Today’s Weight: 146
Goal Weight: 155
Busy vacation. Worked the last two days teaching basic and emergency birth skills to birth assistants, doulas and midwifery students and had a great time!
Eating well, visiting friends and family…
Tomorrow I’m running, going to the beach, movies with Jenni and shopping with the girlfriends.
Hope everyone is having a good week!
Ciao!
Today was my first official Celebration Meal!
Daily Weight: 149
Goal Weight: 155
Started my day off right with a run through Sandy’s hilly neighborhood…
I then made a yummy omelet with onions and goat cheese Gouda and bacon for mom and I…
Then after catching up on emails and blogs I decided to go out for a drive in Hendersonville. Picked up a Dunkin Donuts coffee and rode around town while chatting on my cell to my peeps in Florida 🙂
I ended up at The Fresh Market and nearly cried with joy at the variety and choices and the fact that I could read the LABELS!!! Bought made to order Shashimi…. Yum! Then found my way back to Sandy’s house.
Diner at Mark & Eric’s. My first official Dukan Celebration Meal! It’s my first because I’ve been traveling and unable to make my own and I wanted it to be special, and it was! Mark made paella with scallops, chicken and pork… YUMMY!!! The picture does not do it any justice!
And Eric made goat cheese pudding… Good Lord have mercy, I can’t describe how amazing this was!! He put a few raspberries on top and served it with Godiva coffee… Mmmmm!
I got my doggie cuddles in with Sophie and Bella…
FANTASTIC DAY!
Ciao!
Well, what a week! Going to do a breakdown with pictures.
Current Weight: 149
Goal Weight: 155
Sunday, June 3 – flew Guangzhou to Hangzhou. Flew between the clouds…
Went straight to hospital and saw 3 patients, rushed home, had reunion with Tits the Cat…
threw clothes in washer, started to unpack, knock on door… It’s….
KITTY!!!
I also got to hang out with Velina, Robin and their gorgeous baby and show off the beautiful necklace that Sheila, Greg and Lily gave me…
Finished repacking, went to bed…
Monday, June 4
got picked up by driver to head airport. Hangzhou to Beijing, Beijing to JFK… Here’s a shot from over Siberia… It really is frozen tundra!
Get into JFK pretty much on time, only to wait 1 hour and 40 minutes for my bags. Major panic, get through customs, race to airport train to go to AA building, still need to check in, recheck bags, get through security and they are already boarding… Major panic… People get me through quick, I’m trying to breathe, and I get on 2nd to last… Phew! Then we sat on the Tarmac for one and a half hours! Argh! Finally up, up and away and this gorgeous sunset off the coast of NC…
Finally got to Miami and Miri’s smiling face there to pick me up!
Tuesday, June 5
Up before the crack of dawn and out for a run… I love my hometown!
Then I had a haircut and color…
And sushi with my niece, Amanda 🙂 Then off to visit the kids and grandkids, then a run/walk with Michele and Michael and dinner.
Wednesday, June 6
Up early, breakfast with Tiffany and then out to Okeechobee to visit my friend Julia, who is not only a super awesome friend, but is hands down the best massage therapist in the world! Two hours of myofascial therapy, craniosacral therapy and some lymph work. Lunch with her son at Golden Corral and then back to her office for another hour or so of traditional massage. It was all amazing. Then back to Port St Lucie to pick up Sydnie for the night.
Thursday, June 7
Breakfast with Sydnie…
And dropped her off to school. Then back to motel and Jenni, Sadie, Tiffany and Joey came over to spend time in pool with me. Wore a bikini, LOL… That seems weird to me.
I then headed 90 miles south to check out a 1973 Airstream Land Yacht… I bought it!
Then raced back up to home to pick up Sadie from camp so we could go to Jammin’ Jensen with my friends… Just writing this makes me feel like I haven’t had a holiday, lol! Here’s some pics from the awesome time I had with my friends…
Then over to our friend Denise’s house, since she had neck surgery and couldn’t come out to play, we took the party to her…
Then off to bed with Sadie, so I can get up early to head 5 hours north in the morning!
Friday, June 8
Up early, drop Sadie to her mommy and hit the road. First stop, 2 hour drive to Daytona to see Shauna, Mouna and Fiona. Lovely visit. Then another 1.5 hours to Ocala to register for the 5K and get my BIB… How exciting! My first BIB!!
Then another hour drive up to get my mom and an hour back to Ocala to meet my friend Teri, who came down to support me 🙂 Dinner Outback, visit with my nephew and his wife and kids and then to bed!
Saturday, June 9 – RACE DAY!
What a rush! My friend Gail told me I’d start out to quick and she was right… My first kilometer was in 7:12… I slowed my pace, walked some, ran, met a lovely lady named Trisha, picked up discarded cups (I know, I know) and finished. It was awesome.
Then breakfast and back to hotel to pack and hit the road… 9 hour drive to North Carolina with my mom to her best friend Sandy’s house. This is the lady I was named after 🙂
Sunday, June 10
Beautiful , cool, rainy morning in North Carolina. Mom, Sandy and I met Eric for breakfast and then Eric and I went for a hike up Mt. Pisgah.
Hike Statistics
Difficulty: Moderate
Total Length: 3 mi
Trail Tread Condition: Moderately Rough
Climb: Climbs Moderately
Lowest Elevation: 4980 ft
Highest Elevation: 5730 ft
Total Elevation Gain: 750 ft
Trails/Roads Used: Mount Pisghah
Hike Configuration: Out-and-back
Starting point: Mount Pisgah Parking Area, Blue Ridge Parkway milepost 407.6
How to Get There: From Asheville, take the Blue Ridge Parkway south to the Mount Pisgah Parking Area, on the left, at milepost 407.6. Park at the second parking area; the first is for the Buck Springs trail.
Great hike!
Then back to Sandy’s and I grilled steaks and leeks for dinner…
So, that’s the wrap up! I’ll try to be a better blogger and update again tomorrow 🙂
Ciao!
5K done!!! Finished 313 out of 347 🙂 20th out 41 in my age group 45-49 ladies.
Full update fter I’m in North Carolina tonight!
Thursday was Consolidation Day 20 of 500 🙂
Daily Weight: 149 (please don’t yell at me, Mom!)
Goal Weight: 155
Early start for me because I’m going to Dongguan to one of our hospitals there to do a comprehensive health and safety audit and to give 2 lectures on International Patient Safety goals. I love visiting the hospitals in our group (my company owns 20 maternity hospitals in Southern China) and I always feel warmly received… This was at the main entrance when I arrived…
A big shout out and thanks to my Guangzhou PA Rose, who sent out this picture to the branding department at Dongguan so a more up-to-date me is on the posters 🙂
These hospitals have amazing branding and marketing departments and the are FINALLY using new pictures on the posters. Here’s a poster from April 2011. The pic is one that they were still using a month ago!!
That’s my Vivien in the picture above. She’s the Director of the Hangzhou International Medical Care Center… My home base hospital. Pic was taken April 2011. I’ve changed a lot, Vivi still looks awesome!
So, after getting a nice tour of all 7 floors of the hospital and enough tray brewed Chinese tea to have a good buzz going, I was off on my own to do the audit. These are some of the challenges that I came across. What I love about finding these things is that they are wonderful for educational purposes and a way for me to be a change agent. Having the support of the administration of the hospitals is key.
Can you guess what’s behind this picture frame?
You’re correct if you guessed fire fighting equipment!
Sure looks pretty, unless there is an emergency! At least they don’t have any hiding behind couches like this one…
One thing I really loved was that these posters were everywhere in the hospital…
And they take it seriously with a zero tolerance policy. This is the first Chinese hospital I’ve been in that I could not smell cigarettes! All of our hospitals have a no smoking policy, but the nurses are too polite to say anything. This hospital has empowered the nurses to say no! So exciting!
A big issue I have with H&S here is Sharps containers. I either find yellow bags in cardboard boxes or like this…
They put yellow bags inside the Sharps container and when it’s full, they take it out and put it with the medical waste. I can’t imagine the needle stick injuries that occur 😦 There is a very high Hepatitis B rate here and I shutter to think how high it must be in the healthcare practitioner field. I am currently trying to get our company to convert to snap on top Sharps containers. They are very good at complying with my suggestions!
This is another really cool thing I found today. One of the elevator doors…
After the inspection I did 2 health and safety presentations. The first was on patient identification and the other on the “time out” procedure. And then, as a bonus I showed them my Water Birth in Pictures presentation which is my daughter Tiffany’s 4th birth. A huge hit. Lots of questions, everyone loves that presentation 🙂 Heck I love it. I’ve presented it probably 20 times and I still beam with pride at Tiff’s beauty in labor and the moment she and Joey bring the baby up out of the womb.
This is right before I left to go back to Guangzhou. Me and the Admin from Maria Maternity…
Crazy drive back to GZ and I hurriedly changed clothes and ran to the subway because I had a 7 pm appt with Joey, the torturer, errr my personal trainer. It hurts my triceps to type this post! Lol. We focused on arms and abs for an hour. I then went out to run. It was 84 degrees and 96% humidity… I didn’t get too far…
Note that the stadium I’m running around is to the southeast of where the GPS has me running in circles, lol? Anyway, I pooped out. I couldn’t get any kind of rhythm going, so I jog/walked/limped to the subway and went back to my room.
Food:
Breakfast: Low fat Greek yogurt with flaxseed and Splenda
Lunch: broiled fish, garlic stems, broccoli raub with big chunks of ginger
Dinner: 2 chicken sausages, low fat cottage cheese
Snack after workout: 20 almonds and 2 oz low fat sharp cheddar
Ciao!
I’ve lost count of the days since I’m in Hong Kong, but all’s well in the Consolidation Phase.
Daily Weight: 152 lb/69 kg
Goal weight: 155 lb/70.5 kg
Monday:
Early morning train into Hong Kong for shopping and rest 😀
Shopped until I dropped! I bought a pair of Nike running compression pants in Tight Fit. They feel SO much better than the freaking garment I’ve been wearing.
I had a 1 hour foot massage at Joy Foot Club…
And a 25 minute head, neck and shoulder massage. I then went and did more shopping 🙂 I also went for a 3 mile walk.
I finished my Monday with a Skype chat with Kira, Dan, Søren and Helena which made me very happy! 🙂 I love Skype! A few days ago I got to chat with both daughters, sons-in-law and all 6 GRANDKIDS!
Breakfast: Almonds and Edam cheese
Lunch: Street pork… Mmmmmmmm
Dinner: Rocket salad with artichokes
Snack: FF Greek yogurt
It’s Tuesday afternoon now. This is what I’m doing this very minute…
Typing 2 blogs while getting a pedi… Cheeky, I know 😀 I just finished a one hour full body massage… A light massage, cuz I’m still tender in spots!
This morning I got up at 545 am and went out and did this…
Those are from the entire trek… This is the run portion…
Great morning, followed by some shopping and now pampering… After my toes are dried I’m walking to the subway and getting back to mainland China… 6 days and I fly HOME!!!
Ciao!
Tuesday was a gym day and Wednesday was an off night.
Daily weight: 153.38 lb/69.72 kg
Goal weight: 155 lb/70.5 kg
Tuesday was filled with rewriting PowerPoint presentations and then out the door at 5! I got to the gym and did 15 minutes on the treadmill and the a one hour BodyBalance class… It kicked butt! It is by the same people that do BodyPump, but it incorporates yoga, Pilates and tai chi into one pretty intense hour. I’ve decided after the class that I cannot wear my pressure garments during workouts. They prevent me from using my abs and I need to use them. I’m on the lookout for compression garments that don’t have hooks and aren’t s hardcore to wear while working out.
After the class I took the subway back to my side of Guangzhou and walked 1.2 miles to the Arabic restaurant where I had mixed grill and hummus with cucumbers to dip in it.
Then a 1.7 mile walk back to the hospital.
Wednesday was a great day, as evidenced by the water birth post 🙂 After the birth Jenny and I took the subway downtown so I could have western food. And I had my first CELEBRATION meal… Not that I did much different, but I had a burger, no bun, with bacon, cheese and mushrooms and a side salad. For dessert I had a créme brûlée and cafe latte. Nice dinner… I had the jitters from the dessert… Lol. Not sure I’ll do that again any time soon. I then hopped the subway back to the hospital.
Today (Thursday) is 2 weeks since my surgery… I can’t believe how fast it has gone by! I am still bruised, but feeling better. I have weird nerve ending kind of stuff going on and the back of my legs still smart, but they are healing. Rose, my assistant took this pic this morning. Oddly, I have bruises on the bottom nowhere near where the lipo was and they hurt!
Another odd thing I notice when looking at this picture is that my hip width is smaller than my shoulder width. I’ll do measurements when I’m back in Hangzhou June 3rd. And for those of you who don’t know… Shane, Sofia, Sydnie, Sadie and JR are my grandkid’s names. Celeste has a special place on my ankle 🙂
Monday was a RETURN TO WORKING OUT DAY!!! WOO HOO!!!
Today’s Weight: 152.72 lb/69.42 kg
Goal weight: 155 lb/70.5 kg
So, while it’s kinda cool to see my weight in the 60’s kg range, it’s not where I want to be. My goal is 155 and because of a number of reasons (age, body type, lack of ovaries since I was 21) I need to keep some body fat. God knows I don’t want hot flashes!
I’m eating, lots of food. I’ve added on some fruit and cheese and nuts. I think it may be the swelling and edema are going down and the inflammatory response to the liposuction. For those that are curious, the fat they sucked out of me weighed 3.96 pounds or 1.8 kg, so it isn’t that 🙂
Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs, cooked in 1 tsp coconut oil with onions and ginger and 1 ounce Edam cheese (thanks Kira, for getting me hooked on its yummy goodness!)
Snack: Half a pear
Lunch: A salad with romaine, red cabbage, 1 ounce Edam cheese and half a chicken (deboned)
Snack: Half a pear
Dinner: Salmon Shashimi with wasabi and soy sauce
Snack at gym: 18 raw almonds
Water: 3.5 liters, 2 cups coffee
Exercise: 35:36 on the treadmill WALKING (can’t run until Thursday). I walked 3.30 km and burned 148 calories. I took a 30 minute break and then I did a 90 minute yoga class… Awesome! Took the subway back to the hospital and didn’t get back until 1015 pm. I felt great after working out!
Breakfast:
Lunch:
I LOVE red cabbage… I could eat it like an apple. I love cutting it up and drizzling with olive oil and a pinch of salt… Yummy!!
Ciao!
So, this is my first official Consolidation Phase post. I’m so used to starting with:
“Today was a PP or PV Day” That I’m going to have to come up with something else!
I decided to make my Consolidation Phase start date May 12. I fasted for surgery on May 10 and was clear fluids only May 11. I had my first piece of fruit on May 12… Mmmmmm 🙂
So Saturday was Consolidation Day 8 out of 500! That might seem daunting to some of you, but Dr. Dukan explains in his book why it is so important to do 5 days for every pound you’ve lost, thus for me it’s 500 days. He says to rest your laurels now is very dangerous, and he’s been right about everything else, so I’m believing him! I like this quote, “Get rid of the illusion that you’ve at last finally taken care of your weight problem and can go back to your old ways. That would be catastrophic”. This phase is to “reset” your body’s internal weight level. My body needs to learn that this is my true weight, not 250+ pounds. I’m in this for the long run!
So here’s the stats:
Today’s weight: 154.7 lbs/70.3 kg
Goal weight: 155 lbs/70.45 kg
I’m still a bit bruised and still sore, but getting better. I’m also still quite swollen in a few places. Didn’t take any Tylenol on Saturday. I am taking a calcium supplement as I’ve been getting a funky cramp in my left foot. I had a lovely foot massage to help with that on Saturday night, as well.
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with onion and chives cooked in 1/2 tsp coconut oil
Lunch: tin of tuna, two tea eggs and a small container of low fat cottage cheese
Snack: 1 ounce of Edam cheese… I missed cheese!
Dinner: Stir fry steak with onions, green peppers and curry spices, green salad
Snack: FF yogurt with flax seed meal and Splenda
On Friday night me and the Guangzhou girls went to dinner at the Arabic restaurant that I love! We spent 3 hours eating, chatting and laughing. I kept it Dukan friendly (not hard with mixed BBQ) and we talked about weight. As it turns out Jenny only weighs 43 kgs and I LOST 45.9 kgs! So we took this pic to compare…
This shot really put things into perspective for me… I lost a WHOLE adult person!
On an exercise note, I walked home from dinner Friday night 1.5 miles. So, so hard not to run. So, so weird to say that, lol! I miss running and I’m living vicariously these two weeks through my running blogger friends! I’ve also decided that in the fall, I’m going to start training to do a triathlon next spring! I’m also looking at 10Ks to run in the late fall.
I’m also back to taking the stairs (I’m staying on the 8th floor of the hospital). Going up, no problem, going down hurts in my upper midline abs area. Not sure why, but sucking it up, supporting with my hand and doing it nonetheless! And I get to start back at yoga tomorrow (Monday!!!).
How is everyone else’s weekend going? Later today I’m going shopping for shoes and a new pair of jeans… I deserve them 😀
Ciao!
Going on a diet and following it to the letter is kind of like going to college. If you’re going to do it right and get a degree and be successful in your ‘career’ you have to study it, learn it, live it and breathe it. That is how college was for me and that has been how following the Dukan Diet has been for me. I bought the book at the urging of my friend Lucy. I threw it in my carry on to read while on vacation in the States last August and didn’t pull it out until I was on the plane going back to Abu Dhabi having been at my class reunion and being horrified at how fat I was in the pictures. Did everyone love me just the same? Of course they did, but OH MY GOD I was fat.
At the very start of the trip I met with my a school colleague, John Geraghty, for some life coaching. My weight was just one of the issues I wanted to discuss and it wasn’t even a major one. I wanted to talk about my career, moving forward, opening myself up for relationships and my weight. I admitted to John at the session that I weighted 255 pounds. The words coming out of my mouth astounded me. How did I get there? John gave me many tools for making changes that needed to be made in order to move forward. In fact, I changed jobs (and countries) the following month and I read Dr. Dukan’s book, word for word on that plane on the way home.
I’ve read all the books… Seriously… ALL OF THEM… This one MADE SENSE. Dr. Dukan’s philosophy on low carb and low fat and learning how to eat well and stay healthy made sense. And so, I embarked on his program August 20, 2012… Dukan Diet 101….
THAT 101 STANDS FOR A LOSS of 101 POUNDS!!! That’s 45.9 KILOGRAMS and 7 STONES 3 POUNDS. A LOT 🙂 A side note… They sucked out 3.96 pounds of fat last Thursday.
I’ve exceeded my goal by one pound. Now, I know, I promised not to weigh for 10 days post op, but I just couldn’t do it. My scale is my friend. It’s literally been there through thick and thin… Literally 😀 I’m not sure what my true weight is, because I still have quite a bit of swelling and edema.
So, what does this mean? IM IN PHASE 3!!! CONSOLIDATION!!!! WOO HOO!!!! I’m actually Day 8 consolidation, as I added cheese and some fruit in my diet last Friday. I felt like I needed the extra good fat in the cheese and the little bit if fructose (I’ve only had 2 apples and 1 pear) for energy while healing. That’s Day 8 of 500 days. Dr. Dukan recommends that you do the consolidation phase 5 days for every pound you lose. In the Consolidation phase you can add back in 2 slices of bread per day… I will NOT be doing that. After reading Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis and just knowing how amazing my body feels without it, I plan on being wheat free for life. Since going wheat free due to the Dukan diet in August I have not had a migraine, vertigo, reflux (heartburn), allergies, joint pain or IBS. NONE. I will pretty much follow a Paleo type meal plan throughout my Dukan Phase 3. I have done extensive reading on all of it… Seriously, like going to college for nutrition, and I have figured out what is best for me.
I’m back to nightly walks, I will do yoga (gentle yoga) starting Monday (okayed by doctor) and can start running again next Thursday, thank God since my first 5K is only 3 weeks and 1 day away!
So that’s the update 😀 I cannot thank all of you enough for the support, love, cheering and good wishes. To my family and friends… You are the BEST… To my new blogging friends… I am so glad we’re on this journey together… You inspire me… All of you!
Ciao!
Parting shots:
Me in April 2011
Jan-April 2011
May-August 2011
Sept-Dec 2011
Today 154 pounds 🙂
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