Since December, I have been on a 12 day cruise with access to unlimited food, enjoyed the holidays and the accompanying holiday desserts and dinners, supported my niece by buying and inhaling five boxes of Girl Scout cookies, and made a massive dent in my ever-growing lists of Charleston restaurants to try. Unfortunately, this has also led to a rather sizeable dent in my bathroom scale.
The thing is, every month I think about maybe cutting back a little on the desserts, or easing off on the snacks and dinners out, but then I think, "Hey, maybe I'll be pregnant in a couple of weeks, and then I won't care about a little extra fluff! I'm doing it for the BAYBEEEE!" But then I never actually AM pregnant, and I drink copious amounts of wine and gorge on chocolate to make myself feel better, and voila, another pound creeps onto my already plenty generous bottom.
Sooooo, I am on a mission to lose the baby weight... before I even have a baby. But I figure, if I'm not going to be knocked up, I'm going to rediscover the banging beach body lurking beneath the blubber.
If you follow me on Twitter, you'll already know that I've been fixated on how Kate Middleton has gone from beautiful, healthy-weight Kate, to much slimmer Kate at the time of her engagement announcement, to gaunt well-dressed popsicle-stick-on-legs Kate that she is now with her wedding just days away. Well, thanks to Good Morning America and their verging on stalker-obsessive royal wedding coverage, I discovered her secret: The Dukan Diet.
Evidently, this diet has been pretty big in Europe for some years now, but Dr. Dukan resisted publishing about the diet in the United States as he was overwhelmed by the American audience. Evidently, we are a lost cause. But thanks to the Middleton weight loss mystery, Dukan has been dragged out of his relative North American obscurity, and is likely well on his way to being the Next Big Thing in dieting.
I've been a South Beach diet girl for years, and it works, it really does. But to me, the downfall is the amount of vegetables you have to eat. Oh my God, so many vegetables. And I don't LIKE vegetables. Salads are okay up to a point, but when I'm eating two of them per day as well as at least three more vegetable servings and a glass of V8, the sight of lettuce makes me break out in hives.
So, I'm still waiting for my Dukan Diet book to arrive, but what I've been able to piece together from websites is that it is a four phase diet:
1) Attack (1-10 days of all protein and oat bran)
2) Cruise (Maintain until you achieve your goal weight, protein-only days and protein-vegetable days)
3) Consolidation (Lasts 5 days for every pound lost, adapt body to your new weight by upping your caloric intake and allowing whole-grain bread, cheese, potatoes and rice in moderation)
4) Definitive Stabilization (Eat what you want all week except for one day in which you return to protein only)
Now, before anyone freaks out at me, if I do by some miracle end up pregnant in the next couple of months, I will be MORE THAN HAPPY to ditch the diet. I'm not stupid enough to deprive a growing baby of the necessary nutrients that come from the fruits and vegetables that this diet restricts. And I'm going to Disney World in a few weeks when I'll ostensibly be in the Cruise Phase, and I'm just not going to give up my daily ice cream in front of Cinderella's Castle. So, I'll probably come home from my trip and go back to the Attack phase for a couple of days.
I won't do weekly weigh-ins on the blog for this one because... they're boring. But I'll check in from time to time as I go through the phases and talk a little more about the science and theory behind the diet as I learn more from reading, as well as how it's working for me.
So, here we go! I should tape a picture of Kate Middleton's engagement picture to my bathroom mirror. That would be either really motivating or really creepy, I'm not entirely sure which.
Don't sell yourself short, girl! You may have had some cookies and desserts, but you also just ran a 10k! And that is just all kinds of awesome.
Posted by: Jen | April 25, 2011 at 04:07 PM
Thanks :) Yeah, at least I've got the exercise part down. I guess I've just gotten to that age where my metabolism isn't pulling its weight as much as it used to and I have to control my eating as well as work out to maintain my ideal weight. Lame!
Posted by: Angela Noelle | April 25, 2011 at 04:16 PM
You'll have to tell me about the Dukan Diet! We've been on Slow Carb Diet since January, and although I've only lost 6 pounds, Rob has lost about 30! It really works, but you have to eat a lot of protein! Lots of meat, and no white carbs,no sugar, lots of veggies and beans! OMG the beans! I have beans for lunch and dinner now! lol I also have to have little bit of fruit, which the diet says no fruit, and I also sneak in a few chocolates haha hence why I didn't lose as much as Rob!
Have a great time in Disney World!
Posted by: Jass | April 25, 2011 at 04:31 PM
And the best thing about it, we get ONE cheat day a week! We plan that day so well now! :)
Posted by: Jass | April 25, 2011 at 04:32 PM
I'm having the opposite issue - I am trying to healthily put weight ON before getting pregnant. Do you know what your BMI is? Mine is considered a bit too low and may be a factor in why I can't seem to get pregnant, so I'm trying to keep eating healthy, but just eat more. Don't lose too much!
Posted by: Emily Jane | April 25, 2011 at 06:29 PM
I could stand to loose 1 or 20 pounds. I was telling someone that I kind of wanted to get my body in a good place before babies happen - and she was like, "Getting in shape before having babies is like cleaning your house before a tornado..." Haha! But seriously, it takes me like 20 minutes to get the courage to step on a scale. I should probably start some sort of diet - but I'm askeered.
Good luck, lady!
Posted by: Chels | April 25, 2011 at 06:59 PM
Jass, that's awesome!!! Congrats on your weight loss! And way to go Rob :) It's just not fair how easily guys can lose the weight, ha! I'm glad that you are having success and still able to indulge from time to time.
Posted by: Angela Noelle | April 25, 2011 at 07:06 PM
You make a great point, Emily. My current BMI is 20.9 and the BMI for my goal weight is 19.4. I hope that you're able to achieve you weight goals and that the stork decides to pay both of us a visit very soon :)
Posted by: Angela Noelle | April 25, 2011 at 07:08 PM
No!!!! That person is so wrong! If you are able to achieve a healthy body before pregnancy that will give you a much greater chance at having a healthy pregnancy and "bouncing back" after delivery :) If you have any questions about this diet or South Beach, I'd be happy to give you my input. Either way, don't be scared! You are a super woman, I have no doubt you could achieve any goal you set!
Posted by: Angela Noelle | April 25, 2011 at 07:10 PM
I really hope you aren't using Kate Middleton as a goal. She is very attractive but looks anorexic. Way too thin. Just read she is 5' 10 and a size 2. That is skeletal.
Posted by: Kathy | April 25, 2011 at 08:36 PM
Soooo...the first part of this blog post is pretty much me, spot on. I'm constantly telling myself "Eh...I'll start dieting/working out again after Christmas / Valentine's Day / St. Patrick's Day (oh how I WISH I was kidding about that one) / Easter..." but it never really happens. Then, when I get that little "negative" symbol I just eat my feelings and down a bottle of wine over the course of a weekend. I am *such* a picture of health. Ahem. Anyway, I'm really interested in this diet -- it sounds like something that might actually be doable...I also hate vegetables and have to force myself to eat salads. Best of luck! :)
Posted by: Abby | April 25, 2011 at 08:50 PM
Good luck with the weight loss! I've been using MyFoodDiary.com, and that's really helped me drop my cruise weight.
You're going to Disney? Awesome!
Posted by: Thoughts Appear | April 26, 2011 at 01:59 AM
Ice cream in front of Cinderella's Castle sounds like a fun ritual!
Here I thought the South Beach diet was all about cheese and other stuff I'm allergic to--that many veggies and then V8 on top of that? Really? Yikes!
Well, I am all for getting healthy, so yay for that. I have to get into the habit of more exercise (and more sleep--failing on that tonight) so consider me part of your support group!
Posted by: Kate P | April 26, 2011 at 05:26 AM
Oh no, no!! Well, not her current incarnation. I thought she looked great around the engagement, though I think she also looked great at her normal weight as well. She's just the means by which I discovered the diet plan :)
Posted by: Angela Noelle | April 26, 2011 at 06:18 AM
Oh yeah, I hear ya on everything you said! I'll definitely update on how the diet goes!
Posted by: Angela Noelle | April 26, 2011 at 06:19 AM
Yep, leaving May 15 or 16 :) I've tried counting calories before, and for some reason it just doesn't work for me. I think because I do a bad job about having little bites here and there or not properly calculating serving sizes and it all adds up to more than what I'm "counting", ha!
Posted by: Angela Noelle | April 26, 2011 at 06:20 AM
It is definitely a ritual no amount of dieting could keep me from :) SB does involve a lot of cheese, because it's pretty protein focused as well, but SO MANY vegetables!! It's out of control!
Posted by: Angela Noelle | April 26, 2011 at 06:21 AM