Doing it Dukan - update #1

So I'm in the middle of my 7th week of the Dukan Diet, and I still feel great. My weight loss has passed the plateau I hit a couple of weeks ago, and I'm almost at my goal weight (yeah!!). Once I get there, I will have returned to the weight I was before I was pregnant with my daughter. Over SIX years ago. Woohoo! I'm excited!

I know a lot of people I talk to about this think I might be crazy for trying such a "limited/strict" diet (in their eyes, not mine, not anymore), so I wanted to show everyone what I eat in a typical work day. I pack a lunch everyday to avoid 1) spending money on overpriced food and 2) to have control of what goes in my food. During the work week my lunches consist of basically the same thing, but tweaked each day to not become to repetitive.

Here is what I brought in today.


For breakfast I have my Green smoothie (i can't say enough how much i love these. Over 3 cups of leafy greens per serving!!), and 20 minutes after that I have a coffee. I can't give up coffee, so i try and not have more than that one cup at work. I never put milk in my coffee anymore (unless it's a latte) and i only sweeten it with a packet of Krisda.

About an hour after that, I'll have my mid-morning snack of Greek yogurt. sometimes I sweeten it with with another pack of Krisda, but some days I don't. It depends on how I'm feeling. Today I'm having my required 2 tbsp of oat bran in my yogurt (I mix it in and it gives a good texture to the yogurt). this holds me over until lunch without fail. The combination of the oat bran with the protein in the yogurt keeps me full.

Today for lunch I'm having fish. Yeah! The Dukan diet has really enabled me to get back into my love of seafood, so fish is a staple for me. My freezer is full of fish. Mmmm... Today I'm having haddock - doesn't smell fishy (which is a plus since i eat/read at my desk during lunch) and it's high in protein, so again, i am satisfied. One of my staple condiments is dijon mustard, so i usually wait until the fish is almost cooked, and then I spread some of it on the fish itself and let it finish cooking in the pan.

Then as an afternoon snack I make myself eggs. Sometimes scrambled, sometimes an omelet. I usually use 2 eggs and then additional egg whites, but sometimes I use one egg and a lot of egg whites. Depends on what else I plan on eating. I always add something to the eggs, this morning it was green onions. When I make an omelet, I use a light mini babybel and shred it and put that, along with whatever herbs inside.

Some days I have the eggs for breakfast and the yogurt for a snack, sometimes I have both for breakfast if I'm hungry. Those days I usually don't put the oat bran in my yogurt, because I bring in a piece of "Dukan Bread" that I've made and have that as my afternoon snack with one of the light laughing cow cheeses.

Supper is up in the air, I'll decide that when I get home. But I am thinking of mini burgers with a mix of extra-lean beef and extra-lean pork... Mmm... Can't wait!

Dukan Tip

If I could give one word of advice to anyone doing this diet, keep all the condiments or seasoning you're allowed to use out and within reach at all times.It makes it easier than having to search for them, and if you only leave out what you're able to use, you wont have to wondering if it's allowed or not.

This is my counter where the magic happens:

  Note the adorable painted window things my daughter made for me. Sweet.

Rrrrrrroll up the Rrrrrrrim!!!

So us here in Canada have a favourite time of year. And it just started...

Roll up the Rim!!!


Oh my goodness I could not be any happier about this time of year. I wait, and wait, and then I wait some more. So on the way to work this morning I decided to stop at Tim Hortons. Of course, being that this is my "New Year, New You (aka me!!)", I thought I would turn myself from a previous RUTR loser into a winner! I could barely contain myself when I got to work...

I relax, I had my green smoothie (see yesterday's post for more information and recipe) and I checked my emails. But my coffee was looking at me, crying out for my attention. So I made a decision. Since all of my previous experiences with Roll Up the Rim has been, lack-lustre. No wins, not even a freakin' muffin. So my usual routine needed to be tossed in the poubelle.

My old routine: Drink coffee, roll up rim using "moose" technique.
My new routine: Drink HALF of the coffee, roll up the rim using the "beaver" technique.

So, halfway through my coffee I did just that. I stopped. Took off the lid - trying to hide my excitement (this one feels like a winner!!!) - and went for it beaver style.

And then...

Drum-roll please...

NOTHING!!!!


SERIOUSLY TIM HORTONS?? I am so upset right now because I have been such a loyal customer to these people and never have I ever won anything. All I'm asking for is a free coffee or something... But alas, I must "Please Try Again".

Bah.

So to make myself feel better when I got home (this is all while my daughter is having her supper, I'm not THAT bad of a parent...) I decided to go check out one of my favourite Tumblr sites - DisneyBound.  Oh my goodness this girl is awesome. She posts all these amazing outfits she's made at Polyvore, all  of them inspired by any and everything Disney.

Anyways, I was there today and I nearly died. She had posted on of my favourite outfits to date. Check this out:

It's a Katniss outfit!!! I am so excited about this one - maybe I'll buy myself some of these pieces ASAP.

And lastly for today, while I was on my Pinterest, just browsing the people stuff, I came across this lovely photo:

I have decided it is going to be my new inspiration for my whole "New Year, New You (aka me!)" project.

So I'll leave you all with that. MY daughter is done her dinner and we're going to watch the rest of The Fellowship of the Rings... 100% her choice, not even joking. She is sooo her father's daughter...

Until next hoot!!

Monday Morning "Happy"

In the words of Garfield... "I hate Mondays."

Who does really? You've just finished up a weekend of fun and relaxation (or being busy, but still, ti was the weekend) and you're waking up to go back to work. No matter how much you may "love" your job, more often then not, Mondays are going to suck.

So, for those of you who are obsessed like I am, there are only THREE DAYS left until the Hunger Games movie pre-sale tickets come out. And then in a month it'll be the premier. Oh my goodness just thinking about that makes this Monday all that much more bearable. I have already read the series twice, I'm 100% sure I'll read it again before the movie. Team Peeta!!

Now that I got my teeny bopper moment out of my system...

This morning, like most mornings, I made myself a little "happy". Otherwise known as my green smoothie. I previously spoke about it in a previous post, so i wanted to give you guys a bit more information on it.

I have been on Twitter for a while now, and I've followed my fair share of celebrities an their craziness, but several months ago a tweet by Hilary Duff (no judgement, I love that girl) about a "Glowing Green Smoothie" peaked my interest. At the time I had no intention on being THAT healthy, so after looking into it, I bailed and forgot about it. Since project "New Year, New You (aka me!)" has gone into effect, I thought about this smoothie and how I could very well incorporate it into my Dukan ways.

After much thought, I figured - even though it's not following the Dukan to a tee - it was an amazing way to get servings of veggies and fruits into my days. So I went to Kimberly Snyder's website (click here to visit it) - the creator of this smoothie - and read the recipe, got the ingredients and went nuts. I will admit one thing however... I don't buy anything organic. I know, I know, it probably defeats the purpose a bit, but organic food is kind of on the expensive side over here, and maybe I am just a bit lazy.

Anyways, here is a quick breakdown on the ingredients I use, and the steps I take (for the original recipe, see Kimberly's site):





1 500ml bottle of water (filtered)
1 bag of spinach (not baby), roughly 600g
1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped
2-3 stalks of celery, depending on their size
1 apple, chopped
1 pear, chopped
1 banana
1 lemon





Doesn't it look so pretty? I made a double batch this morning so I would have a week's worth pre-made.

I quickly cut off the rind of the lemon and toss that in my Vitamix (this is the most amazing blender ever. I will DEFINITELY blog about that this week) along with the entire bag of spinach and the bottle of water. At this point my blender is full, so I turn it on a crank it up to med-high speed and get the spinach all blended.

Then I chop up the romaine, toss it in and blend that.





I then turn the blender on high and leave the lid on but open uncover the hole at the top. I slowly add in the celery stalks one at a time, then the apple and pear. I then blend everything on high until its smooth and then, and only then, do I add in the banana. I find it you add the banana in too early and blend it the smoothie gets too frothy. But that could only be a personal taste.





After that I usually divide the smoothie up into freezer bags, and set aside one portion for me. This morning I made a double batch, so I actually had enough for today's serving, plus another week of smoothies. The great thing about freezing them is you keep the freshness, and you don't have to worry about having to toss any due to spoiling. You simply take a serving out of the freezer at night and the next morning it's ready!





Seriously... You guys should try this...

Doing it Dukan

At the beginning of the year I embarked on a journey to get myself back into a healthier lifestyle. Not being one who enjoys working out in the least, I decided to give the Dukan Diet a try.

My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law had all done this diet and were successful in losing weight - and keeping it off. They all look fantastic and I figured I would give it a try.

Turns out I really enjoy this program. If you'd like more information and details on this regime, check out Dr. Pierre Dukan's website. I'll skip over all the nitty gritty of things and let you do that on your own.

For me, it takes a lot to break my bad habits. It took me over 20 years to stop biting my nails if you're looking for an example. So I needed something that was strict, but lenient (is that even possible? It is!) if I ever slipped up. The Dukan Diet is perfect for me. The first few days were hard because I had no idea what I was doing and had no game plan. Now, six weeks in, I can think on the fly and am surprised with the results.

I have tweeked the diet a bit to my likings (I have veggies every day in an awesome smoothie in the morning, when I'm still in the phase where I should rotate such days) but nothing that would halt my progress. It's slowed down, yes, but I'm not struggling.

That was my main concern and worry. That if I struggled at any point, I would give up. Not saying there hasn't been days where I've wanted to just call it quits - oh boy have there ever - I just really want to see this through, because I feel good. About myself and about my results.

Here is a recipe for some muffins that I've made that I adore. And hey, they're good for you...

Dukan Lemon Muffins

11 g baking powder
3 eggs
Lemon juice of half a lemon
Lemon rind from one lemon
6 tbsp oat bran
200 ml skim milk
3 tbsp skim milk powder
3 tbsp sweetener of choice (I use stevia, and only 1 tbsp)

Pre-heat oven to 200'C. Mix all ingredients except for egg whites (separate from yolks) together until combined. Beat egg whites and when they form stiff peaks, fold into mixture (don't over mix). Spoon into muffin tins. Bake in oven for 30 minutes. Tada! That simple, and actually really tasty.

There are also recipes for Dukan pancakes out there, so you can always be sneaky and make those healthy things for your family and they'll be none the wiser. Like my daughter this morning...

My daughter is a big ham and loves to play it up for the camera...

Just another Saturday at our place... After we did our usual routine - coffee, groceries, Walmart - we came home and she decided that she wanted to dress herself since we planned on spending the rest of the day at home. Herein lies the results of her... Individuality...

And after all this craziness the other, other, OTHER love of my life, Milton, cuddled up next to me and kept me warm.

 

Perfect Saturday with the family...