Day 4 & Day 5: Transition to Cruise

DAY 4

Weight:  166.6

Mood & Energy: hungry, tired

Exercise: housework

Food: 3 eggs

          roast beef, greek yogurt, string cheese

          braised tofu, tahini & lemon sauce, ½ ounce unsweetened chocolate

          4 strips bacon, sugar free jello

          cocoa meringue drops

DAY 5 : first day of cruise, PV
 

Weight:  167.7

Mood & Energy: tired

Exercise: garage sale day, walked around mall for 2 ½ hours in evening

Food:

Breakfast: 4 bacon strips and a boiled egg

Lunch: Gyro Salad (gyro meat on bed of lettuce with greek dressing), 2 olives, little bit of feta, extra yogurt Sauce

Snack: Pancake made with oat bran, flax, greek yogurt, egg white, and ½ ounce unsweetened chocolate (incredibly delicious)

Supper: 6 ounce steak, broccoli, 3 tablespoons spinach/artichoke dip

TOO MUCH FAT OR JUST ENOUGH FAT? 

I'm eating more fat than the Dukan diet recommends, and I can't seem to give up my 1/2 ounce of unsweetened chocolate.   I don't know if this is so much "non-compliance" as it is that I finished that Taubes book, which advocates eating fats and against eating too much protein on a low-carb diet.  I keep thinking I will find the perfect formula if I mix a little bit of this (Dukan's alternating day diet) with a little bit of nutritional improvement(making sure to get enough dietary fat for brain function).  I'd have a lot more confidence in this tinkering if the weight were pouring off, or if I felt great, but neither is happening.  I'm tired and the scale doesn't move. 

I swear the bacon-eating situation was just that I had so little energy and so much hunger I wanted to see if it could give me a boost -- and it did, along with probably making me gain some water weight!   But if I am going to modify the plan, it is is definitely going to be in the direction of added fats rather than added carbs, and given the temptations of the last day of school (donuts and cookies for my students) and the garage sale (stress & time rush), to eat bacon was not that big of deal. Fat can't throw you out of ketosis, but any cheating with carbs sure could.

Yesterday was exhausting because of the garage sale, and after we closed up I went to a restaurant with a friend.   The greek salad was my first vegetable serving in five days, and I ate it so enthusiastically.  I then felt very ill, which made my friend tease me (to be sick from overeating lettuce!).  It reminded me of how much I adore vegetables.  I always have.  I will be eating them with enthusiasm whenever I can.

When I put my calories in Calorie Count, it appears that I am eating few enough calories that I should be losing weight, anywhere between 1300-1600.   I'm also keeping my carbs somewhere between 20-40 grams, which is great.  Moderate ketosis is showing on urine strips, but nowhere near the deep purple I had on the Atkins diet.  (I am convinced that once in ketosis the color of the strips is determined by amount of fat I am eating -- I would just have to add some butter to get into deep ketosis, I think).  My hunger is lower than it usually is on that number of calories, and my impulse control is pretty strong.  For example, the mall (with its pizza, pretzels, and cookies), was a bit of a challenge, but I didn't ever seriously consider eating something forbidden when there. 

I have had too much to do around the house that is physically exhausting to worry about exercise, and I also was trying to follow the advice in the book not to really engage in strenuous exercise while in the Attack phase.  Now that I'm in the cruise phase, I am going to have to think about integrating more intentional exercise into my day. 

Some thoughts as I transition into the Cruise phase:

1.  There is nothing wrong with adjusting any diet program to make it sustainable for the long term and flexible enough to fit your life.   It's not a religion and there should be no guilt over sin, but at the same time adjustments should be accurately recorded and their results fairly evaluated.  It helps to see things as science (testing, observing and evaluating) rather than belief (dogma, sin or saintliness, sacrifice, etc.)

2.  Fat is probably important on low-carb diets, but this is no license to make meals out of cheese and bacon. Fat is also calorie dense, so it appears important to find the right balance of fat, protein, and carbs.   Overall, it is probably better to have slower weight loss with sufficient dietary fat than quicker weight loss without it, but I don't know yet.  I'm going to work to keep my fat lower this week and see what happens. 

3.  I have to keep the long-term picture in my head.  Very literally! I have been visualizing a graph with a declining line indicating my weight through summer.  It also helps to visualize a number on the scale.  I also have a dress I keep around that is pretty tiny, and I think about wearing it on the first day of the Fall semester. Whenever I have an impulse to eat, say, a slice of pizza, I replace it with one of these images. It also helps to not get stuck on the picture of the weight going up like it did today, but to shrug it off and replace it with a "bigger picture." 

Dukan Attack Day 3 -- First Weight Loss!

Weight:  167.7 (-1.3 pounds!)
Mood & Energy:
Exercise:
Food: 



Lately I've been listening to the audio book of Gary Taube's Why We Get Fat.  It's an interesting read for anyone who is using a low carbohydrate diet to lose weight  because it provides some of the science behind the approach as well as an extensive history of low carbohydrate diets.  The Dukan diet is a part of a centuries old French tradition of reduction diets based on meat.  It's pretty glamorous to think of this experiment as a 19th century French one:

Empress Josephine

Taube's book lays out a convincing argument that carbs (and the hormonal processes they trigger) make us fat. While I am not convinced that easily digested carbohydrates are bad for everyone, I know I am a mess when I eat them.  In particular, I learned that if I ate them alone (say, a blueberry muffin for breakfast), my entire day would be one of overeating and mood and energy swings.  Taube's writes that there is an insulin reaction just from thinking about eating carbohydrate rich foods.  This is a little bit terrifying to think about: or rather, its terrifying to think about not thinking about eating these foods.  Even just writing about thinking about not thinking about them makes me think about them.

I do know that if I eat a small dessert as a part of a larger and varied meal, I don't have such an intense reaction to the carbs.   As well, I learned it is advisable to skip the carbs during the day and eat them in the evening, after my work is done. I did, however, learn from Sunday's feasting that one thing eating carbs (or maybe sugar? grains?) will do -- even if it doesn't make me feel immediately bad -- is swell up my hands, feet, and face!  I am still recovering from Sunday's Mother Day feasting and even regretting it a little. In my more skeptical moments, I imagine all I will do in this Attack phase is get back to the weight I was before the holiday.

Taube's book is convincing me that in order to both lose the weight I want to lose and keep it off, I am looking at a life time of carbohydrate restriction.  Because it seems a little depressing to think of saying no forever, I am thinking that once I have reached my goal weight the best approach might be to save sugar and grains for special occasions:  Birthdays, Weddings, and the holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter -- even Halloween, Valentine's Day, and Mother's Day.  If I eat a small amount of these foods on these days, I will probably suffer a little from symptoms, but I can't imagine it would be as damaging as the way of life in which sugar, potatoes, and processed grains are a daily part of my existence. 

I'm not the only one who thinks that a lifetime free from the effects of fast-carbs might be the way to go for the long term.  This is Marshall Brain's comment from the comment box of an update on his success with the Dukan diet: 

Get in to Phase 2 of the Dukan diet and promise yourself that, during the rest of your life, you are not going to eat carbs again. Simply stay in Phase 2. This looks like what I am going to end up doing. Every single time I eat carbs, I regret it. Eating any carb-rich food seems to flip a switch in my brain and I end up eating more. No matter how much “conscious” control I try to apply, it doesn’t seem to work very well. I am much better off when I put a big fence around carbs and do not allow them in my life.

Right now, of course, I just have to get through the attack phase.  I took a walk last night and was so tired (from either the diet or the heat) that I was practically immobile by 8 p.m.  When I did the "true weight" calculation on the Dukan site, I did it twice, and once it said to do attack for 3 days, the second time the site recommended a four day attack.  I don't know which to do, so this might either be my last day of Attack or my second to last day of it.  Frankly, it is too hot around here to be hungry, even for vegetables, and so it is pretty much the perfect time to be going through the most restrictive phase of this diet. 

Day 2 of the Dukan Attack Phase

Weight: 169  (no loss)

Energy & Mood:  Anxious, unfocused, somewhat energetic

Exercise:

45 minutes of gardening, including moving heavy stones
1 hour of shopping
20 minute walk

Food:

Breakfast: 2 eggs
Lunch:  Tuna Fritters made with oat bran
Snack:  Nonfat Greek Yogurt w/squeeze of lemon juice, low fat deli turkey w/ 4 pickle slices
Supper:  Chicken breast

***

I've been thinking about the fact that not only did I lose about 40 pounds at one point in my life, I've generally been able to keep it off for almost seven years.  I lost the weight with a variety of methods.  The first ten pounds came from walking and giving up sugar, and the rest came off with a mix of very healthy eating (sometimes macrobiotic) and lots of exercise -- often two hours a day.  It all came off very slowly over many months, and I was motivated by a diagnosis of high blood pressure. At some point, though, so pleased by my progress, I just gave up the hard work of losing weight.

I've maintained the weight loss for so long it feels like my "natural" weight is around what it is now -- usually 165-170.  At one point four years ago I climbed back to 180, so once again I stopped eating sugar and began to exercise, and within a few months I got the weight back down to my comfort zone, even below it to around 162.  I also think that dealing with stress helped me lose the weight, as well.

What I would like to do on this diet is finally get my comfort zone down to about 140-145.  I suspect once it is there, the same mechanisms that have helped me maintain the first big weight loss will come into effect.  First, there will be a particular number on the scale  which will signal that I need to restrict my eating somewhat.  Right now this number is 170, but I hope in the future that it will be 150, or even lower.  The second mechanism is the fit of my clothes.  I dream of being a solid 8-10 Medium, and that would mean an entire new wardrobe (because I am a L-XL, 12-14 right now).  As soon as the clothes began to fit too tightly, I would know, as I do now, that I must watch what I eat.One thing I have to watch out for even now is letting myself wear clothes that are loose or too big.  I inevitably begin to gain weight when there is room in my clothes to fill!

I really think it is wise that the Dukan diet has an extended period of maintenance built into it.  It helps reset the body at a new natural weight, just like I did with the first big loss. There is also a period of adjustment during which one must come to understand they are at a new weight and that this is their new body.  It took me several years to begin to understand myself as a person who was 165ish, not 200ish, and I suspect that if I get down to 140ish, I will still see myself as a bigger person.  It will be a while before the new face becomes the face I expect to see.

One thing I know for certain is that I can feel the effects of dieting on both my emotions (more anxiety) and my intellectual performance (difficulty focusing).  I think this is inevitable during any period of weight loss: the body doesn't like to let go of itself!  I am making the best of it and focusing on tasks that don't require a lot of thinking, like decluttering  the house and working in the yard. This drop in performance, however, all the more motivation to stick with the plan until I reach my goal.  I don't want to have to do this twice, and I certainly don't want to have to do it when I am older and it is even more difficult.  These next couple of months are the perfect time in my life to focus on this project:  less work, no big events, no social pressure or need to be particularly brilliant.   So far, it's going okay, and the idea that I get to eat vegetables again in a few days is real motivation for me.

Day 1 of the Attack Phase

Start Weight: 169 (some water weight from the holiday)

Energy & Mood:  Pretty good, but got really hungry in the afternoon & craved chocolate in the evening

Measurements:  40/32/43

Exercise:

6 hours cleaning out the garage
Relaxed evening stroll
Stretching

Food:

Breakfast: 2 eggs
Lunch:  Boiled Shrimp, homemade sugar/fat free cocktail sauce
Snack:  Nonfat Greek Yogurt, Oat Bran Galette  
Supper:  Roast Beef, teaspoon green salsa, 1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate, no sugar jello

***



Day one of Attack has passed, and I feel like I have done a pretty decent job at the first day of the Dukan Attack phase despite the fact that the day was also a day of super-intense physical labor in unseasonable heat.  I really want to lose some significant weight before the summer gets super hot because there is nothing worse than being heavy in the heat and the humidity.  I'm hoping by the time June comes I might even be in the 150's and enjoying some of the cooling effects of being lighter.  The heat is some decent motivation to stay on the diet, also because if I am smaller it will be more comfortable to wear skimpier clothes.

Despite the fact that yesterday I ate a feast (cookies, nachos, indian, etc!), I am still showing ketones in my urine, though much lighter than they were before.  I am hopeful that this means I didn't go too far out of ketosis, and that the attack phase will be easier for me than the first time I gave up sugar and wheat.  My understanding of Dukan is that it is, like Atkins, a ketogenic diet, and that it uses the same appetite suppressing mechanism.  The difference is that it doesn't only use this, but also has restrictions to make sure the food choices are generally very healthy for the body.  It will be interesting to compare my experience on Atkins induction to Dukan attack phase. 

Although my appetite doesn't disappear entirely while eating low carb, it does seem easier to resist temptation with the ketogenic effect.  From what I have read, ketosis also means that more fat than muscle will be lost, which is great, and I'm sure that with all this protein even more muscle might be spared through the weight loss process.  At the same time, on vegetable + protein days, I am going to feel free to eat vegetables without worrying that they might hurt my progress. 

I keep thinking I should take before photos -- maybe tomorrow.  I hate photos of myself, but think it would be good to have a multiple evidence of progress:  weight, measurements, the fit of my clothes, and photographs. 
 

Shopping List for Dukan Attack Phase

Weight: 166.6
Energy & Mood:  Pretty Good

Tomorrow I start the 3 day Dukan attack phase.  I'm pretty excited, and I think I'll need it today after Mother's Day celebrations.  Although I managed to avoid bread, rice, and dessert at the Indian buffet, I could tell I ate more than I am used to because I was immediately tired after.   Tonight we are supposed to eat Mother's Day nachos, but I think I will skip the chips!

I'm going to the grocery store tonight to get some supplies.

DUKAN ATTACK SHOPPING LIST 

1.  Chicken Breasts & Legs

2. Low-fat, low sugar deli meats

3. Carton of Egg Whites

4.  Skim milk, no fat cottage cheese, no fat yogurt

5.  Some sort of roast for the crock pot


6.  Oat Bran

I already have some shrimp, tuna, and chicken broth at home, as well as some regular eggs, and I think this will provide enough variety to keep me happy for three days.  I'm worried about low energy, but hopefully being able to eat yogurt and other dairy will help me get through the three days.

Dukan Preparation Weekend

Weight: 166.6
Mood & Energy: Excellent

I'm trying to be relaxed about eating this weekend, not counting calories or carbs, but also not eating sugar, wheat, or corn if I can help it.  The result has, so far, been wonderful, with no-fat greek yogurt and a few blueberries for breakfast, a salad of greens from the farmer's market with olives, feta, and spanish olive oil, and some stir-fried chicken with lots of onions and bell peppers.  I have more energy already, and walked to and from the farmer's market, shopped with my daughter for over an hour, and mowed the front lawn.

I calculated my ideal weight at the Dukan website, and it suggests 149.  I find that to be a little bit of a depressing number, though I would be happy today if I were at it.  In fact, one of the dangers I face is getting done to a rare-to-me weight (like 155) and being so happy I stop losing!

I think one of the things which keeps me heavier than I ought to be is my desire, always, to be strong, and my tendency to lift heavy weights to build muscle mass.  I tend to get distracted from weight loss by an obsession with strength and fitness, then I eat too much to fuel my workouts, and finally just eat too much in general. This habit has gone on for six or seven years!  I do think I am probably strong enough already and need to get over this.

This summer, however, all my energy will go into getting to a reasonable weight, with my exercise simply to serve that purpose and to make me feel energetic and fit, not to increase strength.  To that purpose, I've really been considering giving up weights for a while and doing body weight exercises, pilates, and cardio classes.  It would be fun to try a different approach and see where it leads me knowing that when I have lost the weight, I can work out in the weight room to my heart's content and probably look so much better for it.

The Dukan website suggested three days of attack with a cruise phase lasting until July 11.  I think I could do all of that pretty easily.  I do intend to time eating carbs around workouts and other activities, and to use flax seed along with oat bran to keep from having low mental function from lack of healthy fats.  Because I work with my brain, I need to stay as sharp as possible, even while losing weight.  For this reason, despite sort of hating fish, I will make sure to eat plenty of tuna.

I think I am curiously stubborn about some rules, and lax about others.  For example, I'm pretty convinced that sugar and grains are poison to me, but I am not so convinced about such a dramatically low fat diet. I do see why cutting fat can help with weight loss, but it is definitely temporary, and something which might need to be adjusted.  I love cheese, but think it is probably the primary food that keeps me overweight, so am willing to give it up entirely as required.  I will not be above eating a berry now and then before a workout, and certainly think if I am going to cheat, eating in season fruit from the farmer's market will be the way to do it. It seems a lot better to plan these cheats, rather, than fail totally and spend days eating truffles and potato chips.

Overall, though I am so looking forward to this!  Often I think diets are enjoyable just to test a method, see if it works, and how effectively it does so. 

Preparing for the Dukan Attack Phase

My experience with low carb diets

Determined to lose weight by the time I start my new job at the end of the summer, I'd been eating a low carb, high fat diet (Atkin's induction) for almost two weeks, but I found the fat made me feel pretty awful.  Although I'd gone into ketosis by the second day, I didn't lose tremendous amounts of weight as promised. My skin  began to break out all over my body, my nails broke, and I was eating too much cheese, cream, and fatty meats to feel healthy, but for some reason, mostly my total love for cheese, I couldn't limit myself.  I could barely keep up with my normal exercise routine. I missed eating Greek yogurt, and I also missed eating vegetables.

On the other hand, I love eating low carb, and really feel like sugar, wheat, corn, and starchy vegetables are quite bad for my overall health.  I have diabetes in my family, poor skin, and super-sensitive reactions to eating carbs, which leads me to believe I have some of the problems related to insulin resistance. I started searching for a healthier, lower fat low carb diet without the fatty cheeses, and that's when I came across the Dukan diet.  I eagerly read the book, and decided that I would begin the diet on the day after Mother's Day, which also coincides with the end of my semester (I am a college instructor).

My plan 

Since I am already in ketosis, I am anticipating that the Attack Phase won't be too difficult for me.  My main challenge will be giving up the cheese, but I love Greek yogurt so much that I think this will make up for it.

I do plan to treat myself a little on Mother's Day, but will try to stay as low-carb as reasonable while not missing out any fun with my daughter.  One of my mother's day plans is also to take my daughter on a long walk through the park, preferably after our big meal.

My plan is to stay in Attack for only a few days and then move to the Cruise phase. 

I am the sort of person who loves to track data, so I will continue to count calories and look at macronutrient ratios just to see how this diet stacks up to regular calorie reduction diets.  I find that looking at charts and graphs is a great motivator for me overall.  I will also weigh myself each morning and take my measurements each Monday.

Every day I want to track not only my weight, but also my overall health, the condition of my skin, my hunger levels, energy levels, and my moods.  I think it is important that any eating plan not only takes into consideration weight loss, but overall well being.

Exercise

My hope is that I can handle vigorous workouts on my vegetable and protein days, and have my protein only days be my "light exercise" days on which I mostly walk.  I did read on the Dukan site that a person can add more carbs before an intense workout (for example, a glass of orange juice).   I will start with timing my vegetables before workouts, and then see if I need to add extra carbs to reach my full performance levels.  If I do add these carbs, they will probably just be berries, which I love to eat.

Planned Variations

I am considering two planned variations to the diet.  Instead of oat bran, I will use ground flax seeds in small amounts.  This will help me stay away from gluten and keep up my levels of healthy fats, while still getting some of the benefits of fiber.   As well, I am going to allow myself small amounts of unsweetened chocolate or cocoa (usually mixed with a tiny bit of stevia).  If these changes seem to stall my progress, I will reconsider them as I move through the program.