The End of the Dukan Diet - Consolidation Phase Week 14

It's been months since I last updated on the progress of the diet. The good thing is, I have not put back on the weight. My current weight now hovers around 56-57kg. I have not been a good girl last week. Did not go gym at all. So maybe I am 58kg now. Scary to think how the weight creeps back on without you realising it.

I love being a size small/medium. Without sounding boastful hopefully, I think I now look good in almost everything I wear. Well, at least better than before.

I am into the LAST WEEK of the dukan diet. It has been a 6-month journey and I am amazed at how well I have grown accustomed to it. But that's really because this diet is wonderfully designed to make it achievable. By the time I reach the consolidation phase, I could start to eat the foods I craved albeit once a week. That and the pasta servings increase to twice a week by the half-way mark in this third phase. This diet is now easy to maintain as part of a normal lifestyle. Being weight conscious now has also made me observe women on the streets - and I am starting to see a pattern of overweight women. At any one time, walking down Robinson Road (the business district of Singapore with large concentration of office workers) during lunch time, I would see at least 2 - 3 Large to X-Large women. It is difficult to be a Small to Medium size here in Singapore. Almost every mall now has a basement food hall. Ice cream, donuts, confectionaries have set up shop here. Walking through the food hall, you will be attacked by tempting smells of freshly baked breads, waffles, pancakes and other gluttonous sins.

It is with certainty that I will put back on weight once the consolidation phase is over. So I have decided that the consolidation phase is what I will do for life. There will be no Phase 4 where I eat "normally" for 6 days and eat pure protein low-fat for one day a week. "Normal" in Singapore is way too high in calories. And I am not about to work-out 6 days a week at a gym. Especially not when I have cancelled my gym membership as part of my save-money drive (that's another story for another time). Having some food rules would help. That's essentially what the consolidation phase is: two celebration meals and two servings of pasta/carbs (preferable whole grain). Do I feel like popping one of those lemon cream cupcakes into my mouth? Sure. After all, I wasn't super sized before for no reason. Super size people like me are generally foodies. But on some days, I am not allowed to eat the cupcake. Every Wednesday and Sunday now, I have a celebration meal. On these occasions, I can eat a cupcake, or two...

"Food economy", as I would like to call it, has also helped me instill discipline in the consumption of other things. I now take bus/train instead of cabs and cut back on excessive clothing shopping. It's a powerful thing when you realize the level of determination you are capable of. I even took my success in keeping food away and applied to my bad smoking habit. Haven't touched a stick in three weeks now :)

Dukan Diet Consolidation Phase Week 2 (12 - 18 March)

With the serving of bread and an apple everyday, it's plenty of things to eat actually! Sometimes I eat the bread with a slice of cheddar cheese for dinner or lunch, and have the food my mom packed for me for the other meal.

It's really great that now there is a celebration meal. And last week, I used it to celebrate the end of a very long and tedious project. We went to Wild Honey, an all-day breakfast place. I did not finish my food because I was genuinely full. But I was also conscious of not over-eating, which would have been the way I eat in the past.




Brioche toasts with Parma Ham and Scrambled Eggs


As I was quite pre-occupied with work, I only managed to work out at the gym over the weekends. This Without my trainer, I went back to an old Circuit Training routine which he did for me a few years ago when I first engaged him.

Saturday 17 March:
4 sets of Legs, 3 sets of Chest and 1 set of Triceps. That's a total of 8 sets and in between each set, I run for 2 mins on the treadmill at a speed of 9kmh. Ending off with 3 sets of abs. 

Sunday 18 March:
4 sets of Back, 4 sets of Shoulders/Biceps and 3 sets of abs. Run in-between sets. Because on Day 2 I work less of the legs, I increase the running speed to 10kmh.

I weighed myself at the gym too. Surprisingly, I was 58+ kg, as compared to my last weight check if 60.4kg. It could be water weight loss.

Dukan Diet Consolidation Phase Week 1

Week of 27 March was the last week of Cruise Phase 2. Here's some of what I ate that week. 

On 2 March, I went into the third phase of the diet. For the first time in 2 months, since January 1 2012, I ate a fruit and two slices of whole grain bread with a slice of cheddar cheese. Going into Phase 3 means I can now eat vegetables with the proteins everyday. This makes it a lot easier for my mom chef!

The book asks that 100% whole grain bread is eaten but it is difficult to find whole grain bread in Singapore. And even if they are available, it is sold only in places that are largely inaccessible by me. So I bought Sunshine Enriched Multi-Grain bread. I don't think this is 100%. I will attempt at finding a bread closer to the fit next week. 

On Saturday, I had my first Celebration Meal. We went to Everything With Fries. I start off on the wrong foot with a restaurant that serves french fries! I forgot that french fries was forbidden in the diet, for good! Luckily I was cautious about eating too much of the fries so I left most of it untouched at the end of the meal. I also had a bit more than 1 glass of wine! I missed the taste of alcohol so much!

The book was right to say that when you start the third phase, you will feel quite reluctant to start eating carbs. I am so afraid that the weight will start to pile back on. I think what is very important is to make sure exercise is also put in place. I haven't been good at keeping to that now that I have stopped my personal training. On thursday, I went back to weights training and now my butt is hurting. Good pain. Hope that I can get some exercise in today.

Grilled pork chop with fries. I did not take any of that salad dressing. 

So stay tuned as I move into the third phase. Let's see if I manage to stave off the weight. 

Dukan Diet Cruise Phase (Week 5 - 8)

Work has been quite crazy the last two weeks and the little romance that has crept into my simple quiet life are all making me neglect my blog! More on the romance in another post!

I want to say it here that by now, the 26th of February, I have reached my weight loss goal of fitting into my Ultimate Two-Size down dress. It is a bustier dress and this is what it looks like. Haha, it actually looks rather shapeless in this picture.

My last session with my gym trainer ended last week. We did a fat mass analysis at the start of my training  in October 2011 and we did another fat analysis after the last session, And here are the results. I have jotted down the initial analysis back in October for comparison. My weight was 67.4kg in October 2011 and on 24 February 2012, I weighed 60.4kg. I did not lose weight from October right through to December 2011. In fact I might have gained a couple more kilos. The weight loss of 7 kg is largely due to the diet and it took 2 months. And what's interesting to note also is that my FFM (Fat Free Mass) remained at 41.3kg. FFM refers largely to muscular mass. This means through my training at the gym, i managed to maintain my muscular mass, which also means i have burnt 7kg of pure fat (and water weight, I am sure)

I had wanted only to do 5 weeks of Cruise Phase but i extended it to 8 weeks so that I can burn off a bit more before I enter Consolidation Phase where I might put back on a couple of kilos due to the re-introduction of carbohydrates into my system. Next week will be the last week of Cruise. By Saturday 3 March, I will be taking my first taste of carbohydrates after 2 months in the first Celebration Meal of the third phase. 

Here're what I have eaten for the last two weeks. These are mostly packed lunch and dinner from home. My fabulous mom cooked them for me. She uses a lot of seafood such as calamari, fish and prawns in her food. Also used lot of is bean curd and eggs. Without my mom, I don't think I will last this long in phase 2. 

Fishballs soup

Cold Silken Tofu with Soba sauce and wasabi. 

Steamboat at The Mushroom Pot

Sardines from the can

Dukan Diet Cruise Phase 2 (Week 3 and 4)

Ok, so I have really slipped on my weekly updates.

By now, I am already into week 5 of the Cruise Phase - what I have set as the final week for this phase. I want to say that this diet works! i was in Hong Kong in December 2011 and started this diet on 1 January 2012. In about 6 weeks, I have already gone down one and half dress sizes. My aim is to go down two dress sizes. Couple of days ago, I took out some old clothes, so unworn they had the wardrobe smell on them. I could wear most of them, and I love my old clothes. There is The Ultimate Two-Dress-Size-Smaller bustier dress which I could zip all the way up but could...not....breathe... in it. So I am not quite there yet. So I don't have to shop for new clothes for many months more, since I can now recycle my old clothes.

When I first decided to do the Dukan diet, I really did not know if I could pull through Phase 2. But now that I have gone to 4 drinking sessions with friends and stuck to my perriers and sugar-free pastilles, ok and cigarettes (can die but cannot be fat?!), I now know I can conquer this. I have even gotten used to the strict order of pure protein/pure protein veg routine. I have not touched sugar and alcohol in 6 weeks. The alcohol was a little hard to give up in week 3 but now I feel I don't miss it as much.

And people who have seen me at work are all amazed at how good I look now (note that the "how good I look" is due to the CONTRAST between the Before and After. Like a woman with a uni brow will look infinitely better once she trims her brows. So it's got nothing to do with inherent beauty). People can say all they want about not giving a fuck about being Plus Size. In the last two years when my weight rocketed, I did not feel good at all being Plus Size. I feel GREAT now being Normal Size. So celebs like Octavia Spencer should never claim she is not bothered being Plus Size. Look at Jennifer Hudson. It's just like s Single woman saying she prefers staying single to being in a relationship. You just can't say things like that. But that's another story altogether... getting back now to the diet.

I am so motivated by the success of this diet that I have decided to stretch Phase 2 till end of February. I figured that moving into Phase 3, I will experience some weight gain since carbs will be introduced back into my diet albeit gradually. I take personal training at the gym and that could also have helped with the effectiveness of the diet. I am contemplating extending the personal training into phase 3.

Cheers to my future hotness!!

Here're some of the meals I had over the last two weeks. Last week was Chinese New Year so there had been some steamboat feasts, which works great for this diet because it's all steamed, fish and stuff.

Brunch with friends at Roadhouse, Dempsey. 

Mom braised a chicken for the Reunion dinner

Mom's famous steamboat and that fish over there was awesome. It was fried though, so I had only a little. 

Pan-fried fish fillet, with black beans, onions, cherry tomatoes

Can't do this diet without my mom. She made this dish of sliced lean pork, mushrooms and szechuan veg which was so tasty. 

A similar sliced lean pork with szechuan veg. 

The prawns leftover from the Reunion dinner  cooked with tofu. 

Stir-fry prawns

Salad with leftover roast chicken and sautéed mushrooms. 

Mom made this cold seafood platter for the Reunion dinner. It had scallops, mini abalone, Octopus. All can eat! 

Steamboat again just last night (4 February). Perfect. 

Vegetables and fish cake

Soup with cabbage and seaweed

Dukan Diet Cruise Phase (Week 2)

The second week into the second phase and I am getting used to it. Last night, I went to a friend's birthday party, well equipped with a 750ml of perrier, a bottle of oolong tea and a pack of cigarettes. I was very proud of myself for not taking a single drop of alcohol.

And the results have been so encouraging. My target is to drop two dress sizes and I can confidently say I am down one dress size. I have not weighed myself. I know that the book advises to weigh everyday but I did not want to feel discouraged by what could be water weight gain. I feel so much better about myself without my belly sticking out of my clothes.

But I sometimes have food dreams. LOL! Just last night I dreamt that I was in a buffet and decided to skip a work meeting just so that I can eat at this buffet. I forgot I wasn't supposed to eat carbs and took a bite of a deep fried cracker. Realising the carbs ban, I spat out the rest of the cracker.

So here's what I ate last week.

Long beans and roast chicken 

Broccoli and chicken - mom cooked it way too salty unfortunately.

Ginseng chicken soup and vegetables with oyster sauce. I thought the soup was very thick and rich, with the herbs. But the wolf berries in it also made it rather sweet. Wonder if that counts as sugar....

Dinner with a friend at Nandos. I ordered a 1/2 chicken, without any side dishes. I also took off the skin. It's hard to find something cooked with very little oil and low fat. So I choose chicken and something grilled. Hopefully this helps! 

Breakfast of oat bran galette and turkey ham. I am now very good with making oat bran galette. They no longer break apart. The trick is a very hot pan I think. 

Breakfast with a friend - poached eggs and smoked salmon. 

Poached eggs, home style

Winter melon soup with lean pork

Smoked turkey salad

Seafood hotpot 

Steamed eggs with minced pork

Dukan Diet Cruise Phase (Week 1)

I have started work last week and fell back on daily updates on my blog. I now think a weekly update is better and less repetitive. So here're what I ate this week, sometimes out of the convenience of my home.

9 Jan: First lunch outside home. After a two month hiatus from work, I was not quite prepared for the first day at work, not to mention first day at work on this diet. Splurged a little on lunch at Sun with Moon Japanese restaurant. I ate maybe 20% of what's in the hotpot since it was an all-meat day and I cannot touch any of the vegetables. I "accidentally" ate the chestnut found in the chawanmushi though...

10 Jan: meat+ vegetables day. Had excellent Thai food for lunch and made me realize how well Thai fits into the dukan diet. I had a spicy seafood salad and a clear tom yum seafood soup, which had literally no oil and sugar. Dinner was a home-cooked plate of kailan and pork. 

11 Jan: all meat day. This time i was prepared for it and asked my mom to roast a chicken for me, to have for lunch and dinner. The chicken was too salty but we will get it right the next time. I think what would have been a better meal is a platter of different meats. e.g. some chicken breast, turkey ham and smoked salmon. The roast chicken got a little monotonous after a while. Had circuit training at the gym in the evening. I did not have energy to complete my last run in the circuit.

12 Jan: meat+veg day. I had yong tau foo for lunch. Sorry forgot to take photo. It was a huge bowl of non-fried yong tau foo with soup and vegetables. But it wasn't quite filling enough. For dinner, I had some fried fish fillet (not very oily) and meat & tofu soup. Again, there was training at the gym in the evening. My trainer did a new routine with me and it sucked every single bit of energy from me. By now, he said that my body is burning fats on every single movement. 

13 Jan:  I didn't post the picture of my lunch. It was a grilled fish at an Indonesian restaurant which i think was deep fried before it's grilled. Which means it is not low fat. It's hard sometimes picking a place to eat that fulfills all of the diet's criteria. Met a friend who needed company to have a quick dinner. So I brought him to a thai restaurant near my workplace which I wanted to explore, for the sake of the diet. Had a seafood clear tomyum soup and it was not nice at all and nothing compared to the first Thai place I tried earlier this week. Dinner was at home. Mom steamed two whole fish for me and I had a strawberry non-fat yoghurt (which i suspect was a little too delicious to be low in sugar...)

14 Jan: oops again no photo. Mom cooked stewed bitter gourd with minced pork for me which i will eat for both lunch and dinner. 

Sorry for the lack of images this week. I hope to remember to snap photos of my food and post more next week. 

So I survived the first week of Cruise Phase and have 4 more weeks to go! It's looking more possible now, to finish all 5 weeks without my will power crumbling. This weekend, I am going to experiment cooking my own tomyum soup so that I can bring it to work. The thing I miss most, I realised, wasn't bread or cakes or chocolates. It was alcohol!