I’m so happy to have all these tasty recipes to choose from...

I'm called Aline, I'm 39, I have 1 husband, 3 children, 1 job, 1 house and I did have loads of extra pounds...

My Dukan story...

I was always "normal" when I was a child and teenager; I had no particular problems with food. Then I went off to Italy to finish my degree and there in the first year I became addicted to pasta and put on just over 2 stone!

After spending almost 4 years in Italy I went back to France having more or less got rid of this flab. Shortly afterwards, I met my husband to be and then I was pregnant for the first time, only putting on just over a stone with a 9 pound baby, great! However, everything then started to go wrong and in the months that followed my scales went up by 2 stones.

So I decided to go and see a nutritionist and within 6 months I had lost 2 stone 12 pounds. I was pregnant with a second and then third child (20 pounds and 11 pounds put on and then lost after giving birth) and gradually without really noticing it the pounds went back on and stayed on. I do enjoy the good things in life, I have a hearty appetite and lastly I enjoy rich food, a reasonable amount of wine and of course I'm not into "being active".

On January 1st 2009 after a gastronomic and gargantuan New Year's Eve feast, the scales had reached 12 stone 8 pounds and I'm 5 foot 4 and that gave me a huge shock. I felt disgusted with myself but I didn't feel I could go back to a diet like my first one as it demanded too much effort and the foods were often so repetitive that you quickly got bored - in short it was just depressing!

On January 27th whilst I was waiting for my kids to come out of school I listened to a radio programme about different sorts of diets and I heard some women talking enthusiastically about this "Dukan method". When I got back home I went straight on the web site and was immediately taken by what I read and filled in the questionnaire.

Totally motivated, I began the attack phase the next day. I told everyone around me that I was starting a diet so I wouldn't be eating the same things as them at family get togethers, birthday celebrations ...

Then I embarked on a long retraining. learning how to cook "Dukan style" which requires a little time and organization, but what a joy it was being able to choose between all these delicious recipes which certainly make sure you don't get bored as you keep ringing the changes and flavours, and me who never used to allow myself puddings there I was eating chocolate crêpes, dudutella Swiss roll, lemon meringue pie... Heaven!

Today, I've finished my consolidation and I'm in permanent stabilization, a couple of pounds below my True Weight which is 10 stone 3 pounds.

I am thrilled, delighted with the transformation in my body, the flab around my waist, hips and thighs has literally just melted away. Once a size 20-22 I'm down to size 12/14, it's incredible.

My husband who was a source of enddless support even calls me "my gorgeous creature" and to make cooking easier for me he decided to eat what I do in the evening and in one month he also lost 10 pounds!

So I'd like to finish by saying a huge THANK YOU to Pierre Dukan for having taught me how to eat healthily again and for having forced me to take control of body by "being active" daily, for his support through his web site, I always enjoy every day reading his words of encouragement in my instructions and most of all thank you for having given me back my self-confidence!

• My favorite support Dukan food: Crab sticks.

• My Dukan treat: Semifreddo chocolate crêpes.

• My favourite form of exercise: Stairs and working my abdominals.

• The nicest compliment I've been paid: "You look fantastic!" and "You've lost so much weight!.

• What keeps me going: The way my husband looks at me so proudly and the clothes I try on again to see how far I've come.


• The advice I'd give to others "Dukanians": you have to be motivated of course, but once you've get started, keep going, follow the instructions to the letter, don't get disheartened even if your weight isn't shifting or if a little bit goes back on despite following the diet really carefully. If you've got the right mental attitude, it's your body that will give in!