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Dukan diet Consolidation Phase (Phase 3) week 1 – Instead of gaining weight as I feared, I lost 0.2 pounds this week

by Marshall Brain | October 26, 2010

Here is my journey so far with the Dukan Diet:

- I wrote an article on the Dukan diet: How the Dukan Diet works – The French diet that is supposed to end the obesity epidemic

- I started with a 5-day “attack phase” (Phase 1): Yesterday I finished a five-day “Attack Phase” on the Dukan Diet and lost 6.6 pounds – here’s a report on how it went (days 1 to 5)

- I went through 25 weeks of “cruise phase” (Phase 2) and lost a total of 52 pounds, going from 221.0 pounds down to 175.4. (Days 6 through 179). You can see my before and after photos and a summary of my cruise phase exploits on this page.

- I am now on my first week of “consolidation phase” (Phase 3). I will admit that I expected to gain some weight back this week (especially since we went to an all-you-can-eat restaurant on Sunday), and it is fascinating to me that that didn’t happen. I actually lost 0.2 pounds, finishing the week at 175.2. I did eat more fruit this week, and I also ate a fair amount of popcorn, but those are the only two carbs that I added this week. Based on the results of this week, I would say that adding these two carbs has been harmless. Here is how the week unfolded…

Day 179 –

On the scale this morning I lost another 0.8 pounds. I now weigh 175.4. I switched from Phase 2 to Phase 3 today.
Today I was not the best with the food – perhaps a little bit of celebrating going on. I ate a pound and a half of chicken, a cup of cottage cheese, 600 calories of peanuts, 2 cups of plain yogurt, 2 cups of blueberries, 4 ounces of lunch meat, an eggbeaters omelet and 4 cups of popcorn (with olive oil). About 2,600 calories.
The popcorn is actually part of an experiment. If I eat 4 cups of popcorn, does my weight balloon or not?
I walked about a mile today. I did no significant exercise in an attempt to keep the popcorn experiment pure.

Day 180 –

On the scale this morning I gained 1.0 pounds. I weigh 176.4 this morning.
What this seems to say to me is that air-popped popcorn, even while being relatively “low” in carbs (6 grams per cup according to this page) pumps in a lot of carbs when you eat 4 or 5 cups of it. On a typical “Dukan day” I might get 20 or 30 grams of carbs total. Now if I double that by eating popcorn, the effect seems to be a carb-induced weight gain. What I am going to try to do today is have a normal “Dukan day”, get some exercise, and see where my weight is tomorrow.
Side note: Leigh has suggested that air-popped popcorn with olive oil is actually a pretty good snack, relatively speaking. It provides a lot of volume and a lot of crunching per calorie (31 calories per cup for the popcorn, maybe 50 once you add the oil). It is technically said to be a “whole grain”. It has a lot of fiber (1.2 grams per cup). Is it as good as eating a fruit or a vegetable? No. Is it better than eating an Oreo? Yes. I think that if I were in a place one day where my body was in a “put something in your mouth now!” binging kind of state, popcorn might not be a bad food for binging, relatively speaking.
So here we are in Phase 3. What to eat with my new-found freedom? Today I ate (in order of appearance): half a pound of Tilapia and a box of vegetables, a cup of plain yogurt and a cup of frozen blueberries (blended to make a smoothie), a pound of chicken and a cup of cottage cheese, an eggbeaters omelet, 350 calories of peanuts, half a pound of chicken and half a cup of cottage cheese, and half a cup of frozen blueberries, half a cup of frozen raspberries, half a cup of fresh strawberries and half a cup of plain yogurt (blended). That’s about 2,300 calories. Felt pretty healthy.
For exercise I walked 2 miles (even threw in a little jogging) and did a round of push-ups, chin-ups and crunches.

Day 181 –

I woke up twice to use the restroom last night, but even so I was shocked this morning to see 174.8 on the scale. I lost 1.6 pounds. I really would have expected my weight to be going up as Phase 3 starts, so this is a nice surprise.
Today I ate half a pound of chicken and a box of vegetables, 400 calories of peanuts and walnuts, a cup of blueberries and a cup of plain yogurt, eggbeaters omelet, a pound of chicken, a cup of yogurt, half a cup of blueberries, half a cup of raspberries, half a pound of salmon and a cup of cottage cheese. About 2,300 calories.
I walked 4 miles today.
I rode my bike to the dentist today. My hygienist asked me about ketosis because she said she could smell a little acetone on my breath.

Day 182 –

On the scale this morning I gained 0.4 pounds to weigh 175.2. Since yesterday’s food and the the food from the day before are nearly identical, I would chalk this up to a water fluctuation.
Today I ate a pound of salmon, half a pound of chicken, 2 cups of cottage cheese, 2 cups plain yogurt, 2 cups of blueberries, half a cup of strawberries, a cup of raspberries, 400 calories of peanuts and walnuts and a box of vegetables. About 2,200 calories.
We went to grandmother’s house today. Everyone had ice cream (really good ice cream too, with big chocolate chip chunks and some kind of chocolate fudge swirls), and I was offered a bowl ice cream. And strangely, a funny thing happened. I just didn’t have any desire to eat ice cream. That is very interesting to me. Technically I could eat it on phase 3 and call it a “celebration meal” kind of thing. But I didn’t. It wasn’t like “I resisted”. It’s like it’s been six months since touching ice cream, and now I know all the problems that follow super-sweet stuff like that, and I look at ice cream almost like I would look at a cigarette.
This same kind of thing happened yesterday. I was in the freezer section at the grocery store getting frozen fruit, and they had some fancy kind of frozen pizza on super-sale. It really was a good deal, and the pizza was thin crust, and gourmet, and it looked really tasty. But then I looked at the nutrition label. I would have, in a former life, eaten a whole pizza like that without a second thought. But the nutrition label indicated that, even with a paper thin crust, it would be 1,000 calories, 84 grams of carbs, 3,000 mg of sodium and a lot of fat. I could have bought it and eaten it as a “celebration meal”, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

I wonder if this will last? I would never, ever consider picking up a cigarette. I wonder if 6 months of Dukan training has re-programmed my brain to avoid certain types of food in the same way.
For exercise I walked 2 miles and did a round of push-ups, chin-ups and crunches.

Day 183 –

This morning I gained 0.8 pounds and weigh 176.0. I don’t really see a reason why.
Today I ate half a pound of salmon, a pound of chicken, an eggbeaters omelet, 400 calories of peanuts and walnuts, a cup of cottage cheese, 1 cup of plain yogurt and 1 cup of blueberries. I also had about 5 cups of air-popped popcorn with olive oil as a snack in the afternoon. About 2,100 calories.
I rode the exercise bike for 400 calories tonight and did a round of push-ups, chin-ups and crunches.

Day 184 –

On the scale this morning I was back down to 175.0. I lost 1.0 pounds.
This kind of contradicts the popcorn experiment from earlier in the week. I ate popcorn and lost weight today.
Today I ate half a pound of salmon, a cup of cottage cheese, a smoothie with a cup of plain yogurt, half a cup of strawberries and a cup of blueberries… And then we went to a local buffet restaurant called Golden Corral to celebrate Grandpa’s birthday. Being an all-you-can-eat place with everything from chocolate fountains to donut machines to a huge dessert bar to every high-cal carb in existence, Golden Corral is a minefield and a potential diet graveyard. So my approach was simple. I ate a big (huge!) salad to start with (lots of lettuce, spinach, carrots, broccoli, etc.).Then I ate protein and nothing else – grilled fish, grilled chicken, steak, etc. I ate a lot more protein than normal, but still avoided all the carbs and desserts. We’ll see how much weight I gain tomorrow, and how long that weight lasts. In the afternoon/evening I tried to go light on the food – I ate 200 calories of peanuts and walnuts, an eggbeaters omelet, a smoothie ( 1 cup yogurt, 1 cup blueberries) and half a pound of tilapia.
For exercise today I walked 2 miles with the twins and did yard work.

Day 185 –

As expected after a trip to Golden Corral, I gained weight. 1.6 pounds to be exact. I now weigh 176.6. Let’s see how long it takes to take that back off…
Today I ate half a pound of chicken, a smoothie (1 cup plain yogurt, 1 cup blueberries), 200 calories of peanuts and walnuts, a cup of cottage cheese, an eggbeaters omelet, half a pound of salmon, a cup of cottage cheese, 7 meatballs (400 calories), 3 cups of popcorn and half a cantaloupe (that we grew in our garden!) . About 2,100 calories.
For exercise I rode 400 calories on the exercise bike and watched an episode of Lost (the one about the case). And I did a round of push-ups, chin-ups and crunches.

Day 186 –

On the scale this morning I was very pleased to see that Golden Corral was all water weight, probably from salt. I lost 1.4 pounds and now weigh 175.2. A net loss of 0.2 pounds for the week, and I wasn’t even trying to lose weight.

I must say that the nicest part about moving to Phase 3 this week has been losing the guilt. I ate fruit, and I didn’t have to feel guilty about it.

I mentioned in past weeks that I was a little fearful going into phase 3, because I do NOT want to start eating more normal foods and regain the weight I have lost. So my intention this week has been to add in one carb – fruit. I noticed this week (see above) that I was offered ice cream, and had the opportunity to eat pizza, and I was a little repulsed by both of them. The analogy that comes to mind is cigarettes. I would never even consider smoking a cigarette, and I find myself feeling something similar when I now look at pizza or ice cream. I know that these foods will a: cause me to gain 3 or 4 pounds of water weight, and 2) lead to additional cravings, which will only snowball the problem. Knowing these things, why would I eat them? I really, really like “the new me” – it is almost like getting a new body. And I really do not want to blow it. An interesting psychological shift has occurred in my thinking, it would appear.

Let me also say a word about popcorn. In Phase 2 I used lunch meat when I got the munchies. Lunch meat is not the greatest – it is high in salt. Now that the “protein” thing is a little more relaxed in Phase 3, I ate more popcorn this week. I will admit that I am kind of liking popcorn. I can eat 4 cups of it (which is a lot), and it only costs 200 calories. Four cups of popcorn provides a lot of crunching (which is nice from a psychological standpoint I think), and I find it to be very filling. It doesn’t seem to have caused any problems with weight gain.

So, first week of Phase 3 went well, and I find myself to be a little surprised at how my mind now looks at pizza and ice cream. Let’s see if this continues next week…

- I have finished the first five days of the “Cruise Phase” on the Dukan Diet – here is a report on how it went, plus a menu for a typical protein day

- I have finished my second week on the Dukan Diet “Cruise Phase” and lost 5.4 pounds during the past seven days. Here is a report on how it went, and a “secret ingredient” that may have helped.

- A report on week 3 of the Dukan Diet Cruise Phase. The whole thing has become a straightforward habit, and the weight loss seems very consistent

- I finished my fourth week in the Dukan Diet Cruise Phase and lost another 2.4 pounds – plus I saw an amazingly good blood pressure reading

- I have finished my fifth week in the Dukan diet cruise phase and lost another 3.0 pounds – and now I know the secret to avoiding calories in an Italian restaurant

- In my sixth week on the Dukan Diet Cruise phase I lost “only” 1.8 pounds, and I am now halfway to my 50 pound goal

- Today I finished my seventh week on the Dukan Diet cruise phase and lost 2.6 pounds – I have almost broken through the 200 pound barrier

- Dukan diet Cruise Phase Week 8 – wherein I learn the perils of parties

- Dukan diet Cruise Phase (Phase 2) week 9 – I’ve lost 32.0 pounds with no “plateaus”

- Dukan diet Cruise Phase (Phase 2) week 10 – Lesson: Don’t eat smoked turkey legs!

- Dukan diet Cruise Phase (Phase 2) week 11 – Are my kidneys failing? Is my cholesterol exploding? Plus vacation.

- Dukan diet Cruise Phase (Phase 2) week 12 – Vacation transgressions take their toll and I gain weight for first time