The beginning

Hello and welcome to my blog.  I am not new to blogging but it has been a long time since I have concentrated on a blog.  Those that know me may remember my previous blog, Life According to Lou, which has been put to bed (for now anyway).  The reason for this blog is because I am overweight.  I hate it.  I feel fat, unhealthy and disgusting. Hardly any of my clothes fit and I think I look horrible in what I do fit in.  I know many people will see this as shallow but I can't stop how I feel.  I want to be a size 10 and that ain't gonna happen unless I do something about it.  This is going to be my honest account of dieting and how hard it really is.

Someone said to me the other day "Giving up smoking is easier than dieting" and I believe that.  I gave up smoking 18 months ago and have never looked back.  I found it relatively easy.  I find dieting incredibly hard.  I have tried loads of diets in the past - Weight Watchers, Slimming World, Atkins, Pig2Twig, Cambridge, Slim Fast - and although I had some success, I have never been able to lose what I want nor maintain the loss.  This time I am going to try the Dukan Diet.  I am also going to exercise more regularly than the sporadic effort I put in at the moment.

My diet plan started today.  Monday is never a good day to start a diet, but there are a few of us in the office starting this diet today. I am going to do it slightly differently by not weighing myself and taking measurements instead.  I will also take weekly pictures to see how my body is changing.  I will probably weigh once a month to see how I am getting on, but I am not weighing weekly nor do I have scales at home.  If I do, I get obsessed with weighing and I end up weighing myself 2 or 3 times a day and it just gets ridiculous!

So what is the Dukan Diet?  I have included some links to useful websites on the diet on the right but I will explain briefly what it involves.  It is made up of four stages:

1 – A brief and headlong ATTACK phase with immediate results. During this phase, the diet is made up of 72 high-protein foods enabling quick weight loss.

2 - A CRUISE phase. During this phase, the diet alternates pure protein days and proteins accompanied with 28 recommended vegetables

3 - A CONSOLIDATION phase of 10 days per kg lost which prepares for the return to a balanced diet. Monitored freedom with a target of establishing this freshly conquered and still vulnerable ideal weight. This phase sees the gradual return of pleasurable foods with two festive meals.

4 - A definitive stabilization phase based on 3 simple, concrete, easy but non-negotiable measures. This phase is both the easiest and most essential in the slimming method because 95% of people who follow a diet put back on the weight they have lost.

Sounds easy, right?  Well lets see!  I used a weight from a few weeks ago to calculate my programme on the Dukan website, this gave me my 'True Weight' which is the same as my 'goal weight' of 8 stone.  I can already hear the cries "8 STONE!! THAT'S TINY!!", well it's not so tiny when you are a petite 5'1", it makes me a perfect size 10.

I am currently a size 14, a snug size 14.  I weigh 10st10lbs and my measurements are:

Waist - 37"
Hips - 42"
Thighs - 25"

Here are less than attractive pictures of me taken today

So I am almost at the end of day one and so far so good, I just need to make some dinner and settle down for some BINTM and Made in Chelsea.  I hope tomorrow is as good as today!!