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 242 – Back on Track

Posted on April 18, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Tuesday was a Pure Protein Day… #2 out of 3 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 1.1 lb/0.50 kg (that’s actually from 2 days)
Total Weight Loss: 86.3 lb/39.21 kg
Still 100 grams over my lowest weight which was last Tuesday.
I have 3.74 lbs/1.7 kgs to be at Dr. Dukan’s True Weight… but I’m going to drop 10 pounds below that, so I actually have 13.74 lbs/6.2 kgs to go… so doable 🙂

Breakfast: 2 Tea Eggs
Lunch: 2 Tea Eggs and a tin of tuna in water
Snack: 2 ounces of low fat cheddar
Dinner: Stir fried Chicken breast with onions and garlic cloves, seasoned with curry powder… yum!

Exercise:
0730 – 1.5 km walk to work
1200 – 1.5 km walk to home for lunch
1315 – 1.5 km walk back to work
1715 – 1.5 km walk back home
2015 – 5 km run around neighborhood in 43:27… my best time… I haven’t been able to get this number under the 44 minute mark! While doing this I completed C35K Week 8 Day 1.. just 2 days to go!

Finished a FABULOUS book called HeartSick by Chelsea Cain… recommended by my friend, Betsy… thanks Betsy!!!! I’ve already started on her 2nd book SweetHeart.

Sound asleep by 1015 p.m…. the weather has been very nice in Hangzhou!

Ciao!

Quote of the Day: “Learn to listen, instead of desperately wanting to be heard” ~ Ma Jaya

From RunKeeper iPhone app:

I had to keep reminding myself to pace...

My gated condo community has a loop road that just happens to be exactly 1 mile/1.5 km... how convenient 🙂

Dukan – Changes

Posted on April 17, 2012 by flamidwyfe

So yesterday, Kitty my Super Duper Personal Assistant, commented that my “bottom” looked very nice in my new jeans… so of course, we had to take a picture 😀 First the picture of my big behind that made me really think about how badly I needed to take control of my health…

Seriously???? UGH!

For those of you who don’t know… I’m the one with my back to the camera with the purple sweater “hiding” my big bottom!

Here’s the pic that Kitty took… I think there’s a bit of a difference… LOL

Yeah... that's my backside 🙂

Kitty also mentioned that you could see all my tattoos through the shirt I was wearing, she’s so observant!

I was down 200grams/0.7 lbs… but still up from my low weight last week… not stressing over it… well, maybe a little!

I’ll do a running update when I can figure out how to do it… Brett told me, but I can’t find the saved notes… LOL

Ciao!

Dukan – Days 219 & 220 – Dukan Recipe Cuban Flank Steak

Posted on March 27, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Monday was a PP day 🙂
Tuesday was a PV day 🙂

Monday:
Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total Weight Loss: 81.2 lb/36.91 kg
Tuesday: No change – same, same

Tuesday food (since I have no recollection of yesterday… LOL, I DO know it was PP)
Breakfast: 2 Tea Eggs
Lunch: Green leafy salad and tin of tuna
Dinner: Cuban Flank Steak… recipe below.

I have to say, this is YUMMY!!! And if you leave out the mushrooms and only add onions, it’s a PP meal.

I got the recipe idea from although I didn’t use flank steak and mine come cut in chunks already, which is how I have to eat them, given I don’t have an oven or a grill.

Serves 1

8 oz. of Top Round, flank steak or in my case Chinese Beef Top – Cubed
Marinade:
Juice of 1 large Lime
1/8 cup of Olive Oil
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
**To make this Whole30 compliant use Coconut Aminos**
1/2 tsp favorite hot sauce or chili powder… I used Daddy Mac’s Awesome Sauce (my son-in-law makes this with his home grown habanero peppers!)

With dinner:
1/2 Large onion chopped in chunks
And if a PV day, handful of mushrooms

Prep time: 2 minutes
Put meat in bowl or zip top baggie.
Put the rest of the marinade ingredients in there.

I thought about this marinating in my fridge ALL.DAY.LONG!

Shake, shake, shake and put in the fridge for 8 or more hours.

Cook time 11 minutes
Remove marinated meat from fridge.

When I took the lid off… yum… the smell was incredible!

Put 1 Tbsp Olive Oil in skillet or wok.
Heat to Medium-High.
Put the meat in and cook for 5 minutes.

Turn meat over.
Put the onions in and cook for 3 minutes.

Notice that lime is still in there 🙂

Toss the mushrooms in, if you’re making it a PV dinner, and cook for 3 minutes. I used Enoki mushrooms which are kind of like al dente pasta when cooked… sorta. And they basically have NO CARBS!!!

Plate and Enjoy!

My pics may not be stunning or artistic, but you can tell this food is GOOD!

I’m off to Hong Kong for 3 days tomorrow (Weds – Friday) to renew my visa and get a little R & R. I’ll try to keep you updated from there!

p.s. C25K is moving right along… I am running 2 nights on, 1 night off and not having any problems with it… I’m enjoying it! 😀

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 219 – Off to Marketing We Go!

Posted on March 25, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Sunday was a PV (protein/veggie) day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg (this is actually 2 days)
Total Weight Loss: 81.2 lb/36.91 kg

I’m nearly recovered from my birthin’ babies week. Oh how we get used to 8 – 5, going to bed at 10, waking up at 6… SLEEP 😀 It almost feels a bit like jet lag. I can’t imagine what it must be like for the woman going through labor!

It’s been a glorious weekend here in regard to the sun. Shining, warm, bathing this lovely, polluted town in light. I even saw the moon last night! It was the first time since my last night in Florida back on February 8th! It was what I call a cradle moon… pretty in the sky!

I had to speak at a marketing event yesterday afternoon. Our branding and marketing department actually have MORE STAFF than we have NURSES… I’m not joking. But they do a great job putting on big events, at least once monthly! I spoke about “The Enchantment of Water Birth”… same PowerPoint I’ve been using for months now… we just change the title and sub-titles… the last event was “The Magic of Water Birth”… LOL… my Personal Assistant, Kitty, doesn’t even ask anymore… she just changes it.

And speaking of Kitty… here she is…

Seconds before I snapped this shot, Kitty was SLEEPING on my shoulder... she's too cute, popped her head up, smiled for the camera, laid her head down and went back to sleep 🙂

Random funny thing that happened yesterday afternoon. We were stuck in traffic coming back from the marketing event and stopped in front of the Chlitina shop (the one next to Slavery.. I’m not makin’ this stuff up!) and the staff were all outside doing line dancing. I tried to snap a picture, but the video was on instead… you can view it here: Chlitina Dancers it’s only a few seconds long, but you’ll get the point… I was listening to music on my iPhone at the time and in my ear was David Cook’s “Life On the Moon”… totally describes my life in China to a tee 🙂

Day ended with a visit to the hospital to check on K and Baby H and then home for dinner, which was Pork, mushrooms and asparagus and then a nice run around the neighborhood, where I even got a shot of yet another neighbor out strollin’ in his pajamas (call me a PJ stalker, but it humors me and keeps me sane in this crazy place, LOL)…

Out for a stroll in his jammies... Tough to get clear shots in the dark and while running, but you get the idea 🙂

Running is getting easier and easier for me… I’m totally loving it now. Running 2 nights in a row, then take a night off… on that night I go to the gym for 30 mins and have the muscle head help me work on my arms, abs and thighs.

So that’s the weekend update. I’ve added some other pics from along the way this weekend… Enjoy 😀

Ciao!

Street food from Saturday night... new meaning to the words Fish Sticks 🙂 YUMMY!!!

Our yoga instructor did prenatal yoga with audience participants.

The Emcee wore a gold suit and was quite the comedian! The orchestra was lovely!

Chiara and Alessaundro (aka NuNu) were there. Chiara gave a speech about her wonderful water birth... She was the first water birth in Hangzhou, and I was lucky enough to be her midwife! NuNu will be 1 on May 6th!

Dukan Recipe – Pork & Mushrooms

Posted on March 25, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Made a yummy dinner for a PV (protein/veggie) night.

Pork & Mushrooms

5 oz of lean pork, cubed
1 c of chopped mushrooms
1 c of asparagus, cut into 2″ pieces
1 T olive oil
1/2 tsp ground garlic
1/2 tsp lemon/pepper seasoning
A smidge of salt

Place oil in pan. Place pork cubes on oil and bring heat up to Medium. Sprinkle the ground garlic and lemon/pepper on the pork. Brown the pork on one side, about 3 minutes.
While pork is browning, prep your veggies.
Turn the pork over to brown other side and cook for one minute.
Add the asparagus and the mushroom to the pan. Put the lid on and cook for 4 minutes.
Plate and serve.

I wouldn’t be able to do this diet so successfully if it wasn’t for quick and easy cooking! Most of my meals require less than 15 minutes from prep to plate!

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 216 – Eating on the Run

Posted on March 23, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Thursday was a PP day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.9 lb/0.40 kg
Total Weight Loss: 80.8 lb/36.71 kg

And MY BMI IS NOW NOT IN THE OBESE CATAGORY!!! WOO HOO! 😀 Cart wheels… well, not really, I’d probably hurt myself! My BMI is now 30… DOWN FROM 45. Nevermind the fact that I’ve lost over 80 pounds in 7 months, I’m not OBESE anymore… OK, a couple more cart wheels!

Yesterday was a true midwife day and thus the loss on the scale… I will write about it in a different post… but lets just say that I’m knackered, sad, happy, ecstatic and exhausted all wound in to one midwife!

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Late lunch: Grilled chicken chunks
Later dinner: left over grilled chicken chunks

3 coffees, 1.5 liters of water

Exercise: Well a funny thing about that… I went out for my run (in the cold rain… again) and did the whole C25K segment and I hadn’t moved it to the NEXT DAY!!! So it just showed that I had finished what I did 2 days before 😦 I went back inside and thought about it and went back out and ran it again… getting credit for it. And I shaved more than 2 minutes off the run from just before 🙂 That made me very happy. What I really love about C25K is that even though I thought moving forward would be insurmountable, it’s not! It was at first, and I was stuck on Week 4 FOREVER (my own screwed up head), but now I’m running and I’m not out of breath… winded a bit, yes, but not GASPING FOR AIR, like I was before. And, in fact, my legs start getting tired way before my lungs do, how cool is that???

I’m not sure how it will be when the real spring finally arrives here in Hangzhou, China and the pavement isn’t wet… LOL. I’m so used to running in the rain. I would say it has rained 8 out of every 10 times I’ve run. I’m still running past the gym every night… three times and each time I go past, all the people are on the treadmills and I just think out loud… treadmills are for wussies 🙂 Cheeky little bint I am 🙂

Ciao!

Oh… and a before and after shot today… I am wearing the same shirt in both pics… The first couple were taken in 2008 when my precious granddaughter Sofia was born… I bought the shirt at a MANA conference and they didn’t have my size 2XL or even a 1XL… only a large and I wanted support the organization represented on the shirt, so I bought a large, and forced it on… LOL.
The second pic was today. Midwives, do indeed, help people out, and nothing could be truer in regard the birth I was blessed to attend last night/early this morning. I think the shirt is a little big now… but I’ll keep wearing it!!

OMG, I can't believe I'm actually sharing this pic!

The white pants were outrageous!

I think the shirt fits a lot better now!

Dukan – Reflections of Spring

Posted on March 22, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Wednesday was a PV day 🙂

Daily weight loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total weight loss: 79.8 lb/36.31 kg

Wednesday started out at 39 degrees and rose to 57! And this afternoon(Thursday) it is a glorious 72!!! I’m sitting on the balcony basking in the sun 😀

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: grilled chicken breast
Dinner: Citrus Pork and a yummy mixed green organic salad.
Snack: FF Greek yogurt with Splenda and bran.

Spring is a time to clean things up and reflect… I have thought a lot about reflecting lately and today on the way back from getting coffee I caught my reflection in a storefront window and I’m starting to like what I see!