My Fat Attack

I've been in a bit of a fog this week.

I started the famous Dukan Diet three days ago in my bid to lose the extra pounds that I've gained over my childbearing years. I had read amazing things about this protein-based diet and thought it sounded perfect for me. I have tried many diets over the years and I always give up because of the starvation, and because it takes too long to see results, but the Dukan diet lets you eat as much as you want from 100 foods - mostly protein and an oatbran breakfast - and so many people said they never got hungry, and you lose the most weight in the first week!

I'm in my last year of my thirties and everyone says it's harder to lose weight after you turn 40 and your body starts heading for menopause, so this is my year of change and time to address the problem.

But the last three days have been difficult, not because I've been hungry but because my body has gone into sugar withdrawals. On the first night I had a massive headache, and lay in bed going hot and cold all night along with a few shakes. Amazing. It's quite scary to realise how addicted my body has been to sugar, and how bad that is.
The headache continued for a whole 'nother day and night, and finally this morning it is gone. And I'm still not hungry and the cravings for carbs and sugars are lessening. I'm no longer looking at the kids' lunchboxes and wanting to eat it all up. I was even tempted by a dry old breadroll the first day (I don't normally like bread). So hopefully I'm through the worst and can just keep on with the programme - it's really not hard and the recipes Dr. Dukan gives in his diet book are really yummy. I can't complain at smoked salmon, shrimp and steak, now can I?

My breakfast is the hardest thing to get down, only because I'm not a breakfast person. It's an oatbran pancake made with low-fat fromage and egg white. It's quite tasty. And I'm allowed a black coffee with it.

So wish me luck! Next week I get to add vegetables to the protein. The following week I get to add fruit. I miss the fruit! The great thing with this diet is that once you've reached your goal weight, the maintenance is simple - just do the protein diet one day a week. That's it - and you kind of have to treat bad foods (like cake and donuts) like recovering alcoholics do - can't touch it for awhile. That's going to be the hard part. But I'm excited to think that if I can do it, I can go and buy some new clothes soon!