Fri, Dec 16 - Over the past two days, I have gained a pound and a half.  As it turns out, this week was NOT so difficult to maintain my eating program. At the buffet I attended on Tuesday, I was able to have vegetables and meat only. I skipped the reception on Wednesday, so my meals were totally within my eating program guidelines, and yet I STILL gained a pound and a half!  This is so totally frustrating!! I have no idea why. So, I am taking a break. I am  going to enjoy some holiday foods from now through New Years, and will post again after New Years when I will probably have gained 30 pounds!!!!!!!!!!

Mon, Dec. 12 - I lost another quarter pound today, so am a half pound from my pre-Thanksgiving break weight and 10 pounds from my ultimate goal.  Tomorrow, I go back on protein & vegetables for five days.  However, I have a buffet dinner to attend tomorrow night and the reception on Wednesday, so this trend may be rapidly reversed.

Sun, Dec 11, 2011 - I lost another three quarters of a pound today, putting me three quarters of a pound away from my pre-Thanksgiving break weight, and 10.5 pounds away from my ultimate goal. Every bit of weight I lose now will only help me get through the holidays and back on track afterward.

Sat., Dec. 10, 2011 - Today, I lost three quarters of a pound, so now I am 1.25 pounds over my pre Thanksgiving break weight, and 10.75 pounds over my ultimate goal. Heading in the right direction, but as I said this coming week is going to be challenging, and with the holidays looming after that, it is going to be some difficult weeks ahead.

I know that I will take a break over the holidays to enjoy some things I would not normally eat, and I am not going to stress over it. I will just have to re-focus after the first of the year.

I have been hungry all day today. Perhaps it is the anticipation of the holidays that is making me hungry. 

Fri, Dec 9, 2011 - Since I last posted on Monday, I had gained another pound making it a total increase of 1.25 pounds this week until today. Today, when I stepped on the scales, I was down 1.25 pounds, putting me at 2 pounds from my pre-break weight, and 11.5 pounds from my ultimate goal weight. I am trying to be very careful because of the holidays looming ahead, but it is difficult with so many eating-related activities coming up.

On Monday there will be the annual holiday lunch at my workplace, which is a glutinous orgy of food. Therefore, I will not be attending that event-- it's not an event I particularly enjoy and there is no way I can attend without going way out of bounds, which I would prefer not to do.

On Tuesday, I will be attending a buffet dinner for a political organization. This too will be a non-nutritious eating frenzy, but not as luxurious as the lunch I am passing up on Monday, so I may be able to hold my own at this one. I hope.

On Wednesday, I will be attending a work reception, but I'm not sure what the food options will be as this is a farewell reception for a departing executive. I suspect the food will be rich and plentiful "stand up" food, but I will put in an appearance and leave as soon as possible. I hope it is not a sit-down event.If it is, I will probably say my good-byes before dinner and disappear.

If I can resist all those temptations, that will get me through next week. I would really be pleased to lose the 2 pounds I gained over Thanksgiving before Christmas, but time is running out!

Mon, Dec 5, 2011 - As expected, I gained a quarter pound. Actually, I'm surprised it is not more. Sunday was a big eating day and the second day of protein and vegetables, which inevitably results in a gain. At least, I will be able to walk to work several times this week which will help somewhat, I hope.

Sun, Dec. 4, 2011 - I have lost another three quarters of a pound, so I am now 2 pounds from my pre-break weight, and 11.5 pounds from my ultimate goal weight. I am surprised that I lost 3/4 lbs because I switched back to protein and vegetables yesterday. Today, I feel very bloated, which will probably show up on the scales tomorrow morning.

Fri, Dec 2, 2011 - I lost another quarter pound this morning, so am now 12.25 from my ultimate goal and 2.75 above my pre-break weight. In all, I've lost 6.75 pounds in 5 days which I know is all fluid, not fat. Today is the last of 5 all protein days; tomorrow I go on protein and vegetables for 5 days. That will cause some fluid retention so I expect to gain a bit next week. So of the 9.5 pounds I gained on break, I would say almost 7 was fluid and the other 2.5 was fat-- interesting.

Thur, Dec 1, 2011 - I lost another half pound of bloat, so I am now 3 pounds over my pre-break weight and 12.5 pounds from my ultimate goal. I suspect at some point, the sustained weight loss I'm seeing this week will ricochet back up, although it would be so nice to see it continue moving downward-- that's not what usually happens. Tomorrow is my 5th day of protein only eating, so on Saturday I start protein and vegetables for 5 days-- that will definitely result in regaining some of the fluid I have lost this week. I just need to persevere and not get too frustrated by the ups and downs, but that is SO hard to do. It will be especially difficult heading into the holiday season, but I am consciously trying to avoid some of the usual pitfalls and temptations-- for example, I am forgoing the annual Christmas luncheon at work. It is not mandatory attendance and it is just a quagmire of fatty foods that I can easily avoid by just bypassing the luncheon.

Wed, Nov 30, 2011 - As I anticipated, I lost another 1.5 pounds of bloat since yesterday. I am now a total of 13 pounds over my ultimate goal weight, and 3.5 pounds over the weight I was at on November 17 before taking this latest break. I'm going to assume that if I lose anymore of the 3.5 pounds this week, it will still be "bloat" not "fat" weight that is coming off. It will take at least a week of eating "on program" to begin to lose "fat" weight, which is always much more arduous.

Tue Nov 29 - Sunday was the end of a 10 day break in the program, and when I stepped on the scales yesterday morning, I had gained 9.5 lbs, which puts me 19 pounds over my desired weight. This morning when I weighed myself, I had lost 4.5 lbs, putting me 14.5 pounds over my desired weight and 5 pounds over the weight I was at when I started this break from the program on November 18.

Yesterday, I started back on the Attack phase of the Dukan program which resulted in the loss of 4.5 lbs-- all fluid bloating I have no doubt. I'm sure that loss did not include the loss of any real fat! I probably have a couple more pounds of fluid bloat to lose, and the rest of the weight gain I would attribute to "true weight gain" in the form of fat.

With the Christmas season looming ahead, it will be a challenge to get the weight back down to where I was on November 17, but I will focus on following the program for the next several weeks until Christmas, then maybe take a break for the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

Thur, Nov 17: I am 9.5 pounds away from my ultimate goal. I'm not sure I lost the quarter pound since yesterday, or if I read the scale wrong but it is better than gaining at any rate. I am looking forward to taking a break next week for Thanksgiving, but I first have the reception and concert tomorrow night to attend so that may effectively be the beginning of the break for me. I will see how it goes. I have been walking to work each day this week, so that is good.

Wed, Nov 16, 2011: Gained three quarters of a pound, so I am now 9.75 pounds away from my ultimate goal. I still have less than 10 pounds to lose, my goal to achieve by Thanksgiving so that's good. Perhaps it was the Indian food from Saturday that caused the gain, or it could be that yesterday was the last of 5 protein and vegetable days. The fiber in the vegetables can retain fluid which shows up as a weight gain. Today, I start back on all protein for 5 days, so hopefully I will lose this weight before Thanksgiving next week.

Tue, Nov 15 - I lost another pound, so now I am 8.75 pounds away from my overall goal weight, and 1.25 pounds BELOW my Thanksgiving goal weight. Interesting that I didn't gain weight from eating off-program on Saturday night. I thought for sure I would have. My total weight loss since September 8 is 16.75 pounds, so I am about two thirds of the way there.

This will be a good week for exercise. Sunday and yesterday, I worked outside in the garden and cleaning up leaves off the lawns all day, as well as cleaning out my car and the garage, so that was good physical activity. I will be able to walk to work each day this week which will also help.

As mentioned this coming weekend with the concert reception to attend and then the upcoming Thanksgiving week break, I'm sure to gain some weight but hopefully can take it off quickly afterward. 

Good health to you all!

Sunday, Nov 13, 2011 - I have now lost 15.75 pounds, since September 8, 2011, an average of 1.66 pounds per week-- not exactly fast as the Dukan program touts, but about average for me at this stage, based on my past experiences with Weight Watchers. I have 9.75 pounds to lose,  meeting my goal of needing to lose less than 10 pounds before Thanksgiving next week. As I get closer to my goal, I expect the weight loss to slow down and to experience plateaus of several weeks with no weight loss at all, if the past is any indication of what will happen this time. In the past, I have used Weight Watchers' program so we will see the difference with Dukan-- if there is any difference at all.

I am actually surprised to have lost any weight when I stepped on the scale this morning, as I attended an Indian Festival last night and ate Indian food. It was buffet style so it was hard to make healthy choices, and it was hard to refuse foods as it would have been awkward and potentially insulting to my companions. So I ate a small portion of most of the foods, fully expecting to see a gain this morning. I would not be at all surprised if I see a gain tomorrow or Tuesday as a result of this splurge, but so be it. Sometimes, you have to live a little and enjoy aspects of life with less regimentation than usual.

This coming week will be challenging as well, as I am attending a reception and concert on Friday night at which there will be alcoholic beverages and appetizers, again in a situation where it could be potentially awkward and insulting to the hosts and my guest if I am prudish about eating and having a drink. We will see what happens.

Today, I will be working in the garden, doing more fall cleanup, so I will getting some good exercise, and I will able to walk to work most days this week as I did this past week for some good exercise there.

Thur, Nov 10 - No change in weight since my last posting on Monday, so I still have 10.5 pounds to lose, and am hoping to lose at least a half pound before Thanksgiving, two weeks away. Today is the last of 5 days of protein only, then I go back to protein and vegetable for five days. This schedule is working out to be much easier to manage. I will go shopping tonight to purchase fresh vegetables for the next five days, as well as whatever else I need. I have been able to walk to work each day this week, and yesterday took a long walk at lunch time, something I used to do all the time and seem to have fallen away from since starting this program! Although the cold winter weather is coming, I'm going to try to do more walking on my lunch breaks. Having said that, I can't do it today, because I have another appointment-- it is always something...

Mon. Nov 7, 2011 - I lost 1.5 pounds since I last posted on Friday. This is a surprise since I haven't walked much at all in the past week due to work schedule and the streets being blocked by downed trees and snow piles from last weekend's storm. I did a lot of garden work all day Saturday and Sunday, cleaning up downed tree limbs at both my house and my son's home as well as cutting back perennials that were damaged by the snow and frost. I was outside half of Saturday and all day Sunday, working steadily so perhaps that physical activity helped move the weight off. Today, I am in day 2 of a 5 day protein only interval. Alternating protein only and protein & vegetable days for 5 days is proving to be much easier for me to manage logistically and I think the results are a bit steadier, although not really faster than alternating each day.

I now have 10.5 pounds to lose in total. I would really be pleased if I can get that under 10 pounds before Thanksgiving arrives in two and a half weeks, but that might be asking too much since I lose weight so incredibly slowly.

I continue to find that I am much more satisfied following this high protein diet than I ever was following Weight Watchers as they prescribe one should follow it. Although they now emphasize eating more protein to fill up, I don't think they emphasize it enough. It is too easy with the choices available with Weight Watchers to use the points allowance on carbohydrate based foods and not enough on protein. Essentially, I am following the points value limits associated with Weight Watchers while on the Dukan diet, but I'm just using all the points for lean protein choices. While on Weight Watchers, I felt "entitled" to having some carbohydrates so I would have them, and that would leave me feeling hungry and not satisfied. I was always thinking about food; when and what I could eat next. My life revolved around thoughts of food and eating. I am finding that on the Dukan diet I am not always craving "something". I do sometimes get hungry at meal times, but I eat and am full and stay full for a long time, able to do and enjoy other things without counting the hours until I can eat again.

Having said all that, I do think that taking periodic breaks is important for me to do, because I lose weight so slowly. Sustaining the Attack/Cruise phases of Dukan for a long period of time without a significant weight lose and without breaks would be really difficult to do. The interesting thing about the breaks is that I feel so bloated and heavy by the end of the break, that I am ready and eager to restart the Dukan program! 

Fri, Nov 4 - Lost three quarters of a pound, so I now have 12 pounds to lose overall-- getting back down from my recent gain after that muffin on Sunday, but very slowly!! I am on the 4th of 5 protein & vegetable days so maybe I will see a jump in the weight loss after I go back to all protein on Sunday for the subsequent five days. I bought some clothes this week-- tops, slacks, and sweaters. I bought them to fit the size I am at now, rather than wait until I lose any additional weight. I'm tired of buying clothes that fit when I am at my lowest weight which I never manage to maintain for very long and then am never able to fit into the clothes comfortably. I'd rather wear things on the loose and baggy side than not wear them at all. The curse of having a body that won't settle in at a normal weight for long!

Wed Nov 2, 2011 - Lost a quarter of a pound, so now have 12.75 pounds to lose. This up and down business is really frustrating, especially it always goes up really fast and comes back down incredibly slow. I would really like to lose 3 pounds before Thanksgiving, but that is not looking so good to happen.

Tue, Nov 1 2011 - Gained 1.5 pounds-- guess the pistachio nut muffin from Sunday made its mark! Oh well, I will just keep at it. Today is a protein & vegetable day, so perhaps the extra fiber will move things along and I will lose some of that pound and a half quickly. I also bought wheat bran last night and used some in my breakfast this morning, so that may help with things, too. I don't doubt some of this is fat gain from the muffin, not just bloat, but I will deal with it and get it off as soon as I can. I bought snowshoes, boots, poles and backpack to be able to commute to work by snowshoe when the weather calls for it. Ironically, I was planning to make these purchases at the end of October, without the catastrophic storm this past weekend. Not that I can snowshoe through this storm-- there are too many downed trees in the roads and on the sidewalks for safely traveling by foot at this point in time. Many people are still without power, although I have mine back, fortunately.

Mon, Oct 31 - Yesterday was a really messed up day. We had an unusually early snow storm Saturday night into Sunday, dumping 10" of heavy wet snow. I lost power at 9PM Saturday, not regaining it until 8:30 PM on Sunday. I didn't go out walking in the snow storm, but I did go out and shovel snow from two sidewalks in front and on the side of my house. The snow was difficult to move-- a good burning of calories but not exactly aerobic. I put my refrigerator and freezer food outside in the snow to keep it from spoiling. On Saturday, I had tried to eat some pre-cooked ground turkey and ricotta cheese, but eating it cold was not very appetizing so I threw that away. I was still able to eat the dairy products and had some yogurt and cottage cheese. I was also able to eat some pre-cooked pork loin once it thawed off on Sunday-- it was cold, but edible.

Although Sunday was a protein only day, I knew I would have to be flexible, especially since the town and the power company were warning residents to be prepared to go without power for several days before it could be restored. On Sunday morning after shoveling, I was craving a cup of HOT coffee with no means to make it, so I went to a nearby coffee shop to get a large coffee, and also a pistachio nut muffin. The pickings were slim there, and not knowing how long I would be without power and how well my stash of food would hold up in the snow bank (the temperature is predicted to rise to more seasonable 40-50 degrees over the next several days), I felt a need to have something to help sustain my energy. Not only had I shoveled the snow, but I was also using more energy than usual to stay warm in a very cold house. The muffin was good, and I ate it slowly to savor every bite! I also ate raw carrots and tomatoes-- not knowing when the power would return and that it would be difficult to maintain the Dukan program if I was without power for several days, I decided I might as well eat up what I could that was somewhat on program, before I started in on the canned products that were clearly not part of the program.

Net result is that I lost a half pound when I weighed in this morning. I have now lost 14 pounds and have 11.5 pounds to go. I'm totally satisfied with this considering how mixed up yesterday was. I would have been satisfied if just to not gain any weight.

Sat., Oct 29 - I lost another pound, so I am now down 13.5 since starting the Dukan program on September 8, 2011, and taking a one week break from it in mid-October. My goal is to lose another 12 pounds, although Dukan recommends I lose .5-- we have a little difference of opinion in what my "true weight" should be. I think the 5 days of protein only and 5 days of protein and vegetables is better for me. It is easier for me to manage my food supply and take less effort to keep track of. The weight loss seems better, but I think it is too early to say that definitively.

Fri, Oct. 28 - I lost another pound when I weighed in this morning. I have now lost 12.5 pounds and I have 12.5 pounds to lose-- halfway there, but taking much longer than I anticipated, was led to believe and would like to see happen. I am following the alternating 5 days of protein only vs. protein & vegetables. I completed 5 days of protein & vegetables on Wednesday. Yesterday and today are protein only. I have to admit that I am experiencing hunger pangs today which is unusual, but also could be a result of losing that 1 pound. Hunger pangs are generally a sign of weight loss for me--if I don't feel hungry, then I won't lose weight, plain and simple.

Thur, Oct. 27. I have now lost all the weight I regained on the 10 day break that I took from Dukan program. It took 10 days to lose the weight, which is better than taking twice or three times as long to lose it as has often happened in the past. I read an article at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45053161/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/ which explains that hormones make it difficult to keep lost weight off, even a year or more after losing the weight. It is evolutionary, and the hormones drive us to eat for survival. Reading this doesn't make it any easier to try to control my weight, although it provides an explanation at least. I have 13. 5 pounds to go, in order to reach my desired weight.

Mon, Oct. 24 - Gained 1 pound since yesterday, so I am 14.5 pounds from my goal. I did the requisite walking plus additional exercise in the form of yard work yesterday, so I'm not happy about the gain, although I cannot say I am surprised by it-- this just seems to be the way of this program and my body's response to it. Again, in comparison to my many forays into dieting, this is not much better or worse than Weight Watchers ever was for me.

Sunday, October 23, 2011 - I have now lost 6.5 pounds since restarting Dukan program last Monday. Essentially, six days of back on the program and I lost the 6.25 pounds that I had gained the week before last, plus another .25 pounds. Yesterday, I walked through a local forest for two and and half hours which I'm sure helped produce these results. Today, I walked the minimum 30 minutes, although I plan to do yard work this afternoon. To recap this past week, I followed the Attack segment for 5 days, and yesterday switched to the Consolidation segment yesterday, adding vegetables. I am going to follow the 5 days of pure protein and 5 days of protein and vegetables this time, rather than switching back and forth every other day, to compare the results for me.

This week I used the Dukan web site to recalculate my plan based on my the starting point I was at after the week long break. I received a very confusing email from the Dukan folks saying my BMI was currently 26 but that is not reasonable because it doesn't take into consideration age and body frame, in which case, my BMI should be 22 to 24.  I am in my late 50's and have a large body frame, so that didn't make any sense to me at all. I just deleted the email. They may have been trying to say that 26 is the EQUIVALENT of 22 to 24 when taking age and body frame into consideration, but I read it several times and it didn't really seem to be saying that at all....

More to come!

Three days back on Dukan diet and I have lost a total of 5.25 of the 6.25 pounds that I gained last week, with such a quick weight loss verifying that I am losing mostly built up fluid. This results in my wanting to lose another 14.75 pounds, which includes the couple of pounds that I gained the week before last week, BEFORE going off the Dukan diet. My employer is running a flu clinic today, and it is likely I will get a shot-- I hope this does not affect my ability to continue to lose the built-up fluid and then get back to losing actual fat pounds. I am satisfied that I am losing the fluid, although I certainly don' t consider it to be any kind of miraculous progress. Anything less would be highly frustrating. I have maintained the daily walking regime this week, except for yesterday due to my work schedule.

After a ten day hiatus from Dukan, I am beginning again. Yesterday, I weighed myself for the first time in the ten days, and gained 6.25 pounds. This morning, I've lost 2.75 pounds. This still leaves me 3.5 pounds up, but hopefully some of that is fluid that will come off quickly this week. Why is it I can gain 6 pounds in a week, but can never seem to lose 6 pounds in a week??? This time on Dukan, I will do the Attack phase for 5 days as I did before, but then alternate pure protein with protein and vegetables every five days instead of every other day. It was too difficult to figure out what I needed to buy to ensure I had sufficient vegetables on hand for every other day, especially because some days I would be hungrier than others. I either had too much food on hand, or not enough was was rationing what I had until I get to the store. I think the alternating five days will work out better-- this time of year especially where I want to take advantage of whatever fresh vegetables are still available until having to resort to frozen or canned vegetables.

Today, I gained another quarter pound without having gone off the dukan program at all yesterday. Today is a P&V day and I am going out to dinner tonight. Although I will try to remain within the program by eating fish and vegetables it will still be hard because restaurant food is prepared with more salt and fat than I use at home. So I am sure I will have a weight gain tomorrow too.

As I predicted yesterday, I gained three-quarters of a pound today-- isn't this fun? The ironic thing is that I wasn't hungry last night and had a lighter dinner than usual of cottage cheese and tomatoes. Later, I had a scoop of yogurt. I still gained weight! This is so incredibly frustrating-- not the fast diet program that Dukan is supposed to be at all! I can't help but come to the conclusion that Dukan is like any other diet-- if it is relatively easy for a person to lose weight, they will lose it fast. For those of us who are predisposed to being obese, we will NOT lose weight fast, regardless of what diet we use. Although these results are frustrating, in reality I would not be achieving any better results with Weight Watchers, which has always been agonizingly slow for me to lose weight on, no matter what version of Weight Watchers I've used (and I have used several over the years as they have modified their program).

Another small weight loss today-- I lost 3/4 lb, so now have lost a total of 12.25 pounds with 12.75 pounds to go. An agonizing quarter of pound away from being 50% from my goal!! Not much else to say at this point.  Today is a protein and vegetable day, so I will probably regain what I lost yesterday when I get on the scales tomorrow. This is incredibly frustrating. The act of blogging about it serves somewhat as an incentive to continue pursuing the program, although no one is reading or commenting on it-- and I am not promoting it in any way to make that happen. I am blogging purely for my own motivation.It is easier than keeping a hard copy journal of my experience with this program.

Having started this Dukan program trial on September 7, I am three and a half weeks into it. I lost 8.5 lbs the first week, and have lost another 3 lbs since then for a total of 11. 5 lbs, with 13.5 pounds to go. I have felt frustrated with the program because it does tout a two pound a week weight loss and after the first week, I have seen no where near those results. To me, it feels as if the weight is creeping off, not dropping off! For the Cruise phase which I am currently in, I am alternating each day with pure protein vs. pure protein & vegetables. I am thinking of switching to 5 pure protein days and then 5 protein & vegetable days to see if that accelerates things, but I will continue my continue method for one more week.

This past week was tough, as I had out-of-office conference to attend where lunch was provided. Not knowing what to expect, the first day, I brought raw carrots and cottage cheese which I ate discreetly on break. When lunch was served, I was actually able to eat something there, having two small slices of chicken marsala, steamed vegetables and salad. Nonetheless, I gained a pound a half the next morning, which I attribute to the sodium in the chicken and related fluid retention. Expecting the lunch to be similar the second day and discouraged by the weight gain on the scales that morning, I did not bring anything with me and would not have had time that day to eat it discreetly anyway. I ate breakfast at 6:00 AM and had nothing more all morning. By the time lunch was served at 12:30, I was quite hungry but lunch that day was an assortment of sandwiches and salads that had things I couldn't eat on the program. So I skipped lunch, and ate as soon as I was able, but it was close to 3:00 PM. I ate pork loin and ricotta cheese. Then, I wasn't hungry again until about 8:00 PM when I had some poached salmon-- not the best time of day to be eating that type of food. Fortunately, this awkward eating pattern didn't adversely affect my weight loss. I lost the 1.5 pounds of fluid retained the previous day as well as an additional quarter pound. I honestly expected to see a net weight gain at the end of those two days!

This coming weekend, I will likely take a break from the program-- not to go hog wild, but I feel like I've been on the program for longer than 3.5 weeks. I can't say that I am bored, but if the weight is going to come off this slowly, it is hard justify such a strict eating regime for a sustained period of time with no breaks and mediocre results. After next weekend, I plan to begin again, doing pure protein for 5 days, then 5 days of pure protein & vegetable. This is essentially starting the Attack phase all over again, but perhaps that will wake up my sluggish metabolism to let go of some of this stored fat.

As I thought yesterday, much of the weight gain was due to intake of sodium on Sunday and associated water retention. Today, I have lost three quarters of a pound so am a net one quarter pound over my lowest weight on this program so far. I still have 14. 25 pounds to go...

Yesterday, I was able to do the prescribed walking, however, today I was not. This week is going to be bit difficult as I will be at meetings all day Thursday and Friday which will make following this program a bit difficult to accomplish.

I am not experiencing hunger pangs or food cravings. Today, I was unable to eat lunch until 3:30 PM and was not excessively hungry or headachy by that time as I would have been on most other diet programs.

Since my last posting, I lost a pound and a half, but then gained a pound back this morning. I am still down a half pound from the last posting with 15.25 pounds to still lose. I did not do the prescribed walking these past 3 days which clearly had an effect on my weight loss. Friday was fairly sedentary because I was at an all day meeting. However, on the weekend, I continued to be very active physically, unpacking boxes and putting things away that entails going up and down several flights of stairs repeatedly and a lot of bending, climbing and reaching. I also mowed the lawn which involves walking behind a "self-minded" (read fast-moving) self-propelled lawn mower for the better part of an hour.

From an eating perspective, on Friday, I was at an all day meeting to which I had brought my yogurt and carrots (it being a P&V day). I drank water and coffee but was able to follow the eating regime of the Dukan program. I also continue the regime on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday night, I "treated" myself to a lean steak with peppers, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes. Normally, I do not eat beef, but wanted to have a bit of variety from the protein I normally eat. It was very lean and I broiled the meat to remove any additional fat of which there was very little. I did use a grilled steak spice seasoning mixture. It was all spices, no sugar, but did contain salt which would easily account for re-gaining that one pound.

This slow weight loss is SO FRUSTRATING!

More progress... in ounces... but at least it is progress. I lost a half pound today. I am now 15.75 pounds from my ultimate goal. I am wearing a fitted blouse that I have not been able to wear for a long time, so that feels good.

I am calculating daily calorie intake just to keep track of what I am actually eating from a more technical perspective. It is averaging about 1000 calories a day. Using an online calorie calculator (http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm), I determined that to lose weight slowly I could eat up to 1400 calories per day and to lose weight quickly, I could eat up to 1100 calories per day. For my current weight, the site recommends losing 1 to 2 pounds a week. The extreme weight loss rate is considered acceptable for people who are extremely obese and need to lose a large amount of weight. I'm not so sure I agree with that, having on more than one occasion been extremely overweight. When a person is extremely overweight, it is MUCH harder to reduce the volume of eating to such a minimal level, without feeling hungry and becoming light-headed and experiencing overall weakness. This makes it much more difficult to stick with a eating program and experience enough satiation to stay with the program. I am not endorsing the site nor does it appear to be a scholarly site. It simply had a weight calculator that was convenient and easy to use.

The calculator also says that my daily need to maintain my current weight is 1700 calories. Since a pound of body fat equates to 3500 hundred calories, and I am eating 1800 fewer than that per day, I should losing one pound every two days!  Clearly, that is not happening so what's wrong with all these values and calculations?  As I said in previous postings, I sincerely believe that my body is extremely resistance to shedding fat due to the many diets I have been on over the years, my body's ability to process food and use its energy very efficiently, and my genetic background of coming from obese ancestors.

Yeah! Lost a quarter of a pound! So small, I almost didn't believe my eyes! But it is a little movement in the right direction.

I am resigned to the fact that this is going to be a slow process for a diet program that touts fast results. Clearly, this program is not the magic bullet for persistent weight loss results for those of us who have been consistently overweight and struggle with this for our entire lives. To be fair, the Dukan Diet book states this may be the case; I happen to be a person who proves the point. Because the results are slow, this type of program which prescribes a very restricted regime becomes difficult to follow. Both the normal demands of everyday living as well as the boredom associated with a lack of change with no relief in sight makes it difficult.

A case in point is a reception that I attended last evening, where I had a glass a water at an event where a wide variety of appetizers and alcoholic beverages were available at no cost to me. The appetizers would not have met any healthy eating program's list of acceptable food-- most of the food was high fat, high calorie, high carbohydrate and high sugar options. Even the roasted eggplant was saturated in oil. But to follow any regime for healthy eating meant abstaining from that large selection of food, difficult to do without feeling a sense of deprivation for someone who loves food.

I continue to like the fact that my clothes are fitting better, that I don't dread getting up in the morning for fear of facing what I can wear and still manage to breath comfortably. I also like the fact that I have more energy when abstaining from eating carbohydrates.

But at this rate of a quarter pound every two weeks, I seriously doubt that I will sustain this Cruise period of the Dukan program for the 128 weeks or 32 months that this rate of weight loss will require. If my rate of weight loss does not improve in the next few weeks, I will ultimately need to take breaks from it, which is disappointing because I was hoping this program would be different and more successful than other programs. It is too early to determine that for sure, but realistically the results of this program has to improve drastically for it to be sustainable for me.

Another day and continued weight loss stagnation. Hmmm.... But it felt good to be able to wear a pair of slacks that I have not worn in a really long time. I have begun taking psyllium once a day to deal with the sluggish digestive tract. I know this stagnation thing is just my body being stubborn because there is absolutely no way I am taking in more calories than I am burning each day. It just doesn't add up at all. At some point, my body will just have to let go of the extra weight-- it is a scientific fact and perfectly logical. I will be as active as possible to make things happen. It will happen, I know that, but is it ever hard to be patient!

Time to change strategy. The scales are still not budging one ounce! I've cut back on breakfast this morning, although I truly don't think I'm eating too much. I really think my body is being stubborn about giving up its fat reserves. I am trying to switch from carbonated diet beverages to drinking more plain water to see if that will help. I also need to speed up my digestive track which has predictably slowed way down. For that, I intend to use a psyllium product which is natural and which I've used in the past. I like Konsyl because it does not contain any sugar, dyes or flavoring (unless you buy the orange flavored version).

Although frustrated by the lack of evidence on the scale of weight loss, I do really feel better staying away from sugars and carbohydrates. I don't have cravings for them providing I don't eat them at all. One tiny bite and I would be craving all over the place. Tomorrow night, I go to a reception after work at which there will be an abundance of appetizer type of foods. I will have stick to the shrimp cocktail only, as the other selections will all be high fat, high sugar and high carbohydrates. Tomorrow is a pure protein day, so I cannot even indulge in any vegetables.

This is where a diet like this can become difficult. If I was doing Weight Watchers again, I would have more choices to select from. BUT, in some ways, having more choices makes the regime more difficult to follow because it is easier to cheat and convince myself that I haven't really cheated. Whereas knowing I can only eat lean protein, I will have no leeway to convince myself a food is acceptable. For me, that is good, because I am great at playing mind games when it comes to negotiating with myself about eating and food. It is why I believe I have a food addiction to carbohydrates-- it is like other substance and behavioral abuse. Addiction to food is similar to addiction to alcohol, drugs, violence, and power. When indulging in the substance or behavior of choice, it is almost impossible to recognize that abusive behavior of over-indulging. The abuser can justify to no end the indulgence. It is a vicious downward spiral to the depths of despair and destruction. The difference is we cannot live without food entirely-- we have to eat something to survive so we cannot abstain from our vice completely, making it very difficult to manage.

Today is one week plus the third day into the Dukan Trial. My weight loss continues to stagnate at 8.5 pounds. I am in the Cruise phase, alternating pure protein with protein & vegetables each day. I have not lost weight in the past five days, frustrating because I want to see immediate and fast results, but in reality I know this is "normal" for me. Although I am eager to see the scales moving downward again, I realize that my body is just resisting the weight loss. I am certainly not eating too much, nor do I feel I am eating too little.

I have to focus on the fact that my clothes feel better and the end result when I will be losing the weight I want to lose. I am focusing on the fact that eating protein and vegetables does make me feel better. I feel as if my body is stronger and more energetic than when I am eating carbohydrates. I feel full faster, and am satisfied longer, not looking for the next time and item that I can eat. When I eat carbohydrates, I feel sluggish and soft. Mentally, carbohydrates seem to affect my thinking and I feel spacey. I feel that eating carbohydrates drives me to eat more-- I am not satisfied after eating a carbohydrate or sugar loaded food-- I want more and more. My mind seems sharper when not eating carbohydrates. I know that is contrary to science which says we need glucose to think clearly and to exercise self control. This could all well be my imagination, but I've done this enough times in various forms to know that it is a result I can expect to have happen as I change my eating habits.

Yesterday, I did not do the prescribed walking but was very active moving furniture and boxes from a storage facility to my home, including multiple trips up and down stairs. It was a very active and full day-- doing this from 9:00 AM until 7:00 PM with short rest breaks.

Today will be more of the same, plus mowing the lawn with a walking mower which takes at least an hour, so I will get in the walking albeit not a focused "walk" per se.

One week and one day on Dukan. Again, no change on the scales, so I am still at a total loss of 8.5 pounds, which for me is acceptable. I fully expected a major stagnation after losing so much weight so quickly in the Attack phase. I am one of those people who is highly resistant to losing weight. My body seems to be very efficient at processing foods and gleaning the most calories possible out of anything I eat and holding onto them!

Considering my history with weight issues, family weight history, and vast experience with trying to lose weight, this is to be expected. I have struggled with being overweight since being a toddler. I was overweight throughout elementary school, only starting to manage my weight in junior high school. In high school, I was able to reduce my weight significantly to a healthy range, but it shot up again once I started college. Since then, I have gained and lost weight numerous times, being 100 pounds overweight at one point. I lost that 100 pounds using Weight Watchers' points (not Points Plus) program and managed to keep most of it off for five years. I frankly got tired and bored of restricted eating and being hungry with cravings all the time. So the weight started creeping back on slowly at first and then at an accelerate rate in the past few months. When I started the Dukan Diet I was 25 pounds heavier than I want to be, and now still have 16.5 to lose. Unfortunately, for me it will be a slow process because my body just doesn't want to give up that fat!

I can say that my clothes continue to feel less tight each day and I have more energy with it seeming to take less effort to move around. I do not have cravings on Dukan Diet at all so far, and only get hungry close to regular meal time, unlike what I've experienced with Weight Watchers' points and Points Plus programs.

Having now fully reached the one week mark in my Dukan Trial, the weight is still not budging one way or the other beyond the initial 8.5 pounds I lost during the Attack phase. I am noticing a difference in my clothes feeling looser, so I'm hoping the scales will reflect the change shortly. Today, I was able to get back to my routine of walking to work, which I could not do for the past two days, and hopefully that will help. It has also been very humid, conditions under which I retain fluid easily so, with no AC working in my home presently, I could be experiencing fluid retention.

Today is my second protein & vegetable day on the Cruise segment of the program. I have carrots and tomatoes for lunch, and will have something green for dinner along with my protein selections. I am still experiencing thirst, and am having no problem with consuming the prescribed amount of fluids and more!

I am not craving carbohydrates yet, and am not realizing hunger pangs, other than mild hunger when meal time is approaching.

Day 7 of the Dukan trial. No weight loss or gain today, but I did less walking yesterday and my eating times were changed around due to my work schedule. Same thing will happen today, I'm afraid, although I may do a bit more walking than yesterday. Also, the program warns that weight loss will slow down once vegetables are added to the eating regime, because the vegetables add fluid to the diet. Yesterday was my first protein and vegetable day, so I added carrots and brussels sprouts to my meals.

I am feeling a bit hungry today. Yesterday I ate a late lunch/early dinner at 4:00 PM, so didn't eat after that. This morning I was hungry! I had some leftover salmon and the bran pancake for breakfast at 6:00 but was feeling hungry again at 9:00 so I had a yogurt. With the hunger getting ahead of me overnight, I think I am tending to become hungry more quickly having experienced those hunger pangs this morning, although I ate enough at breakfast for them to dissipate for a while. Today is a Pure Protein day so I really need to eat enough to become full as soon as I start the first feelings of hunger. Unfortunately, my work schedule will probably not allow that again today.

The inclusion of bran into the program is a key component. It is a bit unusual food or diet additive to most people but the ideal of eating bran for health reasons has been around for a long time. Ironically, I added daily bran to my diet many times when trying to lose weight and in pursuit of good health over the years, and it did help curb my appetite significantly, as it is with the Dukan diet. I initially latched onto the idea of bran's benefits in 1975 when I read the book, "The Save-Your-Life Diet : High-Fiber Protection from Six of the Most Serious Diseases of Civilization" by David Reuben, M.D. and Barbara Reuben, M.S.. This book is still available on the market and in libraries. I still have my original copy, attesting to how significant it is to me.

Day 6 of my Dukan trial - Today starts the Cruise phase of the program during which time I will add in vegetables from the list of 100 desirable foods. This phase prescribes eating unlimited amounts of lean protein and non-starchy vegetables, with carrots, beets and artichokes in limited quantities due to their high sugar content. Not difficult for me, because I love vegetables. It also increases the walking exercise to 30 minutes a day. I'm even anticipating eating broccoli which is my least favorite vegetable! The Cruise phase prescribes alternating pure protein days and protein & vegetable days according to a prescribed pattern. The program identifies several different patterns, but I will follow the 1/1 alternating pattern, with one day of pure protein and one day of protein & vegetables. The prescribe amount of oat bran increases from 1.5 tablespoons to 2 tablespoons, which I have in the Dukan pancake each morning.

In spite of walking an hour and 20 minutes yesterday, this morning, I lost 1/2 pound, a slow down which I expected to see happen, because the program indicates this will happen at this time and also because my body feels sluggish today. However, having lost about 9 pounds, my clothes are beginning to feel loser which is really nice. Today and tomorrow, my work schedule will not probably allow me to include much walking, but I will try to fit in as much as possible.

The Cruise phase lasts until the prescribed or desired weight loss is achieved. The program indicates I will achieve my True Weight sometime around November 4. However, I would like to lose a few more pounds than my True Weight, so I will see how it goes.

I like the fact that the True Weight is calculated on a number of criteria, not just some government or BMI charts that are really averages and do not take an individual's history, makeup, age and needs into consideration. It is a reasonable and generous goal, although for myself, it is a little higher than what I hope to ultimately weigh. The criteria includes gender, the most and least you have ever weighed as an adult, height, number of previous diets followed, number of pregnancies, family weight history, ability to lose weight easily, energy level when losing weight, and bone structure.

Shopping for groceries has been a little challenging, but now that I will be in this phase for an extended period of time, it should become more routine.

Day 5 of Dukan Diet

Today is day 5 of my trial with the Dukan diet. I have lost a total of 8 pounds in 5 days, which I realize is mostly fluid as I said before. I have not experienced hunger pangs, except for mild hunger when it was time to eat anyway. No cravings at all. The oat bran pancake recommended by the program is very filling--I've eaten it for breakfast almost every day. I did not walk the minimum 20 minutes on Saturday or Sunday, but was very active moving boxes in and out of my car and carrying them up and down flights of stairs and unpacking them, so I was not sedentary by any means. I also mowed my lawn, a two hour endeavor which means I walked behind the mower for at least 1 hour, perhaps longer. Also, on weekdays, I am walking 40 minutes, double the prescribed length of time. The foods I ate included baked pork loin, pan (non-stick) fried scallops with dill and sour cream, poached salmon with dill and sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese and eggs. I am still extremely thirsty, and making sure to drink plenty of liquids. I feel fine, not tired or bloated or constipated, as the program indicated one might feel at this point.

Day 2 of my Dukan trial. I lost 4.5 pounds in the first 24 hours of the program. Not a bad start. Comparatively, with the old Weight Watchers' program, I would have lost about the same amount the first day. With Weight Watchers' Points Plus, I didn't lose anything for the first several days. It is encouraging to see a weight drop the first day, however much I realize it is mostly fluid and not fat that I am losing.

I did not at any point in the past 24 hours feel hunger pangs. By the time I ate dinner, I was getting hungry but not desperately so. For dinner, I ate ground turkey with a dab of ricotta cheese on it. I was full about two thirds of the way through dinner, so saved the rest for a bedtime snack.

I am finding that I am very thirsty on this program. Normally that would indicate to me that I've been eating too much sodium, but I've checked the sodium content on all the foods and beverages that I consumed yesterday. The only thing that was relatively high was the cottage cheese I had at lunch time, but a third cup of cottage cheese would not normally make me this thirsty. Losing 4.5 pounds of fluid in 24 hours can have a dehydrating effect! Consequently, it is easy to drink the 1.5 - 2 liters of fluid recommended. I actually drank much more than that.

It was recommended that I be on the Attack Phase for 4 days, which means I would switch to the Cruise Phase on Monday. I might wait until Tuesday, depending on how I feel and what I've lost. The program is recommending a weight for me that is ten pounds higher than I want to be so I'm thinking that I need to be a bit more aggressive than recommended.

I walked about 40 minutes, double the recommended 20, but I am used to walking and riding an exercise bike on a regular basis. I didn't ride the bike yesterday, but was doing some physical work of unpacking boxes for several hours.

I probably will not be posting over the weekend.

Today, Thursday, September 8, is day one of my Dukan Diet trial.

Living a life-long battle with being overweight and having tried many diets in the past with Weight Watchers being the most successful, I was skeptical when first hearing about the Dukan Diet. However, after reading Dr. Dukan's book, The Dukan Diet: 2 Steps to Lose the Weight, 2 Steps to Keep It Off Forever, his website at http://www.dukandiet.com/ , as well as the many other web sites out there on the Internet about the diet, I realized that my Weight Watcher "choices" were effectively following the Dukan Diet anyway for the most part, the big difference being the Attack Phase and being allowed only Pure Protein during that time.

So I decided to give the Dukan Diet a try, since in recent months I have undergone a truly stressful experience that resulted in me being separated from my scale for four months which, of course, was self-permission to eat, drink and be merry! The end result is that I've gain 10 pounds on top of the 15 that had already crept on over the past five years since I lost 100 pounds using Weight Watchers.

I will be posting from time to time about my experiences with this diet, and how it compares to Weight Watchers for me. I emphasize the "for me" because Weight Watchers allows for choices and others may chose a radically different approach to it than I ever did. For me, I realize that I must practically be allergic and addicted to carbohydrates, because if I eat them, I simply want more and more and more, resulting in huge weight gains when I give in to the constant struggle of being hungry and craving carbohydrates. So, to lose weight and to maintain a weight loss for any period of time, I have to avoid carbohydrates like they are poison, regardless of what diet program I am following. Unfortunately, that usually, even on Weight Watchers, leaves me feeling constantly hunger and not satiated.

At the beginning of this year, I even tried to lose the initial extra 15 pounds that I was packing by joining Weight Watchers again, using their "Points Plus" plan which allows for 29 points per day. For the several weeks that I followed the program, I actually had to reduce my daily consumption to 23 points in order to lose at all and then lost so slowly it was a frustrating exercise of "one step forward and two steps back." Then some non-food related issues arose in my life and I found myself living in a situation where I did not have access to my scale for my daily weigh-ins.

For breakfast today, I had a cup of Chobani plain fat free yogurt with oat bran and did not feel my usually mid-morning hunger pangs. For lunch, I had an 8 ounce baked chicken breast and half a cup of fat free cottage cheese, followed by a piece of sugar free gum. Beverages are always a challenge for me, but so far I have had 3 cups of tea and a cup of water. I'm heading out to get a cup of coffee now. More to come tomorrow....