Dabbling in Dieting: Dukan week 2 - Ups & Downs

This week was slightly harder than I expected it to be for a few reasons: We were out of the house (and had to eat early and fairly quickly) two days this week. Additionally, a pure protein day seemed SO hard after having veggies the day before.

I know I blogged on Tuesday - so here are the ups, downs and a recipe I tried out.

Wednesday was awesome. It was a veggie day. We were able to work out after work. I really don't have much to say about it.

Thursday was tougher. Pure protein day - BUT I was able to test out something new for lunch (and get away from a plate full of cold luncheon meats).

Thanks to a suggestion by Marisa, I made a pure-protein approved tuna salad. I paired it with an oat bran "bun" that I got a recipe for off of mydukandiet.com.

For the tuna salad:
Small can tuna (packed in water)
Heaping tablespoon plain greek yogurt
Spices to taste.
Simply mix it all together. I only used fresh ground black pepper - but some other spices to jazz it up would be good. Chives would be super good.

For the bun:
Baking powder1tsp

 Egg1

 Fat Free Natural Yoghurt150g

 Oat bran2 tbsp

 Saltpinch

 Wheat bran1 tbsp

Mix the egg with the yoghurtAdd the bran, salt and baking powder and mix.Put the mix into two equal cups, that can be used in the microwave.Put into the microwave for 6 minutes, full power.Take out and put both of the buns onto a plate, upside down.Put back into the microwave for another 1-2 minutes.

**I didn't have any wheat bran, so I substituted an additional tablespoon of oat bran.
**150g of yogurt is roughly 1/2 a cup.
The bun is a little dry for my taste - but it was good and a decent enough substitute for a piece of whole grain bread/toast.

Doing this GREATLY improved my lunch enjoyment on a pure protein day. Another tip: hot proteins are better if you're eating them alone. Marisa also gave me a tip that saving her favorite proteins for PP days made them go a little easier. I think it's a good tip. I also noticed that (especially for dinner) having a denser protein (like steak) alone for dinner is more satisfying than a lighter-weight protein by itself (like fish).

Thursday night was a little tough. We went to an awesome charity event for my co-worker John Beard. He is raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through the Man of the Year campaign (donate here: https://wi.dojiggy.com/pledge/index.cfm?585F22080E7E7E7B77060563701304452459440F7C7E78030577). He hosted a trivia night - moderated by Michael Feldman from NPR's "Whaddya Know" - at a local restaurant. He had some very lovely looking food trays brought in - a cheese tray and a hummus and olive tray. SO HARD to pass those up. (I admit, I had some cheese. A few small pieces.) Also, there was free beer - I opted for water.

Today I *did* cheat. Sort of. For lunch I had a Chicken Caesar Salad from Panera. Naturally, the dressing is not fat free. And I ate the croutons. Mostly because I forgot that I shouldn't eat them. Oops... Otherwise today's been pretty good. I was basically too busy to think about being hungry - so I'm pretty sure I wasn't! :)

There have been some down spots in the week. When I weighed myself yesterday morning - I'd GAINED a pound. WHAT?! Yeah. This morning I was the same weight. After losing weight without really thinking about  last week, to gain a pound was mentally a stumble. I didn't work out at all Thursday or today - but that's kind of my MO. Work out at the beginning of the week, get tired and stop working out. Boo. I'd better quit that attitude for the next 2 weeks - I've signed up for Race for a Cure on June 4!

Speaking of - please consider donating to my Race for a Cure campaign: http://www.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/MSN_MadisonAffiliate?px=10236151&pg=personal&fr_id=2090
I don't have a big goal -- $100 -- but I'd like to surpass it over the next 2 weeks!

One unexpected thing did happen today that made me feel REALLY good about my progress: out of the blue a co-worker gave me a really nice compliment - saying not only do I look "great" - but "noticeably WOW great." It's nice to know that not only do I feel more energetic and self confident because of the progress I'm making - but it's also visible to others. (And beyond that - to people who see me every day - which usually makes the steady progress a little harder to notice!)

While I've been LOVING the protein+veggie days this week - I think I'm going to switch over to the 5 PP days + 5 PV days for the next few weeks as my alternating PP/PV plan. Here's why: next weekend is Chris's 30th birthday and we have tons of fun stuff planned out and I'm sure I'll slip - and I'm sure that it'll make PP days MUCH harder. So I'm allowing myself next weekend as a "free" slip up weekend. I'll blog about what happens...

Also coming to the blog after next weekend: hopefully some awesome new pics of shiny new shoes and the outfits I'm planning for the party extravaganza. :)

Outside of Chris's birthday, we have some busy weekends planned. This weekend is all about Dexter. Tomorrow we're going to an OccuPaws (they train guide dogs) event called Puppies Parmenter. Sunday we're going to a fundraising event for Capitol K9s (Madison's K9 officers) called Dogs on the Square. Sunday's event has obstacles and other activities for dogs! Should make for an "active" weekend for us all. Then the weekend after Chris's birthday I'm running Race for the Cure. It'll be fun! :)

Well, we need to find some dinner soon... so until next time - happy dieting, dabbling and whatnot! :)