September, last year, 2009, I found myself as fat as never before...

My Dukan story...

Weighing 107 kilos, I was desperate to lose weight, but I couldn't manage to stick to any diet that would cut the amount of food. 
I always ended up miserable, hungry and unhappy. That would end up in binge eating and weeks of junk food and sweets. My eating became one big, unstoppable chaos.

At that point my mom came with re-enforcements, she bought me the Dukan Diet book by Dr Dukan. It was a massive breakthrough, as the book was very inspiring. 
It was not another calorie counting diet. It was written with a lot of understanding and compassion. I could relate to the psychological problems raised in the book. 

I thought: "This is my last hope" and started the diet, with new knowledge, as soon as I finished reading.

The idea that I could eat as much as I want of the products I like, (I love meat, especially chicken), was giving me hope, as my biggest problem was always hunger. 

My favorite support Dukan food:
Chicken! I'm not that keen on seafood, so I would make lots and lots of food, simply based on chicken. Grilled, steamed, cooked, baked, with an omelette, with oat pies and cakes etc...

My Dukan treat:
Salmon and courgette cakes

My favourite form of exercise:
Hula-hooping. Fun and I can do it at home, any time I want to. Great for the waistline.

The nicest compliment I've been paid:
 "You're like the amazing shrinking woman!"

What keeps me going:
I work in a shop, so the best thing was how people I didn't really know complimented me. Friends usually feel obliged to do so

The advice I'd give to others "Dukanians":
If you do eat something you shouldn't, or stay away from the diet for a few days, don't resign, just try again. I'm not perfect and had moments of weakness, but having an eating plan as straightforward as the Dukan diet helped me immensely. I felt like I always knew what to do

I just couldn't deal with it. On the Dukan diet, I had to ditch all my favourite junk-food, sweets and fried food, but I had a LOT instead. I didn't have to feel deprived of anything. Also the fact that there was no exercise regime enforced, encouraged me a lot, as I simply hated exercising.

Starting the diet was not as easy as I thought it could be. It made me realise how little I cooked before. But even though the food was monotonous in the first week, I could eat as much as I wanted of the products that were allowed. After that and the result – losing 4 kilos in about a week, my motivation got bigger and with help from my mom, I started cooking more, being more creative with the products I had, and making up my own dishes in the end, to suit my taste and liking. 

I got into the diet and I didn't even notice how fast the first month passed and I lost 13 kilos. 

That was like a revelation. I could eat good, tasty food, never be hungry and lose weight! At first I thought maybe with the Dukan diet I'll manage to lose a bit but when I saw the effects, I thought I'll keep going and there was nothing to stop me!

One of the things I like most is that you don't just have you go on a diet for a week, so that you lose weight and than gain again when you go back to your old eating habits, it teaches a new way of eating and understanding what you eat. 

I learnt how to cut out unnecessary fat or carbs, while still keeping the food great and tasty. Experimenting in the kitchen became something I really enjoy now! Thanks to losing weight, I also started having more energy, my mood became more stable, I could sleep less and my body seems to generally function better. With time I even got round to choosing an exercise I enjoy! 
I started hula-hooping and moving around wasn't a pain any more.