What’s new

At the moment – 73.1

I am so excited! I am 1.1kg away from a normal BMI

For quite a while now, I’ve been following my own plan, loosely based on the Dukan 3rd phase and incorporating all the good habits that I learned on the looong time on the Dukan diet. At the beginning of the year I tried to go back to strictly Dukan and just couldn’t keep it, what ended up in binging :/ But there is so many good things I took from the Dukan diet All the protein foods that help me feel fuller for longer, a massive cut to fats I’ve been eating a long time before.

Even though, when I was fat, I would eat fast food all the time, I kept feeling guilty for that anyway. Now, I still have cravings, but I’ve learned to control them most of the time, and the very important – YOU CAN indulge from time to time. I guess that is exactly the point in the 3rd phase feasts . So if I choose to have a piece of chocolate, it’s not going to kill me or my diet. I try to keep to a daily calorie amount of about 1500, but from time to time I do go to the restaurant, eat popcorn at the movies… AND I keep losing weight, feel good, relaxed etc. What more can you want!?

But I think the biggest struggle is to begin something like that when you are very big, as you have to give time for the stomach to shrink a bit. I used to be able to eat two TWO sets of meals at KFC. Now I barely get trough a Twister haha. It’s not will power, I just got through the part when my stomach was still shrinking.

 

My plan at the moment is:

* About 1200-1500 calories a day (I keep a diary, weigh food etc. It might seem hard, but after a while you know the nutrition of your favourite food by heart)

* I look at the Dukan rules as a sort of a compas (60gr of wholegrain pasta, not a lot of bread – a wholegrain roll or two slices of bread, minimised oils in cooking, a lot of lean protein, oat bran, non starchy vegetables, low fat dairy products)

* 6 days a week an hour or more hula hooping (It’s not only about how much, but the routine. It raises the heart rate and metabolism, but also, I do give myself one day off, so I don’t go obsessive )

* I give myself the odd treat (Chose a low calorie pizza, put half in the freezer, so it doesn’t tempt and indulge in the favorite foods, my guilty pleasure are Malteaser bunnies . I track the calories, so it’s not over the daily allowance and, more rarely, I bin the rules and if I go with someone to the restaurant – I chose my fav food and go cold turkey protein the next day ;D )

It has really been working for me well. I feel more relaxed about foods since they’re not all banned and most of all, the scale is the proof, since January I lost about 9kilos I now only have about 8 to go .

Disadvantages:

* The risk of buying too much and eating it just because it’s there and tempting. I try to fight that by freezing all the tempting foods hehe and only buying/making one portion at a time

How are the other long term dukaninans out there doing? Following the plan as it is or finding any little cheats?

Dukan diet – week 12 – The Pizza

My new experiments in the kitchen are based around a mix of an omlette, the bran cake and a frittata. The one above is something I consider the Dukan Pizza

Ingredients:

2 eggs

2 tbspoons of yoghurt

2 tbspoons of oat bran

1 tbspoon of cornflour

1 tspoon of baking powder

100g precooked chicken or chicken ham etc.

1 tspoon of sesame seeds

1 tspoon of grated hard cheese

4 cherry tomatoes

1 Babybel light

Spices: salt, pepper, parsley, italian spices and oregano

Instructions:

Put the eggs, yoghurt, oat bran, cornflour, baking powder, half of the chicken pieces and spices into a bowl for mixing. In the meanwhile put the other half of the chicken pieces on a non stick (big – it will allow the ‘pizza’ to be nice and flat) pan to let them crisp a bit. Mix all the ingredients in the bowl and pour it out onto the pan, covering the chicken. Put a lid on the pan and let the mix crisp a bit at the bottom. When the bottom is done, an the top still a bit liquid, on top, put tomatoes cut into pieces, thinly sliced babybel cheese, sprinkle with grated hard cheese and sesame seeds. All of that needs to be put under a grill (I just put the pan under the grill, with the handle sticking out, so there is no worry that the liquid top will spill) and just watch it get nice and brown on top. There isn’t a lot of cheese, but enough to give a fab aroma and crispiness on top.

And that is just one variation of it! You can make it without the bran, so it’s more of an omlette (you can add milk instead of yoghurt for extra fluffiness) or add spinach and the babybel directly into the mixture, to make it more like a traditional frittata. It is really a nice, rewarding meal in the evening.

I also love to make it with smoked salmon.

I had a lousy time at a Christmas party though. Everyone was eating and drinking, and I was just sitting there . I promised myself a bit of loosing on the diet for Christmas Day, but I didn’t want to brake the diet before that . Too loud to talk in the stupid pub and all this food. Gah. Sucks.

Sins: Chocolate mousse, half a Bounty, chocolate buttons…

Weight loss – week 12: 0.6kilos – 84.1kilos

Dukan diet – week 11 – The evil cheaters way

Sample menu:

Chicken fried with egg + tomato soup

coco

Bran cake with chicken slices

omlette with tuna

Sins: Chocolate Santa head

Because of the affair with the Santa head, I got quite frustrated with myself. Obviously, a slip up is NOT a reason to quit the diet, but it definitely does make you think. I do still get sweets cravings, especially working in a shop surrounded by Christmas sweets!

So in the evening I went food shopping, to get the same, standard boring things I’m already used to, eggs, meat, cottage cheese. I started walking around the isles and shelves full of things I can’t have. I started looking at them and realised that for the past two weeks I do cook, but it’s the same boring recipes over and over again. I got very lazy, so I figured I have to refresh my kitchen, try new things. Maybe my body was just craving something new. So I bought some things, I will explain:

1oog of ground almonds

100g of grated parmesan

200g grated coconut flakes

Diet ketchup

100g of sesame seeds

Ketchup and sesame seeds are allowed in moderation.
Almonds, coconut, parmesan – all have over 50% of fat, so it’s generally a no-no, BUT that’s why I bought them all grated of ground or something like that. They can magically make your cooking more interesting and it’s enough to use them like a spice to get their aroma – a bit, a flat teaspoon is enough.

If you do go down my path, you must know that it IS unorthodox! But I’m in day 213 now and it hasn’t hurt my diet, I still have the fist packet of almonds and coconut I bought, which means I don’t really use a lot of it, but at least I feel that I can if I want to, and it’s there . Especially the grated hard cheese, with an omlette ifs plain luxury! Those little additions won’t kill you or your diet but will definitely allow you to enjoy food more. Just stick to using a teaspoon every now and then.

So I also decided to try and cook more interesting things again. For dinner that evening I had: A bran cake with a teaspoon of sesame seeds, on that I put some tuna with tomato sauce and a bit of parmesan on top.

Of course it’s all in my head, but I felt a lot more satisfied

So for a lovely new recipe:

Mild chicken curry with sesame and coconut!:

Ingredients:

about 400g of chicken breast

1 egg

2 tablespoons of mild curry spice

A bit of piri piri (or chili)

salt, pepper

1 teaspoon of sesame seeds

1 teaspoon of coconut

5 tablespoons of fat-free yoghurt

Dice the chicken breast, put it in a bowl, add the spices, coconut, sesame and the egg, and mix it.

Put the mix on the hot non-stick pan. Keep in under a lid for about 10 minutes, mixing from time to time, when it gets nice and golden, put the yoghurt on top and simmer for another 5-10minutes.

There isn’t a lot of the coconut, but it really adds a flavour to the whole dish!

If I was on PV I would have added some cherry tomatoes

Another important note is that this is NOT a recipe for the beginning of the diet. This is for when you really feel tired, when you want to break the monotony! Because, at the end of the day, if you get miserable on the diet, you will not last!!!

And the scales reacted really nicely to all of this !

Weight loss week 11: 1.9kg – 84.7kg

Recipe – Chicken with tomato sauce

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts

1 carrot

1 knorr stock pot

1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400g)

1 tablespoon of green peas (if you like to live on the edge, like me

1 medium red onion

Spices: salt, black pepper, piri piri, parsley, italian herbs, chicken spice

Chop the chicken breasts into pieces, sprinkle the meat with chicken spice and salt. Spray a big pan 3 times with spray oil (or use a non stick pan, OR one drop of olive oil). Put the chicken on the pan and let it fry for a couple of minutes.

Put the rest of the spices, half of the carrot pieces, stock pot, onion pieces and chopped tomatoes into a food processor and mash it up into a vegetable purree. If the chicken if getting nice and golden, pour the vegetables onto the pan. Add a few more carrot pieces and simmer it all under covering for a good 15 minutes (stir from time to time). Add the peas at the end as a final touch . VOILA!

I’m super-stuffed and I’m definitely doing this again.

It a portion for about 3 people, or 3 meals if you store it in the fridge.

Dukan diet – week 10

I cooked for a friend of mine. I made her an omelette, chicken muffins. She liked them a lot. It’s good to see that it’s actual good food, not some diet awfulness which no one other than the person on the diet would eat.

Sample menu for the week:

Breakfast: Chicken muffins, hard boiled eggs, coffee with skimmed milk

Snack: Turkey slices

Lunch: Steamed haddock with joghurt

Dinner: Chicken marinated in yoghurt and curry

Desert: Quark with cocoa powder and sweetener (YES pls!)

My dream lingerie for when I can actually fit it and look good

You can get them at: http://www.lamagia.co.uk

I’m afraid that when I slim down, I might have to become an exhibitionist. I guess I believe in: “When you got it, flaunt it!”

On one of the days I bought a big amount of chicken, eggs, ham and spent over 2 hours in the kitchen but prepared a LOT of ready food, that went straight to the freezer, so it’s there when I need it It’s a really good way to save time – making in bulk.

Tomato Soup

BIG POT

2 knorr chicken stock cubes

2 litres of boiling water

Into that, put half a big onion shred into pieces.

Add some salt, some pepper, parsley, Italian herbs, pieces of carrot. Let it boil for about 10 minutes.

Add 2 tins of shred tomato pieces (2x400g) and two spoons of tomato concentrate. Let it boil and stir. After about 10 minutes, check the taste, if you wan to add any spices. At the end you can add some dried vegetable pieces.

And that’s it. Very nice, especially for cold evenings. Very filling, good with other dishes. Mmm. Nice and thick. What I also do is, sometimes I mix all the vegetables in a shredder, do it’s really small bits and the soup seems even thicker.

Once I also added sweet peppers and it was really nice, a bit like goulash.

Weight loss this week: 0.7kg – 86.6kg

Sins: Chocolate WW mousse x2

Dukan diet – week 9

It might seem silly but I started eating on a small plate. It always seemed to me like a really stupid idea, but I can say that it does actually work. It’s easier to resist another portion of something than leave food on the plate.

I have this sense of calm on this diet. I know that when I get to my goal weight I will not suddenly go back to my old eating habits. I don’t feel like I’m just on a diet. I am changing my life FOREVER! Stage 3 of this diet already sounds like a good eating plan in general and I am sure it will get me on the right path. I’m also not freaking out about food or think about it obsessively like I used to. When I get to my goal weight, which is about 40kilos from my start weight, I will start phase 3. For about 400days. That’s over a year. And I’m not upset by it. I am HAPPY! I feel safe that someone planned it for me and guides me through the process. I know I couldn’t do it on my own plan, I tried many times and failed miserably. Even now, I eat very well and I think the next phase will be a welcomed relief, a nice and good way to eat. With a piece of bread, a fruit, with 2 fabulous meals of my choice in a week . Superb.

Sample menu from the week:

Breakfast: Oven baked chicken, pickles and eggs

Lunch: Tomato soup and chicken muffins (with curry spice)

Snack: Chicken slices

Dinner: Bran cake and mackrel with tomato sauce

Desert: Cheesecake

I hate eating early in the morning, but when I’m going to work for many hours, I know I will be hungry and I just need to stuff my face with whatever, to avoid that . It’s better than being hungry and getting tempted by free sweets at work.

At one point I had a really busy day, so I was hoping to get some roasted chicken breast from a butchers close to my house. Of course the one day I needed it, they were out. With a bit of panic I bought a box of beef, asking for the leanest bits. The salesman offered me some gravy. I think he got the point when I looked at him all terrified. Such preposterous ideas! Gravy!

So I had some takeaway beef. It’s not as good as chicken breast, a bit dry, but it was still good to try something new.

I started planning (or dreaming of) a holiday in Sicily in September. I want a bikini body!!!! I don’t know if it will work out, but it’s good motivation

I started THINKING about working out I guess it is a step forward…

Also – in day 58 (!) I achieved the weight loss of 20 kilos!! AMAZING <3 I’m thrilled.

Sins: Chocolate mousse

Weight loss this week: 1kilo – 87.3kg YESSS!

I’m still not bored with the diet

Dukan diet – week 8

It might seem that I’m the lucky one whose weight just goes down from week to week without struggle but the truth is, this weekly summary doesn’t show the reality of the scales which is – the scale can show a difference of over a kilo from one day to the next!!! … So you could say that it is better to just weigh yourself once a week, as daily weighing is not for the faint-hearted haha!

But then I am a bit of a control freak, so I do that. If you want to weigh yourself daily, you must most of all keep calm and do not despair. Write down the weight everyday, but only make a comparison on a weekly basis. I find it motivating, because I just ignore it if it’s a bit higher. I consider it a bit of a stop, not a step back. I would only feel that I need to step it up a bit if I gained weight in comparison to last week. From day to day it can always be too much water in the body or a sudden loss of weight if you sinned with some alcohol (:X don’t do that!). What you must remember is that if you want to lose a lot of weight, it’s a process. It will not happen overnight. But you can also be optimistic. Like a countdown. If you stick to the diet, you should be able to lose about 1kilo a week, week after week. On the Dukandiet page, there is a calculator, that can help you count your ‘ideal weight’ and approximate time on the diet:

http://www.dukandiet.co.uk/

So at the beginning of my diet I did that and wrote a ‘planned weight for the week’ in my diary. So even if I lost less than a kilo, I still could see that I’m on track

Here’s a chart of how it looks:

So you can see it’s going down, but still varies from day to day.

Sample diet:

Breakfast: Tomato soup and chicken muffins

Diet coke

Lunch: curry spiced chicken and cottage cheese

Dinner: Bran cake with ham and tomatoes

Desert: Grated carrots

Sample motivational music on my mp3 :

I will survive – Gloria Gaynor

Foxy Lady - Jimi Hendrix

I want it all – Queen

I want candy – Bow wow wow

Defying gravity – From “Wicked”

I had a diet dream… I was on a Dukan dieters convention and in the womens toilet, there was a small fridge, where you could buy sweets… muffins, cakes, cream biscuits, chocolates. I broke down and started eating it all. I woke up with a sense of failure Fortunately – it was only a dream. haha!

For the first time in a looong time I had a fruit yoghurt. I had a peach 0%fat Activia. Oh it was good

What’s nice about a very strict diet is that you learn to appreciate the things you never considered fancy

My downfall: I had a snickers

Weight loss:  2.3kilos!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess sometimes a sweet snack can boost your metabolism hahaha!

88.3!

I’m out of the 90′s !:D

Dukan diet – week 7

Sample menu:

Breakfast: Bran cake with hard boiled egg pieces and ham + chicken with tikka spice

Lunch: Oven cooked haddock and ham

Dinner: Oven cooked chicken with sunny side up eggs

Dessert: Diet nutella pralines

I had quite a few horrific, very cold days at work. I was trying to keep positive though. Every time I started shaking from the cold, I told myself it’s good, that I’ll be slimming faster, cause my body’s burning more calories haha.

I made some coco with skimmed milk, cocoa powder and sweetener. It was so good I almost downed the whole glass in one go

I also noticed how at the beginning every day was a challenge. Now it became a routine It’s more like a lifestyle change that I feel very happy about.

Weight loss:  1.1kilo

90.6kilos

Dukan diet – week 6

Salmon and courgette cakes

• 200g salmon trimmings
• 500g courgettes (about two medium ones)
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of cornflour
• Half a sweet pepper
• Spices: Salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, parsley

Grate the courgettes after getting their skin off. Mix that with eggs, flour, spices and sweet pepper. Then add the salmon and mix again. Fry on a teflon pan without oil.

Diet tip: Get yourself some toastie pockets and leave half of the portion for the next day. You can then make a quick snack in the toster, the next day. Good for work as it doesn’t smell of fish, or for a quick breakfast! YUM!!!

Sample menu:

Breakfast: bran cake mixed with tuna (it got nice and crispy ), pickles, tomato and a bit of carrot

Lunch: Steamed  chicken with two eggs

snack: fat free cottage cheese

Dinner: Salmon and courgette cakes with tomatoes

I noticed that all of a sudden… I stopped biting my nails! It’s a terrible compulsion I have and it sort of disappeared on it’s one since I started the diet. I only noticed just now! It’s still not perfect but I think it might be because I feel a lot more relaxed and less tense .

I overslept on a work day and I had a breakfast that only consisted of coffee. I was so hungry! All the way up to 2pm. A friend of mine, who is also on this diet, and was visiting me, had lunch ready for me the moment I stepped through the door. Ahh… That omlette felt so good and rewarding! I felt like just putting on some slippers and smoking a pipe, after a hard days work haha. There is nothing like a diet buddy!!! They will understand your problem and support you.

In the evening we made some:

Sweet bran cookies:

* 1 egg
* 1 table spoon of sweetener
* 3 table spoons of oat bran
* 1 table spoon of baking powder
* 2-3 spoons of milk (or yoghurt)

Instructions:
Mix everything together until it forms a consistent mass. Use a shallow form for nice crispy result or spread them directly on a baking tray layed out with baking paper. Heat the oven to 180°C and bake for about 15 minutes (until they start to go golden brown on top).

(Recipe stolen from my sister ha ha from her site – http://mydukandiet.com )

Also, my sweetie print and motif obsession continues. Shopping time!!

I also got the most beautiful lunch box!

Also, my friend took a few photos of me, so here it is!

Weight loss week 6 : 1.9kilos – 91.7

Sport: zero … I have to start SOMETHING!

Dukan diet – week 5

I’ll start with a recipe, as this was the hit of my week and became a massive favourite of mine for months to come! I am also definitely keeping this recipe for after the diet. All my friends love them too. Eating like this makes you definitely feel like you’re not on a diet…

Chicken muffins

2 chicken breasts

250ml of low fat natural yoghurt

2 eggs

1 tablespoon of cornflour

2 table spoons of oat bran and 1 of wheat bran

1 teaspoon of baking powder

Spices I used: salt, pepper, a lot of chicken spice and italian herbs

(on a different occasion, for PV I added mashed sweet peppers or tomato to the mix and it was brilliant! )

Chop the meat into very small pieces. Mix all the other ingredients, add the chicken and mix it with a spoon. Don’t worry that the mixture is quite runny, it will get more solid. Put the mix into muffin silicone cases. You could technically use a different kind, but they easily slide out of the silicone, without using any oil.

Put the muffins into a hot oven (gas mark 6) for 45-60 minutes. They should be good when the edges get a little brown.

They look good and taste marvelous They’re good hot AND cold, so they’re a good simple snack on the go. Remember that you have the daily limit for oat bran in them!

If you feel lazy and don’t care about the shape of the food, you could just pour the mix onto a baking tray ( I recomend silicone once again) and just cut it into pieces when it’s done. I also like to put a bit of sesame seeds on top.

Sample menu from the week:

Breakfast: lots of chicken muffins, coffee

snack: 2 hardboiled eggs and cooked chicken slices

Lunch: Cooked chicken slices and roast chicken without the skin and wings

Desert: Cheesecake

Dinner: 1 egg and cooked chicken slices

Preparing food upfront, so there is always a snack or a full lunch at work is not easy but you just have to find the time. I remember I always used to make up excuses for my junk food. That I don’t have the time to cook. Honestly, it’s not as hard as it seems, when you have a routine. And because I’m still lazy, I just make things in bulk and freeze it, so there is always something in the house when I’m desperate.

I went shoping for some lovely new clothes I HAD to. All that lost weight just yearned for new dresses! I also got myself a lovely recipe folder. With a cookies on it ha ha. I think muffins and cookies became my new obsession and because I can’t eat them, I surround myself with the image

I love it! It’s got plastic sleeves on the inside, so you can change the recipes easily or take them out, ut also, it has a flat part, so you can fold it like a bit like piramid and it stands on its own. Great in the kitchen, saves space.

In a month I lost: 13.8kilos! O_O Mindblowing!!!

I started looking through my closet and taking out stuff to charity shops. YES. NEVER AGAIN will I be a sie 18-20. How could I have even let myself go like that? :/

Weight loss in week 5 – 1.4 !!!!

93.6kilos