Dukan – Day 121

Posted on December 20, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Monday was a PP day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.0 lb & kg
Total Weight Loss: 53.7 lb/24.41 kg

So no change on the scale which is fine by me… staying the same is better than gain! Back to work today and don’t feel like I had a weekend off. Because of a schedule change I had 1/2 day Friday, worked Saturday and off on Sunday… but I had running around to do, so after the massage I was off to the mall and didn’t get back until nearly 6 p.m…. then my next day off is Friday!!! Anywho… it was a nice day at work. Got 3 policies written and edited and sent off to Kitty for translation, so I feel accomplished 😀

Breakfast: You got it… 2 tea eggs
Lunch: Beef slices with cilantro and garlic stems and a bowl of CHICKEN SOUP… oh my gosh was it yummy and oily… LOL I left the carrots and ate the rest. The broth was so good!

Chicken Soup from the halal restaurant

Dinner: Stir fried sirloin with onions and garlic stems and I threw in 1/8 cup of low-fat mozzarella… it was kind of like having a philly cheese steak w/o the bread!
Snack: FF Greek Yogurt with Splenda and bran

All in all a good day. A couple things in there that may have influenced my lack of scale movement, but I’m not worried. I drank 1.5 liters of water and walked to and from work (a mile each way). The best part of the day was getting a picture from Danee Daniels with her and my niece Charity in it… I have no idea where they were or what they were doing, but they were together (with Dana, as well) and those have to be 3 of my favorite midwives in the world 😀 Thanks for posting, Danee!

Danee and Charity... hanging with Dana 🙂

Ciao!

Quote of the day: “If you wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.” ~ Toni Morrison

Dukan – Day 118

Posted on December 16, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Friday was a PP day 🙂

First… thanks to those that stop in… I reached 10,000 page views while I was sleeping last night… that is AWESOME!

Daily Weight Loss: 0.7 lb/0.30 kg
Total Weight Loss: 52.4 lb/23.81 kg

Well… finally kicked that pounds ass! It can be quite frustrating to get on the scale for 10 days and stay within the same pound. 1/2 pound up, 3/4 pounds down, but finally did it. Getting closer and closer to my January goal (just need 1/2 a pound!) It seems to be getting tougher, but I’ll persevere. Logically I realize that I should only be losing 1-2 pounds a week at this point… but the I WANT IT NOW me wants it NOW 😀

My friend Lucy, who is visiting for a month, is officially starting the Dukan with me today. She’s kind of been in a forced Dukan menu for 2 weeks, has lost nearly 2 kgs and figured she may as well go all in. So, no more rice at lunch for her! We shopped last night for groceries and they were pumping in the baking bread smell hardcore… I am sure that stores and restaurants (like McD’s) have special ventilators that waft that stuff out of the store into our brains and make us want to buy their crap! Well, dammit… it didn’t work! I did however have to repeat Moonday’s Philosophy over and over.

I have kept my progress on a spreadsheet created by the amazing Charlotte, and will start one for Lucy today, as well. The spreadsheet has been an amazing way to track my progress and see the overall picture… thanks SO MUCH, Charlotte xoxo

Now off to work, where we have a Christmas Party this afternoon… should be fun!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it. ~Plato

Dukan – Day 115

Posted on December 13, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Tuesday was a PV day.

Daily Weight Loss: -0.7 lb/-0.3 kg
Total Weight Loss: 51.1 lb/23.21 kg

Well… I seem to be stuck in a rut! I’ve been playing with the same 1 pound for a week! This morning I am evaluating what it is that’s going on and I think it’s a combination of a few things… I’m still consuming more coffee and tea than usual (Lucy is visiting and makes me a cup… how can I say no??). And I am not getting in enough water. Otherwise, my food intake has been great, as has my exercise.

The one thing that I really like about the Dukan Diet is that you weigh yourself daily and this gives you the opportunity to reflect on what could be affecting your weight and you can correct it.

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, coffee
Lunch: Fish and garlic stems, tried to get water, but it had sugar in it 😦
Snack: Coffee
Snack: Earl Gray (when I got home from work)
Dinner: Stir-fried tofu, broccoli, onion and garlic stems.
Snack: Pot of FF Greek Yogurt with Splenda and bran, Earl Gray tea (anyone seeing a pattern here???)

So today I’m going to commit to one cup of coffee this morning and a cup of Early Gray tonight and that’s it… the rest is water… wish me luck 🙂

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.
Dalai Lama

Ooops, yesterday was really Dukan – Day 111

Posted on December 11, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Saturday was a PV Day

Daily weight loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Not sure, in Shanghai for weekend

So did a marketing event for the hospital this morning, had a meeting with CEO, which left me feeling a bit confused, and then headed for the train station for a few days of R&R in Shanghai. I also have to do my work visa stuff here on Monday.

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: chicken leg at train station.. LOL, seriously 🙂
Snack: Chai latte with Splenda… BUT, realized this morning that it’s got sugar in it! 😦
Dinner: Vietnamese style sizzlin’ steak, with 2 pieces of broccoli and a thin slice of carrot
Snack: 2% Greek yogurt (store was out of FF) with Splenda and bran

Walked and walked and walked in the cold… Had a nice afternoon and evening walking and shopping in Shanghai!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Weight loss is like hiking, it is hard to get started & is hard along the way, but once you reach the top, YOU WILL NEVER REGRET THE JOURNEY!

Dukan – Day 106

Posted on December 5, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Sunday was a PP (Pure Protein) Day… I will do 4 of these in a row to kick my butt back into ketosis after 4 PV days in a row 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 1.1 lb/0.50 kg
Total Weight Loss: 49.1 lb/22.31 kg

After 4 days in Hong Kong, it was nice to sleep in until 8. Didn’t have to be at work until noon. Yay! I took a 15 minute walk in the cool (41F) air, then picked up tea eggs for Lucy and I. So for breakfast I had 2 tea eggs and 2 small slices of ham… yum!

Then a walk to the hospital where I saw a patient and then over to the International Hotel where I was to give a marketing talk about our LDR (Labor,Delivery,Recovery) Room… OK, so no one told me this was basically black tie!!! I’m in trouser with blue and white stripes, my favorite dark blue wool hiking shirt with a sleeveless white top with blue embroidery and my black boots. I feel a tad bit OK about it since Winnie, Mickey, Minnie and some pink Pig are roaming around, as well. I also didn’t get the memo that there would be about 250 – 300 people there! There was beautiful music, a 4 string quartet, a solo pianist and a jazz sax player (who was awesome!)… and then 2 presentations, mine and the head Dean of the hospital, who talked about water birth… then we auctioned off a water birth package and I gave out books. Fun day! I drank 2 750 mL bottles of water during this 3 hour event 😀

Afterwards, Lucy, Kitty and I start looking for a taxi so that we can get to the grocery store downtown. I have no groceries in the house, at all! They are all full and after 30 minutes of trying, I get frustrated because I’m hungry RIGHT NOW, and if I don’t eat I may stray! So we abandon the idea of shopping and go to the steak house… where I get “Australian Baby Cow”… LOL, I presume this means veal raised in Australia, but who knows…. it was yummy and came out on a sizzling cast iron plate.

Walked home and before bed a pot of FF (fat free) Greek yogurt with bran and Splenda and a nice warm cup of Earl Grey Tea while Skyping and then off to bed…. Nice day J

Ciao!

Quote of the day: To explore what it would mean to live fully, sensually alive and passionately on purpose, I have to drop my preconceived ideas of who and what I am.

– Dawna Markova

Dukan – Day 104 – Hello 48!!!

Posted on December 3, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Friday was a PV day.. Of which I’ve done too many in a row!

Daily weight loss: -0.6 lb/0.3 kg
Total weight loss: will post tomorrow when back with the spreadsheet.

Today it’s my birthday (Saturday) and I had a lovely celebration with my girlies here in Hong Kong!

Breakfast: Fat free Greek yogurt with bran and Splenda & 500 mL water & coffee with Splenda and skim milk.
Snack: Starbucks cafe latte, skinny (with skim milk) and Splenda… Lucy is a bad influence, will be glad to get back to Hangzhou where this isn’t easily bought!!

We took the subway to Central and then a 1 km uphill walk to get to the Victoria’s Peak tram station.

The view from up there is amazing!

After looking around we headed to the top floor and had lunch at Bubba Gumps!

And had a burger with no bun and a salad… 2nd time in two days, but hey… I can’t get a decent burger in China and it’s my birthday… Low carb, but not low fat! It was, however, yummy!

After lunch we took the tram back down and raced to the embassy to get Lucy & Ethel’s visas. Sadly, Ethel wasn’t approved 😦 We then headed back to Troy, the amazing travel agent, and booked her a flight to Manila. Lucy has decided the next time we’re in Hong Kong we’re going to a. Pop in and take a photo of said Troy for my blog and b. Ask him out for a drink 😀 Sounds like a plan!

We then headed back to the South Pacific for the girls to take a short nap (I never nap, I’m afraid I’ll miss something!). And then we got ready for my birthday dinner. I actually put on make-up (a bit of eye liner and mascara!) and that little black dress I’ve been talking about, with my black tights and black boots… Feelin’ groovy about turning 48!

Then off for the 1.5 mile walk to Ryan’s steakhouse for dinner. We had a great time! Where I ate another bacon, bleu cheese burger and a salad… Believe me, I’ve got my fill now 😀 Oh, and I had a glass of wine, which of course is not Dukan, but maybe my 4th alcohol drink this year, it was nice to relax with friends.

Lucy being cheeky…

Ethel being Ethel…

And they all sang Happy Birthday and the cake was my FAVORITE!! Carrot cake!

Do you think I had some?? Not a chance! Not worth the feeling of being bloated and YUCKY!

Then a hike back to the room. What a great night out with friends! I am SO excited to see what my 48th year has in store for me. Although the 47th was like a roller coaster, I rode the ride that was intended to get me where I am today. I can only imagine that 48 will be just as awesome a year!

Ciao!

Quote of the day:

Dukan – Day 103 – Goodbye 47!

Posted on December 2, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Thursday was a PV day.

Daily weigh loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total weight loss: ??? I don’t have my spreadsheet with me…

So, I usually blog in the morning about the day before, which I’m doing now. But, the title is appropriate for today 🙂 More on that at the end.

Woke up after 8 happy to be with friends in Hong Kong. I am amazingly grateful for my blessings of having a job that enables me to travel. And off we went in search of breakfast and passport photo booth for Lucy & Ethel so they could apply for their visas to visit China.

Quick walk to Times Square to find out the photo places open at 11, shuhada! We tuck into a busy little diner and order eggs and sausage. Just the right portion for me, but the girls were a bit concerned that I’ll be starving them 🙂 (Ethel just opened the bathroom door after her daily weigh in to let me know she lost 0.9 kg since yesterday morning… She’ll be a believer soon!)

We then got their pictures done and took a walk around city center. The whole city is decorated for Christmas and is beautiful…

Then off to the visa office at 2 pm.

Lucy & Ethel filling out forms…

The LINE!

Where, after over an hour we find out that Ethel needs more documents because she’s from the Philippines. She needs a return tix to Manila (which we were going to book in Hangzhou) and hotel voucher… What to do? We decided to hit up a sushi restaurant and figure it out. I was able to google map a travel agency 175 meters away, so after a hurried lunch we rushed over and got to the agency at 403 pm. Note that the embassy closes at 5 and if we didn’t get them documents before then Ethel & Lucy would have been stuck here until at least Monday, and Hong Kong is an expensive city to be stuck in!! I have to add here that we don’t realize how lucky we are to be from the Western world until we find friends who aren’t and realize it is much more difficult for them to travel as freely as I can.

Troy, the amazing travel agent (and not bad to look at either) got to work right away on the reservations while Lucy and I darted back downstairs in search of wireless so I could email him Ethel’s flight info to Hangzhou and he could print it for those pesky immigration people. Lucy says while we’re running back to the agency that she feels like we’re on The Amazing Race!

Troy got the tickets done in under 20 mi it’s!!! And then we started running the 3 blocks, which includes taking stairs up and crossing over the highway and then back down and arrive at the embassy at 441. They let us in! YAY! And we go right up to the desk we were at before. After a few tense moments the girl accepts Ethel’s papers and then states… “oh, because she is not applying from her home country, she is from the Philippines, AND this is her first time applying for a visa to China, she may not be approved… WTF!!?? Deep breaths… We smile, we thank, we’re told to come back Friday after 4 for the decision… We’re praying it all goes well, if not, we make other plans.

After that fiasco we trek back to the hotel, feeling a bit deflated, but trying to keep positive. The girls took a little rest, I read my emails and the other blogs I follow and then we got ready for the long hike to Ryan’s Chicago steakhouse. My favorite in this city. I had my standard bacon cheese burger and a house salad, no bun, no fries, of course!

Then a walk around the mall…

My jacket now zips and I’m very happy about that 😀

And then the long walk back to the hotel… Fabulous day!

Now for the “Friday” part… It’s Friday morning and my last day of being 47. It’s been a crazy, emotional, fun, nightmarish, amazing roller coaster of a year. I’ve had a few endings and a couple of awesome new beginnings. Life is very, very good and I absolutely can’t wait to see what adventures I’ll experience in my 48th year.

To my mommy… I know that today is a tough day for you, I’m sure daddy is smiling down on you, saying Happy Anniversary… Thanks to both of you for creating me.

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.

Dukan – Day 102 Up, Up & Away… Again!

Posted on December 1, 2011 by flamidwyfe

I’m actually sitting on the plane waiting for take off. I was suppose to fly to meet Lucy & Ethel tomorrow, but the hospital needs me for marketing on Sunday, so I’m flying a day early. I can’t wait to surprise them at the airport!!! In one of those cool things that happen in life, our flights are at the exact same time today, so they are also sitting on an Emirates plane in Dubai, probably also ignoring the safety video, but probably not blogging 🙂 Their flight is at 1005 UAE time and mine is at 1405 Hangzhou time… I get there 5 hours before they do 😀

I brought the scale with me, but I didn’t upload my weight spread sheet to my iPad, so will have no clue until I’m back on Saturday on total weight loss, but will keep up with daily loss.

Well, the plane has just taken off, I think I’m going to eat a couple boiled eggs (airplane food is definitely not Dukan friendly!!) and then take a little nap… Will do more blogging later.

OK… Fast forward… I took a bus from airport that took nearly 2 hours to get to hotel. We’re upgraded to a suite because of my birthday… How cool is that?

The toilet is a Toto and has some pretty interesting buttons that individually clean your bottom and the seat warms up when you open the lid… Very posh!

Then I had to take the subway and train back to the airport to get the girlies. They were very surprised to see me 🙂 Here’s the sign I had…

And the reverse sign…

I love surprising people as evidenced by this blog from 18 months ago: https://flamidwyfe.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/camino-blog-updates/

Taxi back to hotel, then a very late dinner at a street cafe 🙂 Glad to be with friends!

Ciao!

Thailand & Dukan Day 90

Posted on November 19, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Friday was a PP Day.

Daily weight loss: 0.66 lb/0.3 kg
Total weight loss: 40.24 lb/18.3 kg

Today was a day off from touring. We were suppose to travel early morning to Phuket, but decided we wanted a lie in (I was up at 710!!!) and shop in Krabi, so I arranged a 400 pm pick up.

Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with onions, coffee and water.

Then a nice walk and a nice chat on Skype and an hour after breakfast, the BEST THAI MASSAGE I’ve ever had. I told her what was hurting and she fixed me. Stretching and yoga poses and 1 hour and 25 minutes later, I was a new woman! All for $11.35!!! I looked over at Cathy and asked her if we could stay an extra week!!

We then walked around Krabi, bought a few things, and then got the tat I’ve been wanting to get for a while 😀

Here’s the tattoo artist…

And here’s his adorable little girl… Who squealed with delight every time we spoke to her…

I strangely LOVE the pain from tattoos and this high was over too damn quick! He finished in about 4 short minutes 😦 I was thinking I should have asked for a bigger tat! I even whined to Cathy about it… She thinks I’m a nut 😀

Lunch on the beach, then back to hotel for private van transfer to Phuket… Sigh, our holiday is coming to an end 😦

Ciao!

Thailand & Dukan – Day 89

Posted on November 18, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Thursday was a PV Day

Daily weight loss: 0.44 lb/0.2 kg
Total weight loss: 39.58 lb/18 kg

Well I am sore as hell this morning! Yesterday was a super busy day!

Started off with an omelet with onions and some bacon.

Then private tour van to a crystal clear lagoon with little waterfalls and rushing water coming into it. We trekked about a kilometer into the forest to get to it, but worth every step!

Back in the van for a ride to the hot springs, we trekked 1.2 kms into the forest to get to it, again worth the hike! Hot water, running down the rocks to form pools to sit in. Nature is indeed awesome.

Then back in the van to head for lunch. It was Thai food, of course, but everything was in heavy gravies, so I ordered a burger. Absolutely the worse burger I have ever tasted in my life. Obviously frozen, microwaved to thaw and thrown in fry pan… Blech! Really, though, the only disappointing meal of the trip.

After lunch we headed for a Buddhist temple where we were given 2 hours to explore. There was a steep climb (1200+ steps) up the mountain to a temple that I attempted. I got up just under 300 steps. It was like climbing a ladder and the height and steepness were freaking me out… LOL The steepness, I’m sure are why my quads are a bit sore this morning!

I wrote my name on a gold leaf, said a long prayer of thanks for prayers answered and a good life 🙂

Then the icing on the cake… The BEST trip got even BESTER (I know that’s not a word,I get my vocab from my youngest child who has made up some great words over the years!). WE RODEA HUGE ELEPHANT INTO THE RAINFOREST! After impressing us with the amazing size of his, ahem, manliness….

We climbed aboard for a 50 minute adventure into the rainforest. At first we sat on the bench and unlike the rest of the mahouts, our elephant’s mahout did not get on him. He walked next to him, ahead of him, hid behind trees from him and chatted quietly with him. They were very in-tune to one another. You could tell our mahout loved his elephant! Our elephant is 35 years old and the mahout has been working with him for nearly 11 years.

After 10 minutes of trekking, the mahout told Cathy to get off the bench and get on the elephant’s neck to ride bareback. The joy on her face made me so happy! It is amazing to experience life long dreams with people you love. Cathy had been waiting for this opportunity since childhood. I feel so blessed to have shared it with her!

The mahout took Cathy’s camera and shot tons of pics, asking at one point if he could have the camera, we said sure… Give us the memory card and the elephant and it’s yours… He gave us back the camera…

Then it was my turn to ride bareback. Riding bareback reminded of late night horse back riding in my teens, with my Palm City friends, only on a much larger scale! The powerful muscles of the elephant’s neck can be felt by your legs. You don’t feel the need to hold on for dear life (at least I didn’t). He slowly strolled through the rainforest guided by the gentle voice of the mahout. My hands, lightly placed on the top of his head, felt the soft skin with his little black, bristly hairs. His soft ears flapping lightly, to cool himself off, would occasionally hug me gently. THAT was so cool, to feel these ears gently pressing against your legs… Wow, wow, wow! Too soon we were back to the village and our amazing ride was over.

We then fed him bananas, but instead of giving them in his trunk, we were allowed to put them in his mouth… Again, WOW! It is amazing how gentle an animal of this size can be. His powerful, HUGE tongue coming out to take the banana. What an experience!