Dieting with Corinna

I’m going to apologise now, my blog will be getting a bit boring over the next few days because I am going on a diet. I’m not overweight (my BMI is 24.8), but my clothes are getting too tight (particularly around my middle, which is not a good place to be carrying extra weight) so I want to nip things in the bud before I have a more serious problem.

I’d like to lose 15lbs (getting down to a BMI of 21.8). I’ve been trying to do it slowly but surely, over the past couple of weeks, counting calories and eating sensibly but the scales haven’t budged and I’ve gotten a bit disheartened. I even tried quitting booze for June. That lasted 12 days! I’ve not got a major sweet tooth (despite baking lots most of it is shared with family and friends) and I don’t eat much in the way of chocolate or biscuits. My big downfall is cheese, potatoes, bread, pasta (I could easily eat half a 500g packet in one sitting, no exaggeration!) and cured and fatty meats (pork and lamb as you’ll have guessed from my blog are firm favourites). I’m also not great at portion control and it seems way too pedantic to weigh my food out onto the plate when all I want to do is tuck in while it’s hot.

While I was trying to just cut back and be healthy I came across Goodness Wrapped in Happiness blogging about doing the attack phase of the Dukan diet (with recipes too). I have done the attack phase of the Dukan before myself and found it interesting reading about her experience of the diet. It is quite extreme, which is why I was reluctant to do it again and tried to just calorie count, but 4 weeks later the scales seem to be stuck and I need a kick-start to boost my morale.

Last year I lost over a stone doing the Dukan diet. I didn’t do it properly (I couldn’t go without potatoes, bread and cheese for that long), I used to do the attack phase for 2-4 days a week, and eat a low calorie diet the rest of the week. I can’t remember how long it took, probably 8-10 weeks in total. But then it all went out the window when I reached my target weight (doing this just before my birthday didn’t help), and although I’ve never gorged myself, over the year most of it has come back on. Working from home doesn’t help; I’m far too close to the fridge (and the cheese).

This time I know I’ll have to keep calorie counting afterwards and be stricter with myself so I don’t repeat the cycle next year. The Dukan Diet also recommends that you follow the attack phase diet one day a week for the rest of your life to keep the weight off, which I think I’ll also try this time.

What I can eat:

• Beef and veal. Any cut except ribs and rib eye steak. Cooked without extra fat.
• Skinless poultry, except duck and goose, so that’s chicken, turkey and game birds.
• Any fish or shellfish including oily and smoked fish. Crabsticks/fishsticks are fine too, but when I tried them last year I was not impressed so they won’t be featuring in my diet!
• Low fat ham/sliced meats (under 4% fat).
• Eggs – 2 per day with yolks but unlimited egg whites.
• 0% fat dairy –yoghurt, quark, fromage frais, cottage cheese, and skimmed milk.
• Oat bran – 1½ tablespoons per day.
• Minimum of 1½ litres of water a day. Fizzy drinks (such as coke) if they’re less than 1 calorie per glass, teas, and coffee all count towards this. No alcohol.
• Sugar free sweeteners.
• Extras: vinegar, herbs, spices, pickles, lemon juice, mustard and salt.

You’re also meant to walk 20 minutes every day of the attack phase.

A diet that lets you eat unlimited smoked salmon and steak isn’t all bad. But I will miss pork and cheese!

Over the next week I’ll be sharing with you my food intake, recipes, and any weight loss I see. Tomorrow I’ll also be posting my oat bran pancake recipe and letting you know how I’ve found day 1.