Dukan – Day 132 Hong Kong Bound!

Posted on December 31, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Friday was a PP Day.

Daily weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total weight loss: 57.8 lb/26.31 kg

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!!!

My friend Lucy and I are in Hong Kong to celebrate the New Year. They have a Times Square here, so we’re going to watch the ball drop and then the fireworks over the harbor… should be a great time!

We were picked up by the driver, Jerry, at 1030 and he brought my coat that he picked up at the tailors… Fit like a glove! So nice to have a coat made just for you. The tailor also knows that I’m losing weight and said he’d be able to alter accordingly 🙂

My gorgeous new coat!

Then off to the Hangzhou airport for the 2 hour flight to Hong Kong. Plane took off late due to mechanical issues and we arrived in Hong Kong at 530 and headed to our hostel. As part of my New Years resolutions, I’m going to travel on a tighter budget and this was a good way to start that off… LOL. Here are some shots of our room, some of them taken from OUTSIDE the room, since it is so small! The room is 12 x 6′ and the bathroom less than 3 x 3′, but functional and what do you need a fancy room for anyway?? (this is what I’ve been saying to myself over and over… I will eventually buy into it!)

Our ~~jail cell~~ hostel room door.

The SSS bathroom… Have to say the water pressure was amazing!

Then out for a quick bite to eat and then we found the Pause Cafe in the building we’re staying at… Total dive, but awesome coffee! We’re totally going back to play darts Saturday night, before going to Times Square!

Shooting darts at Pause Cafe

Lucy made me open my eyes for a pic!

Then off to bed for a rest up for Saturdays fun-filled day!

HAPPY LAST DAY OF 2011, my friends… It’s been a crazy year for me and I don’t regret one minute of it!!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Make new friends, but keep the old, some are silver and the others are gold! (changed to my liking!)

One last pic… The “hotel” across the street from ours… Who only sleeps for an hour??

Dukan – Day 131 last work day of 2011

Posted on December 30, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Today was a PV day.

Daily weight loss: 0.9 lb/0.40 kg
Total weight loss: 57.4 lb/26.11 kg

Much better day today emotional wise. I have 18 more sleeps before I go home for a vacation and tomorrow Lucy and I fly to Hong Kong for the weekend. I spent some time today putting together a collage of a pic from each month. Doing this was an emotional journey for me. I started 2011 off at home in Florida, between jobs in the UAE. I brought my mom back with me for a few weeks to Abu Dhabi and I was so excited to be starting my new position. My weight had been stable for about 6 months at that point, and then my nightmare began at my new job. Without rehashing it all, I will say that *I* see the changes in me. Not just the 25 pound weight gain in 5 short months, but the unhappiness in my eyes and the forced smiles in some of the pics. I’m an emotional eater… In the past food comforted me, it was my friend during the hellish 8 months I went through, working for a sociopath. I’m glad that ordeal is over for me (and many of my colleagues!) and you can see the light back in my eyes in the pic from August, because I’m home and with people I love and the in September when I moved to China… And although this place has it’s problems, they are normal problems and I’m, in general, happy. Miss my family and friends, of course, but happy.

The other thing I worked on today was my bucket list for 2012. It’s a list in progress, but this is what I have so far.

Bucket List 2012

1. Reach Dukan “True Weight” of 165
2. Reach “My True Weight” of 145
3. Nurture relationships
4. Fix my tummy 🙂
5. Run 5k without stopping
6. Enjoy my job more
7. Accomplish teaching the 6 IPSG’s to the staff
8. Accomplish 100% compliance on at least 4 of the IPSG’s!
9. Accomplish teaching the 13 JCI Standards to the staff
10. Visit the Philippines
11. Visit Singapore
12. Visit Thailand… Again
13. Continue my daily random acts of kindness, blog it
14. Blog everyday, can be challenging if VPN goes out
15. Get rid of all the “stuff” I don’t need… In my storage unit AND in my flat!
16. Live as green as possible
17. Start an indoor herb garden
18. Run 10k without stopping!
19. Read 100 books
20. Start yoga classes by March 1st
21. Take yoga at least once per week
22. Run at least 3 times a week
23. Save 25% of my annual income… This will be challenging given my propensity for travel 🙂
24. Travel coach 🙂
25. Plan a 50th birthday cruise for my mates and aim to get at least 100 people to go!
26. Get another tattoo.
27. Attend a rock concert
28. Paint 2 big canvases and complete my little canvas series
29. Surprise someone I love by giving her the series (I’m pretty sure she doesn’t read my blog… But she’d totally guess it was her, if she did)
30. Start my own blog site with help from Charlotte, one of my Dukan buddies.
31. Try not to send emails or make phones calls on the nights I take sleep medicine 😀
32. Celebrate a holiday that I don’t usually celebrate!
33. Figure out how to set up my wii again… I love the yoga and the boxing
34. Take 2 backpacking trips
35. See more of China since I live here!
36. Take an overnight train in China…
37. Open up my heart and take some chances
38. At least 80% of my quotes of the day will be by women I respect
39. Send in my absentee ballot for the Presidential election
40. Drink 1.5 liters of water per day
41. Weigh myself every day
42. Get a minimum of a 30 minute walk in per day
43. Take my bran every single day
44. Pray and meditate for good health each day, purposefully
45. Pray for the health of those I love, purposefully
46. Continue reading johnshore.com and Pastor Bob every time they post a blog… Their wisdom fills me up.

So here are the pics… I welcome comments, in fact, encourage them…

I like the last me the best 🙂 more the year in wrap up fromHong Kong… I’m off to sleep so I don’t break rule #31 🙂 Goodnight!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Just because you don’t see the results after a day or even a week, don’t give up! You may not see changes, but every smart choice you make is affecting you in ways you’d never imagine. ~ Unknown

Dukan – Day 130

Posted on December 29, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Wednesday was a PP day.

Daily weight loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg
Total weight loss: 56.6 lb/25.71 kg

So as the day progressed things got a bit better… Poor Kitty was a good sport taking my bad day and smiling through it… She’s such a trooper. I had a very productive meeting with the CEO and finally got my OWN office, with the room to put all the manuals that I’m creating with new policy, protocol, clinical safety guidelines and competencies. YAY!

I also got a new work coat today, because my other was baggy… Pic below!

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 2 eggs and the last of the leftover turkey… Tempted to make another just for the leftovers!
Dinner: pork stir-fry with onions and garlic stems

I had a nice walk/run circuit… 4.5 kms (3 miles) in 35 minutes… I know I’m not going to win any races, but I’m winning my own 😀 And boy was it a great way to erase the rest of the stress I had from the last 2 days… That and a nice long Skype chat with someone who cheers me up 🙂 Stress all gone!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: It’s my life, it’s now or never, I ain’t gonna live forever… I just wanna live while I’m alive… It’s my life! ~ Bon Jovi … Sorry into music this week… I crank this up when I’m running!

Dukan – Day 129

Posted on December 28, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Tuesday was a PV day.

Daily weight loss: 0.0 lb/0.0 kg
Total weight loss: 56.1 lb/25.11 kg

No loss is better than a gain. What an amazingly long day in the midst of a long week without enough sleep. I’m pretty cranky this morning, taking it out on my poor personal assistant Kitty and have Snow Patrol blasting Chasing Cars in my ear phones… Stress relief.

So Lucy, Silin (our amazing translator) and I took what we THOUGHT was a 2 hour train ride to Wenzhou in the morning. Well, apparently (this is a word I use when I’m grumpy) there was a train collision a few months ago on this route so they decided that slowing down the trains might lead to less fatalities the next time… So the frigging trip is now FOUR HOURS… EACH WAY!!! Apparently this makes sense, some how… sigh. So, up at 545 am, picked up by driver at 630 am, train at 745 am, arrived at Wenzhou at 1150 am, lunch from 1220 to 200 pm, because they take 90 minute lunch breaks here. Toured the hospital in a whirlwind 25 minutes, met with the CEO and head physician for about one hour (they are trying to woo Lucy here to work), got buzzed as hell off the local green tea that the CEO made traditionally for us (coolest thing about China is the way they serve tea, it’s awesome… That’s about the only positivity in this blog today run with it LOL) and then back in the van for the pot hole filled ride back to the train station at 330 pm, train at 451 pm, back to Hangzhou at 955 pm, delight to find KaKa waiting at the correct train station (we arrived back at the station as far from my flat as humanly possible in this city) and home at 1005 pm. O.F.F.S. what a long, exhausting day! We didn’t really get to see Wenzhou at all to make a fair evaluation og whether or not it would be a nice place for Lucy to go to. What we did see, however, made me very happy that I’m in what is APPARENTLY considered the greenest city in all of the great land of China.

I did eat some weird stuff today and ended up with an allergic reaction to what I believe was gluten.

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs and coffee
Lunch: at fancy schmancy restaurant… DUCK TONGUE (it’s the specialty of Wenzhou and I felt compelled to at least try it… It tastes like pork… I totally just blanked on what it was I was eating and focused on trying not to get teeth or bones in my mouth, as it comes attached to the jaw… LMAO). I also had tofu, cucumber wedges and they made a hot pot that was suppose to be sans anything but meat and veggies and they add meat apparently coated with flour AND they through in pasta for good measure, which I didn’t see because they also put in these super skinny long mushrooms that I so couldn’t wait to eat. I’m sure they also threw in a pound of MSG because within a minute of taking the first bite my lips and tongue were tingling, I had hives on my chest and arms at 3 minutes and I was fighting panic… Thank God for anti-histamines! Not sure exactly which of the culprits in the hot pot caused the reaction, but it was a bummer 😦 I finished lunch by eating a tea egg, made me feel better, lol.
Dinner: PEANUTS, I’m not kidding. We thought we’d be home at SEVEN pm!!! So I ate peanuts on the train… I’m not sure that was a really Dukan friendly dinner.
Lucy kindly made me a cup of Earl Grey and yogurt with bran while I sulked on the couch, too late to make phone calls home, too tired to move and not hungry enough to eat a real meal. It’s so wonderful having a friend like Lucy… Gonna miss her when she goes back to Dubai!
Then off to bed for a much deserved sleep. I hope the rest of you had a better day… I promise tomorrow will be a brighter day… After I bonk Kitty on the head a few more times for the 4 hour train ride in 2nd class EACH WAY!!!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Forget what we’re told… Before we get too old. Show me a garden that’s bursting into life. ~ Snow Patrol “Chasing Cars” … Feeling much better after listening to this while typing (pounding the keys) to the beat.

A couple pics from the day…

This is a dad with 3 kids on the scooter. I affectionately refer to this as the Chinese Minivan!

Anyone want a SHIN rejuvenation?

The shitty road back to the train station made even worse by this guy pulling carts cutting us off!

Dukan – Day 128

Posted on December 28, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Monday was a PP day 🙂

Daily weight loss: 0.9 lb/0.4 kg
Total weight loss: 56.1 lb/25.11 kg and 4 Stone!

Well, back to work and back to normal routine. Super long day because I got to bed at 2 and up at 640. It used to be easy to do that, not so much anymore! It’s a short work week because Lucy and I are going to Hong Kong for New Years on Friday.

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 2 tea eggs and leftover turkey 🙂
Dinner: Stir fry with Turkey, pork, onions and garlic stems
Snack: Yogurt with bran

Thats about it. Holiday fatigue and letdown, me thinks!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You! ~ Dr, Suess

Dukan – Day 127 Christmas Day!

Posted on December 26, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Christmas day was a PV day.

Daily weight loss: +0.4 lbs/+0.2 kg
Total weight loss: 55.2 lb/25.11 kg

Merry Christmas! What a long day Sunday was! I gained less than half a pound, so I think I did pretty well 🙂 I stuck to Dukan with the exception of about 3 oz. of yummy white wine. I didn’t, however, leave my house at all, so I got no exercise in today and I didn’t get my water in, either (maybe 500 mL).

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs and 3 slices of ham

Then off to the baking. First recipe on the list today, Dukan friendly Pumpkin Pie Crisp that I got from Jamie at LosingCurtandJamie… I also made Dukan Cocoa/Espresso cookies. I will upload both of my versions of these recipes this week from my laptop… Too much to do from the iPad. Here’s some pics from both desserts. Warning, the cookies don’t look that great, I thought no one would eat them, they were GONE IN MINUTES!!!

I used real pumpkin 🙂

A thumbs up on the Pumpkin Pie Crisp 😀

I then had lunch: a can of tuna in brine with my homemade mayo (Dijon mustard mixed with FF cream cheese) and added diced onions and celery.

Play time with Alessandro…

And then time to start the turkey! My turkey is very simple… 1 bird. Stuff with 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped apple (wedge size chopped), 1 chopped pear, 10 crushed cloves of garlic and some chopped celery… That’s it. I then hand coat the bird in olive oil, grind on some coarse sea salt and pepper and stick it in the oven at 350F for 15 minutes per pound. I don’t bag it, cover any parts in foil, just put the naked bird in the oven…

A very small oven!

And about 30 minutes before the bird is done I turn on the broiler to really brown the top. I am always pleasantly surprised when my turkey turns out juicy and yummy 🙂 Check out this hot bird:

I didn’t even have to make gravy… It made it’s own. Mmmmmmmm!

So dinner for me was: Turkey, cauliflower, cabbage stew brought by Velina and made totally Dukan friendly (just for me!), green beans and a teeny wedge of parmesan.
Dessert: Dukan Pumpkin Pie Crisp… It was delicious and everyone gave a big thumbs up.

What a lovely day spent with new friends from across the world. Merry Christmas 🙂

Reena, KaKa, Kitty, Joe with Alessandro, Velina, Lucy, Chiara, Me and Silin.

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Life happens fast! What are you waiting for?

Dukan – Day 126 Christmas Eve

Posted on December 25, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Saturday was a PP day (I had to stop and think!)

Daily weight loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total weight loss: 55.7 lb/25.31 kg

Happy Christmas Eve! I had to work today… mainly because they schedule Childbirth Education for Saturdays when more people can come… only 3 came 😦 But I enjoy teaching it anyway. It truly is my favorite part about being a midwife… that and snuggling babies!

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 2 tea eggs and a tin of tuna
Dinner: Stir fried sirloin with onions, garlic stems and garlic cloves…
I said to Lucy, “I could eat this every night!” and her response, “Actually, you do!”
LOL… well I do use different spices… hehe
Snack a teeny, runny yogurt with bran and splenda… couldn’t find any greek yogurt.

Shopped for the rest of Christmas Dinner. There will be 11 of us. A motley crew made up of Americans (me), Brits (Lucy and Robin), Bulgarians (Velina), Italians (Chiara) and Chinese (Silin, Vivien, Kitty, KaKa, Joe) and one itty bitty Chinese-Italian (baby Alessaundro)… should be a fun Christmas dinner!

Well off to finish prepping while the house is still quiet!

Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël, 圣诞快乐 , Buon Natale, Весела Коледа!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Breathe in Joy and Strength… Breathe out Wisdom and Peace ~ Unknown

Dukan – Day 125… I DID IT!

Posted on December 23, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Friday was a PV day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.7 lb/0.3 kg
Total Weight Loss: 55.2 lb/25.11 kg

Woo hoo! I hit my mid-January goal… this morning!!!! I wanted to be down 55 lbs before going home on vacation and I’ve done it. If I didn’t worry about hurting myself, I’d be doing cartwheels 😀

I’ve been working on getting this last 5 pounds off since December 5th, so 19 days ago, and this just goes to prove that it does comes off… perseverance is the key. And it doesn’t melt off, you’ve got to work it!

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: I made a tuna salad for myself and 2 friends… Tuna in brine, “mayo” made with dijon mustard and fat free cream cheese with a teeny bit of water and diced onions and salt. I mixed all that together and then placed it on the top of a small handful of mixed lettuce greens. Sliced a tea egg (each) into quarters and dressed the bowl with a drizzle of olive oil (it’s the one thing I haven’t given up, and I’m not giving up).
Dinner: Sashimi with the hottest damn wasabi I have eaten in my life! Seriously!
Snack: FF Cottage cheese with bran… BLECH! I’m out of yogurt and this was the only thing I could think of to put it in…. not recommended!

I had a WONDERFUL day off. Slept until about 715 (my body just won’t sleep later, dammit!) but stayed in bed until 1130… I even went downstairs to the tea egg vendor in my jammies (with a coat of course) and my flip flops which warrants you quite a few stares when it’s 37 F outside. I then climbed back into bed and had breakfast and a cup of coffee. Stayed there reading the news online, catching up on all the blogs I read and writing my own. It was AWESOME!

Then Chiara came over and joined Lucy and I for the lunch I described above. Chiara and I then walked 30 minutes to the hair salon, recommended by my friend Velina. I had the following done:
Hair wash, head massage (20 minute), hair consult (in Chinese with lots of pointing and sign language and showing my pics of my previous highlighting job in Shanghai) then a cut, a blow-dry and then the assistant WRAPPED MY HAIR IN SARAN WRAP to high-light it… ummm, I was a tad nervous and thought I’d play it out before calling a “Time-Out”. What ended up happening is amazing… he gently and expertly pulled my hair through the Saran Wrap, without hurting me (at Toni & Guy I was in pain and ended up with a friggin’ scabbed head!) and then he applied the high-light solution. Afterwards they rewashed my hair, gave me a 5 minute head massage, the stylist dried and styled my hair with goop and I walked out very happy. My hair came out really good, better than the expensive cut and high-light at Toni & Guy ($221.00) I PAID JUST… $31.58 for all of this. I am a happy camper and will post a pic in tomorrow’s blog.

Today is Christmas Eve already here in China…. 645 a.m. I am working today and doing what I love to do the most… educating women and their partners about pregnancy and childbirth… should be a great day!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: FAMILY – Father And Mother I Love You ~ quoted by Jerry, my driver here in China… he doesn’t know the source, but I love it… never thought of the word like that before!

Dukan – Day 124 iDesk discovery!

Posted on December 23, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Thursday was a PP day… Technically should have been a PV, but no veggies in the flat.

Daily Weight Loss: 0.9 lb/0.4 kg
Total Weight Loss: 54.6 lb/24.81 kg

So close to that 55 mark I can see it. My goal was to be down 55 pounds by the time I went home mid-January, but I think I just might surpass that goal 🙂

I had a great day at work. Started off with a big smile from my personal assistant Kitty…

Then a hug from Vivien…

I’m the mother to everyone, LOL… Whoever told me that Chinese don’t like being touched was wrong, either that or everyone loves Sandi 😀 Here’s a smiley pic of ViviMokaLaka and me…

I then went for morning handover and patient rounds and then went to the outpatient department where I got to play with my new APP… iDesk! OK, it’s not perfect, because I haven’t figured out how to send a format to my lap top so my assistant can translate to Chinese, but it gives me work to do when I’m away from my desk in the International Medical Care center. This is the workflow I created yesterday… What I love about it is the freestyle writing that turns into lovely shapes and the absolute EASE of connecting the boxes!! Even Kitty had a go at it 🙂 Here’s the chart…

I also downloaded DocsToGo Premium, and now I can share my Word, Excel and PowerPoint docs with my iPad and edit… My world is supremely better.. LOL Until now, my iPad has been an expensive email and Internet tablet… Now it’s a workhorse!

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs & 2 thin and small pieces of ham
Lunch: 2 tea eggs and 4 slices of that ham… Worked from desk during lunch
Dinner: Sirloin stir-fried with onions, garlic stems and garlic cloves
Snack: FF Greek yogurt with Splenda and bran

Lots of water, 1 coke zero, 2 cups of coffe and a cup of Earl grey tea.

Enjoying a day off today… It’ll be hard to motivate me to get out of my pajamas, get dressed and get moving 🙂

Ciao!

Quote of the day: If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory. ~ Unknown

Dukan – Day 123 Long Dinner Out!

Posted on December 22, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Today was a PP day 🙂

Daily weight loss: +0.4 lbs/+0.2 kg
Total weight loss: 53.7 lb/24.41 kg

Have NO idea where that 1/2 pound came from… but hakuna matata! Had a chilly, but nice walk to work, temp was 38 when I set out, but I’ve learned to layer and it’s not so bad. I’m burning calories shivering 😀 I got to bath babies again this morning for an hour… It really is a lot of fun and relaxing!

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: A broiled fish with garlic and onions and peppers on top (i pushed off the peppers) this lunch was YUMMY!
Dinner: Mexican! I had fajitas minus the tortilla and green peppers… so basically meat and onions, but it was yummy.
Snack: FF Greek Yogurt with bran and splenda… had a panic attack because I only have one container of bran left and I don’t fly home for 3.5 weeks… calmed myself down by remembering that the other two containers lasted an ENTIRE 4 MONTHS… LOL. I think I freaked because I can’t find it here, at all. I will have to make sure I stock up on it when I’m in the States in Jan/Feb because it isn’t available here… anywhere!
I got in all my water and had 1 2 coke zero(s) and 2 cups of coffee. A long 40+ minute walk home from the Mexican restaurant where Lucy and I had dinner with some new friends who are just awesome to hang out with…. I looked at my phone and couldn’t believe 4 hours had gone by!!!! Very long, but enjoyable evening!

I hope everyone is gearing up for the holiday! It’s very Christmassy here in China!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: If your dog is fat, you’re not getting enough exercise. ~Author Unknown