My name is Philip and I started the Dukan diet on January 19th 2009...

My Dukan story...

I used to weigh 14 stone and 11 pounds and now I'm down to 12 stone and 6 pounds. I don't need to tell you how pleased I am with all the beneficial effects this is having on my body.

First and foremost I would like to say that if you want to diet you need to be really motivated and you have to do it for yourself. So you must prepare yourself psychologically and start when you are ready.

This means that you should be thinking about it several weeks or months beforehand, which is what I did. Once I had done my mental preparation, I came across a book by Pierre Dukan that my wife was using and I went on the Internet where I found the Dukan method coaching web site.

My favorite support Dukan food:
Fromage frais and yoghurt

My Dukan treat:
Roast veal with mustard sauce

My favourite form of exercise:
Road cycling and walking

The nicest compliment I've been paid:
The compliments from my wife and children who think that I look so much better

What keeps me going:
my family, it's really worth it for them

The advice I'd give to others "Dukanians":
you have to see this diet as a path, travelling along it you'll grow to love your body again and without wanting to go over the top, see it as being offered a new life, a life of well-being

I subscribed to it and the work started, because at the beginning it is work that you do on yourself with the "coach". 
The "attack phase" first days are easy. You lose weight quickly at least I did, I was quite happy to make the changes required in what I ate. Then when I got to around 13 and a half stone I hit a stagnation period and then I have to admit that the coaching came into its own; I felt supported and encouraged and was therefore able to get through this difficult point.

You have to realize that often during this time you have to cope with being invited out, times when you feel tired with it all, people who support you by saying things like ‘anyway when you stop you won't keep it off' etc. I made changes to the way I ate and now I enjoy cooking without fats and I like sauces made with stock cubes, fromage frais, yoghurt ...

Now I am also careful to eat a balanced diet with all my meals, which I did not do before. As an example, I have cheese once a day and not at every meal as I used to. Eating foods without salt means I now enjoy the real taste of foods that I had lost.

I am now convinced about eating healthily. To me it seemed obvious that dieting has to be linked to taking exercise, I don't actually do the exercises as I do lots of other activities such as road cycling, walking and I sail in regattas.

Nowadays, my wife and children think that I look so much better and most of all I do too and I have no desire to back in the wrong direction. I admit that I still worry about it today and there again the coaching really helps.

I'll have to deal with this as it arises in the future. I want to hold on to what I have achieved for the good that I feel in my body every day, and to become more active again as I was tending to turn into a bit of a "lazy bones".