The Ducan Diet: Experience

The most difficult thing for me is to go on a diet. I prepare myself for a long time psychologically – I persuade myself, I persuade … Perhaps because I know my character: once I have made a decision: there is no turning back. So I’m delaying this moment. Although I no longer have the strength to look at myself in the mirror (such a horror there!). And I hate myself for the awful folds of fat on my body! And terribly annoying: the dresses in the store that you like, it turns out, are not even produced in the size you need. And if they are made and you pull them on yourself, you immediately understand: this style is not for you, you need something freer, darker, with a vertical stripe. No, lose weight, lose weight and only lose weight!

There is another danger here. Often you think: yes, to lose weight, but not from now on. When I had the first day of “Attack”, I came to work, and there was some kind of presentation, and right at the entrance – tables with fruits, juices, cakes. An insidious thought moved: I’ll start losing weight tomorrow, that there is one day, and a presentation with such delicious food, at best, will take place in a year. It’s good that, having gathered will into a fist, the thought drove away. Otherwise, it was the employee’s birthday the next day, and again on the table are mouth-watering cakes, sweets and … the temptation to postpone the restrictions. But I have already lived one correct day, it is stupid to lose such baggage, so I had to believe in myself further.

What else helped to keep the defense? Dry calculation: I will go on a diet today – in three months, according to Dukan, I will lose at least 6 kilograms, and by the New Year the figure will increase. I’ll start in a month – I won’t have time to lose weight by summer …

Ducan’s diet is not only food restrictions, but also a DAILY consumption of 2 liters of liquid (fortunately, tea and coffee are counted!), 20 minutes of brisk walking (not in a club: I walk 5 minutes to the metro in the morning, then 5 minutes to work, plus the way back, so it was enough. No, 20 minutes – in one gulp. Start walking, you will understand how long these minutes last). And also the refusal of the elevator. There is also a temptation to slap off: my shoes are too tight, I’m late for work, the entrance is dark … But it’s important, as they say, to follow each letter so that you don’t grumble later: I’m eating only meat and still don’t lose weight.

I was “lucky”: I live on the 10th floor, the cafeteria at work is in a separate building on the 9th. I always go. True, with heavy bags and very late at home I still take the elevator. I know there are heroes who do not stand on the escalator in the subway, but walk. But I have not yet reached such heights of consciousness.

The Dukanov diet is not cheap, as it focuses on protein foods, that is, meat and fish. As a consolation, I will say that any diet, even the simplest in appearance, is more expensive than omnivorous, since you are looking for variety in a small assortment.

I have not experienced any difficulties with food. There was a weekend fair near the house, and from one farmer I constantly bought a baked turkey (not a roll, but a piece of natural turkey), a baked rabbit. It helped out when I wanted to eat something urgently. Better, of course, to eat the same turkey, chicken, boiled beef. I boiled them in a slow cooker, sometimes with vegetables – either frozen from bags, or with live ones – tomatoes, peppers. If you buy packages, of course, you need to carefully study the composition so that only the permitted fruits are in the mixture – no potatoes, better without beets and carrots.

She ate a lot of fish, and all kinds – red, fried capelin (I removed the fried skin), herring.

I bought dairy products — only low-fat ones — I bought them at Izbenka (kefir, cottage cheese) and at Our Dvorik (low-fat yogurt without sugar). There are no problems with low-fat cottage cheese, it (or 0,1, or 0,2%) is in the dairy departments of almost all stores, it is more difficult to find zero kefir. In ordinary stores I met only (and very rarely) zero kefir “Biobalance”. French zero curds and yoghurts are sold in convenient single dosages at Auchan. But they have long shelf life. On the one hand, it is convenient: you can overstock for a long time, on the other, it is probably harmful. Since the product is stored for a long time, it means that it contains many preservatives.

Oat bran is the most important and lifelong element of the diet – I buy it in the same “Auchan”. Bran made by Nordic, they are also sold in “Alye Sails”. You can also order them online. I like these bran – for taste, for ease of preparation. I fill them with kefir or yogurt, let them swell and eat with a teaspoon, sometimes I just pour boiling water in the morning and drink like oatmeal jelly in the morning on an empty stomach. I know that many people bake tortillas from bran. I tried it a couple of times, was not inspired. It was embarrassing that you use oil, albeit in very small doses. I ate our Russian bran (DoctorDias firm) mixed with flax seed or milk thistle. In my opinion, they are not so tasty, they act worse on the gastric mucosa – they are smaller, but somehow coarser, but they cope better with their main task – cleansing the intestines. Altai oat bran is very similar to Nordic. I rarely saw them, only when a seller came from Altai to the same weekend fair. These bran are of good quality, but more expensive than Ashanov’s Nordic.

What is important, always have on hand (at work, on a trip) a diet-approved product. To get hungry, God forbid, not to satisfy your hunger with something forbidden – a banana, cookies … I always have low-fat cottage cheese and a mixture of kefir and bran with me at work (small containers-cups from Tapevare are very convenient, they close tightly, they did not let me down never), on days with vegetables – celery stalks.

Ducan advises to fortify yourself with crab sticks, but after reading the ingredients on the packaging, I gave them up almost immediately. In general, my usual menu looked like this at the alternation stage. Breakfast: at 8.00 – a glass of water, then – cottage cheese, an egg, a piece of something meat – turkey, chicken. The coffee is black, without sugar, but with lemon. 11.00-11.30 – at work – coffee and oat bran. At 14.30–15.00 – lunch: salad (if the day is with vegetables) without mayonnaise, from the right vegetables, the second – meat or fish with a vegetable side dish (if the day is vegetable), tea, coffee without sugar.

At 17.30–18.00 tea or coffee (savory, of course) and cottage cheese. On vegetable days – a stalk of celery. At 21.00 – dinner: chicken, fish, kefir. If the day is without vegetables, eat meat and meat for lunch – chicken and, for example, beef tongue.

All my diets are held under the motto: starve yourself, but do not dare to impose your menu on your loved ones. In principle, I am calm if there is an open box of chocolates in the house, a cake. The temptation to break, to take the candy does not arise in me. But, of course, it is better not to keep anything anti-Dyukanov in the foreseeable space.

As for visiting visits, sometimes, if a) it is convenient, b) these are close people, c) they are not meat eaters, I come with my appetizer – red fish, baked beef – and, without focusing on (which, however, I succeed not always), and this is what I eat. Fortunately, there are wonderful friends who, without dieting themselves, inviting me to visit, always ask what day I have – with vegetables or meat, and the table is set accordingly.

Do I allow alcohol? Yes, but in moderate doses and only strong drinks (cognac, whiskey, vodka).

In moderation, because alcohol is said to retain water in the body. And strong drinks – because there are stomach problems. Many doctors say: if you really drink, then a little bit and good vodka. It is certainly best not to drink at all during the diet. However, it is better not to drink always. I know people who put themselves on such a diet and seem to feel quite happy.

I am convinced that all diets are not harmless. Dyukanovskaya is no exception. An excess of proteins in the body has a bad effect on the functioning of the kidneys, can lead to metabolic disorders, slagging of the intestines, and a change in the composition of the blood. I tried to listen to myself, monitor the work of the intestines, and periodically take tests. Alas, I drank little. At first, it was necessary to drink more than a liter of liquid, and edema appeared. As I realized later, this was due not so much to the work of the kidneys as to the poor work of the heart. When I took a course of heart medications, my body began to cope with water better. But all the same, the percentage of urea (uric acid – in Ducan’s terminology) in my blood now exceeds the norm. It is uncritical, as the doctor says, and therefore I do not give up the diet, especially since I am already at the stage when there is no excess protein intake. Note that I did not learn to drink water right away. All the time I drank it in several sips and was full, but I had to drink it in glasses. Perhaps, I just now began to discover the taste and self-sufficiency of water.

I know that it is necessary to check the condition of the bones, they say that an excess of proteins in the body does not allow calcium to bind, somehow inhibits its absorption (although I have never eaten as much cottage cheese as I eat now!).

I’m worried about my stomach. Firstly, I drink coffee and tea with lemon, it irritates the mucous membranes. Secondly, when the diet is one-sided – it is not enough, for example, carbohydrates, the stomach loses the habit of producing the necessary range of enzymes. Of course, my medical knowledge is amateurish and rather superficial, but I am trying to understand the mechanism of all processes.

Oddly enough, I do not feel a deficiency of glucose (headaches, memory impairment) and almost did not feel it. True, once I wanted to drink very sweet tea. Considering that I have been drinking tea without sugar since my student days, the urge is unexpected.

There were breakdowns. The first two months later. I sat at the alternation stage, for some reason arranged for myself an additional 4 days of protein “Attack”. In general, I brought myself to a state where one glance at the meat caused me almost a gag reflex. Pains also appeared in the lumbar region – for me this is a signal: trouble with the kidneys. And I was scared. I decided that I needed to be checked – to pass tests, to do an ultrasound of the kidneys. True, she did not wait for the test results. I felt a little better – I returned to the diet. But for a week, I probably ate vegetables every day. And on the first day of my grandiose breakdown, I ate ice cream (for some reason, on the days of the diet, I especially wanted ice cream, although I never liked it much before. Then I heard somewhere that the desire to eat ice cream indicates problems with the pancreas. True, mine the gastroenterologist did not agree with this statement). I also drank plenty of milk, not boring fat-free kefir, namely milk with a high percentage of fat, and even seized it with my favorite bread “8 cereals”. When it turned out that the tests, with the exception of the composition of the blood, in general, were decent, I returned to the diet – the alternation stage. But with “Attacks” I decided not to go over it anymore.

I also admit deliberate breakdowns – when traveling on vacation. I justify myself this way: when there is a fast, they give relief to travelers. It is good, however, that we have a maximum of two weeks on vacation at our enterprise, you do not have time to roam too much. When I swam on a motor ship for 12 days, I took a pedometer with me. I made sure to take at least 10 steps a day – I wound circles on the deck and also went to discos, where steps are added only in this way. All the same, I recovered, almost 000 kilos. But in Moscow they left quickly. Fresh kilograms, until they have time to grow into you, go away in a short time.

I weigh myself. Every day. It mobilizes me. It is normal, of course, to have accurate scales, mine are in a hurry by one and a half kg. I thought: I will forget that the scales are lying, and then it turns out, wow! Surprise! I weigh even less. But I never forget, on the contrary, I take away from the indicators a half kilo more than necessary.

The kilos went well after the first week of Attack. If I’m not mistaken, it took almost two kilograms. Then they began to disappear more slowly. After 5 months of the diet (minus two weeks of vacations), the weight was kept at the same figure for two months. And I broke down. I didn’t reach the ideal – I didn’t lose one kilogram. I was alarmed by the fact that the ratio of muscles and adipose tissue in the body began to change for the worse (these things are calculated for me in fitness). The percentage of fat began to increase. I decided: the body began to defend itself and store fat cells. The body has such a protective property. He’s generally smart, and you need to listen to him. Later I read that a set of fats and a change in the proportion in their favor can occur with excess protein intake. I also began to feel dizzy sometimes. In general, I convinced myself that, apparently, with the calculation of the ideal weight, I was mistaken per kilogram, and I need to go to the “Fixation” stage. Yes, and I hoped that the kilogram would go away if I went to fitness strictly 3 times a week. I go. A kilogram does not go away!

Now I am already in the second half of the “Fixing” stage. That is, two receptions of a starchy side dish (pasta, rice, potatoes) and two festive meals are already allowed (eat what you want and plenty). As long as the weight holds. Sometimes a kilogram arrives when I walk less, or if I miss a protein day, then it leaves.

Protein day – one a week! – is given very hard. I often have it on Saturday or Sunday, when there is simply nowhere to transfer it. On this day I go to bed early – I approach the morning, dreaming of how I will eat such a coveted sandwich with cheese. Note, thanks to the diet, I began to turn from an owl into a lark.

Sometimes I overdo it with festive meals. I eat salad with mayonnaise, potatoes, and dessert. Or, even worse, I drink coffee with milk almost every day, pour low-fat cottage cheese with low-fat, but sweet yogurt, justifying myself by the fact that I did not have a full-fledged holiday meal. Probably, this is wrong and it is better to eat twice from the heart in the second half of the fixing than to engage in such crushing.

I also suffer from the fact that I do not have enough exact numbers. Dukan, for example, recommends eating two pieces of bread a day, but a piece can be 10 g or 50 g. So you strive to cut off more …

Diet is always stressful for the body. I decided that I was losing weight for the last time. In 2005, I was already on the Kremlin diet – I lost 13 kg. She held this weight for two years, then he crawled up and even exceeded his previous negative record. Plus I got some stomach and kidney problems. The body will not be able to withstand the third such load for sure. For now, I convince myself that I will follow all the rules of the final stage – protein day per week, bran, walking, refusal of the lift. But I am afraid that giving up the diet on the rest of the days will kill all the positive effect of observing these four conditions. However, let’s see.

Have I developed the correct eating habits (and the “Consolidation” stage, as I understand it, is aimed at this)? I am not sure. For some reason, while I have developed a dislike for vegetables, too. She is already resistant to everything meat, which, however, does not prevent me from eating meat. And now I can hardly look at the vegetable side dish, which is offered in our dining room (quite, I must say, correct – broccoli, green beans …).

Sometimes I can’t even formulate, but what I actually want – the festive meal disappears. I think maybe the body has drowned out all the taste buds in itself so much that it no longer gives any signals? No, then some weak desire to eat, for example, a sandwich with butter, arises. I also noticed that when you don’t see food, you almost don’t remember about it. But contemplation of a beautiful dish evokes appetite. In general, we will wait – we will see, we will weigh ourselves. Maybe I’ll tell you about the results.