Dukan – Day 255 – Mountain Hike

Posted on April 30, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Sunday was a PV Day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.7 lb/0.30 kg
Total Weight Loss: 90.7 lb/41.21 kg

Well thank you to the scales… I was pretty happy to step on them this morning and see a loss!

I was up at the crack of dawn Sunday morning, had an omelet with onions and green peppers for breakfast and slid on the Chaco hiking sandals and headed out the door. It has warmed up here and I wanted to get my hike in before it was too hot. It had rained the night before…

The path leading up to the base of the mountain.

So I wanted to be very careful. I also took my time. I am still having some shortness of breath while climbing, which is frustrating me to no end, given I can run 40+ minutes without stopping… WTH??? Anyway, I kept reminding myself to slow down and took a slow and steady pace up the mountain.

Some of the stones have writings on them.

I like walking on the rough path because I think it helps with balance. You really have to concentrate (or at least *I* do) to stay balanced. A lot of the walkers go on the dirt paths on each side.

After walking/climbing for 1.6 miles, I turned around and headed back. I came upon this group and offered to take a pic of their group… they refused and asked me to become part of their pic 🙂

The guy in the blue shirt helped me out about 25 minutes later 🙂

I’m working on trying to get toner… I actually really don’t like my arms in this shot! I want to thank my friends, Teri and Terri for pointing out that I was wearing SANDALS and not my HIKING BOOTS… Anyhoo, I continued on my hike back… it’s really wonderful walking on the ridge of a mountain. Here’s the route…

It's a nice route up and down the ridge and back.

And as I was walking down the steps to the base, and actually… at THAT MOMENT, thinking about how well my Chaco sandals worked on the slippery, rainy stones, I fell on my ass! HARD! Having had multiple surgeries on my knees, I’m a PRO at falling. I seriously am 😀 A fact I am proud of. Falling on your ass, instead of putting the weight into your wrists, prevents fractures… EXCEPT MY ASS DOESN’T HAVE ANY PADDING ON IT ANYMORE! Or at least it’s greatly reduced! OW! And this is what your butt looks like with a big, deep, ouchy bruise on it…

LOL... you only live once... ViviMokaLaka is the best buddy you can have for documenting your life on film and YES, I have tats... more than a few and my mom has seen all of them.... Oh... and my ass is much smaller than it was 9 months ago... I never would have posted a bruise on THAT ass!

So, going back to the man in the blue shirt sitting next to me in the group shot. He ran up the steps, quick as lightening, to help me get up. I thought that was very sweet. And then he yelled at me, in Mandarin for hiking with sandals on… I showed him the bottom of the sandal in a plea for understanding, but he wasn’t having any of it! He then gave me HIS walking stick and told me (in Mandarin) to follow him the rest of the way down and to walk sideways so I wouldn’t fall again. What a sweetie 🙂 I made it down the rest of the way without any trouble… LOL

Here’s how the hike went:

Nice hike! I know that 909 feet isn't a huge climb up, but it's pretty impressive to me 🙂

So, that was my hike. I then met a couple of friends at 35mm Coffee shop for an iced latte, then went home and showered. I then walked to the hospital to give baby Lyla a bath and some lovin’. Just as I was leaving, Reuben from The Vineyard, was bringing a special request dinner into the room… He’s the guy that made me the special dinner on Saturday night to keep me PP for the day… he’s an awesome chef… reminds me of my son, Nick.

Reuben with Olivia

After seeing that yummy food, I went home and had a pan grilled chicken breast with onion, anoki mushrooms, regular mushrooms and garlic stems. Yummy!

Since I had done the hike, I didn’t run… instead read a little more than half of “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. Awesome book, lots of wisdom.

So that’s it… nice, fully Sunday. Great way to end the week. I’m really enjoying my Sunday hikes!

Ciao!

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 – 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 – 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 – Day 233 – Easter

Posted on April 9, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Sunday was a PP day 🙂

Daily weight loss: 0.2 lb/0.2 kg
Total weight loss: 85.8 lb/39.01 kg

Back to my normal weight loss 🙂 Still plugging along. I had the morning off for church and had a great time. A few things to note… people think that China is an atheistic country, when in fact, most people here are religious. The largest percentage being Buddhist. It is estimated that there are over 50 million Christians in China. And I have to say the church was rockin’ Easter Sunday morning. And yes, it’s a REAL church with a big ole cross on the top of it… just across the street from the Buddhist temple 🙂

The music was gospel with a bit of reggae and blues... totally awesome!!!

The really awesome thing about attending church outside of my home country is the diversity of the fellow church goers… you don’t see that so much in churches in the U.S…. it was the same in Al Ain… people from all over the world in church with you… it makes it so much more fun!

The kids group... rockin' the house at Easter services.

I then walked 2 miles to the bus stop for Bus 900 to take the 1 hour and 18 minute ride to work. Wasn’t too bad… I love people watching.

I then had another marketing event to ~~live through~~ smile through 🙂 Steve, Romina and I got up and sang “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”… the crowd loved it and the kids sang it in Mandarin… pretty cool.

I then went home and got another run in… I’m really trying HARD not to overdo it, but I love it so much! I can’t explain it better than that… took my time, worked on pacing, since I am now running for longer periods without stopping… I think I’m doing pretty well…

http://www.runkeeper.com

Breakfast: One baby bell low fat cheese roundy thingy, 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 1 tea egg, tin of tuna
Afternoon snack: 1 tea egg
Dinner: Stir fry pork loin with onions and garlic cloves… yum

Exercise:
1 mile walk to and from work
2 mile walk to the bus stop
2.98 mile/4.79 kms Run

I hope everyone had a nice Easter Sunday or Passover weekend!

Ciao!

Parting shot… PJ’s AND high heels in the tea egg line this morning!

PJ's and High heels at 651 a.m.

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 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 – Days 211 & 212 – Whooshing

Posted on March 18, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Well, I had a blog break yesterday due to a momma calling in labor while I was typing out the morning blog 😀

Saturday was a PP day on purpose
Sunday was a PP day because I was at the hospital until 9 p.m.

Two whooshes have me elated, yet worried… LOLl
Saturday:
Daily weight loss: 1.3 lbs/0.60 kg
Total weight loss: 78.1 lb/35.51 kg
then Sunday:
Daily weight loss: 1.3 lb/0.60 kg
Total weight loss: 79.4 lb/36.11 kg

Saturday food:
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, coffee
Only worked 1/2 a day so had a yummy lunch: I stir fried 2 tea eggs, 1/4 onion, 5 garlic cloves and 3 slices of bacon with some Italian seasoning… life doesn’t get better than that (I trimmed most of the fat from the bacon, and only allow myself bacon 2x a month… it’s my favorite food GROUP).
Dinner: Chicken breast stir fried with onions and garlic stems
Snack: 2 egg omelet with 2 TBS bran and diced onions

Water: 3 liters
Exercise:
Walk to work 1 mile/1.5 kms
Walk home from work 1 mile/1.5 kms
Walk to 35mm for 2 cafe latte’s with skim milk: 1.61 miles/2.6 km
Walk home from cafe the scenic route along canal: 2.6 miles/4.18 km
C25K run: 2.14 miles/3.44 km
**I think I got my exercise in on Saturday 😀

Sunday food:
Breakfast: 3 oz of steak and 2 eggs (I ate instead of blogging, once the patient called!)
Lunch: 2 tea eggs
Very late dinner: Chicken leg and 2 tea eggs (patient’s hubby got for me)… Spicy!
Snack at 11 p.m.: 2% Greek yogurt… My food order came from Shanghai and they didn’t have fat free in stock, so sent 2%… in all actuality, the 2% has less carbs than the fat free… I’ll sacrifice!

Water: 1.5 liters
Exercise:
Walk to work: 1 mile/1.5 kms
Supporting a woman in labor for 10 hours (walking her, massaging her, supporting her… it’s work!)
Ran with 2 year old in arms about 50 yards to hail taxi at 9 p.m., with my backpack and his overnight bag on my back!!! I’d say this was more exercise than running a 5K … lol

Lovely baby girl born at 535 p.m., all happy and well and then Soren’s mommy came in with some tummy trouble and I took him home with me for a few hours so she could be treated and I could have fun! We played games on the iPad and read… as stated before, he’s a pretty cool 2 year old to hang with!
Here he is playing Animal Safari, you can see Bert and Barbie the bunny snuggling behind him…

So… that was my 2 days… going in an hour late this morning since I worked all day and then some on my day off and I have a bit of a headache 😦 The weather is getting better, for the most part… it is raining out there this morning, but in the last 7 days we’ve had 4 sunshiny days, and that makes me a wee bit happier!

Ciao!

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
~ Maria Robinson

Dukan – Day 208

Posted on March 14, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Wednesday was a PV day.

Daily weight loss: Stay the same
Total weight loss: 76.1 lb/34.61 kg

Hmmmmm, tap foot… I guess no gain is better than nothing, LOL. Two nights dining out might be the reason and the fact I still haven’t, well you know 🙂

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 2 tea eggs and 3 slices of ham
Dinner: Steak fajita w/onions and pepper and a TBS of guacamole & beef soup with carrots and zucchini in clear broth

Water: 2.3 liters
Additional fluids: 2 cups of coffee
Exercise:
Morning- 1 mile/1.5 km walk to work
Evening- 2.1 mile/3.2 km to dinner at Panchos
After dinner- 1.2 mile/1.7 km walk home
And then- 2.31 mile/3.7 km run in the neighborhood

I think I’m getting enough exercise 😀