Wednesday was a PP day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total Weight Loss: 51.5 lb/23.41 kg

Well, back down by 1/2 pound… I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to reach my goal by Jan. 15th and I’m only 3.5 pounds from that goal! Sheesh! I think my body is in a “umm, give us a break” kind of mood. I’m doing all the right things, it just ain’t budging. However, it has done ALOT of losing in 116 days, so I ain’t complaining too much!

I increased my water intake and only had 2 3 coffees. The 3rd was ordered while waiting for Vivien to come bail us out of the restaurant. Neither Lucy and I had enough cash on us and they wouldn’t take a “foreign” credit card… argh! Thanks, Vivien!

I got to bath babies at work this morning. I could do that all day long. There is something relaxing and meditative about bathing a newborn and giving it a massage. It’s even more fun when you get to bath a 7 month old that you delivered. The babies here come once a month for a bath, a swim in the tank and a massage… what fun! Here’s Alessaundro…

Bathing Alessaundro

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, 550 mL bottle of water.
Snack: Coffee
Lunch: Beef with cilantro and garlic stems with hot chilis, 550 mL bottle of water.
Snack: about 300 mL water
Dinner: Steak filet and I picked the onions and red bell pepper out of the salad they gave me. 2 cups of cafe latte, 500 mL warm lemon water.

At the end of the day I did an overview on CPR for the staff. Good turn out. Lucy demonstrated while I lectured, I think we pulled it off pretty well.

I hope everyone has a lovely evening!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and DO IT! Because what the world needs is people who have come alive! – H. Thurman

Monday was a PP day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.2 lb/0.1 kg
Total Weight Loss: 51.7 lb/23.51 kg

Lucy and I woke up all congested from the smokers in the hotel room next to us 😦 And the sheets reeked of it… how does one smoke for 25 years, quit for the past 6 and manage to have such a friggin’ allergy to it??? Between that and the pollution I feel like I started smoking again… sigh. OK… that was my negative outburst for the month!

Out for a walk to the little cafeteria down the street from the hotel for breakfast once again. 1 boiled tea egg, a couple pieces of pork (with the fat pulled off) and some tofu with thinly sliced green peppers. This is like an open cafeteria… which is nice, because I can point and smile and they give me what I want… they still shake their heads, however, when I decline the rice 🙂

Then off for a trip to the mall… Lucy loves mall shopping I ABHOR it!!! She could walk for HOURS (and did) around a mall, trying on countless things and not buy a single thing! After doing 3 full laps around the “Cloud Nine” mall (seriously, 9 floors of stores!!) we couldn’t find the one store that we went looking for… Monsoon.

So, we hit up the Japanese restaurant for some raw fish. Mine was yummy… there is something very addictive about wasabi. I could eat it with everything!

Then back to more mall trolling. I am happy to report that I didn’t spend a dime (as usual), but Lucy finally, finally found a pair of boots… after 6 years of looking! YAY! She blessedly said we could leave 🙂

We then took the subway back to the Jing’an Temple exit and walked the 6  blocks to the hotel, got our luggage and then off to The Coffee Bean and Tea Co. for a last cup of latte. I really like this place, it almost makes me feel at home!

Then the subway to the train station and then the high-speed train back to Hangzhou, where Jerry, my new best friend and very reasonable priced driver, was waiting for us at the gate to drive us home… no more crazy, manic taxi rides… I’ve got Jerry!!! WOO HOO!

At home I totally didn’t feel like making dinner. I had a teeny salad (not PP, but wanted it) and a pot of FF Greek yogurt with Splenda and bran. Long couple of days, but fun to be out of town.

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Imagine yourself, a year from now with the body you’ve always wanted. All your hard work finally being paid off. Exercise, eat healthy and stay positive! You will get there! – from Pinterest user prettywildthin

Sunday was a PV day.

Daily Weight Loss: -0.4 lb/-0.2 kg
Total Weight Loss: 51.5 lb/23.41 kg

Had a bit of a lie in this morning… woke up at 830, but didn’t get out of bed until nearly 11! WOO HOO! 😀

Breakfast…. late and a hike to the local diner where I got 2 tea eggs, some pork and some tofu with thin slices of green peppers… nice brekkies!
Lunch with Lucy and Federica… I had a burger, no bun and some salad with freshly ground black pepper.
Dinner: Sashimi
Snack before bed: FF Greek Yogurt with bran and splenda

On the way to go shopping we came upon this…

Someone put granny in the sun outside the mall!

And on the walk home my pants were falling off because I forgot my belt in Hangzhou, so Lucy thought this would make a funny picture…

Too small for my britches!

So a nice weekend all in all. I hope everyone else is having a good weekend 🙂

Ciao!

Quote of the Day: She turned her can’ts into cans… and her dreams into plans.
– Kobi Yamada

Friday was a PP DAY.
DAILY WEIGHT LOSS: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg

I’m on my iPad and it isn’t letting me see what I’m typing 😀
So, I’m in Shanghai for the weekend with Lucy, brought the scale and will send updates!
Ciao!

Thursday was a PV (Protein/Veggie) day.

Daily weight loss: -0.4 lb/-0.2 kg (gained a 1/2 pound) 😦
Total weight loss: 51.1 lb/23.21 kg

So a 1/2 pound gain coming off of 4 PP days… not a big deal. I think my volume of intake has increased since Lucy has been here and I’m thinking of adjusting that tonight. I will make my own meal, with the amounts I’ve gotten used to, then make hers… see if that works. Last night after dinner I felt “too” full. Haven’t had the feeling in a long time. I’m also drinking more coffee and tea and less water.

Breakfast: 2 Tea Eggs… the advantage of buying these from the vendor downstairs is that I can hold them in my hands to keep warm on the walk to work 🙂 Coffee x 2
Lunch: Beef slices, mushrooms and green beans with chilis, 550 mL bottle of water.
Afternoon: Coffee
Dinner: New Orleans style talapia, onions, garlic stems and mushrooms with a small dinner salad. Coffee
After Dinner: Pot of FF Greek yogurt and Earl Grey Tea

So… I think I know what’s going on and I’m going to correct it… this, I say, while I sip a large cup of coffee while typing this!  Now off to get layered and layered for work… it’s 37F outside and it’s going to be a dreadful walk!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: If nothing ever changed… there’d be no butterflies! – Unknown

Wednesday was a PP day… Day 4 of 4 Pure Protein Days.

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total Weight Loss: 51.5 lb/23.41 kg

It is COLD. I don’t like the COLD. I am a SUNNY FLORIDA kinda girl. And I’ve lived in the MIDDLE EASTERN DESERT for the last THREE years, to boot! It doesn’t get COLD there! It was 41 Fahrenheit in the morning… and I walked around the complex for 20 minutes, because I was off work. Bundled up like an Eskimo and all I could think of was Kath’s words that you lose more calories in the cold because of the shivering… I’m still trying to believe it. Friday morning it’s going to be 31… that is -1 Celsius  in case you didn’t know that!!

Breakfast: I picked up tea eggs for Lucy and I and I had my 2 eggs with some smoked salmon… yummy!
We then hired a car to pick us up and take us for a bit of furniture shopping. I was desperate for a book shelf and some kitchen stuff and I’m unable to communicate to taxi drivers w/o my personal assistant with me or on the phone. This guy, Hangzhou Jerry, has a nice web site and was AWESOME!!! Picked us up in a Buick van, that was clean and his English was impeccable and he was a GOOD DRIVER… woo hoo!!! He escorted us into the store, translated for us, toted the stuff out to the car, took it in the flat and then took us to lunch… all for 200 RMB (about $25)! Worth every dime 🙂
Lunch: Australian baby calf… I swear, that’s what the menu says!
Dinner: At the Vineyard with Lucy, Steve and Tracy. I had the Philly Cheese Steak Dukan style… it was yummy!
The Vineyards cat came back for a visit:

She's back!

I hope everyone is having a blessed day!

Ciao!

Quote of the day:
Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.- William Jennings Bryan

Tuesday was a PP day (3 out of 4).

Daily Weight Loss: 1.1 lb/0.5 kg
Total Weight Loss: 51.1 lb/23.21 kg and I’ve lost 20% of the body weight I started with!

Walked to work in the cool crisp air… the leaves are starting to change, so it makes it a pretty walk in the morning.

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, 500 mL water, coffee w/splenda and skim milk
Lunch: Beef slices w/cilantro and garlic stems with hot chilis… yum! 500 mL water
Afternoon snack: Coke zero
Dinner: Stir fry sirloin with onions and garlic stems, earl grey tea

Then off to do Week 3 Day 2 of Couch to 5K… it’s kicking my ass to be honest! I have begun talking to the lady who tells me to “warm up”, “RUN!!!” and “walk”. I beg her to say walk… while gasping for air. The people in my neighborhood give me LOTS of room as they walk past the “gibbering white lady”… 😀 Last night was particularly tough. It’s cold AND it was raining… that sprinkly kind of rain that isn’t enough to call rain, but still is rain. Like misting or something. The nice thing was that it kept me cool… the hard part was worrying I’d throw out one of my knees in a slip and fall. I find it terrifying to run and more terrifying to run in the RAIN! But dammit… I did it! And there is a sense of accomplishment at the end of the routine… like, “Holy shit, I can’t breathe, but I did it!!!” and “Yay me”… which I say out loud and make the neighbors stare even more. 😀 I just keep chanting… I’M GOING TO BE FIT AND HEALTHY, IT MAY KILL ME, BUT I’LL BE FIT!!

I hope everyone is having a great week! I am 🙂

Ciao!

Quote of the day: No one is going to tell you to get off your ass and work out. Motivation comes from within. No one wants this more than you do… WORDS TO LIVE BY!

Random pic to show how I feel this week:

Happy 🙂

Monday was the 2nd PP (Pure Protein) day in a row (2 more to go).

Daily weight loss: 0.9 lb/0.4 kg
Total weight loss: 50 lb/22.71 kg

Today was my first full time day back at work since last week’s trip to HK. First thing I did was look at the temp… 41F… brrrr. I have to psych myself up for the 1.5 km (1 mile) walk to work, but I layered, thought about what Kath says (shivering burns calories) and headed off. First stop… the egg shop, where I pick up my daily 2 tea eggs 🙂

A bit of history for those of you following… I’m a South Florida girl who loves the sun and the heat… I wouldn’t move to the cold parts of the U.S. for a million dollars a month… well, maybe a million, but not a penny less!!! I just finished living in the Middle East for 3 years, where 41 was normal… 41 CELSIUS THAT IS!!! Warm, sunny, low humidity… ahhhhh! Now I’m in China… let’s just say it’s not so warm and sunny… LOL. The job is pretty good though, and I have goals!

I saw two new couples today in my clinic (both from the States) and that considerably brightened my day!

I walked to the halal restaurant to meet Lucy for lunch and had the beef with cilantro and garlic stems… yummy!

Afternoon of creating PowerPoints for staff development, I left a bit early to go to the grocery store (round 2… see yesterdays blog)… and it was  SHIFT CHANGE for the taxi drivers! WTF??? This was not happening… I need groceries… I even had my assistant, Kitty, offer a 100 RMB tip to a driver… who turned it down! Then I look to my right and see a taxi man waving his arms (he had just spoken with the driver who turned us down) and he says come on, I will take you… oh thank God!!! So in the car we go, Kitty tells him where we need to go and he gets us there in pretty good time. When I go to pay, I hand him the fare and the extra 100 RMB… he refuses to take it… I insist… he says no, and moves his shirt collar to show me a wooden cross… I’ve had my Random Act of Kindness for the week and walk away with a big smile… even in the land of loogyville… nice things can happen 🙂

Edited… LOL, I forgot to add dinner in my blog, I was so excited about the RAofK 🙂 Dinner was a stir fry of pork tenderloin, whole onions and garlic stems… it was super yummy! And my before bed snack was a pot of FF yogurt with splenda and bran… Now it’s complete 😀

Ciao!

Quote of the day: If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.  ~Dalai Lama

Saturday was a PV day… and since I received a message about this…
PV = Protein & Veggie day
PP = Pure Protein day

Daily weight loss: 0.2 lb/0.1 kg
Total weight loss: 48.0 lb/21.81 kg
Which is exactly where I was on Tuesday’s weigh in, the day prior to going to Hong Kong, so all in all, I’m pretty proud of the fact that I didn’t gain anything while on my birthday trip to Hong Kong… not that I did any big cheat or anything, but I did have 4 PV days in a row, and that is not good. I also exceeded my goal for my birthday by 3 pounds, which is AWESOME, but missed my mini-goal that I set after reaching that goal, by 2 pounds… silly me for setting the bar too high… LOL

Busy day on Saturday, first… it was my birthday… awesome day to be born! Second, we had to get Ethel up and off to the airport early in the morning for her flight to Manila. We were sad to see her go, as we had planned on her coming to Hangzhou with us.

Breakfast: Pot of FF (fat free) Greek yogurt with splenda and bran, while I caught up on emails, chatted on Skype with some special people and then wrote my blog.

After breakfast and while Lucy was having a lie in (she loves sleeping!!!) I took a long, luxurious bath salts bath in the deep soaking tub of the suite we were staying in. Ahhh! Did I mention we got this free suite upgrade because it was my birthday? How cool is that!? Then out of the tub to get ready to finish packing and check out of the South Pacific Hotel.

Check out completed we decided to head back over to Time’s Square and do the money exchange thing and then we went to caffe HABITU for postcards, coffee and a light lunch. I had a skinny (skim milk) cafe latte with splenda and a HABITU salad, mixed greens with avocado (yes, it was worth it) and smoked salmon.

Then off to the money exchange and then the hotel for our bus ride back to the airport. What a wild ride that was! He was 15 minutes late in getting to us, and I was worried we weren’t going to be there the 2 hours before the flight cut-off (I have extreme travel anxiety, and worry about these things obsessively… I am not afraid of flying, because I’m not afraid of dying, but I get anxious about whether or not I’ve packed everything, left anything behind, will get to the airport, etc) so there I sat in the hotel lobby, twitching and bobbing and driving Lucy crazy! We had NOTHING to worry about. This man drove the HUMONGOUS bus like we were in the F-1, he handled it like it was a Porsche… Lucy suggested I film it, but I was too busy holding on and might have barfed if I was trying to video it! We got to the airport in under 45 minutes and that was even with picking up someone at a different hotel! (You can look back to the Thursday post, this usually take a minimum of just over an hour, and the other night it was over 2 hours!!!!) I was impressed 😀

Checked in and when at the gate realized that they had not put me in a window seat, but in a MIDDLE seat… the DREADED MIDDLE seat!! So I went up, put on my best smiley face and asked for a change for Lucy and I… the lady said that she would have to wait until check in was closed, but there was a reserved row, and she’d try to get us in it… and she did, which is awesome 🙂 Dinner on plane was, of course, non-Dukan friendly, but I did pick out the fish and dip it in green tea to get the “stuff” off of it, and ate it. I also ate a few teaspoons of the cottage cheese I was somehow able to bring as a carry-on 😀 FF Cottage cheese, of course.

Flight a bit bumpy, but no problems and the icing on the cake… when Chinese Immigration scanned my passport for re-entry… a little machine said HAPPY BIRTHDAY! What a cool surprise… the Immigration lady smiled and looked at my passport and also wished me a happy birthday… feelin’ the love ❤

At the airport Kitty and KaKa were there to pick us up and off to my apartment we went. Did a bit of unpacking and made a light meal of stir fried shrimp, edamame and garlic cloves…. yummy… Skyped and then to bed…

I had a great birthday! It is wonderful to spend time traveling with friends… I feel so blessed and loved. I had dozens and dozens of well wishes on my Facebook page and as I responded to every single one of them, I realized just how fortunate I am. One of the things that I noticed is that at least 20 of the “Happy Birthdays” were from women (and a dad or two) who I helped Birth their baby into this world… How awesome is that??? I’m praying for a year with a few less bumps than this past one, but an adventure none the less… because life should be fun!

Ciao!

Quote of the day:

Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets.
So, love the people who treat you right, and forget about the ones who don’t!
And believe that everything happens for a reason…
If you get a chance… TAKE IT!
If it changes your life… LET IT!
Nobody said it would be easy…
They just promised it would be WORTH it.

Take chances… I have 😀

TAKE CHANCES... and this isn't "after" Dukan... this is in the Middle... 😀