Self Love Exercises

Posted on August 12, 2012 by flamidwyfe

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…

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

Dukan – Consolidation Day 93

Posted on August 12, 2012 by flamidwyfe

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

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

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

Yum, yum, yum!

Ciao 😀

Dukan – Consolidation Day 86 – Sunday Runday

Posted on August 7, 2012 by flamidwyfe

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

Posted on August 7, 2012 by flamidwyfe

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

Run 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

Posted on August 6, 2012 by flamidwyfe

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

Some Bloggy Love ♥

Posted on August 5, 2012 by flamidwyfe

You see how amazing my bloggy friends are 🙂

Anna has an amazing garden in NY and has really had a positive affect on my daily life with her enthusiasm and amazing outlook! Check out this post and then get a cup of coffee and check out her interesting blog ♥

Dukan – A Year Goes By in the Blink of an Eye!

Posted on August 4, 2012 by flamidwyfe

One year ago this weekend was my 30th class reunion. A turning point for me.

One year ago yesterday, on Friday, August 5, 2011… I met with a fellow high school alum, John Geraghty to chat about steps to take to change my life. John is a life coach… to me, a life saver. The tools that John gave me that day were stored in my iPad memo section. Books to read, ideas that he gave me… sage advise. I admitted to John that I weighed 255 pounds. No one else knew. You can read more about starting my Dukan journey here and how I felt about my meeting with John.

The following night, Saturday, was the night of our big dinner. My dear friend Denise’s daughter Aleisha was our official photographer and took this picture that seriously changed my life…

Yes… that’s me in the purple.

When I saw this picture the following day, well I can’t even begin to tell you the myriad of emotions that it brought up… and still brings up.

And so my journey on Dukan begin… not quite a year ago, that anniversary is August 20th, but this weekend… exactly one year ago, changed my life.

With Terri and Michele August 2011

With Leslie – February 2012 – 50 pounds lighter! Half way there!

With Teri at my first 5K – June 2012 – 100 pounds gone!

With Denise, Bernadette, Jennifer and Kevin – June 2012

I consider myself very blessed to have the wonderful and amazing friends and family that I have! You all have made this journey much more fun! See you all in September!

And to all of you who follow this blog… THANK YOU… your support has been awesome! I love how supportive our community is 🙂

Ciao!

Dukan – Consolidation Day 85 – Aussie Football Rocks

Posted on August 4, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Wow… 85 days on Consolidation! And you know what… I’m sticking to the plan and my weight is stabilized… I will be in Consolidation for a total of 500 days so I’ve got 415 to go!
Since starting in Consolidation I went from 155 down to a low of 144. I have consistently been between 144 and 148 for nearly 2 months now. Awesome! This morning 146.

Breakfast: Cream cheese pancakes ** without syrup, not able to find sugar free here! Ate them in bed with a cup of coffee before getting ready for work.
This is Titters, my cat, wishing I’d share some of that pancakey goodness with him…

He put his back to me because I wouldn’t share!

Lunch: A yummy salad with red cabbage, cukes, tomatoes and bacon and edam cheese!

Before I carnivored it up 🙂

Afternoon Snack: 2 tea eggs
Dinner: Philly cheese steak without the bread and a small side salad.

Exercise:
Walked to and from work twice as I walked home for lunch.
Ran 5K in record time the night before… loving that I can breathe again. It’s been 12 weeks since my surgery and I’ve only been able to take full breaths for the last 2 weeks… general anesthesia is the culprit, me thinks.

After work I went with Vivien to an Aussie friends house to watch Australian Rules Footie… I am totally into it and the commentary during the game from those watching is great fun and instead of running 10 feet and having a time out, they just keep going and going and going… it’s going to be hard to go home to the States and enjoy the NFL… lol! The end of this game was AMAZING!!! Tom Hawkins (Tomahawk) #26, kicked the winning 6 point goal with 0 seconds left on the clock!!! Bringing them to their 9th victory in a row… I guess Cats really do have 9 lives! So, Rory, my partner in fun for the guest running blog I wrote a few weeks ago, presented me with my official fan Geelong Cats T-shirt! I totally feel like part of the gang now 😀 Thanks, Rory!

I AM A FAN!!

The Tomahawk

At the end of the night my local daughter, Vivien, walked me downstairs and I talked her into a self pic… lol… I’m going to miss this girl when I move home!

ViviMokaLaka – August 2012

I look a little different than I did a little more than a year ago when I took this pic…

ViviMokaLaka – April 2011

Ciao

**I bought the amazing cookbook from this blogger. Her recipes are awesome and easy to follow! I highly recommend the book and can’t wait to get in a REAL kitchen with a REAL oven and make more of the stuff in the book!

Recipe – Dukan – Pan-Fried Moroccan Pork

Posted on August 2, 2012 by flamidwyfe

This recipe is for Consolidation Phase. You could make this with chicken or beef, as well.
To make this cruise compliant leave out the orange… it’s that simple 🙂
It is also Paleo, Whole30 and Atkins compliant.

PAN-FRIED MOROCCAN PORK
Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 chilli, seeded and diced
1 tsp chilli powder (I used medium heat)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp lemon or lime juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 TBS olive oil
1 TBS coconut oil
1 lb. pork, cut into strips
1 orange, 1/2 sliced, 1/2 for juice
4 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped

In a large bowl place the olive oil, chilli, chilli powder, garlic, limon juice, cinnamon and cumin. Mix well.
Place the strips of pork in the rub mix and put lid on and shake, shake, shake to coat. Put in the fridge to marinate for 30 minutes.
Heat the coconut oil in a large frying pan and cook the pork on medium heat for 3 minutes.
Flip the pork strips over, squeeze the juice of 1/2 the orange on top of the meat and add the slices from the other half. Cook 3-4 more minutes, until the pork is done.
Stir in the chopped parsley and serve.
Enjoy!

August Commitments, Goals, and Promises

Posted on August 2, 2012 by flamidwyfe

I love the SMART steps outlined in this post for setting goals. Great idea! Constance lost more weight than me on Dukan! She is now working on fitness. She is an inspiration!

An Ongoing Transformation:

Goal setting, so very important. I have touched on this before but whether you are making goals for yourself subconsciously or taking the time to think and write them out for yourself… they are there, they are what pushes you forward and make you successful at achieving your dreams.

Short-term goals, long-term goals, promises to yourself and commitments, they are key to getting healthier, and to staying or becoming FIT.

I see it all over other blogs, mini goals, you might not have thought to yourself that you are really ‘goal setting’ or gone through, consciously, the steps to creating a solid goal, but you did. Setting goals for weight loss is very easy because all the components to weight loss are easily tracked and can be calculated.

You want to drop inches and see that scale drop. You want to drop body fat and visually see yourself get thinner…

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