Dukan – Day 141 Of Sambuca and portraits…

Posted on January 9, 2012 by flamidwyfe

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 🙂

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 🙂

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

Me with the head pathologist… she’s wonderful!

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

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 😀

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 🙂 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 😀 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!

The corporations lead administrators (CEO in the middle) singing 🙂

Li’an the Senior Midwife and me.

Dr. Jiu, the Medical Director

The girls that work in the main reception.

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

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

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

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

Our Assistant DON dancing with the audience!

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!

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

Me and SuZong, my CEO.

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!

Posted on January 8, 2012 by flamidwyfe

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 🙂
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 😀

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.”
—Janis Joplin

Pics of the day:

On Frozen Pond..

Photo at marketing event… Beautiful!

Dukan – Day 139 – Bye, Bye Lucy

Posted on January 7, 2012 by flamidwyfe

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 “gee, 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, “will I regret not eating this cookie?” – not “will 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 “will 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 😀 I love that I’m surrounded by people who aren’t trying to get me to eat their stuff 🙂 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 🙂

I’m off my pedestal 😀

Ciao!

Quote of the day: “Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
—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 🙂
Before:

After:

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

Posted on January 6, 2012 by flamidwyfe

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 😀 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 🙂

Ciao!

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

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

Dukan – Day 137 How To Save A Life

Posted on January 5, 2012 by flamidwyfe

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 🙂

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:

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

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 🙂

Dukan – Day 136 Back on track!

Posted on January 4, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Today was a PP day… Day 1 of 4 to counter the 4 PV days I had while in Hong Kong.

Daily weight loss: 0.9 lb/0.44 kg
Total weight loss: 57.2 lb/26.01 kg

So I started out my 4 days of Pure Protein in a good way 🙂 and I feel good!

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs 500 mL water, coffee
Lunch: 2 tea eggs and 4 slices of ham, 500 mL water, tea
Dinner: fresh pork from roadside stand (I know, I’m tempting fate), fresh onion from roadside stand and garlic stems
Snack: yogurt with bran and Splenda, 250 mL water, tea

I walked to work (I do this every day) 1 mile/1.5 kms
I walked after work to meet friends for coffee (I usually walk home) 3 miles/4.5 kms
I walked home from coffee 2 miles/3kms
For a total of 6 miles/9 kms. Not so bad 🙂

I did pretty well on the water and I’m happy about that.

I had practice at work today for the talent show we’re doing on Sunday. I’m supposed to perform ABBA’s Dancing Queen… My back up singers have thrown in the towel, but Kitty keeps ~~telling me~~ lying to me, “you sing beautiful, Sandi”… I’m sure a few people are having a good laugh about right now 😀

I hope everyone has a blessed day!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: “If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.”
— Margaret Fuller

Pic of the day: can’t wait to see the people in this picture and give them all a lotta love!

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

Posted on January 3, 2012 by flamidwyfe

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!

Dukan – Day 134… The forgotten post

Posted on January 3, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Sunday was a PV day.

Daily weight loss: a wee bit
Total weight loss: a wee bit more 🙂 (not admitting I forgot to write the figures down to bring to work with me!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 2012 is finally here and it’s going to be great! I will continue on this Dukan journey until the weight is off and keep it off. According to Dr. Dukan, I should reach my goal weight by April 2nd. That would be very cool 🙂 I am resolved to do this for ME, for my health. As of this morning I’ve lost 58 pounds… FIFTY EIGHT POUNDS! And I feel great!

I’m also coming home for a holiday and conference for 3 weeks and I can’t wait. As much as I love traveling, working overseas and experiencing the world, home is truly where my heart is. I’ll bring a piece of home back with me so I won’t miss it so much 😀

I rang in the New Year’s morning with a brisk 20 minute walk and some coffee at McCafe. Then Lucy and I explored the Ladies Market and then had, of all things, pork chops and a salad for lunch… YUMMY! No black-eyed peas to be found anywhere, but I truly believe if you are good to others your karma will be good to you… I’ll have black-eyed peas next year!

Then back to the hostel to pick-up our bags and a mad dash to the airport, where Lucy’s bag was completely emptied and searched, while I had a panic attack over getting on the plane on time!! We walked up to the gate and boarded, me, heart pounding, Lucy smirking… LOL, we are definitely yin and yang!

Back in Hangzhou, Kitty and KaKa waiting to get us just outside customs. It always feels so nice to have people waiting for you when you arrive at the airport! Home by 8 pm and unpacked by 9! Now time to repack for my trip home… 15 more sleeps until I get on the plane! CAN’T WAIT!

Ciao!

Quote of the Day: In too many instances, the march to globalization has also meant the marginalization of women and girls. And that must change ~ Hillary Clinton

Pic if the Day: Lucy, cool as a cucumber on the subway while I’m freaking out that we’ll be late!

Starting off 2012 with memory loss! Dukan – Day 134

Posted on January 2, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Well, this will be a short blog! I typed up a whole blog this afternoon on the work computer (during lunch) and forgot to email it to myself, so you’ll get two tomorrow 🙂

Short version… Lost .2 lbs, had pork chops for lunch in Hong Kong, flew back to Hangzhou in the evening.

Bucket List resolutions kept and/or worked on today: #6, #7, #13, #14… not bad!

Ciao!

2nd quote of the day: Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean ~ Maya Angelo … Lucy said I needed to add working on my anger to my bucket list… Maybe I don’t, I prefer to be clean 😀

Pic of the day: Sadie, Aleisha & Sydnie… Paris 2009

TRAVEL – HAPPY 2012 NEW YEAR!!

Posted on January 1, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Dukan Day 133… PV day, no weight change. Happy New Year, Everyone!

I thought about doing a wrap-up post, but you know what… The past is the past, I’m going to leave it there… All in all I had an amazing year, visiting with friends and family, reconnecting with old friends, holidaying with friends and chatting endless hours on Skype (thanks to Cathy!).

This post will be all about my posts last year! Hot off the ‘word’ press, my stats for my blog in 2011. To start, I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has stopped by to read and a BIG thank you to those that comment. Your words all mean so much to me! In the next few days, my blog will have over 11,000 hits, which isn’t a lot compared to some blogs I read, but it is for me. 🙂

I would also encourage you to read the blogs of others. I am currently following 19 blogs. Most of them arrive in my email inbox and I click on the link to read on their site. I usually either “Like” it or leave a comment… I know how much those comments and “Likes” mean to me!

So, here is the summary of my blog 2011:

To kick off the new year, we’d like to share with you data on your blog’s activity in 2011. You may start scrolling!

Crunchy numbers
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 8,300 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

In 2011, there were 101 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 112 posts. There were 200 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 69mb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was August 24th with 299 views. The most popular post that day was Spring Cleaning in the Heat of the Summer.

How did they find you?
The top referring sites in 2011 were:

facebook.com
dukanblogging.blogspot.com
charlottesdukandiet.wordpress.com Following
dukandiet-journey.blogspot.com
thedukandietandme.blogspot.com

Some visitors came searching, mostly for flamidwyfe, dukan blog, velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord, and sandi midwife dukan blog.

Where did they come from?
Most visitors came from The United States. The United Kingdom & United Arab Emirates were not far behind. (AM I SEING A UNITED FRONT HERE???)

Who were they?
Your most commented on post in 2011 was Dukan – Day 100 – Wow!

These were your 5 most active commenters:

1 nancy sandelier 88 comments
2 kathlucky 72 comments Following
3 Moonday 26 comments
4 Vicki C. 23 comments
5 caroline 20 comments
Perhaps you could follow their blog or send them a thank you note?

Attractions in 2011
These are the posts that got the most views in 2011. You can see all of the year’s most-viewed posts in your Site Stats.

1 Spring Cleaning in the Heat of the Summer 5 comments July 2011
2 I CAN DUKAN 15 comments August 2011
3 I CAN DUKAN T-1 and counting 7 comments August 2011
4 For the Love of Children 6 comments June 2011
5 Dukan – Day 2 Attack Phase 12 comments August 2011

THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE REALLY COOL, SPARKLY AND COLORFUL VERSION OF THIS SUMMARY, COMPLETE WITH FIREWORKS!!!

Click the button below, or paste this link into your browser:

https://flamidwyfe.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?yib=2011

HAPPY NEW YEARS… I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be an amazing year!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: So go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground.
Oprah Winfrey

Pic of the day: lunch at Dan Ryan’s… Last lunch of 2011 🙂