Dukan diet anyone?

Lula-Hula

Hello,

didnt realise anyone else on MSE was doing the Dukan eating plan.

I started this plan a week ago & have lost 6lbs so far. I did feel very tired for the first couple of days but think that's probably due to all the sugar leaving my system.

It's not the cheapest way to eat but now that I'm eating veg too I reckon it's quite healthy; I had the most enormous bowl of salad yesterday along with a tin of tuna. I'm not being anal about the diet so I bought a bottle of light caesar dressing & had a table spoon of that with it.

I rarely used to eat fish ( occasionally from the chip shop) & most of my protein came from piggy products, whereas now I'm all about lean chicken, mackerel, smoked salmon & mackerel.

I easily drink 2 litres of water a day as I now only have 2 coffees & no sugar. I also have fruit/herb teas instead of regular tea.

No problem with bad breath, although I do chew gum - which incidentally, helped me to quit smoking, which is partly responsible for the weight gain. ( The other part of the responsibility lies with my overeating of course )

I'm not missing sweet stuff too much & am using spices to pep up or flavour my food. the first time I tried the oatbran porridge I did think that a large spoon of golden syrup would make it much more fun, but now I'm happy to sprinkle some cinnammon or mixed spice on it instead .

I couldnt do any exercise the first 2 days as I was so exhausted, but am now back to doing exercise dvds & walking as recommended.

Would be great to hear from anyone else doing this weight loss plan, althought here is actually a dukan specific forum.

Gloomendoom

I don't want to put a downer on anybody's weight loss aspirations, but how much of this massive first week weight loss is actually fat?

Without extra exercise, to lose a pound of fat a day you would have to reduce your calorific intake by 3500 calories a day... which is a lot more than most people eat!

To walk off a pound of fat a day, a 14 stone person would have to walk 35 miles... a day.

Am I missing something?
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Lula-Hula

A lot of the initial weight loss is quite probably water & my starting weight was well under 14 stone - at that weight I'd be clinically obese for my frame, I only have 20lbs in total to lose.

For me, the initial loss was more for a motivational boost. I found other diets (along with exercise) were only showing a 2lb a week loss which was easy to regain in just one weekend, & very demotivating.

Having to cut out all bread, potatoes, pasta & sugar in one go has also shown me that I can actually manage without these products.

I'm not advocating this method of losing weight over another, merely saying that for me, it has worked by showing a substantial loss in a short time for a minimal effort, thereby increasing my motivation & determination to continue until I do reach my target weight/size, & with no hunger pangs at all

Eric_Pisch

Gloomendoom wrote: »

I don't want to put a downer on anybody's weight loss aspirations, but how much of this massive first week weight loss is actually fat?

Without extra exercise, to lose a pound of fat a day you would have to reduce your calorific intake by 3500 calories a day... which is a lot more than most people eat!

To walk off a pound of fat a day, a 14 stone person would have to walk 35 miles... a day.

Am I missing something? .
.
.

4 places you loose fat when you start dieting

salt causes huges amounts of water retention, its possible to water load in the order of 20lbs by drinking a weak saline solution, a change in diet that reduces salt will cause some weight loss from fluid reduction (i put on 3lbs in a day from eating a salty heinz big soup)

glycogen is stored in the muscles and liver in water, if your over eating your glycogen store will be maxed out, a reduction in calories will reduce reduce the amount of glycogen and water resulting in a weight reduction

if you are over eating you will have extra waste to process this gets passed out naturally

and finally there's true fat loss

not sure on the 35 miles for 3500 cals thou seams very high

Gloomendoom

I can understand the motivation thing, although it doesn't work for me as I know it's just water and waste products and not the arch enemy, fat.

Eric_Pisch wrote: »

not sure on the 35 miles for 3500 cals thou seams very high

I've looked at various sources on the internet and all seem to agree that walking only uses up around 100 calories a mile if you weigh 14 stone. If you weigh 11 stone it is only about 85 calories, so you would have to walk over 41 miles to burn off a pound of fat in a day.

Oldernotwiser

I'd hoped this was going to be a Dukan support thread as I started on Wednesday - I better look elsewhere.

madget_2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I'd hoped this was going to be a Dukan support thread as I started on Wednesday - I better look elsewhere.

I lost my target of 2 stone by Christmas day and have been doing the consolidation stage since then. It's working really well for me so far and I love it!

Best of all, I seem to have lost fat rather than muscle tissue and my body is much leaner and more toned than it has been since I was young.

Lula-Hula

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I'd hoped this was going to be a Dukan support thread as I started on Wednesday - I better look elsewhere.

Noooooo dont go ...


Having had a stressful week (incorporating a serious cake incident )I'm raring to go again as from tomorrow & my fridge is heaving with all the right foods. It's a veritable carnivores delight in there

We can support eachother & not take any notice of those who disagree although with the staples being:

Lean meat, low fat dairy produce, vegetables & low sugar & fat foods with 2 litres of water a day,I cant see what the problems are

dees_2

I have bought the book but I haven't finished reading it yet. I'm ready to start the diet on Monday so if anyone would like a diet buddy PM me please. We need all the encouragement we can get.:D