Sander's Dukan Diary

[Sander23]

I'm back from a short holiday - and of course I managed to get a cold, so I'm not feeling great. So far sticking with the Cruise plan, although I tend to alternate 3 days PP, 3 days PV instead of every other day. All of my friends are starting to notice that I am losing weight, which is fun and rewarding. My husband is complaining that my jeans are too loose, so I might have to go pants shopping over the weekend Weigh-in is looming, I hope I have another good week, but I feel like I might be STS - the cold sapped my energy and I didn't do any exercise for 3 days in a row and I think I also let my fluid intake fall off (bad) but I just slept and drank tea. But hopefully I will get -1 and be able to say officially I have lost 20 lbs. (I weigh in weekly at my doctor's office since I am doing this as an alternative to high-blood pressure meds)

 

[Sander23]

So I had a STS weigh-in and then had to go away for 3 days and stay in a hotel. PLus I was still sick. No ability to cook for myself, so I just had to try and make good choices. The first day I had broiled chicken for dinner. The next day I tried the scrambled eggs on the breakfast buffet and a small fat-free, artificially sweetened yogurt - threw them both away after 2 bites each. For lunch I found a local market and got fresh greens and more roasted chicken. Dinner our group decided to go for Mexican, I picked carnitas, because they came deconstructed and had the rice and beans substituted out for roasted and steamed vegetables. So I ate the meat and vegetables. Sleep. Another day, no good breakfast options, but I had saved chicken from lunch and had that in my room. Lunch time, yet more chicken. Dinner, had a can of tuna, feeling somewhat like a cat Time to drive the 200 miles back home! Got on the scales this morning - down 3 lbs.... But I think I might have starved myself too much, so I am worried that it will rebound on me

 

[dukandebut]

Under the circumstances, it sounds as though you did brilliantly, Sander!

With any luck, that rebound won't happen. At least you can carry on with your normal Dukan plan, now that you're back.

Hope your cold is gone and you're feeling much better, too.

 

[Maintainer]

Sounds as if you did the best you could under the circumstances, so congratulations for your restraint (and sorry you were unwell).

 

[Sander23]

Thanks Floribunda! For the most part I am dairy free - I use one tbsp of fat free sour cream in my morning gallette - they just weren't edible without and I didn't like the silken tofu in them. It doesn't seem to be a problem for me. I think I probably eat a bit more veg than most on my PV days, more like half protein, half veg - if I don't I have digestive issues. I drink way more coffee than I should - but it is my replacement for desert, alcohol, chips, etc I should just drink plain water and feel virtuous, but instead I feel deprived, so I drink the water during the day and with meals and have coffee at other times when it would normally be mindless casual snacking. Tea I do as a deliberate ritual in the afternoon and as I get ready for bed.
The exercise portion is still hit and miss - I haven't gotten back in the routine since I was ill and I still have some chest congestion so I am very short of breath on my walks. I need to improve that. I am so jealous of the ladies that are dancing and Zumbaing - my joints just can't take it - but I am hoping that once I get down to about 10 pounds from goal I'll be able to do that type of activity.

 

[Maintainer]

I too so admire the ladies who really do "proper" serious exercise but it's never been my thing, and FINALLY I've found something I do like to do - walk! Up an hour early, ipod in my ears, and off I trot to work... it used to take me 50% extra time to get there, and I'd arrive hot and bothered and redfaced. Now it's a doddle. I have arthrosis and the walking, to my surprise when my GP told me to do it, has helped tremendously!

Good luck...

 

[Sander23]

Totally jazzed that I lost 4.25 pounds last week. Still feeling croupy from the virus, but hoping to be better by next week. Today is a PV day, so I decid to loaded myself up with a vegetable heavy soup today to try and get in some extra vitamins for fighting off the cold, but it made me feel really bloated, so I'm not sure if it was a good plan or not... Ingredients:
Tomatoes, celery, onions, garlic, 1 carrot, parsley, cabbage, red peppers, crab, salt, pepper. It tasted OK, not splendid, topped it off with a dab of FF sour cream which improved it, hopefully not going to hit a dairy reaction Breakfast was the standard gallette. Not sure what to do for dinner yet, have flounder, steak, chicken, and shrimp available - but I just wish the magic Dukan fairy would come and cook it up for me! But, I am thinking a chicken curry might be rather enjoyable....
I have brought 2 more converts over to Dukan - one just finished her first week of attack and lost 10 pounds (she did better than I!) The other one is just starting a 3 day attack today - she only has 20 lbs to lose and is younger and fitter, but she has been trying to lose the weight for a year and has been yoyoing the same 5 pound loss. She is excited because she can get to her goal weight by the end of summer! Me, I'm an end of the year person, but that's not so long in the scheme of things - Right now I am the lightest I have been in 8 years and I've only been doing this for 7 weeks!

 

[Sander23]

The process is still rolling along nicely - I peeked at the scale this morning and saw I was down another 2 lbs. I can't believe I am actually under 220 - but not official yet I am starting to get scared that this is actually going to work... I haven't had to manage my grown-up life at under 200. That is such a strange sentence to write. Each week I expect a gain, I expect that I have failed through some inexplicable reason. I see it happen to others on the board and I wonder, when is it my turn and how will I deal with it? I have not been perfect, I have had a couple of lapses where I gave in to temptation...just last weekend when I had to go to an out of town conference and I was just so hungry I grabbed what they had out in the hospitality table between breakout sessions and prayed it wouldn't do too much damage in small doses. As to this mysterious ketosis thing, no clue as to whether I have achieved it or if I am just losing due to decrease in caloric intake. But every day I try to make appropriate choices and I know that this is a long term thing for me - I didn't gain 120 lbs through having a single biscuit or piece of fruit. So as long as I am not completely returning to my old eating habits, I figure that I can continue on in cruise and forgive myself the occasional lapse.

 

[Sander23]

GACKKK - TOTM +3 this morning - must not peek at scales pre-weigh-in, it just makes me depressed. Rainy and gloomy here today - almost need the heat turned on. I wish I could crawl back to bed instead of working, but I have many projects due, so need to spend the time - but fuzzy brained thinking has led me to wasting time on the boards instead. Food today, PP, so gallette, chicken breast, braised sirloin steak, and shrimp are the plan for the day. Plus, lots of water and crystal light ice tea to give me some flavor other than meat.

 

[Sander23]

Thanks Floribunda! I had a rough evening last night -- I had a late meeting for work - our executives were re-organized, 2 were laid-off and our division was put under a new director - so yesterday was the mandatory meeting with the new director - a 2 hour long video conference from 6 -8 in the evening. Sigh... I had plans for the evening that I had to cancel and let my family go off without me. Then the video conferencing failed 20 minutes into the meeting and those of us that aren't located on-site got dropped off anyways. So I was sitting around feeling sorry for myself, frustrated, and without supervision - plus with the TOTM thrown in I was already off kilter emotionally, craving chocolate, crampy and miserable. Then the thunder storms hit and it poured, so I couldn't even go for a walk. I should have gone down to the basement and done the treadmill, but my mind didn't come up with that solution until just now.... So I ate - 35 jumbo shrimp, 4 cups of sugar-free jello, 1 chicken breast (my last one cooked -the rest were still frozen). drank a liter of tea, 5 cups of coffee and finally gave in and had oat bran porridge sweetened up with stevia, cinnamon, vanilla, and cocoa powder (the fat free, unsweetened kind). Then I finally felt done. Sigh... but I can also feel happy about what is in this house that I didn't eat:
-marshmallows
-Chips
-Crackers
-Smoked sausage (the high fat kind)
-Flaked sweetened coconut
-Capt Crunch cereal
-Honey nut cheerios (tempted, after all, they are oats and heart healthy LOL)
-Left over fried rice
-Nectarines
-Nutella
-Bread
-Peanut butter
-Wine
-Scotch

Pre-Dukan I would have justified having just a little of one (or all) of those things to try and take the edge off. I heard the voices in my head making the justifications and the arguments. But then I remembered one of the voices from this board that said those are not MY voices and I just kept on trying to choose the right food and giving myself a half hour between eating hoping that the hunger would subside. I wish I could fight down the urge to eat, but I don't have that much strength yet, but I believe that I will develop it as part of this process.

 

[dukandebut]

Pre-Dukan I would have justified having just a little of one (or all) of those things to try and take the edge off. I heard the voices in my head making the justifications and the arguments. But then I remembered one of the voices from this board that said those are not MY voices and I just kept on trying to choose the right food and giving myself a half hour between eating hoping that the hunger would subside. I wish I could fight down the urge to eat, but I don't have that much strength yet, but I believe that I will develop it as part of this process.

Sounds as though you're already starting to develop quite a bit of strength and willpower. At times like that, it can take some doing to manage to resist. You did really well!

It was Atropos, I believe, who wrote the helpful post about dealing with those peskily seductive, binge-enticing voices. That's something I plan to try and use next time temptation strikes (probably in the form of chocolate during TOTM).

 

[Sander23]

I actually am starting to feel more peaceful - that's a nice way of thinking about a state of mind. I am still crampy and miserable, but I can tell its getting better. I was +.5 lbs at my weigh-in which was the day after the binge - considering I was +3 the previous morning, I actually felt pretty good about that, although it did break my losing streak. We've got another weekend away - the third one in a row - so I went and bought food to take with me to give me a safety net in case there aren't any good choices. I really don't want to start back-sliding and I am watching out for the self-sabotage. My mother just sent me a bunch of my old pictures (back when I was 132 lbs), and I am kind of amazed at what I used to look like.... I haven't been that person for so long.

 

[Sander23]

Back from the weekend away. Didn't stay true Dukan, even though I bought food (and ate it). I'm really annoyed at myself for not staying firm in my commitment - but instead "making healthy choices" - So I'm taking that annoyance as a positive. My inner voice is starting to jeer me and tell me when I am making justifications and it is also starting to tell me that none of that food I want so badly is going to make me happy!

Now just so you all don't think I had chocolate cake, ice cream, cookies and margaritas all weekend - Here are my choices (with my whiny justifications in parenthesis) - asterisks denote stuff I brought with me:

Saturday: Breakfast - no time over slept and had to be at the soccer fields by 7 AM
Brunch - Scambled eggs with tomatoes and peppers
Lunch - Tuna fish* and 3 whole wheat crackers (why, because I was hungry and I had no oat bran)
Dinner at Red Lobster Restaurant chain: Salmon, shrimp, salad with oil/vinegar, 1 biscuit (no it wasn't as good as it looked in the commercials, but I have been wanting to try them for 2 years and I had never been to a Red Lobster before)
Sunday - Breakfast - oatmeal -( grrr - yes I know oatmeal and oatbran aren't the same, but I couldn't face another plate of rubbery eggs.)
Lunch - Grilled chicken*
Snack - Beef jerky*
Dinner - Tuna* (no crackers this time)

Monday (new hotel)
Breakfast - $13.95 for a plate of ham and eggs, not hungry!
Lunch - Grilled chicken*, green salad with tomatoes, oil & vinegar dressing
Snack - Beef jerky*
Dinner - Grilled chicken* and green salad with oil & vinegar again


So, no gold star. Going purist for the rest of the week and eliminating sugar free jellies and crystal light (both have citric acid) from my options and hopefully be able to recover and post a loss on my weigh in!

 

[Sander23]

Yesterday was a pretty good dayfood wise - life wise it was crazy - I had lots of work to get done and my computers were misbehaving, so I didn't get off the computer until after 10 PM and I still didn't finish my project. At 8 PM I took a dinner break and made a quick dinner of Dukan meatballs which turned out splendidly! I tried to back out of cooking, but my husband was really looking forward to the meatballs that I told him we would have for dinner

 

[Sander23]

I lost another 3.5 lbs last week! Things are going pretty well. I am just taking this one day at a time. Had lots of exercise over the last couple of days and have already taken my 40 minute walk for today, so thats four days in a row - which is good for me! If I can get up to 21 days in a row I will be at my personal best for consistently exercising on this plan. I feel so tired most days, but maybe the exercise will give me more energy if I can stick with it. I added in some weight lifting this week, every other day, because my arms are starting to show the weight loss and I want to make sure they tone instead of flap. I used to be quite strong, so I am surprised at how weak I am now... I guess I really did give up over the last 5 years

 

[Sander23]

Sigh - no exercise today ;-) Time to restart the counter tomorrow. Super hungry today, a PP day. Thought I had eaten enough, but gave in and had extra oatbran at the end of the day. I wonder if I am giving into "head hunger" too easily. What did I have, you ask:
B: Gallette
Lunch: 7 oz roast sirloin
Dinner: 4 kosher all-beef hot dogs (they are on the allowed food list in my book - 97% fat free, only 40 calories per servings, 0 carbs, they are rather amazing)
Desert: oat bran porridge
Drinks: Water, coffee, tea - all unsweetened and dairy free

So, actually loooking back at it, not that much food. Maybe I should have gone for more protein, but I was out of prepared meats.

 

[dukandebut]

It does sound as though you're not eating enough, Sander. Try increasing the protein more and that may well help.

 

[Sander23]

Thanks Dukandebut, I probably am not being mindful enough - I feel like I'm eating all the time and hungry all the time - but I really am not actually eating - I think about it, come up with no good options for food and wander off until the next time. I am trying lots of new recipes trying to ward off food boredom, but also am not finding them worth the effort. Ah well,
Today is a PV day.
B: Gallette
Lunch: 6 oz turkey, broccoli, carrot, and celery sticks with a FF sour cream dip (FF sour cream, minced onion, dill, garlic, salt, pepper)
Dinner: Minced beef patties, green salad, tomatoes, dukan vinagrette
Desert: Sugar-free jello

On the positive side, I had about 10 people come up to me at church this morning and ask how much weight I'd lost and tell me how great I look. I explained Dukan many times over, and was greeted every time by this look of incredulity. My newbie converts have both fallen off the wagon "It's too hard, I just can't go without bread and cake. I need to have a bit of rice with my stir-fry. I can't sleep without a glass of <wine, sherry, brandy> before bed." Sigh, yes, you can - but you have to really want to and be putting losing weight as a priority over your food and activity choices. I really do miss bread, cake, pasta - but not enough to go back to eating the way I did before. Oh well, enough ranting - time to go do my weekly shopping and my bank account is low, so I have to stick to my list!

 

[Sander23]

So I mostly stuck to my eating plan for the day and felt absolutely stuffed - for about 2.5 hours. Then I got really hungry again, but just for my oat bran - can one become addicted to that stuff? My change was deciding to put the oatbran in the mince and had hard boiled eggs for breakfast instead of the gallete. So I figured, well I didn't have all of it, I shared my allowance with the rest of the family when I mixed it in with the mince, so I had my porridge. Now I feel ready to rest, but I am obsessing a bit about this because it doesn't feel "right". SO I am planning out tomorrow's food tonight and I will stick to it without modification:
PP day
Breakfast: Gallette
Lunch: Grilled chicken breast w/mustard
Snack: Shrimp with chilli sauce dip
Dinner: Sirloin steak
Desert: Sugar free jello

Exercise - 2 mile walk

OK - never done this in advance before - hope it helps me feel more in control.

 

[dukandebut]

What a boost those lovely compliments must have been! Yes, I know what you mean about the way people can sometimes react when you tell them about the diet - I guess it is so radical compared to traditional, old-style thinking on diets.