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 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 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.

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!

Then back to the resort for a one hour massage and then Mexican for dinner! I had fajitas without the tortillas 🙂

What a fantastically, amazing day… Shared with some amazing friends!

Now off for my morning massage!

Ciao!

Thailand & Dukan Days 84 & 85

Posted on November 14, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Ugh! I typed this yesterday and it didn’t save it…
Saturday weight loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Sunday weight loss: none
Total weight loss: 41.7 lb/19.0 kg

So, I’m going to summarize with pictures… But first, this is what I’m looking at this instant… It’s 648 am on Monday in Kuraburi, Thailand having coffee on the veranda off my room at the resort in the rain forest… Take a look:

🙂 Nice, huh?

We went on A two day community stay. So often we go on holiday (vacation) and hang on the beach, go to bars and see the “touristy” stuff, but we don’t see the real stuff. Well we did. We made soap with the Ladies cooperative, formed after the tsunami devastated their village, taking more than 60 lives, including 16 children who were in school at the time.

We went to the monkey reserve just behind our home stay house, where they rehab monkeys that were taken as pets, back into the rainforest.

We made thatched roof sections with the ladies co-op and had amazing, authentic food, some of which we helped prepare…it was an amazing 2 days!

Our sleeping accommodation.

Papaya

Birds used for singing competitions.

We’re now back at the resort having early morning coffee. In a couple of hours we’ll be swept off to Elephant Hills Resort…. LIFE IS GOOD AND I AM GRATEFUL. More tomorrow if there is Internet!

Ciao!

Dukan – Days 81 & 82

Posted on November 11, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Day 81 PV Day… Traveled to Shanghai by rail
Daily Weight Loss: 0.1 lb
Day 82 PP Day… Traveled to Phuket by air
Daily Weight Loss: 0.9 lb/0.4 kg
Total Weight Loss: 40.7 lb/18.5 kg

Good start to my holiday to see a little weight loss! I woke up this morning to the beautiful blue skies of Phuket, Thailand. After a Skype chat with Shannon and Ken, me, Cathy, Karen and Dominique had our first 1 hour massage. Can’t wait for the next one! We’re now having eggs and bacon for brekkies and in an hour the van will come and we’ll start our tour. More tomorrow…
Ciao 🙂

Dukan – Days 81 & 82

Posted on November 11, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Day 81 PV Day… Traveled to Shanghai by rail
Daily Weight Loss: 0.1 lb
Day 82 PP Day… Traveled to Phuket by air
Daily Weight Loss: 0.9 lb/0.4 kg
Total Weight Loss: 40.7 lb/18.5 kg

Dukan – Day 49 – 7 weeks in

Posted on October 9, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Today was a PP Day.
Daily Weight Loss: 0.9 lb/0.40 kg
Total Wight Loss: 30.4 lb/13.81 kg

30 pounds!!! I couldn’t be more pleased! This program is really working for me!
Just a little bit about my daily routine. I work 0.9 miles (1.5 kms) from where I live. Every single morning for the last couple of weeks I’ve walked to and from work. I’ve been doing a brisk walk, getting my heart rate into the 140’s.
This morning I started a thrice weekly cardio/core body class… at 630 a.m.!!! So, I got up, went to class, was able to do about 40% of the stuff in the class and then walked home, listening to the soundtrack of GI Jane. Demi inspires me 🙂
I’m giving a lecture this afternoon, so I’ll walk back to work and home again. Nearly 4 miles of walking + a cardio/core workout… Hope my body doesn’t get mad at me!
What have YOU done for exercise this week?
Ciao!

Dukan – Day 48

Posted on October 8, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Today was suppose to be a PP day but turned out to be a PV day. I had so many leftover veggies in the fridge, that I didn’t want them to go to waste. It turned out that it was OK, because I still lost weight, which is a good thing. The other good thing…
my BMI is under 40! YAY!

Daily Weight Loss: 0.7 lb/0.30 kg
Total Weight Loss: 29.5 lb/13.41 kg

I want to post this again, because it’s been SO helpful! Charlotte is a fellow Dukaner who created this amazing spreadsheet… I love it and recommend it to anyone doing a diet program…. http://charlottesdukandiet.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/the-progress-tracker/

The one nice thing about having so many parameters to watch is that as long as you are losing, every few days there is a new milestone. When I read Dr. Dukan’s book, I didn’t think weighing in everyday was a good idea. I am totally converted on that now. It is a great idea for many reasons:

You see on a daily basis whether you’ve gained or loss. This helps you get back on track. I was worried while in Shanghai this week that I wouldn’t be weighing myself everyday. That “worry” made me stay on track, because the only person I’m doing this program for is ME, and I sure don’t want to disappoint ME 🙂
You see milestones hit every week, as long as you’re losing. Last week I hit 25 pounds gone AND 2 stone! Today my BMI is under 40… YAY for me 🙂 These little milestones make the small sacrifices worth it!
In combination with blogging, it keeps you accountable. If not to anyone else, to yourself. Blogging is like journaling, but making it public. The benefit of blogging is that your mom and your friends and your Dukaners and your cyber-friends can check in on you and cheer you on. For me, this cheering has made a WORLD of difference. Because even though first and foremost I want to make ME happy, it is so nice to see other peoples enthusiasm for what you are doing. We all love receiving positive feedback… and at least for me, it has made this journey much easier!

Now, for my worries… I worry that I’ll hit a plateau, I mean seriously, how long can the losing go on before my body says… “um, we’re taking a break here”. I still have A LOT of weight to lose. My cynical side says that it’s going to happen. But, as I lie in bed at night and read Dr. Dukan’s book, I realize that even though there may be some small bumps in the road, the program is sound. If you eat frequent, small meals, that are the prescribed foods for the day, you may not plateau too much for too long. Why? Because your body doesn’t think you’re starving it like it does when you fast or seriously reduce calories. It takes those meals and uses up the calories for energy and you keep losing weight.

For now, I’m going to just try not to worry about it. Keep sticking to the program and see day by day what that scale says. So far, so good. And thanks to all of you that pop in and read and leave messages… they help… A LOT… especially this girl who is so far from home, in a country that eats lots of RICE 🙂 heheh

Ciao!