I’ve Stopped Losing Weight on the Dukan Diet: What Can I Do?
If you’ve stopped losing weight the first thing to do is not panic, going through phases where you stop losing weight is not unusual and there can be lots of reasons for the stagnation in your weight loss.
The second thing to do is stick to the diet. You don’t want to throw away all the good that you’ve done so far and continue to do staying on the diet.
The third thing to do is to make sure that you are doing everything you should following the Dukan Diet. A quick checklist is:
- Are you drinking 1 and 1/2 to 2 liters of water every day?
- Are doing your compulsory daily exercise?
- Are you eating the right foods?
- Are you eating enough food?
- Are you eating regular meals and not skipping meals?
- Are you eating your daily serving of Oat Bran?
- Are you having more than two servings of tolerated foods per day?
The next thing to do is to try to establish a reason for your weight loss plateau
- Are you suffering from water retention due to your monthly period?
- Have you eaten a lot of salty food that may have caused water retention?
- Have you recently lapsed on the diet eating or drinking something that is not allowed?
- Are you eating enough calories, for a long term weight loss plan you need to be eating in the region of 1,200 calories a day any less than this and you could find that your body lowers your metabolic rate and reduces the rate at which you burn calories?
- Are you constipated?
- Is it due to the vegetables that you’ve added to your diet? Remember that pure protein acts as a diuretic and your body may try to hold onto the water from the vegetables to compensate.
You then need to work out your plan to tackle the problem. This might be to do nothing as you think the problem will probably sort itself out or it might be to take some additional oat bran to help your constipation. But there are also some things that you can do to jolt your body back into weight loss mode if needed these are to
- Increase your daily exercising to 60 minutes per day.
- Reduce your tolerated items to one or none each day.
- Reduce your consumption of dairy products as these are high in carbohydrates due to the naturally occurring sugars.
- Ask your doctor to recommend a vegetable based diuretic.
- Try a White Day PP day.
- Add an extra PP day into your Cruise Phase rhythm.
If these steps do not kick start your weight loss again and your weight loss continues to stagnate you must go to see your doctor as it might be that your difficulty in losing weight is due to health problems such as a thyroid problem.
You may also be interested in reading this post -
Dukan Diet Tip: Dr Dukan’s Non Stop Green Tea Plateau Buster
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14 Responses to “I’ve Stopped Losing Weight on the Dukan Diet: What Can I Do?”
Teresa on March 29, 2012
I am in the Cruse Phase and have stuck to the plan to the t. I have started using a DVD with light weights 5 lbs for toning? It seems to have slowed down the weight coming off. Would it be best to stop until I have reach my goal weight. I don’t know if this would be affecting my lack of weight loss??
Amber on March 29, 2012
Hi Teresa
Your exercise regime will be turning fat to muscle which weighs more, so it might slow your weight loss just a little but could your slow down in weight loss be caused by you eating or drinking more because of the exercising?
Best wishes
Amber:)
Barbara on March 7, 2012
Hi Amber,
I have been trying to stick to this diet and have had a couple of frustrating weekends. Last week sticking totally to everything I gained 4lbs. This weekend I went off and ate real cheese and bread, infact toasted cheese it was lovely. I weighted myself the next day I had ost 2.5lbs.
I am trying to stick to attack phase again, but am really scared to get on the scales incase I get frustrated again and completedly go off. I have only lost 30lbs and hoped to be down 60 by now. I do know that my thyroid is a factor but I am getting tired of dieting.
I am glad that you have given us the help we need without having to pay so much money to the dukan site. i really cannot afford $400+ dollars.
Frustrated Barbara
Amber on March 7, 2012
Hi Barbara
Unfortunately your health condition does mean that it is a lot more difficult for you to lose weight so a slower rate of weight loss is not an unexpected result.
Water retention/loss can prevent the scales from revealing the true weight gained or lost and there are many reasons that cause our bodies to retain or shed water so I wouldn’t recommend a toasted cheese sandwich diet!!!
Rather than think about how long you’ve been dieting and how much weight you have still to lose and think about the weight that you have lost and try to set yourself some shorter timescale targets that are achievable. Remember you’ve lost 30 pounds which is really positive and this will benefit your health but you want to lose more. Could you increase your exercise for two weeks? Could you have one tolerated item every other day rather than two for two weeks? Could you set yourself a target of five days that you will stick rigidly to the diet? What you are trying to do is break the larger task down into more manageable chunks so it doesn’t seem unattainable.
Stay strong and be patient and you will get there.
Best wishes
Amber:)
Sally on October 13, 2011
I’ve just got 4 lbs to go to target weight and nothing has shifted for over 3 weeks! Do you reckon your body just stops at what it think’s is your right weight?? I’ve been drinking the water, walk the dogs for an hour a day, get off the bus 2 stops early…..and I’ve not cheated on the food. It’s so frustrating……
Amber on October 13, 2011
Hi Sally
The last few pounds can be very difficult to move! Have you tried a White Day Pure Protein Day?
http://thedukandietsite.com/1566/stopped-losing-weight-on-dukan-diet-white-day-pure-protein-day/
Amber:)
Sally on October 14, 2011
Thanks Amber. I’d not heard of a white day. I’ll give it a go. Can I still have my fat-free yoghurts? (as long as they’re white!!)
Amber on October 14, 2011
Hi Sally
Yes you can still have your fat free dairy products.
Amber:)
Ben on January 22, 2012
Just be aware – the fat free yoghurts I have found still have a hell of a lot of sugar (around 15%!). If you know of a sugar-free variety, please let me know.
Amber on January 22, 2012
Hi Ben
You’ll never find a totally sugar free yogurt as milk contains lactose a natural sugar, this is why Dr Dukan recommends yogurts with no added sugars.
170g of Plain Greek yogurt contains just 7g of sugar which is just over 4% sugar and 100g of plain yogurt contains 6.1 g of sugar which is just over 6%.
Kind regards
Amber:)
sue on October 11, 2011
im on the attack phase and i suddenly stopped losing weight? is that normal? and ever since i started this diet it seems like im more thirsty than usual
Amber on October 11, 2011
Hi Sue
How long have you been on the Attack Phase, how much weight did you lose and after how many days did your weight loss stop?
Being more thirsty than usual is a side effect that some people experience – are you eating any salty foods that could cause you to be thirsty and to retain water?
Best wishes
Amber:)
Sandi on September 24, 2011
I was in a holding pattern for 6 days (cruise phase). I changed my diet to PP, paid strict attention to what I ate, walked briskly for 60 minutes and still no weight loss. Very frustrating. Then I realized that with the weather changing to cooler days, I hadn’t been drinking as much water. I asked my son, the microbiologist, if not drinking was a significant factor. He said, “Totally”. After he shared the science behind the process, I set alarms on my cell phone to go off every 2 hrs. to remind me to drink water (no other beverage, just water). After 1 day, back on track! So remember, DRINK WATER!!
Amber on September 24, 2011
Hi Sandi
What a coincidence! I’d read an article last night which advised that our bodies need water to function effectively. This article explained that our bodies treat having not drinking enough water in the same way as not having enough food to eat. Our bodies shift down into conservation mode and reduce our metabolic rate so that we can survive the drought and famine!! Thank you for sharing your son’s advice. It is also important not to drink too much.
Kind regards
Amber:)