Topic: Dukan Diet

[ceres]

There's also:

Weight Reduction - How to Lose Weight from patient.co.uk

and

Lose Weight from NHS Choices.

Both are evidence-based and contain lots of links to further information.

[Mimi]

Thanks for all your answers.  I did loose 4 stone about 2 years ago just by eating less and doing more.  I ate chocolate(one square of Lindt chili chocolate) every night as a treat and ate everything in small amounts. I also joined a gym  and loved it.  Then the weight loss just slowed down and stopped. And as I got a bit disheartened I started to have 'treats' The odd chocolate, biscuit and bottle of wine.  Slowly but surely 10lb crept up on me.   So now I just want to shift about 18kg.  That includes the weight that has crept on.  
               My daughter follows a 'Paleo' diet which she chooses to do as carbs, sugar and process foods where the source of her chronic and debilitating migraines (found out after a long process of elimination)  She had just had a beautiful little girl who weighed 7lb 8oz and she had only put on 2.5 kg in weight after she had her baby.  Three weeks on that has now gone too.  She looks amazing (if a little thin for me)
My thoughts on this diet and the Dukan diet where as follows.  
1. Man originally was a hunter/gatherer and as such his diet relied on a lot of meat/protein.  
2.Cereals and starchy food was only added to the diet when we became more static and began to farm, so sticking to just proteins and low fat for the diet stage of this way of eating seemed to make sense.
Having read the book by Dr Dukan its not just a diet but a way of life.  Once you have reached your target weight you then have a few months of 'consolidation' and can add a few extras like some cheese bread and fruit.
After a few months more you can then start the 'stabilization' by adding a starch ie potatos, pasta,rice twice a week and have a celebration meal up to twice a week giving you a lot of leaway in what you eat.  The only thing that you have to do is have one protein day a week for the rest of your life, never use an escalator or a lift and do a little exercise each day ie 20 min walk.  
I have started following the dukan diet and have just passed the attack phase and can now start the cruise phase and add veggies........thank goodness.  Ive never dreamed of salad before now  ;D  Stepped on the scales this morning and have lost 2.2 kg after 5 days.  Haven't felt hungry and I'm just a bit bored with meat only and cant wait to get stuck in to copious amounts of veggies.  
Of course there is more to living with the diet ie oat bran drinking plenty but I really think that this is a healthy diet.  Lean meat, fish, shellfish,veggies, tea, coffee, skimmed milk, low fat yoghurts and cheeses (fromage frais and cottage) I even have low fat cocoa and it tastes just the same.  
   So there we are!  Ill keep you up dated with how things progress.

[ceres]

I'm sorry.  I misunderstood your original post.  You said in that you were reading about the diet and considering doing it.  Today, you're already on the diet and in the second phase.  Are you a Time Lord?

I have the feeling I and others have just wasted our time trying to be helpful?

[Mimi]

Ok I admit that was misleading.  I had read and done the research and already started.  However anyones advice is never wasted and I really wanted to know if anyone else had been on this type of diet. My error. ;)
Someone got out of bed on the wrong side this morning! :-\

[Mimi]

P.S No not a time lord.....just very impatient.  A little like some other folk on here me thinks.  Thanks to everyone who offered some advice.  I love this place as a sounding board.

[ceres]

I'm not impatient or grumpy.  Part of my job is to look out for spammers and scammers and MLMs any anyone else trying to exploit the forum.  Blatantly 'misleading' posts are suspicious.  I'm no clearer why your first post wasn't true. 

[BarriedaleNick]

All diets like this make you fatter in the long run.  If you continually crash your calories suddenly and drastically then you put yourself in a worse postion than you were to start with.  Starvation of calories (in whatever form) is not a good idea as your body reacts by adjusting the rate at which you burn calories and slows the metabolic rate.. (Something to do with the rate at which glucose is converted to glyogen or something but I can't recall at present!!)
This change can stay with you for weeks or months and if you return to a more normal intake your wieght goes up...
My OH's Mum has been on so many diets now that she cannot seem to lose wieght at all - even under extreme starvation.

Only one way to do it long term - keep the calories you imbibe the same (or less) as you expend.  Either that or just accept you are naturally a bit fatter than most and stop worrying.

[lincsyokel2]

An allotment is the equivalent to a Gym Membership, except its cheaper and you get free veg.

[Sparkly]

The science does suggest that, in the majority of cases, being overweight can be solved by adjustments to your diet and activity levels. For most people it is quite easy to lose weight, but it takes organisation and a strong will to stick to a regime. I have been overweight my entire adult life (and childhood to be honest). I haven't been a size 16-20 since being 16 years old; this is until recently where I have lost a significant amount of weight and I am now a size 8. I wasn't ignorant about what I needed to do, but I wasn't ready to commit to what was required before now. People ask me how I have done this regularly and they look in dismay when I tell them I worked out how much I should be eating, increased my activity levels and made sure I was burning more on a daily basis than my body required! They all seem to want a quick fix easy solution.

[Sparkly]

An allotment is the equivalent to a Gym Membership, except its cheaper and you get free veg.

An allotment is a great way to exercise. So is a good old fashioned walk in the park! There is alot of truth in this except it is very easily to counteract the exercise done with some nice fruit crumbles! Also it takes ALOT of exercise to burn relatively few calories. Heavy digging burns alot, but most gardening is low intensity. I burn alot more calories doing heavy weight training in the gym or running than I do at the plot, but it all really adds up!

[manicscousers]

shame some of us find it very difficult to increase our activity. I, too, have strugged with my weoght since I was 14, my mum put me on a diet then (good intentions), I was very active, and a size 14  :)

[Jeannine]

Well I have done my research and still stay it is rubbish that all folks are fat because they eat too much and don't get enough excerise.

I eat very little, not nearly enough, it is a big cause of concern  to my Dr and my blood is suffering because of it. They try to get me to drink geriatric milky drink thingies but I cannot..I have been on appetite stimulants but still eat very little..and I am overweight..my thyroid is way ouut of balance and it seems to see saw, it seems they cannot get it stable..

So I am overweight and I eat very little...I am on the go all day given the limitations of my health problems, I swim etc..so there is at least one person in the world that proves it is not always overeating and lack of excerise.

My mother was the same, so were her two sisters..and the specialist I see tells me that genetics  are a valid factor in weight, wether too much or two little¸ My husband eats like a horse,an unbelieveable amount and is skinny!! My father was the same, he couldn`t gain an ounce no matter how hard he tried.

To tell fat folks they are in effect lazy and greedy is cruel, and wether these words are used eaxctly or not is  matterless,it  means  the same when someone overweight hears.. eat less and excersise more. being overweight can be emotionally very traumatic to some people and they don`t need to hear negativity or ridicule.
Personally I don`t care, the folks around me do but it does not bother me much.

If someone is overweight, my advice seriously is first look to what you are eating,change it if it is an unsuitable diet and yes if you don`t  use much energy then up it..but if that does not work then get the help of a Dr and have the checks needed to see if you do have a problem other than eating and excercise, there are alot more folks out there than  you would think. I go weeks and weeks like this , then for a couple of weeks I start to eat, then back down I go again.

Yesterday, I ate an egg and a green salad, no dressing and I drank 3 cups of tea, no sugar , that is all I could manage and that was over the day not all in 1 go..not exactly binging!!


Today I intend to try shellfish which I can usually manage if  I feel OK, but just the fish..nothing else.

XX Jeannine





i

[Mimi]

Gosh Jeannine, that is such a tiny amount   :-\. Poor you. That amount is what I would consider one small meal.
I too have been overweight most of my adult life and I know that it was always down to greed.  I do love my grub  :-[  I truly wish I was one of those folk who can say No I don't like that thank you, but there is so little that I don't like.  I don't like tripe or salami, celery or aubergines and that's about it!  I have a sweet tooth too. 
Sparkly..........well done that girl.  You are amazing to have lost so much weight.  I was the same. I just had to commit to wanting to loose the weight.  When I lost the first few stone it was following a cardio echogram when I was told my heart was enlarging and I would always have blood pressure problems while I was OBESE.
In all honesty no one had ever called me obese to my face before and it was MY lightbulb moment.  I started right away and after 3 weeks of only good veggies lean meat fruit didn't loose an ounce but stuck at it.  Then slowly the weight started to shift but my fat is very tenacious and didn't want to leave me easily.  After 6 months of eat less, do more I had almost lost 4 stone when it just stopped and  over the last 12 - 16 months I have put about 10lb of it back on. 

[Sparkly]

Jeannine, there are some people who genetics and health issues cause problems, but this is a very small % of the people who are overweight who have these issues. There are also plenty of arguments that being overweight runs in families due to shared poor lifestyle choices. I would never ridicule people are are overweight; I was pretty massive myself, but it is a fact that for MOST people who are overweight it is their own doing due to the choices they have made. They are overweight because they eat too much and exercise too little. There many be many psychological issues that contribute to this, but it doesn't change the fact it is due to energy in energy out for the majority. Until people start taking responsibility and sort out their diets and activity levels they are unlikely to lose weight. I do believe there should be more support for people who are overweight avaliable. It can be difficult to make these changes and education with support is the key. Often people think they are eating far less than they are; again studies support this. I am certainly not saying this is you Jeannine; I would not fancy eating so little as you did yesterday, but also feel strongly that there are many people out there making excuses because they don't want to deal with the truth.

[gp.girl]

Jeannine lincsyokel2 rule is still true for you it's just so distorted by medical problems that you end up looking like you are in the wrong group >:(

Mimi there's only one thing to say about losing 4 stone in 6 months and it's WELL DONE. Don't give up :)

Me, I'd be a lot thinner if I got off the seefood diet.........oh for my slim youth....although I could do without the 12 hour days. Drat, drat, drat!

Oh and getting back to the subject I couldn't face this type of diet if I was paid to ;D

I'd try vegan first... :o

[OllieC]

All this talk of dieting is making me hungry!

[gp.girl]

All this talk of dieting is making me hungry!

Do you mind ::) I just had dinner and pudding ;)

[ceres]

I eat very little, not nearly enough, it is a big cause of concern  to my Dr and my blood is suffering because of it. They try to get me to drink geriatric milky drink thingies but I cannot..I have been on appetite stimulants but still eat very little..and I am overweight..my thyroid is way ouut of balance and it seems to see saw, it seems they cannot get it stable..

So I am overweight and I eat very little...I am on the go all day given the limitations of my health problems, I swim etc..so there is at least one person in the world that proves it is not always overeating and lack of excerise.


XX Jeannine

Eating as few calories as you're suggesting will actually make you gain weight.  Your body senses it's going into starvation mode and attempts to protect your vital organs by down-regulating your metabolism.  Production of the active thyroid homrone from the storage thyroid hormone is drastically reduced to conserve energy so that less is burned and the excess stored.  There's a good chapter here citing the research but it's pretty heavy going.

Also, there's a tendency to confuse being physically active with exercising.  If you want to exercise for weight loss, you need to do something most days for around 30 mins that raises your heart rate and gets you a bit out of breath.  Normal day to day pottering around is activity but it's not exercise.

[daveyboi]

I think that a change in routine can make you lose weight.

I do not eat that much and a fairly healthy diet at that but am on the border line between over weight and obese normally.
A couple of weeks ago I decide to go on a holiday at the last minute and in the few days before hand getting things ready etc changed my normal evening routine and I lost 6kg.

[antipodes]

The Dukan diet restricts you a lot but only for set periods of time. The Dr himself knows this and that is why you gradually add other food groups. He does not advocate cutting out carbs for life but you must admit that eating too  many of them will help you gain weight. So when you are allowed them again you can eat a few but not too many, which seems highly sensible to me.
Most people gain weight after dieting because you go back to your old methods. He does advocate a plan for life, which I did not follow, hence I gained weight again. The advantage with a strict diet like his is that it makes you realise how much rubbish you were eating before! And the tone he uses in the book is that once you have been fat you are likely to always have weight problems so you must psychologically prepare yourself for constant vigilance in how your weight is evolving. Not what you always see in this politically correct age, but as another poster said once you hear the word OBESE you think "woah time to make a change here"!!! Obviously he encourages you to then adopt a much healthier lifestyle once you have lost the weight, low fat, low sugar, lots of veg and lean protein and moderate activity. The diet is strict but it's not for life, it's to get the weight off - you must then make the changes you need to make to keep it off. But personally I needed that "wakeup" moment and just cutting back on some foods did not work for me at all. (To be honest it is clear that the Dukan diet works well because you cut out fat, sugar and alcohol, and you don't need to be a genius to know that they are the big enemies of every fatty!!!)

Jeannine, sorry to hear about your nutritional woes. But yes it is true that eating so little all the time will put your body in starvation mode and make it more likely to store energy. Can a nutritionist not help you find a way to slowly eat more? Yr Thyroid problems obviously don't help...

I didn't find the original post misleading, even if you have already started the diet, there is nothing wrong with getting feedack from other people???

But the end line is that I like many do enjoy eating and drinking tasty things, it's one of life's pleasures, but it does have its drawbacks and the "all things in moderation" rule is supremely sensible. To all the dieters like myself, best of British luck, because it's a hard slog, but when you do drop 2 dress sizes, it is highly motivating.