Dukan do it again!

Hi there! Well after a looooong period of eating pretty much whatever I like, I'm back on the Dukan diet and back to this blog. Ummm, so what else is new? Oh yes, I have an adorable 6 month old son - he is awesome! I absolutely love being a Mum, but I don't love my Mummy tummy (or my mummy thighs and bingo wings for that matter). So here I am, on a mission to be a yummy mummy and look fabulous by the time I go back to work in July.

I've joined a swanky gym at the local golf club, but sometimes I struggle to find the time and energy to go. My aim is to go twice a week from now on and lots and lots of long walks with baby J.

Wish me luck!

Carrie xx

2012 Update - Happy New Year Everyone!

In case you're wondering where I've vanished to, I thought I better fess up to the reason for my absence. I stopped following the Dukan diet in November last year because I found out that I'm pregnant with my first child!

In the Dukan book it does mention that it's safe to follow the Cruise phase during pregnancy and this is what I intended to do, however mini me had other ideas. Morning sickness made it fairly impossible for me to eat anything other than toast, plain crisps and ginger biscuits - so not Dukan! My plan is to stick to a healthy balanced diet, once I'm feeling better, and try not gain any weight above what is generally expected during pregnancy. So far due to the morning sickness and lack of appetite I've actually lost weight since stopping Dukan!

So that's my news, providing all goes smoothly our baby will be arriving at the end of July and I'm super excited to become a Mum. You know exactly how I'll be planning to lose the baby weight, so I'll be back to my blog later in the year - you'll all be skinny minnies by then!

Goodluck everyone! xx

A good week - minus some cupcakes

On the whole, this week has gone well. I lost 2lbs and mainly stuck to my menu plan, I did heaps of Zumba and I'm definitely noticing that my body is toning up. Even my hubby commented that my arrms felt very toned the other day.

About those cupcakes.... well I was at a babyshower, it would have been rude not to! I seemed to be one of the only people without a baby or a bump - so I didn't want to single myself out any more by refusing a cupcake or two.

Anyways, here is my menu for the week ahead....

Monday (PV) - Thai Chicken Curry
Tuesday (PV) - Pizza Express - Pollo Vedure Salad
Wednesday - (PV) - Steak with mushroom sauce and vegetables
Thursday (PV) - Chicken with tomato salad
Friday (PV) - Bolognaise
Saturday (PP) - BBQ
Sunday (PP) - Ham omlette

Hope everyone has a good week xx

Menu plan Monday

At the start of the diet I always planned a menu for the week ahead and I think this is a big part of the reason for my success. I've got out of the habit of doing this, so I'm going to try and re-introduce it by posting each Monday on my blog. So here's my dinner menu plan for the week:
Monday (PV) - Mexican Chicken salad
Tuesday (PV) - Dinner out @ Pizza Express, Pollo Vedure Salad
Wednesday (PP) - Extra lean beef Meatballs in a creamy dukan sauce (gravy and 0% fat cream cheese)
Thursday (PP) - Chicken wrapped in prosciutto with cottage cheese and gherkins
Friday (PP) - All day breakfast (beef sausages, turkey bacon and scrambled eggs)
Saturday (PP) - Steak and eggs
Sunday (PP) - Garlic Roast chicken

Plus lots of water and my daily quota of oatbran (which I have also gone off track with)! I'm looking forward to a great Zumba workout tonight too. xx

One year on!

So it's been over a year now since I made one of the best decisions ever and started on the Dukan diet. I can't believe that this time last year I was carrying around 4 extra stone.

I have finally managed to implement a non-negotiable 3 days a week (at the very least) exercise plan and that seems to be really helping to keep the weight off. I bought Zumba for the Wii the other day and I am loving it, it's completely hilarious - the cats look at me in a confused manor whilst I jump around like a total loony.  

Despite the strict exercise regime, I'm not being as strict with the diet. It's naughty I know, but after a year sometimes you just need to mix things up a bit to avoid boredom. All I really want to lose is another stone, but I just can't seem to do it - the weight comes off so much slower than it did before, it's so frustrating. This weekend I vow to put together a menu plan for dinners next week and stick to it, I'll post it up here so there's no getting out of it!   

Oh so quiet!

Well where did July go? The time seems to be going by so incredibly quickly, it's scary. I have been bending the dukan rules of late - hello beautiful fresh Strawberries and hot chocolate with marshmallows - oh and did I mention cocktails galore at our annual summer party! All I can say is oops.

However, there is a small matter of my impending holiday to Florida ( 5 weeks to go!), so I need to be disciplined again. I'm not sure why I'm finding it so hard at the moment. Anyway on Monday it's back to the straight and narrow, I'm going to up the exercise as much as I can before I hit South Beach!

Hope all is going well for you guys. xx 

Melt in the middle BBQ burgers - yum!

Here's a Dukan(ish) recipe I made up last night, it was pretty good if I do say so myself, so I thought I would share it with you guys.

Ingredients (Makes 4)
500g extra lean beef mince
1 small onion diced
2x spring onions
1 egg beaten
1 small chilli chopped
4 mini babybel lights
1 tablespoon BBQ sauce (not very dukan sorry)
Salt and pepper


Method

1. Add the mince, egg, onion, spring onion, chilli and BBQ sauce in to a large bowl, season to taste and mix together thoroughly with your hands.
2. Create a round patty about 1cm thick, place the mini babybel light in the middle then make a similar size patty and place it on top. Repeat this to make 4 burgers.
3. Spray a large pan with frylight and fry for 6 minutes on a fairly high heat, alternatively grill for the same amount of time.

4. Enjoy...

This can be eaten on a PP day and on a PV day you could grill some large field mushrooms and use as a bun!