Dukan – Day 257 & Liebster Award

Posted on May 2, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Tuesday was a PP Day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total Weight Loss: 91.8 lbs/41.71 kgs
**yesterday’s daily weight loss should have been 0.7 lbs, not 1 lb… I must have put transposed the numbers, so if anyone is following that, there has been an adjustment 🙂

Tuesday was May Day… May 1st and it is apparently a public holiday here, so I had the day off… paid. That was nice!

I woke up at 545 a.m. on my day off… UGH! Although I had been sleeping for nearly 8 hours I really, really wanted to see if I could stay asleep… yeah, no. So up I got, jumped in the shower, made a french press carafe of Peet’s Coffee… yum, and laced up my hiking boots with the intention of hiking up the mountain again. Then, while on the bus I decided I wanted to hike around West Lake. The lake is beautiful, it was early morning, shouldn’t be too much foot or bike traffic yet. So I got off the bus and according to my trusty GPS on my iPhone, waited for bus 81. And waited and waited. I finally figured out there was no such thing as Bus 81 😦

So I started walking towards West Lake. I got to a sweet little park and had a couple of tea eggs. I thought I’d need the energy for the 9 mile walk around the lake… while I sat there I got a text from Kira and decided I needed some Soren love, and headed her way, instead!

On the way, I stopped at Pacific Coffee and picked up an iced latte w/skim milk. And took this picture of myself…

Gotta work on that pooch!

I had a fantastic day hanging out with them… ALL DAY! Sat on the couch, cuddled with Soren, pet the cat, chatted with Kira, helped her pack up Soren’s bedroom and watched about 14 episodes (I’m not kidding) of Steven Seagal: Lawman. I actually enjoyed it! Dan brought us iced lattes in the afternoon and then we had Arabic food for dinner…. yum! An all around fun day!

I then walked the 3.41 miles home. That’s 5.48 kms 🙂 Nice walk. Here’s the results…

Nice walk home. The weather has been pretty decent the past few days, temp wise. After I got home I finished reading The Last Lecture and followed up on some emails… chatted with my daughter, Tiffany and off to bed at 10 p.m. I hope everyone is having a good week so far!

Ciao!

LOL… I forgot about the Liebster Award… 😀 My blogging friend Anna nominated me for this award and had this to say about it:

FIVE BLOGS THAT ARE ‘LIEBSTER’ TO ME…

1-Flamidwyfe’s Blog https://flamidwyfe.wordpress.com/ Sandi blogs about her adventures and spectacular success on the Dukan Diet while living in China and being a midwyfe. She is an awesome example of putting your dreams out there and living FULLY!! Also, I wouldn’t even be a blogger if it weren’t for Sandi xo

Five facts:

1. Each of my kids thinks that I favor the others over them… and at various times through their life cycles I have favored them. They are all VERY unique individuals. Right now my favorite is my “baby”, Tiffany LeAnn. She is an amazing human being on many levels and I am most proud to be her mom.

2. I consider myself Evangelical AND and from the Christian Left… some think that’s an oxymoron 🙂 I also love the teachings of Buddha!

3. I’ve been divorced for nearly 19 years… he’s a friend on Facebook. He’s the 2nd husband, who wasn’t a jerk and is still alive, thank God!… LOL. It’s important for people who divorce to put their kids FIRST… I think we mostly did that (there will always be a screw up or three along that path!)

4. I miss living in the Middle East more than I ever could have imagined! Everything about it.

5. I’ve done quite well with removing toxic people from my life and keep them out. It makes for a much cleaner living 🙂

5 blogs I nominate:

1. http://inspiringandhealthyrunninginlondon.wordpress.com/ … her running all over the world inspires me to lace up my shoes!

2. Mel at http://wwangel.wordpress.com/ My first runner’s blog… she ROCKS and is so encouraging to me… thanks Mel!!!

3. Abbi at Lil Monkey’s Mama… today’s post was especially thought provoking!

4. http://lipomachia.wordpress.com/ … a woman who has taken control of her diet after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Not only has she gained control over her blood sugar, but has lost weight to boot! She’s amazing and I’m in awe of her transformation!

5. And http://notimetow8.com/ … his weight loss and his running of his first 5K are spurring me on to keep training for MY 5K… Well done!

If you have been nominated, here is what you do to keep it rolling:

Each Nominee Should:

Choose five, up and coming blogs to give the Liebster award to. Blogs must have less than 200 followers.
Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
Post the award on your blog.
List the bloggers you gave the award to with links to their sites. Leave a comment on their blogs to let them know they’ve received the award.
Share five random facts about yourself!

Dukan – Day 256 – Slip Slidin’ Away

Posted on May 1, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Monday was a PV Day 🙂

Daily weight loss: 1.0 lb/0.44 kg
Total weight loss: 91.6 lb/41.65 kg
8.4 lbs to go to reach my goal weight!

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 2 slices ham & baby bell cheddar round
Dinner: 2 pork chops with onion, bell peppers and mushrooms
Snack: pot of FF Greek yogurt with bran and Splenda

Worked today. Office stuff. My surgery was rescheduled on my request to next week because Saturday is International Midwives Day and I’m planning a celebration at the hospital with the marketing Dept.

Exercise:
1 mile walk to work
1 mile walk home
1.2 mile walk to mall to buy two massive suitcases
1.2 mile walk home from mall dragging said massive suitcases
25 minute run, didn’t set GPS, but I think I got enough exercise in, LOL

I am finally feeling “normal” sized. I am in size 10 pants and medium tops. It’s a good feeling. 8 pounds to go. How awesome is that?

Ciao!

Nothing better than spending a half hour cuddling a newborn. I get PAID to do this 😀

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 vs. Paleo… why does it have to be vs.???

Posted on April 24, 2012 by flamidwyfe

I used to follow this blog… they have a lot of interesting information about the Paleo diet… However, he posted this post and one about a woman who failed to keep her weight off after completing Phase 2 of the Dukan Diet (btw… people fail, diets don’t) and I put a thoughtful, respectful response with my opinion which he moderated and refused to post. I think that sucks… If you don’t agree with what I say, that’s OK, get into an insightful debate with me… but don’t just post the comments that favor your opinion, because that just makes you small minded in my opinion. I’m sure glad there are a lot more Paleo blogs out there that value my opinion and educate me about the benefits of a primal diet.
~Sandi

Paleo Works: How To Diet

We get a lot of questions asking how our way of eating differs from say the Dukan Diet or the Atkins Diet. Well the latter two are indeed quite similar in their make up and include similar foods although at different stages. However many of the foods and even non foods (as may better describe them) included are in fact detrimental to both health and well being. In addition both these diets are specifically geared towards weight loss results and fall short on considering long term sustainability as they are both temporary programs with one focus, losing weight. In particular the Dukan diet severely reduces fat intake and relies upon calorie restriction and exercise to provide results. The Atkins diet fares little better as it encourages you to purchase their own brand processed foods. We will look at the Atkins diet a little closer in this series, however for now…

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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!