Dukan – Day 155 & 156 – MDA Walk-A-Thon

Sunday was a PV day and Monday was a PP day.

Daily weight loss: 0.5 lb

It’s been difficult tracking my weight loss as I didn’t bring MY scale, bought a cheap one that doesn’t seem accurate and now I’m on a non-digital scale… I will see the totals when I get back to China and post them, but I’m following the diet and feel like I’m doing fine.

Sunday was an early morning because I was going with Ken and Shannon to the MDA walk-a-thon in West Palm Beach. Had to climb over all the girlies sleeping on mattresses on the floor and try to sneak out quietly at 0600. Breakfast was a large coffee from Dunkin Donuts, 600mL water with lemon and a couple of bites of very low fat cheddar cheese.

The walk was great. We walked with Team Lea, an on air host with WZZR and the walk took us through the Palm Beach Zoo… Formerly called The Zoo at Dreher Park, this place was my play ground growing up, as we lived just down the road until we moved to Stuart when I was 8. And the best part… I ran into one of my families who I was blessed to assist with a water birth and breast feeding help… The Brown’s… Here is a pic of their family getting ready to walk…

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Then we stopped at Ken and Shannon’s where I got to play in Ken’s amazing game room… My favorite video game EVER… GALAGA!!!! Here’s an awful pic of me playing, but I fell right back into the championship stance from all those years ago πŸ™‚

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Then back to Denise’s to watch 2 very disappointing games 😦 Nuff said.

Dinner: Chicken sausage and peppers and onions for me and Denise… Yum!
Snack: FF Greek yogurt with ground golden flax seed… Much yummier than oat bran.

Monday, another early morning (530 or so) strapped on my new Brooks running shoes and headed out for a lovely 5 mile walk over the bridges and through downtown Stuart. I love it out there in the early dark hours! Watching the colors of the horizon change, it really is a great way to start the day!

Breakfast with Denise and Jenni was bacon and eggs then off for a rental car and a trip north. First stop to see my son Nick in Melborne…

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And his dog, Buttkis…

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Cooked him lunch of pork chops and grilled onions, then the trip to Gainesville to see my mom who had back surgery on the 13th and is coming home Tuesday from rehab… YAY!

Coffee with Mary at Starbucks and then to my mom’s house for a reunion with my cat, Miss Kitty. She hasn’t left my side since I walked in the door!

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Dinner: not real hungry so ate a couple of pieces of beef jerky. More than met my water requirements, but no bran or flax today.

Having a lovely holiday home!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Cut not the wings of your dreams,
for they are the heartbeat and the freedom of your soul. ~ Flavia

Dukan – Day 154 -Slumber Party with my Girlies

Saturday was a PP day.

Daily weight loss: +1.1 lb

Today was a fun day! Slept in to 520 a.m. Woo hoo! Denise and I went to the B & A flea market in Stuart, where I picked up a Life-Purpose-Passion t-shirt from Dave Williams.

Then had a burger at 5 Brothers Burgers with Denise. Then off to the party supply store for slumber party supplies and then up to Tiffany’s house to hang with the GRANDKIDS for a while. We went to a park where the kids ran around and rode their bikes and I got to see my pseudo-daughter, Ashley, and my pseudo-GRANDKIDS, Faelynn and Aireanna.

Then back to Denise’s to cook for the slumber party. I made Pork Lomo for dinner, using the recipe from The Hapa Couple, substituting the beef for pork. YUMMY! I am really enjoying cooking. There was tons of naughty food and I blessedly was able to resist. I even slept with a plate of THIN MINTS next to my head. The other thing I realized is that besides a cup of coffee in the morning, I drank nothing but water all day πŸ™‚

There were 7 of us, and besides our new friend Shannon, we’ve all been friends for more than 35 years… How awesome is that? I started falling asleep at the beginning of The Sound of Music, and of corse got teased about it… Curled up on the couch surrounded by my girlies and slept feeling so happy and loved… I am so blessed to be able to hang with the best girls in the world!

Having a great vacation home!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Best friends know all about you and love you anyway.

Dukan – Day 152 & 153

Thursday was a PV day and Friday was a PP day.

Weight loss: Thursday I was down 600 grams from the Monday weigh in, today I’m up 400 grams from the Monday weigh in. All in all not bad for traveling 34 hours, on 4 planes and 13 time zones and I’m still trying to get my body’s time straight.

I left Hangzhou Tuesday morning at 140 pm and arrived in Fort Lauderdale at 1140 am Wednesday. 4 long flights including landing in a snow storm in Seattle and an overnight in New York City.

Wednesday, dinner out with friends and an amazing chat and a chance to see one of the women who blessed me 11 years ago by allowing me to midwife her, and then to bed by 11, up at 432 a.m… And out the door for a nice 4+ mike walk in downtown Stuart with a friend who is also an early riser. Some shopping and lunch out with my daughter and son-in-law at Longhorn where I had steak salad, then off to Jammim’ Jensen to hang with my besties…. So nice to be with friends you’ve known your whole life!

Friday… Up at 447 a.m., I guess this is better than 432! Out the door and a walk over the lower and upper Roosevelt bridges. A one hour 10 minute walk and then coffee with a friend while watching the sunrise… My home town really is a great place to visit! You decide for yourself…

View of the new bridge while crossing the old one.

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View to the east while crossing the new bridge for the 3rd time…

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Coffee and sunrise…

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Bacon and eggs for breakfast and then early matinee watched the movie Red Tails good movie. Lunch was sausage and onions and a few peppers and by the time dinner rolled around I was falling asleep on the couch, so ended up eating hard salami, which although no carbs has too much fat… What to do? I think I was sleeping at 900! A big shout out to my best friend Denise for letting me crash on her couch… You are the BEST xoxoxo Now off to start my day (I slept until 520!!!!!)

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Everything will be fine in the end, if it’s not, it’s not the end ~ Unknown

It’s National De-Lurking Day – Repost

This is a repost from a great blog that I read each day, www.rageagainsttheminivan.com. Check Kristin’s blog out while you’re at it πŸ™‚

it’s de-lurking time!
posted on Saturday, January 14, 2012

Today is National Delurking Day, or so I’m being told. That means it’s your day to finally leave a comment! I know . . . some of you already do. But the vast majority of you are silent readers. Maybe you are intimidated by the comment-leaving process? it’s easier than it looks, and you can log in with just your name.

Just click on the β€œCOMMENT” button below this post, and this box will appear. Ignore all the fancy log-in options. The best way to leave a comment is to manually type in your name and email (and your blog if you have one – this lets everyone click directly to your blog instead of to an intensedebate profile). No one will see your email.

If you want your picture to show up, you should upload a photo at gravatar.com. This stores a photo associated with your email, and will show the photo on nearly every blog you visit if you enter your email when you login. (Again, your email does not show up in the comment – just the photo).

Okay, so now you know how – please leave a comment and let me know who you are. Where are you from? How did you find this blog? Why do you read it? What do you want hear more about? What would you like me to stop talking about? Talk to me, goose.

Dukan – Day 141 Of Sambuca and portraits…

Sunday was a PV Day.

Daily weight loss: 0.2 lb/0.1 kg
Total weight loss: 60.1 lb/27.31 kg

Sunday was supposed to be a PP day, but it was the hospital’s 1 year anniversary party at a fancy schmancy restaurant and my veggie choices were limited. I think the 0.2 lb weight gain is from dinner out 2 nights in a row. Not worried about it πŸ™‚

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs in the company van on the way to a marketing event. It was at the public library, which was lovely. Kitty and I had a good time, talked to lots of people and had McCafe skinny latte x 2. 500 mL water. Cute kids and one amazing portrait…

Couldn’t get this little girl to smile for anything! Even the clown couldn’t make her smile! She did, however, do the peace sign that is so popular here πŸ™‚

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I do what they tell me to… they want me to wear light up reindeer ears, I do.

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Me with the head pathologist… she’s wonderful!

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I LOVE this portrait! It was on the wall at the baby fair/marketing event that we attended.

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Lunch: 2 tea eggs and a beef steak… Last one, will totally stock up on these when I’m home. I am SO grateful that Cathy brought these to me! 500mL water. Then back to the hospital just in time for our annual award ceremony. My personal assistant, Kitty, won top employee in the International department and she deserves it, what with the sometimes cranky boss she has πŸ˜€

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Afterwards I race-walked home because I had 45 minutes to change and hoof it back to the restaurant! Being a midwife, I have amazing powers that have been given to me to change clothes, do hair and put on make-up in record time πŸ™‚ I spent exactly 12 minutes in my flat before racing back out the door, party ready! Then the mile walk back to the restaurant near work… And boy do these people know how to celebrate πŸ˜€ I really had a great time! Pretty much stuck to Dukan with the exception of the 4 ozs of moonshine, errr Chinese “white wine”. It tasted like Sambuca, had quite a kick and everyone else at my table consumed enough to not notice that I didn’t refill my glass. Dinner for me was: broiled fish with liberal chili powder, beef, peel and eat shrimp, steamed veggies, tofu and beef that was in a clearish gravy with tiny bits of hot chili peppers… YUM! I think I avoided gluten, didn’t have that YUCKY belly and I really had a great time. I did not, however, sing Dancing Queen, and now regret that I cancelled 😦 The rest of my quartet were not there… Lucy left Friday, Chiara changed jobs and at the last moment Steve had to cancel because he was assigned to go to Wenzhou for their party. Dancing Queen is not a solo performance. After watching some of the other acts, however, I wish I had just done it. It would have fit right in. There’s always next year. Lots of pictures and then the walk back home, just in time to chat on Skype with some of my favorite people in the world and then a nice, hard sleep. Long, but really fun day!

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The corporations lead administrators (CEO in the middle) singing πŸ™‚

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Li’an the Senior Midwife and me.

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Dr. Jiu, the Medical Director

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The girls that work in the main reception.

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Fiance Dept. in black and the girls in blue are our inpatient nurses!

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This lovely gentleman and his wife work in our housekeeping department… they keep up my house once a week, too… πŸ™‚

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Tracy and me… Tracy is Steve’s PA and my buddy πŸ™‚ She sang “My Heart Will Go On”… braver than me!!!

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Me and KaKa… KaKa is our driver… he’s the only one I let drive me to the airport!

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Our Assistant DON dancing with the audience!

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OK… this guy is from the Marketing Dept. I have no bloody idea what he was saying, but he was hilarious! There is a story behind it, I’m sure!

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Our lead Anesthesiologist singing traditional Beijing Opera. I’m telling you, these people are talented!

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Me and SuZong, my CEO.

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Ciao!

Quote of the day: When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others – Peace Pilgrim, Spiritual Leader

Dukan – Day 140 – 60 POUNDS GONE!

Saturday was a PV Day (Protein/Veggie).

Daily weight loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg
Total weight loss: 60.3 lbs/27.41 kg

Yay ME! I am more than delighted. I didn’t want to get on the scale this morning. Yesterday was my 1st PV day after setting my body back in motion with 4 PP days.

Morning walk to work included a look at the frozen pond in front of my building. It better be warm when I get to Florida!

Breakfast: The usual, 2 tea eggs πŸ™‚
Lunch: Beef jerky brought all the way to China from Illinois by my buddy Cathy (I thought it was the last one, but I found one more this morning… Score!) and 2 tea eggs.

Watched Steve and Tracy give a prenatal exercise and participated in the exercise part… Got the blood flow going! Worked on my annual report and a policy on Induction of Labor πŸ˜€

Then off to dinner with Steve and Vivien to the Vineyard. This is the place I had dinner on Thanksgiving. The kitchen is run by a Bostonian named Reuben and the place feels like home! He’s fabulous, cruises the tables, makes you feel welcome. He reminds me of my son, Nick! Very similar personalities. He made sure my order was low carb, semi low fat and definitely gluten free! I got the Philly steak w/o the bread or fries and with extra onions and green peppers and a bit of mozzarella cheese melted on top. The cheese was a bit of a cheat, but I earned it and once a month isn’t going to hurt, LOL, but was a bit of the reason I was afraid to get on the scale this morning (obviously didn’t effect me). I also had a beautiful green salad with cucumber strings, tomatoes and carrot strings and some grilled chicken. I shared it with Steve and Vivien. What a yummy dinner and while they sipped Jack Daniels and coke, I had a diet coke and 2 skinny lattes. Nice evening out in a very cool place that almost makes me forget where I’m living.

Dropped off and I took my backpack upstairs and got right back out the door for a 20 minute walk… No easy feat at 845 pm! I just wanted to get on my jammies! Back upstairs to read some wonderful comments from my post yesterday, some on the post and 11 private messages… All touched my heart. I’m on this amazing journey with some awesome people, some I know in person, others through the Internet over the years and some, my new friends through this blog, and we’re all just ordinary people working hard to make ourselves healthier. Thank you all for the inspiring messages xoxoxo

Ciao!

Quote of the day: “Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.”
β€”Janis Joplin

Pics of the day:

On Frozen Pond..

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Photo at marketing event… Beautiful!

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Dukan – Day 139 – Bye, Bye Lucy

Friday was a PP Day #4 of 4.

Daily weight loss: 1.3 lb/0.6 kg
Total weight loss: 59.9 lb/27.21 kg

Oh so close to 60!!! I’m very happy that the 4 days of Pure Protein kicked me back into gear. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a dozen times, this Dukan program WORKS, but only IF you stick to the program.

I received 3 private messages yesterday about my weight loss. 2 from fellow Dukaners and 1 from a friend asking how I have been able to stay on this program without venturing off the path, especially during the holidays. It’s simple… I set my mind to doing it and that is that. We ALL have willpower, it’s called CHOICE, and every minute of our days involves choice. The choice to be happy or not, the choice to make others happy or not, the choice to drink that glass of wine or smoke that cigarette or eat that carbohydrate laden donut… OR NOT. I choose not to.

When I quit smoking in 2005, I was at the Sydney airport getting ready to fly to Vanuatu on a medical mission trip for 29 days. In my backpack, 35 packs of Marlboro 100’s in the box. I was in the smoking lounge, chain smoking because I had a 5 hour flight and God forbid I go that long, and I kept counting the packs over and over and over again… Totally freaking out that I smoke 2 packs a day, but only have 35 packs… After the 5th or 6th time of counting the packs and worrying whether or not I should buy ANOTHER CARTON with my limited amount of money I had an epiphany and dumped the packs on the table and walked out. I never smoked again, ever! Even now, 6.5 years later I’m still shocked that I did it… It’s the same for food addiction.n

Early on, maybe even my first day, I found the web site of an amazing person named Charlotte, and her blog about the Dukan diet. She created a progress chart which I use religiously every morning to enter the days weight and get my stats.. It has been the most helpful tool! Additionally, she taught me Moonday’s Philosophy (a fellow Dukaner) who basically says: “I need to make one more comment today, about what we shall all henceforth know as Moonday’s Philosophy. In one of her comments on this blog, she was talking about self control. She said that she never regrets not having eaten something bad, after having resisted it. She never looks back and says β€œgee, I really should have eaten that cookie/icecream/crisps/pizza.” But by the same token, she finds (as we all do!) that we look back with regret on the things that we DID eat that we maybe shouldn’t have.

So when faced with the choice of eating the cookie or not eating the cookie, she asks, β€œwill I regret not eating this cookie?” – not β€œwill I regret eating this cookie?” This is super-powerful – instead of dwelling on the negative of having future-regret for present action, she dwells on the positive effect of present action. It’s also more powerful than β€œwill I feel good about myself for having resisted?” because that kinda implies a lost opportunity. I find lost opportunities to binge eat really frustrating, if I’m honest. At least, I do at the time. But after the fact, I don’t regret having not binged, if that makes sense.” – this is quoted from Charlotte’s blog, but it is Moonday’s True That Philosophy!

So the bottom line is SELF CONTROL. I like what I see in the mirror… I still have 30 pounds to lose to reach Dr. Dukan’s true weight for me, but I’m 2/3 of the way there. I get my ass out of the house and WALK, that’s it… Sometimes I do the C25K, most times I don’t. It’s cold, I’d rather sit on the couch, chat on the computer and be wrapped up in a blanket, but that isn’t going to help me lose weight. Lucy and I met friends for hot pot dinner Thursday night. They ordered dumplings and some yummy looking mushrooms and other stuff that are totally not on a PP day… The dumplings looked divine… I didn’t eat them or the mushrooms. I got my own hot pot to dip my meats in and stuck to it. Tempting? Yes! Worth not seeing positive movement on the scale! NO! And what I really loved is that Robin went 2 blocks down the road to buy me a Coke Zero πŸ˜€ I love that I’m surrounded by people who aren’t trying to get me to eat their stuff πŸ™‚ This same couple brought Dukan friendly cabbage stew for Christmas dinner, it was DELICIOUS!

Other things I’ve done to continue doing well on this program… I am “Following” 12 blogs of fellow Dukaners. Their ups and downs are inspiring. Most of them are “Following” my blog. The encouragement from their comments inspire me more than you can know. Kathy, a former Dukaner, gives the best advise! And comments from my friends and family help, too! My MOM is my biggest supporter… She rocks!

I also take the reading advise from fellow bloggers and the best book recommendation of this year so far has to be “Wheat Belly” by William Davis, MD. I downloaded the book based on the recommendation of w_w_angel, a fellow Dukaner who runs 90 minutes a day and still battles weight issues… But I think this book has the answer!

And most importantly… Being true to myself. This morning when I entered my weight and it said 59.9 I just wanted to say 60, but it’s not 60, it’s close, buts it’s 59.9. Being honest to ME is the best thing I can do for myself.

You CAN lose the weight. YOU can discover SELF CONTROL, you can DO THIS, you just have to REALLY want to. If you do, you’ll find the strength to JUST SAY NO, to throw out the crap in your cupboards (and don’t buy it for your kids, because it’s CRAP, and it isn’t good for them either! Fat parents breed fat kids, bottom line. My kids are overweight, I didn’t set a good example for them… Start now πŸ™‚

I’m off my pedestal πŸ˜€

Ciao!

Quote of the day: “Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
β€”Eleanor Roosevelt

Pics of the day: I built a bookcase yesterday… Without instructions because they were in Cjinese, LOL… It appears i did it correctly πŸ™‚
Before:

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After:

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Edited late in the day… I named this post Bye, Bye Lucy for a reason… Lucy left in the afternoon and I was a mess! It’s so nice to have friends from all over the world… Especially ones that will come hang out for 5 weeks! I’m going to miss my friend… Fun times! Safe travels, Luc! See ya soon.

Dukan – Day 138 – Walking this way

Thursday was a PP Day #3 of 4

Daily weight loss: 0.7 lb/0.3 kg
Total weight loss: 58.5 lb/26.61 kg

Thursday was a bit less thrilling than Wednesday, thank God! I started my day out with the 1 mile walk to work. Breakfast was 2 tea eggs, 500 mL water and a cup of coffee. I was then video taped by our marketing team for our 2012 promotional video πŸ˜€ I said my lines correctly the very first time and that seemed to please them!

Stayed at my desk for lunch and had a couple more tea eggs and a nice piece of beef jerky that Cathy brought me.

Afternoon was policy writing and taught a class on patient safety. I really love teaching!

Then a 6 mile walk to dinner, from work. Hot Pot was the dinner of the night. Because I’m doing 4 days of Pure Protein I stuck to the basics. I had beef, tofu and garlic… The restaurant didn’t have onions, if you can imagine!

Then the 5 mile walk home… It was actually quite nice and good exercise! All in all a pretty good day πŸ™‚

Ciao!

Quote of the day: “I think the key is for women not to set any limits.”
β€” Martina Navratilova

Pic of the day: in a city garden in Hong Kong last week…

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Dukan – Day 137 How To Save A Life

Wednesday was a PP day… Day 2 of 4

Daily weight loss: 0.7 lb/0.3 kg
Total weight loss: 57.9 lb/26.31 kg

Well I certainly had a busy day! I started off with my 1 mile walk to work in the freezing 31 degree air… Certainly wakes ya up. Morning rounds and help with breastfeeding and met a lovely local girl, in early labor, who lived in the States for several years. Then off to bath babies, 5 of the little squirmy things! You give them a bath, they float in the tank for 15 minutes and then you give them a head to toe massage and then dress them… The midwives do this here at the hospital I work at, and I have to admit I enjoy it. They play classical music in the background and it’s nice and warm and you get to snuggle with babies… Great job πŸ™‚

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Then after lunch I’m told that the lady in early labor is requesting me to be her midwife and she wants a water birth… I put my head phones back on to finish up an infection control policy that I was working on (my alleged real job here is Quality Manager) and the last song I listened to was The Frey “How To Save A Life”. Went over, patient on Pitocin, rockin’ and rollin’, and moving all over the tub (I will add here that International standards of care recommend that women receiving oxytocin for induction be on continuous fetal monitoring and not laboring in a birth tub!). BUT, I decided to follow the advise of Dear Abby from my quote of the day the other day and only work on improving MYSELF… Too bad I got Kathy’s Blog advise AFTER work about it not being relevant to my job where I’m suppose TO change others, LOL
Anyway… Beautiful water birth, flat baby who required 5 minutes of resuscitation. NOTE TO SELF… Don’t listen to How To Save A Life, when waiting to go to a birth!! Baby is fine, midwife has a few extra gray hairs! Here’s the little brute:

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And this is Li’an, the midwife who came into help with the resus…

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So a good outcome is all that matters… On the list, protocol for appropriate management of induction of labor… I could be employed here for a long, long time!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: “Thank you, baby boy, now I’m gonna smack you with a big old kiss!” ~ S. Blankenship-yesterday πŸ™‚

Dukan – Day 135 HEY! Where did that come from?

Today was a PV day, because of the lack of choices at the halal restaurant.

Daily weight loss: +1.8 lb/0.8 kg!!! WTH?
Total weight loss: 56.3 lb/25.61 kg

So I have a pretty good idea why this has happened…

1. I only had 500 mL water
2. It was my 4th PV day in a row
3. The food at the lunch place yesterday was LOADED with MSG… AND the bloody bastards didn’t have my sliced beef with cilantro AND my only choice besides the thinly sliced celery blades was mushrooms that I’m now sure were made with a wheat flour base… Lunch was definitely an O.F.F.S., moment 😦
4. Although I walk a mile to and from work each day, I didn’t get in my extra evening walk.

So, what to do? Fix all that today (drank 550 mL before anything else this morning). This program WORKS and it works real well when you do the right things.

Plan: 4 PP days to balance out the 4 PV days I just had, limit 2 coffee/tea drinks per day (since I have<em to have milk in them, extra 45 mins. of walking at night and WATER.

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: See above
Dinner: Sirloin steak with onion and garlic stems
Snack: Yogurt with bran and Splenda

I hope everyone is off to a good start for 2012!

Ciao!

Quote of the day, posted on FB by my friend Danielle: Just for today, I will refrain from improving anybody but myself ~ Dear Abby ….. This is a tough one for me, I set my expectations of others too high, I'm adding this to the bucket list!