A cruise ... without any waves !

My name is George, I'm 67 and since spring 2009, I have been wearing a mask every night to treat my sleep apnoea...

My Dukan story...

With age and having once been a very heavy smoker, I put on weight steadily until I reached the point where I weighed just over 15 stone,
I am 5 foot 7. This gradual weight increase was helped along by my busy working life, now I am actively involved with several associations and have a very full social diary.

Since spring 2009, I have been wearing a mask at night to treat my sleep apnoea! When I asked my chest specialist, he said that if I could lose over 30 pounds I stood a 80% chance of being cured of the sleep apnoea... but that I only had a 3 % chance of losing over 30 pounds! That was what did it for me and I decided to take him at his word....

In June 2009, some friends introduced me to the Dukan method by giving me the "The Dukan Diet" book.
I read it, I read it a second time and I liked what I read. I am won over by its educational content and I feel in tune with the four phase approach which takes into consideration how you consolidate your weight and recommends what you should do after the actual dieting period is over.

To my mind it's this last point that gives the method real credibility. I continued to find out more on the Internet.

I thought it over, I weighed up (that's what you'd expect!) the pros and cons ....At last I decided to give it a go and during the summer I prepared myself mentally. I got my family used to the idea; we tested a few recipes which allayed our anxieties.
On September 10th, weighing 15 stone and almost 2 lbs, I went for it, my aim being to get down to 12 stone 8 lbs.
I ate without having any sugar, fats, starchy foods or alcohol .... but always without frustration and always copiously and well with the whole "range of Dukanian recipes"...
A 7 day attack period was chosen, and then we opted for the alternating rhythm of 5 days pure proteins/5 days proteins and vegetables.

On November 9th, at the end of two months, at 7.30 am the scales weighed me in at just slightly under 12 stone 8lbs....
I had lost over 35 pounds!
It is not all in the bag; I still have six months of consolidation left, up until April 15th 2010, I have to follow a diet that is still as controlled but which offers plenty of new options. Whatever happens, I have achieved my initial and most important objective.

I feel that I have been helped enormously by the recipe book, the encouragement and support from my wife and the whole family. We are discovering a whole new world of flavours. If all goes to plan, after this wonderful adventure, I think we'll have made far-reaching changes to the way we eat, as we combine our old ways with our new eating habits.

• My favorite support Dukan food: my new "aperitif", a drink that I had never tried before, diet coke, seriously!

• My Dukan treat: Oat bran cake

• My favourite form of exercise: Walking

• The nicest compliment I've been paid: You look so much younger!

• What keeps me going: Successfully completing the project I embarked on


• The advice I'd give to others "Dukanians": Follow the instructions to the letter and keep on enjoying your food by always introducing variety into what you eat