge difference to the numbers on the scales, as also can the time of day. My weight varies by 4 or 5 lb during a 'normal' day, so I only ever do it in morning first thing.
Do you use much salt? Again that can make a difference to the fluid retention. Try posting some menus, sometimes it's easier for someone else to spot the likely problem area.

The other thing is if you really haven't got much to lose and are aiming for a small loss (ie less than 7lb) maybe Dukan is not going to work in quite the same dramatic way - it'll take longer to kick in? I'll admit I'm just speculating here.

Now I've got the hang of it, I don't find it a difficult diet to follow in the sense that I know what I should be eating, it's just difficult because in our modern world manufactured foods contain so much extra garbage, particularly sugar, it can be a job to find convenience food that is Dukan friendly. There must be a huge gap in the market there for some enterprising company....

Best of luck, hope it works for you