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3 weeks into this phase and I am loosing approximately 3 pounds a week. I am quite happy with this! Pat has lost 19 pounds!
12-26-17 TIME TO DO IT AGAIN
The diet worked, we stopped working it. Well, isn’t that life?
12-31-14
At almost one year later…I remain beneath my original targeted goal to lose 26 pounds! WOW! Pat is ready to return to the diet. I will assist him and would be happy to drop 2-3 pounds as well…but I’d still have to say, that I am ever so thankful that this worked so well for me!
7-25-14
Week 26 Ellen 31
I am going to stop posting weekly updates for the time being. Pat is still recovering from his knee surgery, but has kept the 30 pounds he lost off. I am still frankly amazed at where I am with my weight. 26 weeks is half a year, half a year losing weight and keeping it off. I hope that having this page here will inspire others, as I still believe that this diet was relatively ‘easy’ and more importantly helped me keep it off. Go to the beginning of this page to see the whole progress if you are thinking of trying this diet. I am so grateful for it!
7-4-14
Week 24 Ellen 30.6
Holding strong with the weight down. I do think some of it is a change in my thinking, now that I am this size it is easier to stay the course…
6-27-14
Week 22 Ellen 30
Pat is recovering from surgery, a new knee and eating what he can keep down. This has been a stressful time, but
6-4-14
Week 20 Ellen 30.2 Pat 30.2
Staying strong and I must say…who knew it could be this easy…a new way of eating and enjoying it as well as beginning to enjoy the occasional bowl of ice cream…
I do believe, that if I can do it…anyone can do it!
5-28-14
Week 19 Ellen 30.4 Pat 30
I’d have to say, that at some level this has become just a new way of eating and that should encourage you not scare you. I have added back into my daily diet, some cheese, bread, a bit of fruit and nuts and the occasional cookie…all with a degree of moderation. I only set out to lose 26 pounds and am now at 30 and keeping fairly steady, it is very nice. I finally was at Ross and quickly bought some new pants….a unique adventure, having NO idea what size I was. I bought a pair of slacks, one pair of jeans, shorts and a pair of Capri. Two of them two sizes smaller and two of them 3 sizes smaller! The truth is the two that are only 2 sizes smaller are a tad big, but I was sort of overwhelmed at the whole process and do not ever, ever remember wearing a size 10. A size 10, with my height 6 ft, brings the age-old dilemma of …the pants always being too short…oh well!
5-21-14
Week 18 Ellen 29.6 Pat 32.4
5/13/14
Week 17 Ellen 28 Pat 34.4
Honestly, I think that if one truly needs to lose weight, especially if they are ‘older’ they should give this a try. I continue to be amazed at the weight I have lost and figure that if I can do it…anyone can. I have never been as successful, as I have been with this plan. 5/6/14
Week 16 Ellen 28 Pat 32.4
Pat’s knee surgery is scheduled for 6 weeks time. He has returned to the diet with care and effort, but still cannot walk anywhere without pain, so walking for exercise is fairly problematic. I have been fairly careful moving into the third phase of the plan, eating a bit of bread and cheese often and certainly enjoying my apple a day! I’d have to say that I have been very cautious, but happily staying well within my 26 pounds lost goal. 4/29/14
Week 15 Ellen 27 Pat 29
We are on opposite ends of the spectrum at this point. I have surpassed my goal, by a pound and moved into phase 3 of the diet adding fruit, a bit of whole wheat bread and cheese daily. So far so good… Meanwhile, Pat’s knee has been giving him a horrible time and we are hoping to move his knee replacement date up to the middle of June. Between Easter and traveling the diet has taken a hit… He’s back on track and hopefully will get some headway and encouragement soon. 4/15/14
Week 13 Ellen 25 Pat 32
I am 1 pound from my ‘goal’. I am quite excited and still a bit stunned that I have lost the weight and for anyone ever on a diet of any kind, I’d have to say it was easier than I ever expected. It has changed my thoughts about what we eat on a daily basis and the bottom line is more veggies and protein…less of all others… that is sort of the root of it, I do not think I will eat the same ever again…but time will tell! 4/8/14
Week 12 Ellen 23.6 Pat 32
As all diets go…we are in this for the long haul. Is it hard? Not really…a tiny bit boring, but that could be us. The good news is that if we are hungry, we can eat something…it just has to be the right ‘thing’. Pat is having the toughest time, because he needs a new knee and he is in a fair bit of pain…so walking is very painful…so loosing weight is not happening as quickly…so the knee stays painful, still he is in much better shape with the lost weight. I am getting close….My ‘slim’ jeans have become a tad baggy…I am starting to think about the ‘next’ phase. At one point in the week I was 1.2 pounds away from the goal, so I know I will get there soon! 3/31/14
Week 11 Ellen 21.8 Pat 31.2
We are hanging in there… there was a weekend of being ‘off’ the diet, which was discussed and frankly enjoyed. Of course it put us back a bit..not too bad and when you are doing something for a long time, a little leeway is good…but you’ve got to get back on track. The wind has been sever here, so we are still struggling with getting our walk in…I KNOW we’d be dropping quicker if we were…but this is real life. We are still completely committed to seeing this through. I’ve been at about 21 pounds lost for a few weeks. I am really ready to move on to the next step and complete the 26 pound goal I set, however, hovering at a 21 pound loss is not a bad thing! 3/18/14
Week 9 Ellen 21 Pat 30.8
We are quite pleased as we continue…we do have one rule that says Anniversary’s and birthdays do not count. Although, with the amount of work we’ve put into this new phase of life, we’ve enjoyed those meals, but with restraint. Last week included my birthday and we went out to dinner. The event included a glass of wine and a beer, steak salad and a dessert. Just that one meal, not all day of going overboard, but a nice balance. 3/10/14
Week 8 Ellen 18.2 Pat 28.8
Today I bought a new pair of jeans, one size smaller and labeled ‘slim’…I do not think I’ve ever owned ANYTHING called ‘slim’. Very happy with my results so far. 3/7/14 We have found a really good way for us to enjoy our daily Oat Bran. It is recommended that it be eaten in the morning. We make a ‘porridge’ with it. We take the oat bran, add almost equal water to it (a tiny bit more water), a dash of salt and then cook it over high heat, stir and keep your eye on it as it cooks quickly. I eat it just like this. It reminds me of grits, and I’d love butter on it, but it is really pretty good just as it is. Pat prefers his with a dash of Stevia and a bit of fat-free cream. A good way to start our day and it is easy! 3/4/14
Week 7 Ellen 16.2 Pat – 28
This week we have had a bit of a plateau, along with sickness, flu and snow. What we are not doing is walking!!! The good news is that we can add this in and make our progress move along. Pat did go down to loosing 30 pounds at one point in the week, but as of today this is where we are. All in all, we did not get heavy quickly and we will not get lighter quickly, but are committed to staying the course. I would have to say that although I am a bit ‘stuck’ where I am, having lost the 16 pounds, still feels great! 2/24/14
Week 6 Ellen -16.2 Pat – 27.4
We are on track and doing well. I am finding that the altered food as fat-free or stevia is actually much harder on me, as far as taste goes that I am eating very little of those type items. The good part of this is that I am finding foods that are appropriate but not altered that I enjoy, which will say with me as I go back to real life. I made a salad dressing the other day that was delicious! (Mustard, balsamic vinegar, teeny-tiny bit of oil, basil and salt & pepper) this will be a ‘keeper’! 2/21/14 We both continue to lose weight weekly and are very happy with the result, surprised might be more the word! It will not be long before Pat has lost 30 pounds and I am zooming in on only having 10 left to lose! Amazing and encouraging! I feel better and I didn’t know that I did not feel as good as I could…an interesting thought to anyone needing to lose weight…I think the feeling better is so far the very best part of this progress and it stays with me all day. Number Two Son has also lost 7 pounds, because he mostly eats a lot of what we eat!!! 2/18/14 We need to continue to read the books we bought as of course we keep learning new things. We actually found some dessert recipes, all legal and will try them tonight. All together, we are a tad bored with the whole process, but that is probably the difficulty in any diet and the importance of having support while doing this for the long haul. HOWEVER, we both feel better, and I certainly feel slimmer….and it is a nice feeling. I am just shy of 15 pounds and that for me is a milestone. I first wondered if I would be happy stopping at 15 (my goal is 26) and honestly, I’d have to say I am not. I will forge on and am actually excited to feel that ‘this’ time, I will make the goal.
Week 5 Ellen -14.8 Pat -25.4
2/15/14 It takes some work, to not get bored with the choices we are making, but that is up to us as there are plenty of options to eat. We seem to not plateau together…. I am surprised at my resolve to do this all the way. I’ve never been this motivated before…perhaps it is the guidelines and the phases that are so well planned out that are helping me to stay the course. 2/12/14 Meeting at lunch to walk has worked well the last two days as the sun was shinning and the snow melting. The day started off on a high note for me, as I reached the half way point to my goal! Lunch was a stop into a Mexican burrito spot, we had only the chicken, lettuce and lots of fresh salsa, all tasty and legal. 2/10/14 Diner tonight was wonderful. We had our family favorite Chicken Adobo (legal as it is cooked with soy sauce, vinegar and water). The kids have it on rice, which we skipped. Salad with about a teaspoon of low-fat dressing and a pea salad made with sour cream, cilantro, onion, hard-boiled egg and lemon juice. It was delicious. We have learned that in every given week, there is a fluctuation in our weight loss. A bit of movement up, then down, then up then down farther. We are not at our lowest today, but believe that part of this plateauing is a part of our weather here and the struggle it is to walk. With better days, we’re planning on meeting for a lunch and walking together then… we’ll see. Over all we are still happy with our progress.
Week 4 Ellen – 11.8 Pat – 22.5
2/9/14 We dieters are a tad…cranky tonight. Dreaming of all the things we are not eating…wine, real sour cream, real cream, really good coffee. Tonight’s dinner is an affectation of a family favorite, My Mom’s Beef Stroganoff, but with fat-free sour cream, we are ‘affectionately’ calling it, The Damn Diet Stroganoff, sure to not be the same…but still we’re eating something different, hot and somewhat tasty. 2/8/14 Today was the kind of day where nothing goes quite as planned, a kid in the ER, helping Our Friend the Farmer with a calving cow and snow…lots of snow and when it was time to fix dinner we found our chicken had accidentally been put in the freezer! We elected a trip to town to eat out. So far, I’ve found eating out to be quite easy and very fun on this diet. Tonight we both had a steak salad and it was very good. We kept the dressing on the side and only dipped our fork into it a bit and ate every bite! 2/5/14 One of the basics of this diet is Oat Bran, we call it ‘sawdust’. It can be made into a very nice pancake, but that takes a bit of work and mess, so we just stir it into non-fat Greek Yogurt with Stevia which is the accepted sweetener. I have it every morning for breakfast, fast and simple. I did find that when I was traveling in California, this was also easy to do as I had packed the ‘saw dust’ in baggies in the right portion along with some Stevia and picking up small containers of non-fat Greek yogurt was very easy. Tonight’s dinner is to be eggs…which for us is wonderful as we have the BEST eggs and plenty of them as the girls are busy laying again. A Quiche was made with a bit of low-fat mozzarella cheese, onions, and a small bit of bacon, it was delicious! 2/4/14 Our start began on January 13, 2014…. My goal to lose 26 pounds. My Loving Spouse’s goal to lose 65 pounds. We turned to the Dukan diet, as we saw it work for My Skinny Cousin. We also liked that the diet is broken into segments, to get you started, and to get you ‘off’ of it and back to real life without regaining the weight. I huge plus from their website was the weight loss calculator, telling us not only ‘how much’ we should lose, but ‘how long’ it would take. Some how seeing that it would take me 14 weeks to lose 26 pounds was actually reassuring, it gave me a route, a plan and a reasonable expectation. We did not sign up for the website’s support program, but I am sure for some it is worth it. We did get The Book and a Recipe book, which holds the key to many, many new dishes, most of which are quite good, but our biggest stumbling block is my allergy to garlic!
Week 3 – 10.2 pounds lost Ellen 20.8 pounds lost Pat
Week 2 – 8 pounds lost Ellen 13 pounds lost Pat
Week 1 – 6 pounds lost Ellen 9.6 pounds lost Pat
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