Does The Dukan Diet Really Work?
About The Dukan Diet
The Dukan Diet was created by French physician, Pierre Dukan and has been around for about 30 years. It has recently become more popular because celebs such as Giselle Bundchen, Jennifer Lopez and Kate Middleton has raved about their success with the diet.
It is a diet plan which is high in protein, but low in both carbohydrates and fat. While the diet is quite restrictive at first, you get immediate and motivating results. During phase 1 and 2 of the diet, carbohydrates, sugar and fats are completely out of the question. Don’t worry, these items are welcome back in during Phase 3 and 4 (in moderation!) so don’t get discouraged.
Why The Dukan Diet?
I personally like the Dukan Diet because I just happened to hear about it when I was in need of losing 20 pounds after my second pregnancy. I decided to read the book (The Dukan Diet: 2 Steps to Lose the Weight, 2 Steps to Keep It Off Forever
I’ve received a little bit of flack from people because I’m a certified Personal Nutritionist and people are all “Don’t you know the dangers of fad diets?!” However, my personal opinion is that the Dukan Diet is NOT a fad diet. Why? Because it does not give you false hope and it actually produces results. It’s a restriction of certain foods over a period of time in addition to daily exercise in order to a choice a healthy weight. You learn about healthy eating and exercise habits so that you gain a new healthy LIFESTYLE in order to remain thin and fit. With a fad diet, you may or may not actually lose weight, but if you do, you’ll find that you quickly gain it back when you go back to eating a “regular” diet. Well, duh. Diets aren’t magical and you shouldn’t expect them to be. ANY reasonable weight loss program or diet can work as long as you create new healthy eating patterns and get daily exercise. I personally can vouch for the Dukan Diet because I did it before and it worked. I maintained my “true weight” until I got pregnant with my third child during which time I completely abandoned healthy eating AND exercise. I gained over 50 pounds while pregnant and I now find myself in need of losing weight again. Had I not decided to have a third child, I firmly believe I would still be maintaining my weight.
About The Dukan Diet Phases
There are four main phases in the Dukan diet; Attack, Cruise, Consolidation and Stabilization. Each Dukan Diet phase has different targets and the allowed foods are different too.
The first phase is Attack phase, which lasts from 2-7 days, depending on how much weight you have to lose. This Attack phase quickly kick-starts the weight loss and leaves you with impressive weight loss of a pound or more every day that you are in the attack phase.
The second phase is Cruise phase, which is designed to help turn your body into a lean, fat burning machine that allows you to gradually lose weight (approximately 2 pounds a week) until your target weight (“True Weight”) is reached.
The third phase is Consolidation phase, which adds in a lot more foods into your diet in order to stop the weight loss and start getting your body used to the new number on the scale.
The fourth phase is Stabilization phase, which will help you maintain your new weight for the rest of your life if you follow the 3 simple Dukan rules.
Here is a quick reference chart to give you an idea of what it looks like…
Finding Out Your True Weight
You can calculate your True Weight on the Dukan Diet website, which looks something like this:
According to Dukan, my goal weight should be 114 lbs based on my age, height, current weight, how many children I’ve had and weight history.
Click here to calculate your true weight!
Why The Dukan Diet is Popular
In addition to the beautiful Kate Middleton, we know that singer Jennifer Lopez and model Giselle Bundchen reportedly lost all of their baby weight on The Dukan Diet.
If they can look that great after having children, don’t you think we can to? There is no reason why not. Don’t let anybody tell you that just because you had kids that you can’t look good again. With enough motivation and commitment, anything is possible. Don’t doubt that for a second.
I had great success on The Dukan Diet back in 2012 and if it wasn’t for another pregnancy, I would not have needed to start the diet over again. Life happens though and here I am doing the Dukan Diet again and I’ve lost over 12 pounds in 4 weeks. The Dukan Diet works.
So what are you waiting for? Start your weight loss journey with me today. You’ve got nothing to lose, but the weight!
Disclaimer: I received The Dukan Diet book, the Dukan Cookbook, and some Dukan food products to review on The Fashionable Housewife. Posting about my weight loss is entirely my choice and I have NOT received compensation for writing about the diet! I am not being paid to review the diet or to lose weight. (Unfortunately!) This is simply raw footage into my personal weight loss journey on The Dukan Diet. If you have questions or concerns, feel free to email me.