I have tried a few different diets over the last couple of years but never managed to reach my goal weight and the weight I did lose always piled back on again fairly quickly.
Earlier this year I read an article on the Dukan Diet and decided to give it a go.
The Dukan Diet is a high protein diet with the first phase of the diet, the Attack Phase, being protein only. There are many debates over whether protein only diets are bad for you, and generally if you eat protein only for long periods of time it is quite bad for you as you are missing out on many needed nutrients. However, with the Dukan Diet you are only on the protein only stage for a short period of time and then you move onto the next stage, the Cruise Stage, where you introduce vegetables into your diet.
During the Cruise Phase you alternate days between one protein only day and then one protein plus vegetables day, so you still lose weight at a good rate but are also still receiving the nutrients that you need from vegetables.
You remain on the Cruise Phase until you reach your goal weight after which time you move onto the Consolidation Phase. This phase is what I like most about this diet as it stabilizes your weight and helps your body’s metabolism to adjust to your new eating habits, which helps to prevent you from putting the weight back on again.
Most diets don’t have this Consolidation Phase and that is one reason that so many people just put weight straight back on again, and usually more than they had to begin with.
The last stage of this diet is the Stabilization Phase which is how you want to eat for the rest of your life. The Dukan Diet teaches you how to change your eating habits and lifestyle to a much healthier one so that you can continue to live a healthy lifestyle for the rest of your life.
That is what I loved most about this diet, that it doesn’t just tell you to go and count calories and eat better, it really shows you how to do it and in the different stages so that you can adjust to your new lifestyle over that period of time.
I certainly lost a lot of weight with this diet and am currently just 500g away from my goal weight. That is something that I haven’t been able to achieve with any other diet, so this diet really does work.
By: Sheryl L Polomka
