Medical expert of the article
New publications
The Dukan diet - what is its essence and effectiveness?
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025

All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.

The Dukan diet is not just limiting yourself in food for a few days. It is a long and painstaking work on yourself, as a result of which you reduce your own weight for a long time, with a long-term and stable result. How to achieve this and what is the essence of the Dukan diet?
Type of diet - low-carbohydrate
Weight loss - 3-5 kg in 7 days
Duration - from 2-3 months to 1 year. Ideally, you will adopt this healthy eating system as a permanent one.
A few words about the author of the diet, Pierre Dukan
Pierre Dukan is known worldwide as the author and developer of more than 19 books on healthy eating. One of his most popular books is "I Don't Know How to Lose Weight" published in 2011. After this bestseller was released, the demand for the Dukan diet was simply astounding. Reviews of the Dukan diet are the most positive.
The book itself, despite the very short period after its release, has already been translated into more than 10 languages and is in great demand all over the world. Of course! After all, in it the nutritionist has collected and shared his more than 30 years of experience in the art of healthy and useful weight loss.
Pierre Dukan: Why do some people gain weight intensively, while others don’t?
Pierre Dukan believes that each of us receives a certain set of so-called fat cells in the womb. They are called adipose cells. Whether a person will be slim or not depends on these cells.
Dukan says that the more fat cells Mother Nature has given us, the more likely it is that we will only dream of a slim figure. And vice versa: those with a small number of fat cells have almost no risk of gaining weight. No matter how hard we try, the popular nutritionist believes, we will not be able to reduce the number of fat cells given to us by nature. But you can control your weight. However, people prone to obesity find it much more difficult to do this than those who are endowed with few fat cells.
In addition, Pierre Dukan claims that a person who does not control his diet and periodically overeats, risks increasing the number of his fat cells even more. Because they have the ability to divide. That is why he came up with a weight loss system with which you can happily maintain your weight at a normal level for a long time. What is the essence of the Dukan diet?
The essence of the Dukan diet
The Dukan diet, with which we can control the activity of our fat cells, consists of several phases. When using this diet for weight loss step by step, it is worth remembering that it should be: systematic thoughtful with a clear understanding that this nutrition system is not temporary, but for life.
The Dukan diet consists of four phases. Each of them must be strictly followed, and then the weight loss result will be stable. You will stop gaining excess weight, on the contrary, you will intensively lose your extra kilos until you gain your ideal weight.
- The first phase of the Dukan diet is called Attack and lasts up to 1 week. The result is minus 2-6 kilos.
- The second phase of the diet is the Cruise. It lasts 3-10 months. The result is minus 2-10 kg.
- The third phase of the Dukan diet is Consolidation. You lose 1 kg in 10 days.
- And the fourth phase of the Dukan diet is Stabilization. You firmly consolidate what has been achieved and do not gain a single extra kilo.
For more details on the phases of the Dukan diet, see our publication: The Dukan Diet: 4 Effective Steps