Monthly Archives: August 2012

Self Love Exercises – Part 2

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This is the second exercise from The Feel Good Tribe:

Think about 5 fantastic attributes you inherited from your parents. If you never knew your parents, or your relationship with them is an unhappy one, who influenced you? Make a list of 5 important things they taught you, that have impacted the way you live your life today.

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My mom, dad, me and little sis.

Fantastic attributes inherited from my parents:

1. Unconditional love. I’ve always felt that from both of my parents. I’ve slipped, I’ve fallen, but they both always love(d) me for who I am.

2. Children should be seen AND heard. Some of my fondest moments growing up involved being part of adult conversations about politics, religion and current affairs in the States and the world. My favorite being the times my dad’s friend John Britto would come visit.

3. You can discipline with quiet words. I remember one spanking, just one. I was 6 and rode my bike to the zoo with my 7 yr old friend. My parents disciplined with words… And my mom with a raised eyebrow, LOL. Hearing my dad say he was disappointed was worse than any beating. My parents talked to us.

4. Be involved. My parents were involved in everything, girl scout leader, softball coach, Rainbow Girls, PTA. We stayed busy and we stayed out of trouble!

5. Give to others. We were just barely not poor. You know what I mean. But my parents were givers and this is the most important attribute I inherited from them. If someone needed shelter, they stayed with us. Your kid giving you trouble, they stayed with us. Need a shirt, we found one. My dad’s funeral was attended by many people we didn’t know. People who worked for him in the restaurant and sales business. Customers from those businesses, because he was a giver.

I say this all the time… I thank God for giving me Tom and Nancy for parents 🙂

Ciao!

Self Love Exercises

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The Feel Good Tribe is an amazing blog I am following. A couple of days ago they posted 10 SELF LOVE EXERCISES TO BOOST YOUR SUMMER LOVIN’!

The first on the list is to write out 5 affirmations that you could really use in your life. I already do this. I write out 5 positive affirmations every Sunday and post them on my bathroom mirror. Here’s this weeks list. I’m staying in Guangzhou, so I have it stuck on the inside of the door leading out…

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What affirmations do you use to get through your week, your run, your yoga, your LIFE?

Dukan – Consolidation Day 93

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I can’t believe how long I’ve already been in Consolidation! Day 93 of 500. Nearly a fifth of the way to Stabilization!

Today’s weight: 148 lb/67.1 kg
Goal weight: 155 lb/70.5 kg

I’m working in Guangzhou for 2 weeks and have the pleasure of having my friend Aisha who lives in Saudi Arabia here as a student midwife. It is so exciting! Yesterday we worked on blood drawing and placing IVs (I volunteered to let her practice on me, as did her husband) and today physical exams and other fun stuff. She’s also working with one of our doctors here.

I ran 5k the night before I came to Guangzhou and I’ve been speed walking 5k an evening here. Hoping to run in the morning. I’ve been having some insomnia this week, for some reason 😦

I’ve also been doing a 10 minute morning yoga routine with YOGAmazing on my iPad every morning and a 25-45 minute routine of my own nearly every evening.

And lastly… I just want to say that I think it’s awesome that food like this is on my diet. No magic pills, no artificial hormones and starvation, just damn good food 🙂

Breakfast: Bacon, red onions, garlic, shaved, organic Parmesan, green apple slices

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Breakfast: Pork belly chunks, red onion, cilantro, curry, fried egg with mozzarella

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Dinner: Beef steak chunks, red onions, red cabbage salad with cucumbers

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Yum, yum, yum!

Ciao 😀

Just The Stats, Ma’am

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This morning weight: 148
Goal weight: 155
Weeks since goal met: 13 or so

B/P this morning: 99/57
Pulse: 58
Cholesterol taken fasting on Monday: 138 😀
(I guess eating all those eggs and all that fatty meat isn’t clogging my arteries after all!)
Measurements:
These are from August 2011 & March 2012
Aug 20, 2011 / March 20, 2012
Chest: 42 / 36
Waist: 45 / 33
Hips: 56 / 42 (LOL, my HIPS are smaller than what my WAIST was!)

Measurements this morning:
Chest: 36
Waist: 29
Hips: 39
Total inches lost from just those 3 areas: 39 INCHES!
Overall inches lost: 61! I’m only 63 inches tall!

From the machine:
Lean Body Mass (bone, muscle, water): 79.4%
Body Fat Mass: 21.6%
BMI: 25.3 which is “overweight”. The BMI people don’t take all factors into consideration, so they can eff off…. I’m perfect, for me 🙂 I’ve got some leftover bits from losing 111 pounds, but I’m definitely not overweight, given I’m wearing a Size 8!!

And there’s the stats!

Ciao!

Travel – Typhoon Haiku

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So yet another tropical system is mucking up my travels! I was suppose to fly to Guangzhou this morning, but I ended up walking to work dressed like this…

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In this…

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And why would my crazy self walk to work in that? Because last September I promised myself I would walk to work every single day for a year. I have honored that! I have walked to work on beautiful days, freezing days, snowing days and 7 weeks of raining and near freezing days, scorching heat and now typhoon (aka hurricane). It is .98 miles to work, it takes between 12-15 minutes depending on my mood, the weather and traffic. I even walked there 36 hours after my lipo, now that was just stupid, lol, but I did it 🙂

I wrote this out this morning, while lounging in bed, listening to the wind howling and the rain coming down through my open bedroom window…

A Haiku for Typhoon Haikui

As the wind does blow
I watch a leaf settle down
Then blown away gone

Flight rebooked for tomorrow 🙂

Running With Dreams

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“A runner must run with dreams in his heart.”
– Emil Zatopek

I run with dreams in my heart. My first goal in running was to run more than 45 SECONDS without falling and/or crying. It took me a week of calling the “Voice of C25K” every name in the book, to be able to do that… that was back in January. 8 months ago. I had been walking, in fact FAST walking, but I hadn’t run. And I truly couldn’t run 45 seconds without gasping for air. Some of the things I said to myself then:

  • I’m never, EVER going to be able to do this
  • EVER
  • This sucks
  • I hate you C25K lady… you’re a liar!
  • It’s been MORE than 45 seconds, dammit!!!

And then I got on with it. Because I’m not a quitter. And I set my next dream, which was to finish Couch to 5K (C25K). And then I signed up for my first 5K in March… scheduled for June 9th in Ocala, while I was home.

I completed Week 8 Day 3 of C25K on April 22nd, just one day after meeting my True Weight goal! Triumphant! Crying HAPPY, HAPPY tears. There were 24 different runs in C25K leading up to the completion. I ran 22 of them in the rain and most of them in the rain and under 50 degrees Fahrenheit! Oh, in the hot summer, do I long for those days now… 😀 This was me after completing a run in the rain:

Lots of emotion finishing a run!

Then on May 9th I had my liposuction surgery done and couldn’t run for 2 weeks. I didn’t feel like running, either! I did walk… every single day, because that’s what you do to keep the weight off!

On May 24 I ran for the first time in 2 weeks and couldn’t take in enough air. Just didn’t seem like I could get a full breath in! Ack! I was running a 5K in a couple of weeks!! But run I did… and I kept running, even though I wasn’t able to run more than 10 minutes w/o slowing my pace to a walk.

June 9, I ran and walked my way through my first 5K! I didn’t do as well as I wanted. I just couldn’t catch my breath and took off from the start too fast. I HAD A BLAST! I met a lady in her 50’s doing her first 5K and we chatted while we ran a few minutes/walked a few minutes. We then ended up walking and picking up trash… LOL. My time was 48 minutes. I had been averaging 44 minutes before my surgery.

Well, last night I did this…

Yes…. a 5K in 37 flippin’ minutes!!! WOOT, WOOT!!!

Here it is in miles… LOL

A record for me 🙂 And the RunKeeper reevaluated and gave me more calories burned!

I actually walked for about 5 minutes to cool down after reaching 5K, but I stopped my RunKeeper on purpose to preserve this moment 🙂

This is what I wrote to Anna this morning:

I bawled my eyes out when I realized I hit 37 minutes 🙂 My Chinese neighbors must think I’m nuts… LOL. Although the security guards have watched me transform over the past year and always say encouraging things while doing a thumbs up (I presume they are encouraging me… lol). Running is super emotional for me, for some reason. When the C25K lady says “walk now” at the end of the long runs I get very teary… last night was a bit different… I KNEW I was WAY ahead of my norm… and I wasn’t winded. I knew it because I take the same boring route every night and was getting way past the usual 5 minute updates from RunKeeper. I actually did 5.3 kms, but purposefully stopped it right as it rolled onto 5K to see how I did… I then let out a series of woots and then cried, with a huge smile plastered on my face. 😀

I find running very emotional. Not sure why. But it’s an awesome emotional, not a bad one! These are things I say to myself now, when I’m running:

  • It’s only 40 minutes
  • Just get your shoes on and walk out the door
  • You can stop whenever you want (I never do!)
  • Yes, Yes, Yes!!! You’re doing it girl
  • You’ve got this
  • You totally rock
  • WOOOOOOOOOO! I DID IT!!!!!!

You get the picture. I say these out loud. They are affirming. They are gifts to myself. They push me to the next level. They, apparently, are working 😀

My new goal/dream… running a triathlon with Anna, Sandra and Cindy in August 2013. What a great way to celebrate the year I turn 50! I am so looking forward to seeing this dream come to fruition!

Ciao!

 

 

 

 

Dukan – Consolidation Day 86 – Sunday Runday

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Sunday was an awesome day… food wise, Dukan wise and exercise wise!

Daily weight: 148 lbs/67.2 kgs
Goal weight: 155 lbs/70.5 kgs

I started my morning early with a half hour of yoga and some housework. Then at 0900 out for a walk/run. It was HOT! Here’s how hot…

Feels like 101F… bring it on!

So I did this route… which the GPS is off a bit… I walked along the little river, across the bridge and back… so just move my route (in your head) down a bit… LOL

And these are the scenes along my walk…

The path leaving my complex going towards the river.

The construction site has taken over 1/2 the Buddhist Temple and torn it down… they moved the Big incense burners across the walking path to the river side.

The construction site hasn’t taken the temple half… yet… I sure hope they don’t!

A real working lock!

Guarding the lock.

I could smell a funky smell, like manure, and couldn’t figure out where it was coming from!

This lovely lady was fertilizing the lush greenery along the river walk… Thank you! You make my walk much more beautiful!!!

Continuing on…

 

I then crossed over the river to come back on the other side.

Incoming barge… an old way of transport with all new construction in the background!

Close up of the wake from the barge.

As I crossed over the bridge once more, I got wolf whistled at… LOL. That made me feel good and gave me the energy in the melting heat to finish…

Out of the 1:20 I only ran 35 minutes. It was just too darn hot… but it gave me the chance to slow down and enjoy the scenery!

Food:
Brekkies: 2 tea eggs… good protein fuel to get started!
Snack when back from walk/run: 2 ounces of an amazingly good aged cheddar that crumbles when you bite it… Mmmmmm and some Jerky… thanks, Suzanne for bringing that!
Dinner at 430 p.m. at Surbhi and Andy’s… OH MY GOD!!! My very favorite Indian dish,  Palak Paneer, made just for me! Yummy, authentic Indian food. I am SO grateful for the people I have met on my 4 years of living abroad! I also had a little bit of rice, dal and aloo! Of course this was a celebration meal 😀

When I got home from my 1 hour 20 minute bus ride… standing (now that must have burned some calories) and dancing to my own tune (Rocking out to Rock of Ages soundtrack in the bus… smiling and dancing, sure makes the locals give me a little space) I opened my email to this picture…

Yummy, juicy, delectable Helena… who is almost 5 months! I am SO lucky that I get to be there when these little cutie patooties are born! Can’t wait to make a trip to Boston to cuddle you!

And before bed a pot of 2% Greek Yogurt with Splenda and flax seed meal. Yum!

Awesome day all around… How did your weekend go?

Ciao!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ten Tips for Running Safely

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Excellent running advise! Anyone want to be my Find My Friend buddy??

RunFarGirl's avatarRun Far Girl

I feel like I’ve read more tragic stories in the past few months about cyclists and runners being struck and killed during their workouts than I ever have before. Just yesterday a cyclist was killed just outside the Olympic park, when he was struck by a bus. I tend to avoid the news because I often feel like it doesn’t add value to my life and only makes me fearful, anxious and slightly paranoid. But stories that are relevant to running (and other aspects of my life) often find their way to me, like these tragic stories, and I feel compelled to respond. Instead of railing against the drivers, or lack of safety laws I feel as if the only thing I can do is reflect on the way that I run and ask: How Can I be Safe?

1) Be Defensive: Consider every driver a distracted driver: they could…

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Random Acts of Kindness

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I love getting email notification from Marc & Angel… one of the things they talk about on their post from a few days ago is:

Perform one selfless act. – In life, you get what you put in.  When you make a positive impact in someone else’s life, you also make a positive impact in your own life.  Do something that’s greater than you, something that helps someone else be happy or suffer less.  I promise, it will be an extremely rewarding experience.  One you’ll likely remember forever.

We should give selfishly and without looking for something in return. I want to share a few things I’ve done in the past month that have made my life more enriched and gave others, perhaps, a better day…

1. There is a lady in Guangzhou, I believe maybe around my age (late 40’s), who lives on the overpass that I use to go to the Arabic restaurant that I love. She camps out there with who I believe to be her granddaughter. A girl around 8 or so. I don’t know their story, if communication weren’t an issue, I’d ask. But each time I see them, I give her 100 RMB, that’s about $13 US, it’s the least I can do. She usually looks down, but the last time I gave it to her she smiled brightly and said, “thank you” in her best English. It was sweet.

2. I always, always smile at the Ayi’s and thank them. The Ayi’s are the housekeepers here at the hospital and people tend to ignore them. The place wouldn’t run without them! Saturday I was washing my hands at the sink when the Ayi from my department (she is also my cleaning lady at my flat) came up to the sink. I gave her a big smile and thanked her in Mandarin as she handed me a towel to dry my hands. And she walked behind me and gave me a huge hug! THAT was her random act of kindness… and it MADE MY DAY!

3. It was pouring down the rain while I was riding the bus to Surbhi and Andy’s house for dinner yesterday afternoon. There was a mom with a little baby in a carrier distressed about getting off the bus because of the rain. I gave her my umbrella and her smile was dazzling. I ducked, ran and sought shelter as much as possible after I got off the bus, but I felt good knowing that the mom and baby were dry 🙂 What’s a little rain?

These things don’t make me special… AT ALL. They make me human. I’m not pointing them out to get credit or a pat on the back… I’m pointing them out to show how giving to other’s rewards us back, tenfold! I get as much pleasure in giving as the recipients get in receiving. We should all try to do nice things for others.

What have you done in the past few weeks? Think about it… I bet you do random acts of kindness every single day without realizing it… share with me 🙂

Ciao!

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.
~Dalai Lama

Breathe.Give.Love