Dukan – Day 41

Posted on October 1, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Today was a PV Day… although I didn’t get my V’s until dinner 🙂

Weight loss: 0.2 lb/0.1 kg
Total Loss: 26 lb/11.81 kg

Had a good day. Drank all my water and then some. Walked a total of over an hour and got some grocery shopping done… Found organic eggs, which eggcited me more than anything! 😀

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs, 1/2 liter water, coffee
Lunch: 6 oz. of roast beef with a smidge of soy sauce and cilantro on top, 750 mL water
Snack: Boiled Egg, 1/2 liter of water
Dinner: Backed chicken, skin peeled off, asparagus, garlic stems and mushrooms, all cooked together, yummy!!! Diet coke

I’m having to be careful to make sure I get enough food in. My buddy Charlotte is at a standstill right now and I have a sneaky suspicion that might be why. My appetite has definitely diminished and I’m not thinking of food all the time.

I think a big part of it is that I’m not being an emotional eater which is so typical of me. More about that in the next blog!

Ciao!

What 5 books have influenced you the most?

Posted on September 30, 2011 by flamidwyfe

This is an interesting topic for the WordPress postaday2011. I rarely do the suggested blog because I’m busy blogging about my Dukan journey… but here goes.

The 5 books that have influenced me the most:

The Bible … not just because it’s the Bible… but because it’s a historical retelling and even more influencing to me, it’s a life guide, and I like that 🙂
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume… Wow… my mom checked it out of the Martin Co. Library for me when I was in sixth grade. It wasn’t in our school library… GOD FORBID!!! LOL. This book shows girls that all those weird gooey things we’re feeling are all normal… and yes, even though we think boys are handsome, they really do have cooties! 😀
The Five People You Meet In Heaven, by Mitch Albom. To get the answers of the questions that we so often ask would be phenomenal!
The Celestine Prophecy, by James Redfield. I have looked at life WAY differently since reading The Celestine Prophecy. One of the most influential lessons in the book for me was that there are no coincidences. Every single person we come into contact with, has a purpose in our lives… sometimes good, sometimes not so good, but a purpose none the less. One thing that I do is acknowledge people, nearly always, when they look at me. Might be was a nod, might be with a smile, might be with a kind word, but I always acknowledge. I have met some really awesome people in some awesome places, simply by acknowledging them and they have made my life richer simply from that gesture… I could go on and on about those non-coincidental contacts, but that would be a LONG blog!
The Pursuit of Happyness, by Chris Gardner. If you think your life is shitty, read this book! Chris puts things into perspective. His pull up your big boy panties attitude took him far in life… And he’s an amazing ROLE MODEL for fathers and where their priorities should be. READ the book, then watch Will Smith play the part in the movie of the same title… PHENOMENAL!

There are so many other books I could list… a few dozen actually… some from my childhood, some from my young adulthood and some from now. But I have to say after writing them all down, these 5 stick out in my head.

So… take your time. Take out a pen and write down the books that have influenced you and then pick the Top 5… Looking forward to your comments!

Edit: I wanted to add something here. Although it isn’t a “book”, The Road Not Taken, a poem written by Robert Frost was a mandatory memorization poem in 8th grade. It absolutely, completely and thoroughly has influenced me probably more than any of the above books… I have definitely taken the one less traveled by and it HAS made ALL the difference!

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Dukan – Day 40

Posted on September 30, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Today was a PP day!

Weight Loss (last 2 days): 1.8 lb/0.80 kg

Total Loss: 25.8 lb/11.71 kg Just cruisin’ along on this program. Had a plateful of yummy looking french fries brought with my “no bun” burger and didn’t touch a one of them… HARD, but I did it.

It’s been a couple of busy days, so I’m only going to recap the days meals:

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs, 1/2 liter water, coffee
Snack: 1 boiled egg, coffee
Lunch: 3 slices boiled ham, 1/2 liter water, Diet Coke
Dinner: Two pieces of talapia with herbs, pot of yogurt

I’m walking… A LOT! Over an hour a day. It’s really enjoyable. Walked in a slight drizzle this evening… wonderful. I had a health check yesterday morning and my blood pressure was 111/55 … pulse 62. Waiting on the blood results… can’t wait to see if my cholesterol, which was 184 (normal) has come down anymore. I’ll keep ya posted 🙂

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 36 & 37

Posted on September 27, 2011 by flamidwyfe

PV Day x 2
Weight Loss: 0.7 lb/0.3 kg
Total Loss: 24.2 lb/11.01 kg

Great couple of days… had a slight weight rise on Day 36 (gain = 0.4 lb/0.2 kg), but didn’t veer off the diet:
Day 37 was suppose to be a PP day because Day 36 was a PV, but I had some veggies that were going to spoil if they weren’t eaten, so here’s the breakdown:

Breakfast: Boiled egg, coffee, 1/2 liter water
Snack: Boiled egg, 1/2 liter water
Lunch: Beef patty with handful of salad greens, Diet Coke
Snack: a bit hungry so drank 1/2 liter water
Dinner: 5 oz steak, sauteed onion and the rest of the salad greens, Diet Coke
Snack: Pot of homemade yogurt with 1 diet sweetner and 2 TBS oat bran

Tommorow… a PP day… no greens… I’ll survive. Might have to do 2 PP days to make up for the 2 PV days… we’ll see. Still have some asparagus and mushrooms in the fridge 🙂

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 37

Posted on September 25, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Today was a PP day (Pure Protein)
Weight Loss: 0.9 lb/0.4 kg
Total Loss: 24 lbs/10.91 kg!

Today was a pajama day… literally. I never got out of them, but had a productive day, none the less. I think that pajama days are important. It a day where we give ourselves permission to lounge around, where comfie clothes and still get things done… if we want.

I did a couple of loads of laundry, fixed myself 3 nutritious meals, chatted with lots of people on the internet, did 3 sets of squats and tricep pushups, but no walk. Which is OK, because I’m doing an hour a day, and one day off isn’t a big deal! Love, love, love PJ Days!

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs w/ spices on them, 1/2 liter water, coffee
Snack: Pot of HOMEMADE yogurt… yum! With oat bran & splenda, coffee
Lunch: Leftover chicken from the other night, sauteed with a teeny amt of olive oil, a diet coke and 1/2 liter water.
Dinner: 2 small talapia fillets with garlic and onions. I made a “gravy” with FF yogurt and dijon mustard… could not eat all of this… 1/2 liter of water.

So, that’s what I had… wonderful loungy day… feelin’ groovy 🙂

Ciao!

Pic of the day… This is circa 1986, after having had 3 kids… not so bad!

Very cool for back in the day 🙂

Dukan – Day 36… Cruise Phase

Posted on September 25, 2011 by flamidwyfe

PV Day
Weight Loss: 1.1 lb/0.5 kg
Total Loss: 23.1 lb/10.51 kg

Well, I think that excess water is almost gone 🙂 My shoes are still a bit tight, but not as tight as they were! Great day, lots of walking (over an hour total!) and I ate pretty well.

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs, 1/2 liter of water, coffee
Morning Snack: pot of FF yogurt, coffee, 1/2 liter water
Lunch: Salad greens w/ salmon roll ups, Diet Coke
Afternoon Snack: boiled egg, 1/2 liter water
Dinner: Shrimp boiled in green tea w/ herbs, soy beans with herbs and roasted red chili peppers, hot green tea, 1/2 liter of water

I bought a yogurt maker and made yogurt as well. Added splenda to it to sweeten it up a bit and I’ll look for FF/SF flavorings to add into them for a change up and let you know how that goes. All in all, a good day 🙂

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 35

Posted on September 23, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Well, this is certainly more like it!

Daily loss: 3.5 lb/1.6 kg
Total loss: 22 lb/10.1 kg WOO HOO!!!! Down 10 kgs!!!

So, I totally made sure I got a full 1.5 liters of water in me yesterday, in addition to the other things I drank… I added NO salt to anything and I cooked all of my own food.

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs
Snack: 1 boiled egg…. told you I was going to eat eggs only (hehe)
Lunch: Shashimi
Snack: Pot of FF yogurt with bran and splenda
Dinner: 1/2 a chicken sauteed with a whole onion.

Obviously a pure protein day. A good day, indeed!

I realized that I was retaining water when I put on my brand new pumps, that I’ve worn 3 or 4 times now, and they were tight… so tight that I ended up with a huge bleeding blister on the back of the right ankle 😦 I think the pure protein day, along with the extra water helped flush all that out.

I also took 3 walks. Two 20 minute walks and one 30 minute walk after dinner, so that is bringing my walk time up to over an hour a day… feeling stronger and healthier.

Now to balance out my braggy pictures, I’m posting an equally adorable photo of my granddaughter Sydnie Renae, who rather dislikes having her photo taken, but sometimes she mugs it up for her “Momma”. Here she is on a bike ride through London in 2009:

😦 For some reason the pic won’t post… I’ll play around with it and get it to post in a bit…

Ciao!

Quick Dukan Check In

Posted on September 22, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Well… I finally got a scale! YAY! And I weighed myself this morning and I gained 1/2 kg…. BOO!!! Hard traveling and eating right! I mean, I’ve been eating what I think is right, but with meat that has fillers and whatever else, it’s been difficult.

I think the biggest bummer is that I’m exercising WAY more, so how the hell do I gain!?!? I’m up to 35 minutes of walking and while walking I get in 30 squats and 30 tricep push ups. So I’m a bit confused… and 3 nights this week the walks were UPHILL for the first 15 minutes! I mean STEEP uphill.

I’ve got a plan… I’m just going to eat EGGS! LOL, not really… but I am going shopping tomorrow and will get refocused and not rely on what others are feeding me. And I’ll check in again tomorrow and let you know how that is working out.

For now, I’d like for my readers to give a thought, blessing, prayer, whatever your preference is, to my daughter Jenni who is undergoing surgery this afternoon… that she will be healed. Our whole family will definitely appreciate it 🙂

And a parting picture… this was taken of my granddaughter, Sadie Rose, on a trip to London 2 years ago… Aleisha reposted it, slightly edited on facebook yesterday and it is really my favorite pic of the 1000 or so pics she took over the course of 8 days. Here it is:

Sadie Rose... Talkin' to God in the Stokes Poge Memorial Garden... UK

Dukan – Day 30 – Food and travel away from home

Posted on September 19, 2011 by flamidwyfe

It’s hard to make sure what you are eating when you can’t cook it yourself. A good example of this would be the burger I ordered yesterday. When I took the first bite I realized that it had “filler”. Filler = gluten filled carbs or some other crap and I was SO disappointed. I sent it back and left the restaurant without eating. Ended up getting shashimi, and even though it was a PP day, I also ate a bowl of cucumber dipped in soy sauce and wasabi (wasabi is low carb and low fat… woo hoo!!!!).

So unless you stick to the “pure stuff”… steak, eggs, breast of chicken, it’s difficult to be absolutely sure that you’re sticking to the Dukan plan.

I decided to pamper myself with a Thai massage. I just wanted my feet done, massaged and reflexology… I ended up with sweaty palms and a dizzy feeling and begging the girl to stop, while she just laughed. It was funny, in a way, but very painful. She kept saying that my “lambo” was very, very bad… she was running along my lymph system and it sure as hell HURT! I mean, REALLY, REALLY HURT! Lymphatic drainage, from all I have read, should be light and non-painful! Anyhoo, she also did reflexology, which always amazes me because the places that hurt on my feet, correspond to the chart on the wall and they are the places that hurt on the rest of me… like my knees, and my uterus (which I don’t have). That part was awesome.

So here I am 4 hours later and I actually have BRUISING on my legs! BUT!!!! MY ankles are THINNER and so are my calves… I’m not kidding! I think she really got things moving along, even in her crazy way of doing it… hmmmmm. Anyone have any input here?
***I’ll post bruising pics from the iPad later 🙂

I hope everyone is having a blessed week thus far!

Ciao!

Post A Week Challenge: Faces

Posted on September 17, 2011 by flamidwyfe

I love the Weekly Challenges that WordPress encourages it’s bloggers to do. This challenge particularly caught my eye because I was purging pics and videos off my poor old Dell (she’s 4.5 years old!) last night and came across one of my all time favorite pictures.

Back story… I had spent 8 days in London and Paris with my mom, daughter Jenni, pseudo-niece Aleisha and granddaughters Sydnie and Sadie. My granddaughter Sadie, who was 5 the summer of 2009, came back to Abu Dhabi to spend 5 weeks with me. She loves gadgets and soon figured out stuff on my Canon PowerShot SX10 that even I didn’t know how to use! The feature that she figured out and played with the most was the timer on the camera.

So here is one of the pics she took of herself… I find it intriguing, dark, curious and of course… beautiful. She is lying on a Persian rug in my lounge…. talented lil bugger!