Today’s photo topic: BLUE
Me… I’m BLUE, I’m in a funk, I’m hoping it goes away soon! I’m working on putting on my big girl panties and getting on with it! Photo by Kitty who cutely stated that “Monday will be over soon, then you better Sandi” 🙂
Sunday was a PV Day. It was suppose to be Day 3 of 4 of PP days, but I had lunch with friends at a restaurant… More on that later 🙂
Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg
Total Weight Loss: 66.7 lb/30.31 kg
Morning started off better as I slept until 5 a.m. And that made me happy 😀 I had a pot of yogurt with bran and Splenda and a cup of coffee to start my day. Then off to work in this lovely (not) rainy, dreary, cold weather. A stop to pick up my daily allotment of tea eggs. My 1 mile/1.5 km walk is now down to about 12 minutes. When I started walking everyday to work, nearly 5 months ago, it took 17 minutes. I work on the 4th floor of my building and after clocking in I take the stairs up. I realized yesterday that I’m no longer out of breath AT ALL by the time I reach the top… How awesome is that?
After morning rounds I did some lactation consulting (just when I give up on helping women here breastfeed, there always seems to be a couple of women who request it, funny how that works… I’m not a quitter, but so passionate about breastfeeding, that sometimes I must take a step back, throw in the towel and not allow the circumstances here consume me!). Both ladies were very grateful for the help.
I then had a lovely 6 hour prenatal visit with Velina and Robin 😀 Just like the old days when I was a home birth midwife. They came at 10, we lunched from 12 – 2 and they left around 4. It filled my day with some sunshine 🙂 Lunch for me was T-bone steak, broccoli , cucumbers and raw red cabbage.
Then the bad news of the day – Whitney Houston died. She’s MY age, born a few months before me, how does this keep happening? What demons cause these remarkably talented people to head down the path of drugs, alcohols and bad behavior?? I sobbed watching the video of her singing The National Anthem at the Super Bowl in 1991. What a waste of amazing talent.
Dinner: Chicken chunks stir fried in soy sauce with cumin and garlic cloves.
To bed at 9, trying to shake the blues, fighting the urge to pack up and go home, come on sun, I need ya buddy, the grey skies are wearing thin and I need some sunspiration.
Ciao!
Quote of the day: I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside. – Whitney Houston
Pic of the day: Robin, Velina & Me
Today’s photo topic: In Your Closet
In mine… New clothes, a reward for dropping all this weight 🙂 Not too many, since I’ve still got a little ways to go!
What’s in YOUR closet?
Saturday was a PP Day 2 of 4
Daily Weight Loss: 1.1 lb/0.50 kg
Total Weight Loss: 66.2 lb/30.11 kg
Happy to see the scale continuing to drop. I’ve been drinking more than 2 liters of water the past 2 days to help flush out the water I’m retaining from 21+ hours of flying.
I was up at the unGodly hour of 303 a.m., having crashed around 800 p.m. Friday night. This wouldn’t be so bad IF I didn’t have to work and think. It’s nice getting up 4.5 hours before you have to work, I got a lot done 🙂
I had a pot of yogurt with bran and Splenda before I left for work and picked up tea eggs at the vendor downstairs. Before getting dressed in the morning I always check the temp outside to see how layered I’m going to have to dress. This was the forecast this morning…
Shouldn’t there be a rule that you update the weather when the low is actually 5 degrees lower than the forecast?!?
I then picked up my tea eggs and took this picture of the dreary morning…
I then promptly fell on my not so cushioned anymore ass! See the black shiny tile? What a great way to start my morning! 😀 At least is was a graceful fall and I didn’t hurt myself, nor was it witnessed by anyone… LOL
Work was work, bathing babies, seeing prenatal patients and assisting women with breastfeeding.
Lunch at the halal restaurant with some friends was sliced beef with cilantro and a couple of mushrooms and a tea egg.
Afternoon creating a power point, posters and policy for reducing the risk of falls (ironic given my fall this morning!) and at 3 pm I felt like I had hit a brick wall. Jet lag is no fun, seriously! I did some yoga and jumping jacks to infuse some energy and finished the day with a walk home in the cold rain.
Dinner was beef stir-fry with curry and cumin and garlic stems. I have no onions and miss them. I will order food online for delivery on Thursday and be stocked up, once again.
I busied myself with downloading iOS 5 update for my iPad and went for a walk to keep me up until at least 9. Bed at 915, left the update running 🙂 Still working on getting my bearings again. Missing home a lot after this visit for some reason. Trying to reason savings plans for the future vs. being at home with family… I’ll be better when the sun comes out, inshallah 🙂
Ciao!
Quote of the day: Picture Quote…
Photo topic if the day: MAKES ME HAPPY
GRANDKIDS make me very happy!
Name 5 songs on your play list in the comments, I might add them to mine!
Here’s 5 of my favorites, currently on my play list:
1. How To Save a Life – The Fray
2. One and Only – Adele
3. Numb – Linkin Park
4. Conspiracy, Time To Reflect & Endurance – Trevor Jones – G.I. Jane soundtrack
5. Chasing Cars- Snow Patrol
Come on… Tell me what yours are 🙂
Friday was a PP day 1 of 4.
Daily Weight Loss: 2.4 lb/1.10 kg (the exact opposite of yesterday!) 🙂
Total Weight Loss: 65.1 lb/29.61 kg
So yesterday I completed Day 1 of 4 Pure Protein Days to kick start me back in to ketosis after a fabulous vacation. I had my first day back at work, and it was a breezy day, I saw snow for the first time in Hangzhou (the snow waited for my return!) and I went to bed, once again before 8 p.m…. UGH!
4 a.m. Small cup of FF yogurt with 1/2 TBS bran, 1 TBS flaxseed meal and splenda.
Early to work given I had been awake since 4 a.m. and had nothing else to do at my flat. Raining hard during the walk, but that just made me walk faster. I stopped at the tea egg vendor and picked up my 5 tea eggs for the day and was so excited I ate one of them while walking in the rain!
Handover and then bathed 2 babies… got to sing “The Rose” to one of them, as this was on the classic piano CD… the babies love my singing, as off tune as it is. Pretty much caught up on emails and planned out my education presentations for the rest of the month, and had my 2nd tea egg around 10. My darling personal assistant, Kitty, returns on Saturday… can’t wait to see her. Vivien and I had a quiet day in the office, and that was nice. At around 830 Vivien starts yelling for me to come out of my office… it’s snowing. Big, fat snowflakes. Nothing stuck, since it was just above freezing, but everyone in the hospital was happy to see it. I have no idea why… I really despise the cold and the snow… LOL Quite the contrast to the weather in Florida this past week.
Lunch at my favorite halal restaurant was sliced beef with cilantro and some garlic stems and a tea egg. Yum!
Slow afternoon… I had a hard time staying awake. Ate another tea egg for some energy and then left work to walk home in the SNOW. The SNOW! As I was walking in the SNOW I kept thinking that I couldn’t believe I was living where it SNOWED. Last year this time I was living in Abu Dhabi, where it’s WARM and SUNNY all the time. It’s quite a difference.
Skype chat and a catch up on emails, dinner was stir-fried pork seasoned with cumin, curry and lemon pepper (quite a nice combo I might add) and garlic stems.
At 745 I was tying up my running shoes and falling asleep while doing it. I thought if I went out for a run it might wake me up… instead, I took my shoes off and went to bed. There is no sense in fighting it.
Ciao!
Quote of the Day: The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
~ Lao Tzu
You have to look real hard, but you can see the fat snowflakes 🙂
Light Snow
Photo topic of the day: SELF PORTRAIT
This is me just now. I walked home in the light snow and suffering mild jet lag, enjoy 🙂 LOL
Well, I’m back from my vacation. It was 3 weeks of whirlwind fun, family and friends. I had a FANTASTIC time. My flights weren’t too bad coming back, but boy do I have edema in my feet and legs. I LOVE that I fit so nicely in the seats in economy now. The seat belt so loose that I can actually pull it all the way out AND sleep on my side!!! WOO HOO! 😀
I don’t think I had a full pure protein day the entire 3 weeks I was on vacation. That will stop today, LOL. I am going to do 4-5 days of PP days to kick my ass back into ketosis. I have a goal to meet and I thought I had, but alas, I have not. First thing I ate after arriving home yesterday afternoon was a TEA EGG!!! I missed them and they will be my new best friends, once again.
Weight difference from Day 149: Gain – 2.4 lb/1.1 kg
Total Weight Loss to date: 62.7 lb/28.51 kg
Goal: 70 pounds by February 11th: 70 pounds… that’ll take a miracle, LOL
I’m not worried about it. I’ve exceeded all my other goals. I was well behaved, for the most part, on my vacation. I had a couple of glasses of wine. On my flight from Miami to London I had a rum and coke (so I could sleep) and on both flights I was served gluten-free meals, that weren’t all that Dukan friendly, but I ate them, and I had FRUIT and I am okay with that. I miss fruit, and it was just 3 meals.
So back to the grind. My new goal will be 70 pounds gone by February 29th. I’m due to be done with the Cruise phase of the Dukan diet on April 8th. I think I will meet that goal.
I hope everyone is having a fabulous week!
Ciao!
Quote of the day: Worry not about the weight gained on vacation… it’s vacation, after all. Buckle down and restart the day you return! ~ Sandi Blankenship 😀
Today’s photo topic: FRONT DOOR
Appropriate given I’ve just arrived back at my flat in China after 3 weeks vacation at home in Florida…
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