Lose Weight 34

world_of_tights

It's -3.8lbs for me this week - thanks, Fred!

I think I am going to start lifting weights again this week, so won't expect the scales to go down again next week, but I'm very relieved to be posting a loss for the first time in 2 weeks!

cazwishes

Well done world of tights, thats a great loss, i just wonder, do you find the weights/ exercise effects your loss a great deal? I've eaten well this week, but have dramatically increased my exercise ( ie from nothing to swimming and or walking everyday) and am seeing no loss. Is it likely to be muscle build??

Well done to everyone else with a loss too, i'll check mine in the morning x

world_of_tights

cazwishes wrote: »

Well done world of tights, thats a great loss, i just wonder, do you find the weights/ exercise effects your loss a great deal? I've eaten well this week, but have dramatically increased my exercise ( ie from nothing to swimming and or walking everyday) and am seeing no loss. Is it likely to be muscle build??

Well done to everyone else with a loss too, i'll check mine in the morning x

Thanks

The first week I start exercising after a break I either stay the same or have a small gain. That's what has been happening for the last week or so, and I put on 0.6lbs, but once everything rights itself BAM 3.8lbs off, then it'll go to a steady 1-2lbs loss a week.

It's a mixture of muscle build and water retention. It all evens out after a week or two and you should start seeing losses, but more importantly start feeling much better in yourself. Keep up the good work!

cazwishes

world_of_tights wrote: »

Thanks

It's a mixture of muscle build and water retention. It all evens out after a week or two and you should start seeing losses, but more importantly start feeling much better in yourself. Keep up the good work!

Thats what i'd been hoping, but i dont think i've ever in my life stuck to healthy eating/ dieting etc as much as i have these past 3 weeks. Ok its not been perfect, but for the most part it has been. Yesterday i wasn't hungry but made myself eat more as i was aware i needed to keep something going in my system, and knew i hadn't eaten enough!
I think i managed 10 miles walking last week at a good pace, and have joined they gym, but only doing swimming at the moment. So hoping, as you say at some point it will come off.
Its difficult keeping positive when you know you've tried so hard!

world_of_tights

cazwishes wrote: »

Thats what i'd been hoping, but i dont think i've ever in my life stuck to healthy eating/ dieting etc as much as i have these past 3 weeks. Ok its not been perfect, but for the most part it has been. Yesterday i wasn't hungry but made myself eat more as i was aware i needed to keep something going in my system, and knew i hadn't eaten enough!
I think i managed 10 miles walking last week at a good pace, and have joined they gym, but only doing swimming at the moment. So hoping, as you say at some point it will come off.
Its difficult keeping positive when you know you've tried so hard!

You need to make sure that you're eating plenty if you're going to exercise as much as you are, also make sure you're having rest days. Say your rest day is a Sunday, try then weighing in on a monday.

It will start to come off if you're exercising and eating enough/the right stuff, try not to lose heart! I know it's really difficult, and it can make you feel like there's no point, but it will all pay off. I've been where you are just now a few times, and it was people on here who inspired and encouraged me to keep at it - this is a really great community

beanielou

Fred~ A STS for me this week.

ms_night_ryder

More porridge for brekkie, soup for lunch and a small chicken schwarma filled with salad for dinner, i actually walked a mile after i had the scwarma, didnt go to zumba, because the person who was going to cover for me was off sick! grr, no excuses next week as i am on the right shift to go and have left my kit at work, so there is NO excuse, now saving myself, as i am going to dinner with my friends on friday, to a lebenese so yummy! lots of salads etc there, cannot wait! did stop myself from going into a lebenese shop, where i would usually buy baklava, the ones i love are cream filled lol! also went into thorntons and walked out empty handed! oh yes, did have a pack of red doritoes at lunch naughty me.

Watching biggest loser as usual, done 135 sit ups today, i could really feel it!

Mics_chick

margaretclare wrote: »

Well, they *try* to do the online support, it's possible to email the team and join in the 'live' discussions (although I've never managed to get through at the right time) but it doesn't really work as 'individually' as they make out.

I was told I'd be able to achieve my 'true weight', 60 kg, by the end of the 'cruise' phase, the second stage. In this phase you do pure protein days one day and protein-and-veg the next day. No bread, no fruit. After a few weeks, from end July into November, I still hadn't achieved 60 kg although I had lost some, and I was heartily sick of not even being able to have a slice of wholemeal bread or share an orange with DH. I therefore asked them if I could go on to the next phase - consolidation - just so that I could add those simple things into my eating plan. I couldn't, could not, see that adding those simple things would blow the whole thing. They agreed, but of course, from then on, they assume I've reached the 'true weight' and want to maintain it. At the same time, there's a list of 'lapses' ranging from minor to major, and they include a small piece of bread...even after the stage when I'm supposed to be able to include 2 slices of wholemeal bread and a piece of fruit daily! There are 4 fruits which are forbidden - bananas, grapes, figs, cherries - but all others are OK. So there seems to be some confusion - either I'm in a stage where I can have a little bread and some fruit, or I'm not. Now I'm coming to the end of the time defined for the third stage and I'm being asked to subscribe to the 'maintenance' phase when it is assumed I've reached 'true weight' and want to maintain it. Trouble is: I haven't, and I don't think they realise that, although I log in daily and report weight, motivation level etc. I don't want to pay a pound a week for another year to have the supervision and encouragement which hasn't been all that accurate up to now. So I don't intend to re-register for the 4th stage.

I've learned a bit from this. One thing Dr Dukan does emphasise is the need for regular exercise, half an hour walking a day as a basic minimum. But again, it's not so *individual* as it's supposed to be, because he keeps talking about climbing stairs (I live in a bungalow!) and because of the hips, I can't walk as far or as much as he assumes, nor can I do some of the gym exercises. I've also learned that - for me anyway - low-carbing works better than anything else, bananas as a snack are a no-no because they're loaded with sugar (we never buy them now!) and that I can walk a certain distance when using a walking-stick. About half the speed that anyone else can walk, nothing like the distance, and only on level ground, so rambling through the woods which many people enjoy, can't do it.

DH has also cut down a lot on carbs. We have no potatoes in the house, haven't had since the end of July, and no bananas. He's using a lot less insulin than he used to and his weight has now come down below 100 kg - 99.7 kg on Sunday. Low-carbing has therefore worked for him.

So I've learned a bit from it, but I didn't want to carry it on. What I intend to do now is to stick to 'healthy eating' and moderation. I just had this argument with the Dukan team in that I couldn't see why a small amount of bread and a piece of fruit would be such a crime. I'll keep on low-carbing and some exercise. The best exercise for me is jumping around in the pool doing aqua-fit 3 x week and I can use the gym at LA Fitness, although many of the pieces of equipment there are impossible for me.

Does that answer your question?

We're back home today after our wedding anniversary weekend away, and I appear to have put on 1 kg in 3 days - 2 pounds or so. Maybe a lot of sitting in the car, not drinking enough water, alcohol - 2 separate half-pints of bitter and one glass of white wine - and maybe too much food, although not huge amounts. It's a beautiful bright sunny day today so when the frost gets melted and no danger of slipping on the pavements, I'll go and walk round the block. Back to aqua-fit tomorrow. And drink more water. We've just had breakfast: a boiled egg and a slice of 'artisan' bread from our local baker, wholemeal with seeds. Will see what the weight is tomorrow, because today it's 67.5 kg, too much!

Thanks for going into so much detail Margaret I really appreciate it
As I've got a fair old amount to lose the cost of the support from the Dukan website comes at a fair old whack but after reading your experience I think I'll keep it in my pocket!

I'm still planning on following the diet though

cazwishes

Well think this week is +2 lbs which takes me back to 14 stone, oh well, just best keep at it.
I think my body fat is slowly changing though!

margaretclare

Mics_chick, you're right. I have not found the 'individualised support' to be 'all that it says on the tin'. And I just could not have carried on with no bread and no fruit of any kind whatsoever. It makes life just too difficult. I found it extremely difficult on the odd social occasion. For example, we have 'family days' at church when there's a service, lunch and some enjoyable activity afterwards. The people who do this are very aware of different health problems, some of the older people are Type II diabetic, and they do their best to make 'healthy food'. One day we went to this, it was a protein-only day so I couldn't even have any of the nice salads that had been laid out nor any of the bread or the fruit. Even the cheese was limited.

I couldn't get on with natural yogurt, I like it flavoured, but I couldn't have the kind with fruit bits in. And so on.

I got exasperated with it in the end. I hear a lot about people who want to build-in chocolate and wine into their diets, to have the odd burger or takeaway, but that isn't me. I can live without chocolate, alcohol, takeaways, cake, crisps, any of those things. But just a slice of wholemeal bread from our local baker, as healthy as you can get, and an orange or apple? We went to a farm where they were selling the new season English apples - we bought 2 new trees to plant - and I couldn't even have a taste of beautiful old-variety indigenous apples. Gradually, over time as I realised I wasn't getting the support, I got more annoyed with it.

I've read the book. The most up-to-date version is very colourful, attractively-laid out, but it's half-full of recipes. Again, I've never managed to do any of the recipes. I'm not sure I could do it just following the book, either. It must be possible to keep to the low-carb principle by other means. Suppose you cut out all refined sugar and flour, and anything containing them? I also have a principle - if there's an ingredient on the packet that (a) I can't pronounce and (b) I don't know the purpose of, then I don't buy it. That excludes almost all pre-prepared foods, ready-meals, even factory-made bread, which can contain up to 15 ingredients for 'shelf-life' whereas the bread from our local baker contains only 4 or 5 ingredients even with the nuts and seeds he adds to the bread we prefer.

Dr Dukan emphasises the need for regular exercise - 20 minutes walk every day of your life, he says. Also drinking enough water. And in the later stages of his plan, only have one 'celebration meal' in a week, with one glass of wine. And he says weigh daily.

Well, we were away for the weekend, and here's today's result: 67.3 kg, an increase of 0.8 kg since last week. In fact, it was up to 67.5 kg on Sunday but - hopefully - is on its way back down. I'm going to aqua-fit this morning.