Weigh In Wednesday---My Weight Loss Story with the Dukan Diet

Are you like me? Would you sell your firstborn for a large pepperoni pizza? So many of us struggle with weight gain. For me, it didn't really hit until my senior year of college when I was finishing up my bachelor's degree. We all know how it is. Sedentary lifestyle, being in a relationship and listing "competitive eating" as your favorite hobby during job interviews  are all signs that you are packing on the pounds.

One of my best friends was set to be married in June 2012 and the moment she asked me to be a bridesmaid, I promised myself I would not be the fat girl in her wedding photos. I could hear her future children saying "Eww mom, why did you let that heifer in your wedding? She is grotesque!" I did not want to be that girl, especially since all of the other girls that were in the wedding are flawless.

Through my obsession with Kate Middleton (Judge me, she is fabulous), I saw an article saying it was rumored that she followed something called the Dukan Diet to get slim for the royal wedding. I couldn't find much information on it since it is a French diet some old dude named Dr. Dukan invented. I found the diet book on iBooks for $11 and a list of 100 Dukan approved foods to help aid me as to what to buy at the grocery.

I started this diet in March 2012 at around 178lbs and in a 12 in jeans. You have no idea how incredibly hard it is to admit that.

As I did more research into the Dukan Diet, I realized it was pretty much a low fat version of the Atkins Diet. The diet is separated into four different phases, with the first being the attack phase. This cycle lasts anywhere from 2-10 days, with the average being around 5 days. During this phase you eat nothing but protein. Eggs, chicken breast, eggs, lunch meat, eggs, steak, MORE EGGS. It was completely miserable but I told myself I had to do it. The first day you are so intensely hungry that you could eat a Volkswagen if someone put it in front of you and showed you it was low carb. I remember when I came home from work on that first day. I was so hungry that I grabbed a package of precooked cocktail shrimp out of the fridge and literally ate 70 pieces of shrimp out of my sink. I think some of them may have still been frozen as I gobbled them up. I was sure that I was going to die before making it through the night with the hunger... But I didn't. I weighed in the next morning and I had lost two pounds. I was able to do the attack phase for 4 days before I had to have some veggies. Don't worry, the hunger eases off the next day as the ketones in your body build up. They are a natural hunger suppressant.

That leads into the second phase of the diet-- adding very low carb veggies here and there. You can eat anything that is a veggie, as long as it is not carrots (yum), corn (double yum), or potatoes (proof that God loves us). I lost 9 pounds that first week of doing the attack phase and stabilized at losing about 2lbs a week thereafter. I remember one of my coworkers saying over and over to me "It's just water weight. It will be back. Just wait and see." So what did I say to that? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. Remind me to twerk in your office when I hit my goal weight.

By the time the wedding rolled around, I was 160 pounds and wearing about an 8 in pants. I was so tickled that I had lost so much weight in so little time. A couple weeks after the wedding, the relationship I had been in throughout college came to an end. At that time, I had never felt more alive. As absurd as it sounds, I felt like I was myself again and I was ready to change everything that I had become over the last few years. I joined a Zumba class and started going there and dancing for one hour twice a week. Doing Zumba with the diet really helped the weight loss as well. While I was going through all that emotional stuff that comes along with growing up and growing apart from people, I focused on myself, my health, and my body. I wanted to be the best possible version of myself. My goal was to reach 150lbs. I kept telling myself "Bridge, that's what you weighed your senior year of high school and you looked amazing."

On days that I didn't do Zumba, I had started running a 2.5 mile loop around town to get extra exercise in. If I didn't have the strength to run, then I would walk. If I had a bad day at work, as soon as I got home I would lace up my running shoes and take off. Just the pavement and I. I let everything I hated about myself and all of my frustrations flow outwards from my feet with every step. Everyone has different ways of coping with things that happen to them in life, and mine just happened to throw me into Forrest Gump mode and make me want to run across the continental US.

By August 2012 I had made it down to 140lbs and a size 5 in jeans from all of the dieting and all of the exercise. While I was going through all of this, I would strictly eat only low carb meals during the week and absolutely no fast food unless I went to Mexican with one of my girlfriends. There I would always order a tossed salad with no cheese and no dressing, then use salsa as my dressing on the salad.  The good thing about salsa is it is really good for you and has great flavor, so I replaced every condiment I could think of with salsa. On the weekends, I would allow myself one cheat meal. This wasn't one of those "Imma order a blizzard and a whole turkey and super size my fries BECAUSE ITS CHEAT DAY" kind of meals, but rather one of those "I will allow myself to have toast for breakfast because I am one egg white away from throwing my scrawny ass off the balcony" kind of meals.

I recently got engaged and I gained 12lbs between December 2013 and April 2014. My fiancé works out all the time so he eats whatever he wants and still looks like a Greek god, but not me. Once I felt my pants getting a little tighter, my immediate thought was "I guess I need new pants" then I looked in the mirror and thought "NO. YOU DID THIS ONCE BEFORE, REMEMBER?" So what did I do? I dusted off my Dukan Diet book (not really because it's an eBook, but whatever) and got my rear back in gear.

I am proud to say that as of June 2014, I am 137.2lbs and I wear a size 4 in jeans. I have not been this light since I was a freshman in high school and I have never felt more comfortable with myself.

There is no weight loss goal too big or too small. Of course, we are beautiful no matter what size we are, but sometimes we can't see our own beauty over the flaws that cause us to have such low self esteem.

I have to admit that I still reach for an XL if I am out shopping. Old habits die hard. I'm working on myself everyday, and although it is hard and sometimes I feel like giving up and just putting my fat pants back on, I just remember how uncomfortable I felt in my own skin before I lost weight. If you can't find the motivation to to lose weight, think if how satisfying it will feel to be able to buy single digit pant sizes. I have promised myself that I will never be back in double digit sized clothing again if I can help it (pregnancy and elephantiasis excluded).

I'm going to try and do a weight loss tip every Wednesday or do a healthy low carb recipe to help those of you that are just starting out on your weight loss journey. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will do my best to answer them and help you along with your new lifestyle change. Thanks for taking the time to read my story! Talk to you soon.



Xoxo,
--B