Dukan – Day 255 – Mountain Hike

Posted on April 30, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Sunday was a PV Day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.7 lb/0.30 kg
Total Weight Loss: 90.7 lb/41.21 kg

Well thank you to the scales… I was pretty happy to step on them this morning and see a loss!

I was up at the crack of dawn Sunday morning, had an omelet with onions and green peppers for breakfast and slid on the Chaco hiking sandals and headed out the door. It has warmed up here and I wanted to get my hike in before it was too hot. It had rained the night before…

The path leading up to the base of the mountain.

So I wanted to be very careful. I also took my time. I am still having some shortness of breath while climbing, which is frustrating me to no end, given I can run 40+ minutes without stopping… WTH??? Anyway, I kept reminding myself to slow down and took a slow and steady pace up the mountain.

Some of the stones have writings on them.

I like walking on the rough path because I think it helps with balance. You really have to concentrate (or at least *I* do) to stay balanced. A lot of the walkers go on the dirt paths on each side.

After walking/climbing for 1.6 miles, I turned around and headed back. I came upon this group and offered to take a pic of their group… they refused and asked me to become part of their pic 🙂

The guy in the blue shirt helped me out about 25 minutes later 🙂

I’m working on trying to get toner… I actually really don’t like my arms in this shot! I want to thank my friends, Teri and Terri for pointing out that I was wearing SANDALS and not my HIKING BOOTS… Anyhoo, I continued on my hike back… it’s really wonderful walking on the ridge of a mountain. Here’s the route…

It's a nice route up and down the ridge and back.

And as I was walking down the steps to the base, and actually… at THAT MOMENT, thinking about how well my Chaco sandals worked on the slippery, rainy stones, I fell on my ass! HARD! Having had multiple surgeries on my knees, I’m a PRO at falling. I seriously am 😀 A fact I am proud of. Falling on your ass, instead of putting the weight into your wrists, prevents fractures… EXCEPT MY ASS DOESN’T HAVE ANY PADDING ON IT ANYMORE! Or at least it’s greatly reduced! OW! And this is what your butt looks like with a big, deep, ouchy bruise on it…

LOL... you only live once... ViviMokaLaka is the best buddy you can have for documenting your life on film and YES, I have tats... more than a few and my mom has seen all of them.... Oh... and my ass is much smaller than it was 9 months ago... I never would have posted a bruise on THAT ass!

So, going back to the man in the blue shirt sitting next to me in the group shot. He ran up the steps, quick as lightening, to help me get up. I thought that was very sweet. And then he yelled at me, in Mandarin for hiking with sandals on… I showed him the bottom of the sandal in a plea for understanding, but he wasn’t having any of it! He then gave me HIS walking stick and told me (in Mandarin) to follow him the rest of the way down and to walk sideways so I wouldn’t fall again. What a sweetie 🙂 I made it down the rest of the way without any trouble… LOL

Here’s how the hike went:

Nice hike! I know that 909 feet isn't a huge climb up, but it's pretty impressive to me 🙂

So, that was my hike. I then met a couple of friends at 35mm Coffee shop for an iced latte, then went home and showered. I then walked to the hospital to give baby Lyla a bath and some lovin’. Just as I was leaving, Reuben from The Vineyard, was bringing a special request dinner into the room… He’s the guy that made me the special dinner on Saturday night to keep me PP for the day… he’s an awesome chef… reminds me of my son, Nick.

Reuben with Olivia

After seeing that yummy food, I went home and had a pan grilled chicken breast with onion, anoki mushrooms, regular mushrooms and garlic stems. Yummy!

Since I had done the hike, I didn’t run… instead read a little more than half of “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. Awesome book, lots of wisdom.

So that’s it… nice, fully Sunday. Great way to end the week. I’m really enjoying my Sunday hikes!

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 254 – Same weight Different day

Posted on April 29, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Saturday was a PP Day 🙂

Daily weight loss: 0
Total weight loss: 90 lbs/40.91 kg

OK, you can budge oh Scale of Woe!!! Same, same from yesterday.

Had a fun day at work. Did childbirth Ed classes for a western couple in the morning and in the afternoon with a room full of Chinese couples. We did exercise class and a meditation. Good fun!

After work jumped on a bus cross-town to watch the Geelong Cats (Australian Footie) kick butt! The chef, Reuben, cooked me a special PP dinner of sautéed sirloin strips with grilled onions! YUMMY!

A short 20 minute run when I got home then early to bed. Sunday morning is mountain hiking time 🙂

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 253

Posted on April 28, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Friday was a PP day 🙂

Daily weight gain: 0.7 lb/0.30 kg
Total weight loss: 90.0 lb/40.91 kg
Current weight: 165 lb/75 kg

Friday was suppose to be my day off, but marketing asked if I could do a class in a village outside of Hangzhou, so I agreed and got picked up at 730 a.m. Turned out to have 90 pregnant women there to hear my class on water birth!

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 2 slices ham and a baby bell cheddar (2 oz, low fat)
Dinner: 3 skinny pork chops with sautéed chunks of onion
Snack: pot of fat free yogurt with bran and Splenda

I also gave baby Lyla her first bath and massage and played the stick your tongue out game with her… She did 🙂

Her dad took a couple other cool pics, as well…

I walked the 1 mile home from work and cooked a yummy dinner. About an hour later I tied up my running shoes and headed out the door for a run. I started the Bridge to 10K program. The first 10 minutes I tried to talk myself out of it, LOL… But the other me kicked negative Nellie to the curb and kept going! Here’s the results of the run…

Yeah, I rocked it 😀

Came home, showered and went to bed with my iPad to read… Never read the first word! Out like a light, woke up 10 minutes before alarm feeling GREAT!

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 252 – Recipe: stir fry leftovers

Posted on April 27, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Thursday was a PV day 🙂

Daily weight GAIN: .3 kgs… As I predicted would happen!

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 3 slices of boiled ham and 1 tea egg
Dinner: Chicken breast and left over veggies in the fridge
Snack: pot of FF Greek yogurt with bran and Splenda

Exercise:
1 mile walk to work
1 mile walk home from work
That’s it. Exhausted!

I finished reading SweetHeart by Chelsea Cain… Riveting!

Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 12 minutes
Serves: 1

Ingredients:
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 large onion, cut chunky
1/3 red pepper, diced
4 asparagus spears, cut into bite sized pieces
Handful mushroom, chopped
6-8 green olives
2 Tbs hot saucy kind of stuff… Mine is in Chinese… Its like a hot pepper salsa, it’s yummy!

Coat pan/wok with non-stick spray OR 1 Tbs coconut oil. Turn stove on med-high heat.
Place chicken on hot oil carefully. Place lid and let sizzle for 3 minutes.
Turn chicken over, replace lid for 1 minute.
Toss in red pepper and onion. Replace lid. Cook for 3 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium.
Place asparagus and mushrooms in, stir. Replace lid for 2 minutes.
Place 2 Tbs of salsa in pan and stir in well.
Replace lid, turn heat down to med-low. Simmer 2 minutes.
Serve and Enjoy!

Ciao!

Dukan – Days 249 & 251

Posted on April 26, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Monday was a PP day 🙂
Wednesday was a starvation day 😦 Poor planning!

Monday stats: +0.4 lb/+0.2 kg – Total: 89.8 lbs/40.81 kgs
Tuesday’s weight didn’t get recorded because I got roused out of bed for a birth.
Wednesday stats: -0.9 lb/0.44 kg – Total: 90.7 lbs/41.21 kgs

I’m so exhausted from the 16 hour birth marathon I ran yesterday that I can’t for the life of me remember what I ate on Monday… oh… let me go look at my journal… lol

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 1 tea egg, tin of tuna with dijon mustard
Dinner: Chicken breast with onions and garlic stems
Snack: pot of FF yogurt with splenda and bran

Monday Exercise: 3 games of wii Bowling (high score of 212!!) and a 1 mile walk to work, from work and then around the block for a total of 3 miles.

Tuesday Exercise: 3 mile run

Wednesday food:
Breakfast: none
Lunch: 2 tea eggs
Snack: 2 tea eggs
Dinner: yeah… i’m sure you know where this is going… the last tea egg
I was at a birth all day… I didn’t plan well. There were no protein sources. At 1130 the Ayi (maid) that cleans my house and my office lovingly went to the tea egg shop and brought me 5 eggs… YOU ROCK AYI!!!!!! But that was all I ate, all day… which is very, very, very bad!
Snack… after I dragged my butt home after midnight: a baby bell round. I estimate I had less than 500 calories yesterday and I suspect it will show with a weight INCREASE tomorrow, as crazy as that sounds. On this diet you HAVE TO EAT!

Wednesday Exercise: I labored a lady all day… that is like running a marathon! 🙂 LOL, I did hip squeezes, back rubs and other things to help her… my pecs are feeling the workout from the hip squeezes! I walked home (although it was more like a run on the timing) after midnight… 1 mile.

Nice birth, baby girl… happy mom and dad, and that’s what counts.

Birth… it does a midwife good 🙂

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 248 – I DID IT :)

Posted on April 22, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Sunday was PV (Protein/Veggie) Day 😀

Daily Weight Loss: 0.9 lb/0.44 kg
Total Weight Loss: 90.2 lbs/41.01 kgs

So in 8 months and 3 days I’ve reached Dr. Dukan’s True Weight for me.
I also COMPLETED COUCH 2 5 K last night. So I reached TWO goals in less than 12 hours! 😀 😀 😀 😀

Breakfast: Bacon and egg omelet with bran
Lunch: Green salad with grilled chicken breast
Dinner: Ground beef, onions and mushrooms cooked Vietnamese lemongrass sauce. YUM!

Exercise:
2.15 mile mountain hike in the morning
3.11 mile run in the evening

I wanted to upload a couple pics, but the internet here in China is NOT cooperating 😦 I’ll see if I can upload them directly from my iPhone…

Bigger and better update coming soon with lots of before and after pics from the past year… should be fun!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: I’m determined to not die with millions in the bank, but memories in my heart! ~ Sandi Blankenship, in response to MJ 🙂

Pic I couldn’t upload earlier…

Dr. Dukan's True Weight met 🙂 I'm going 4.5 kgs less (10 pounds), as my own goal, but reaching this... AWESOME!

Dukan – Day 247

Posted on April 22, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Saturday was a PP day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lbs/0.20 kgs
Total Weight Loss: 89.3 lbs/40.61 kgs Just 300 grams from my Dukan True weight and just 10 pounds until I reach my goal weight of 155.

Breakfast: 2 Tea Eggs
Lunch: 1 Tea Egg, tin of tuna with dijon mustard
Dinner: Pork Chop with onion and garlic stems (so glad I was able to go into town and get some, I’ve missed the garlic stems so much!)
Snack: Pot of FF Greek yogurt with Splenda and bran

Exercise:
1 mile/1.5 km walk to work
1 mile/1.5 km walk home from work
3.11 mile/5.1 km run in the evening

I taught two Childbirth Education classes today. My morning class was for expats and the afternoon class was for our Chinese clients. I love that I get to do so much education!

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend! The weather here has been perfect!

Ciao!

Travel – Spring Hiking in TongLu, China

Posted on April 21, 2012 by flamidwyfe

So on Thursday my work sponsored a trip to TongLu. We did 3 really amazing and fun activities during the 11 hour trip. Cave hiking, a bamboo raft ride down the river and mountain hiking. There were about 50 of us on the trip and I really had a great time.

We started out at around 740 a.m. from the hospital and headed towards TongLu. First stop the Caves near TongLu.

Where we went... Hangzhou is in the upper right corner.

ViviMokaLaka and I on the bus!

The tour guide and the head of our Marketing department encouraged people to sing. I tried to ignore him, but alas, felt bad because no one else would volunteer. So I got up and sang “You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker… lol, thank God for the music on my iPhone!

Next up, my Ayi (Chinese for housekeeper), she works at our hospital and cleans my house once a week, she’s AWESOME! She sang after me, then lots of people sang!

Ayi singing her heart out!

Then we arrived at the caves and got in line with the rest of the tourists… I think I’m starting to blend in 🙂

I need to stop doing that to my forehead!

One of the murals painted on the ceiling just past the entrance to the cave.

The map of the cave we explored.

We hiked in the cave for over 2 hours… it was pretty rugged terrain at some points and wet and slippery. I was the only one in the group with hiking shoes on… some of the women had HIGH HEELS! Maybe they didn’t get the memo we were HIKING… 😀

Me and Vivien... Chinese daughter.

The lighting was pretty amazing.

Magic Herbs... really? 😀

Ayi and her husband.... these two are awesome. I love how Mr. Ayi wore a suit. He did some pretty impressive GQ poses in the caves!

Dressed for cave exploring 🙂

ViviMokaLaka

In front of the Wishing Well Pond...

So, the Wishing Well Pond. In the middle of the pond was a vessel that was maybe 12 inches x 8 inches… it was about 20 feet from the edge. In the pond itself was tons of coins and there were some in the vessel, as well. I pull out a 1 RMB coin to toss in the well and hand one to Vivien… I made my wish and did an underhand softball toss and CLING, smack dab in the middle of the vessel!!!!!!! Woot! I made a very specific wish and that was that… off for more cave exploring 😀

Wishing Well vessel

Vivi and I

On the way out of the caves you go through the booths selling all the wares you could imagine… I found something that I actually wanted, Vivien read the ingredients, all Dukan friendly so I bought two jars of this hotter than Hades chili sauce… hoo boy is it good!

Hot Chili stuff.. Mmmmm

As you can see, I was dipping my eggs in it… while opening the jar, Vivien snapped this lovely picture of me…

Tea Egg alert!

We then headed through town and saw some interesting things like…

I'm used to this by now... sometimes I wonder if it's OK that I am.

Then we arrived at the restaurant where we had lunch. Now, I have to say here that I LOVE eating in China… even though I’m on Dukan. It is such a social event. Everyone taking their chopsticks and getting food from the lazy susan… it’s awesome. I know that some people might think that’s gross, but it’s so social. It was similar in Abu Dhabi, where you would basically get the food with either your fingers or the fork you were eating with. There is something so familial about it… I love it 🙂

I was too busy making sure I got the proteins that I only got one picture 🙂

We then loaded back up in the bus and headed to the river. We took bamboo rafts down the river for about a 45 minute ride. I was happy that I could see the bottom at all times. I have big issues with wood bridges, bamboo rafts and grates… all of which I had to use today! LOL

Our transportation down the river.

So glad I had on my water-proof Chaco hiking boots... I love my boots, btw!

Our bamboo raft pilot

The view from the raft

Those two guys work in our Administration department... they were chasing us down the river bank trying to shoot us with water cannons.... they missed, our pilot kept us safe... the other 3 rafts, got soaked! LOL

Then after a 40 minute ride on the bus, we ended up at the Daqishan National Forest Park. I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

The sign says it all!

Bamboo Forest... you could hear the wind whistling through the trees!

Um, Mom... notice what I'm doing??? Walking on a grate, attached to the side of a mountain in China... this caused my already tachycardic heart rate to increase even more!!!

Map of the hike!

This is the Dean in charge of the inpatient VIP center. One of my biggest supporters to improve the healthcare here at our hospital.

Heart failure... walking over wooden bridges with a big drop below...

The scenery was just gorgeous!

This was walking over the waterfall in the last photo.

We made it to the top... Heavenly Lake

There were 2 ways down... hike back down or take the FLYING SQUIRREL... LOL. Seriously, that was the name. Guess which one I took?

And I made Vivien go with me! Please note the double seat belts... oh, and I was responsible for the entire braking system... we went fast!!!

The man who's arm you can see, stopped us and made me put away my camera... he told Vivien I'd lose it if I didn't... it was a pretty wild ride, thanks mister 🙂

And moments… literally MOMENTS after I stepped off The Flying Squirrel… my phone rang. It was a Blocked Call, but I knew it was the call I was waiting for… and it was! My heart was pounding, I wanted this call so bad… SO BAD I WISHED FOR IT THIS MORNING… just 3 hours earlier… when I threw the coin in the fountain… and here was the call… And my wish came true. It made my day… it made an already amazing day even more amazing. I know, you guys are all wondering what my wish was… I’ll share that in due time, in the future… I promise 🙂 Just know that it was an awesome wish!

And then we were back at the hospital, around 6 p.m…. very long, but very fun day! On my walk home I ~~stalked~~ walked up behind this lady and kid and snapped this shot…

Cutest little mohawk in Hangzhou!

And that, my friends, was the end of an awesome day! I didn’t do my run, as planned, given that I hiked both a cave and a mountain for just under 8 kms…

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend!

Ciao!

Dukan -Day 249 – SOCLOSE

Posted on April 21, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Friday was a PV (Protein/Veggie) Day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 1.1 ponds/0.50 kg
Total Weight Loss: 88.9 pounds/40.41 kgs
I’ve lost 34.66% of my body weight in 8 months.
My BMI has gone from 45.17 to 28.6
I have 1.1 pounds to reach my Dukan True Weight and just 1/2 a kilogram… HALF!

This is going to be a short one, because I’m working on a long post related to my work field trip on Thursday, and I’m on lunch… Albeit a 90 minute lunch (that’s what we get at my job!).

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs on the bus ride to K’s to see baby H and my little man Søren.
Lunch: Shashimi (salmon) and a baby bell cheddar round
Dinner: Stir fried steak with asparagus and mushrooms and seasoned with cumin and salt… Yum!

href=”https://flamidwyfe.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120421-124736.jpg”>

And a pic from Thursday… I look at these pics and seriously can’t believe that’s me… Please note my thighs aren’t touching, LOL

So, back to working on the other post… I hope everyone has a fab weekend!

Ciao!

Dukan – Days 243 & 244 – Eight months in!

Posted on April 20, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Wednesday was a PV day and Thursday was a PP day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 1.5 pounds/0.70 kgs (2 days)
Total Weight Loss: 87.8 pounds/39.91 kgs/6.27 stone

Wednesday was a work day. And after work I had dinner with friends at The Vineyard. It’s run by an American guy named Reuben from Boston. Weds. night is game night, and if you play a game you get 10% off! We played UNO… I won 😀

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 1 tea egg and tin of tuna
Dinner: Philly cheese steak and a side salad

Wednesday was an off night from running, so I walked 5 kms instead.

Thursday was my hospital’s spring walk. I’m going to do a completely separate blog on my adventures with lots of pictures.

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: In a small village, pork, tofu and chicken… I didn’t have the rice that was placed directly on front of me!

Dinner: Stir fried pork curry with onions and garlic cloves. I also dipped it in some kick ass hot sauce that I bought on the field trip! Hot as all get out, but yum!!

Exercise: 3.47 km cave hike, up and down & 4.75 km mountain hike, that was pretty challenging… Here’s how we got down from the top of the mountain… The Flying Squirrel…

Fun day… Just 1 kg exactly to be at Dr. Dukan’s True Weight!!! ONE KILOGRAM! That’s 2.2 pounds. It’s really crazy to think that I’ve nearly lost 90 pounds in 8 months! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… THIS DIET WORKS! IF YOU FOLLOW IT TO THE LETTER, IT REALLY WORKS!

I’m off to bed… I’ll post all about cave hiking, mountain hiking and wishes coming true n about 10 hours 🙂

Ciao!