Dukan – Consolidation Day 85 – Aussie Football Rocks

Posted on August 4, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Wow… 85 days on Consolidation! And you know what… I’m sticking to the plan and my weight is stabilized… I will be in Consolidation for a total of 500 days so I’ve got 415 to go!
Since starting in Consolidation I went from 155 down to a low of 144. I have consistently been between 144 and 148 for nearly 2 months now. Awesome! This morning 146.

Breakfast: Cream cheese pancakes ** without syrup, not able to find sugar free here! Ate them in bed with a cup of coffee before getting ready for work.
This is Titters, my cat, wishing I’d share some of that pancakey goodness with him…

He put his back to me because I wouldn’t share!

Lunch: A yummy salad with red cabbage, cukes, tomatoes and bacon and edam cheese!

Before I carnivored it up 🙂

Afternoon Snack: 2 tea eggs
Dinner: Philly cheese steak without the bread and a small side salad.

Exercise:
Walked to and from work twice as I walked home for lunch.
Ran 5K in record time the night before… loving that I can breathe again. It’s been 12 weeks since my surgery and I’ve only been able to take full breaths for the last 2 weeks… general anesthesia is the culprit, me thinks.

After work I went with Vivien to an Aussie friends house to watch Australian Rules Footie… I am totally into it and the commentary during the game from those watching is great fun and instead of running 10 feet and having a time out, they just keep going and going and going… it’s going to be hard to go home to the States and enjoy the NFL… lol! The end of this game was AMAZING!!! Tom Hawkins (Tomahawk) #26, kicked the winning 6 point goal with 0 seconds left on the clock!!! Bringing them to their 9th victory in a row… I guess Cats really do have 9 lives! So, Rory, my partner in fun for the guest running blog I wrote a few weeks ago, presented me with my official fan Geelong Cats T-shirt! I totally feel like part of the gang now 😀 Thanks, Rory!

I AM A FAN!!

The Tomahawk

At the end of the night my local daughter, Vivien, walked me downstairs and I talked her into a self pic… lol… I’m going to miss this girl when I move home!

ViviMokaLaka – August 2012

I look a little different than I did a little more than a year ago when I took this pic…

ViviMokaLaka – April 2011

Ciao

**I bought the amazing cookbook from this blogger. Her recipes are awesome and easy to follow! I highly recommend the book and can’t wait to get in a REAL kitchen with a REAL oven and make more of the stuff in the book!

Running, blog stats and random stuff

Posted on August 1, 2012 by flamidwyfe

I’ve had a pretty exciting week from a personal perspective. I set two personal records running in the past 3 days. The first was my fastest run at 8:26 avg. min/km or 13:34 avg. min/mile. This is a full 1 minute per mile LESS than before I had my surgery in May! The second was that I ran more miles in July than any previous month! Below is my RunKeeper stats…

The brick color is walking, the green is running and the purple is hiking.

I’ve either walked, ran or hiked 544 kilometers since March. That’s 338 miles 🙂 Woot!

Another awesome thing that happened this week is that at some point I reached 50,000 hits on my blog! And I’ve logged nearly 3500 comments! It makes me so happy that so many people have stopped by. I started regularly writing this blog in August to share my journey with family and friends and it has become so much more and that makes my heart swell with happiness!

And that leads to the awesomest things that have happened this week. Actually it happened today… 4 people that I personally know, all of us on 4 different continents, contacted me today (yesterday for some of you) to tell me they are starting the Dukan because they want to be healthier and they’ve seen my success. All 4 have read my blog and I only knew that one of them was. I wish all 4 of you luck!!! I know you will succeed because I know all of you put your mind to something and accomplish it! 4 amazing women… starting on this journey… Good luck and remember that I’m here if you need anything!

I’ll finish by saying that August brings in the last month of summer. It also signals that I have 51 days left in China. I can’t believe I’ve been here nearly a year already! I get one more trip to Guangzhou where I get to hang with my Int’l crew down there, Rose, Jenny, Liza and Dianna. And get to mentor a friend from the Middle East, Aisha! And then back to Hangzhou to finish out my contract… I’m going to miss my ViviMokaLaka so much! She’s the one that brought me here in the first place. I’m going to try to take as many photos as possible in the next 7 weeks.

But I miss home and my kids and my grandkids and my mom and my family and my friends and the beautiful sunrise over the Roosevelt Bridge first thing in the morning. And there’s no place like home. I’ve had a fun 4 years living abroad 🙂 But on to new projects and fixing up my AirStream!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday!

Ciao!

Dukan – Recipe – Steak Stir Fry

Posted on August 1, 2012 by flamidwyfe

I had some veggies in the fridge that needed to be eaten so I threw this little dinner together!

STEAK STIR FRY (sorry, I live in China, have a teeny kitchen and a wok, stir fry is what it is!)
Serves 2

1 pound steak (500 grams) – cut in chunks, strips, however you like it!
1/2 large onion – chopped
1/2 carrot- sliced thinnish
1/2 red pepper – chopped
Asparagus- chopped
2 Tbs Coconut Oil (see the * from yesterday’s post)
2 tsp Italian seasoning
Salt & Pepper to taste

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Put 1 Tbs of coconut oil in pan. Put in onions and carrots, sprinkle with Italian seasoning and cook on medium low for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Put your steak on top, add the rest of the coconut oil and stir. Put on the lid and simmer for 6 minutes. Stir occasionally. Take lid off and stir fry the red pepper and asparagus in with the rest of it… Stir fry for 3 minutes. Put lid on for 2 minutes. Serve. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Sautee those carrots and onions gently!

Throw that meat in there!

Add in the rest of the veggies!

ENJOY!

Ciao!

Dukan – Consolidation Day 80

Posted on July 30, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Daily Weight: 147 lbs
Goal Weight: 155 lbs

Spent the night last night in Shanghai and after dropping off Suz at the airport I headed back by subway to the train station and then the train back to Hangzhou.

My driver, Jerry, picked me up at the train station and took me to the Wet Market to buy meat and veggies… so much cheaper than the grocery store!

I then got home and started packing boxes for my move home in September. I packed two boxes and will ship them on Thursday… September 20th… leaving for U.S. date 🙂

Breakfast: Buffet at the Courtyard Marriott… I had a 3 egg omelet with onions, peppers and mozzarella cheese.
Lunch on the train: Beef jerky and a handful of almonds
Snack: Yogurt with Splenda and cinnamon
Dinner: Stir fried pork with onions and asparagus. Dipped that in Tamari (which is soy sauce without wheat in it) and wasabi… Oh My Was That Good!

Dinner Cooking 🙂

Dinner Plated!

Now I’m off for a 5 km run and then bed. I hope you all enjoy your Monday!

Ciao!

Dukan – A Good Day – Dukan Consolidation Day 78

Posted on July 28, 2012 by flamidwyfe

11 weeks and 1 day into Dukan Consolidation Phase and doing great!
Today was my once weekly PP day, since I was unable to do it on Thursday.

Today’s Weight: 147 lb/66.8 kgs
Goal Weight: 155 lb/70.5 kgs

Back to work in Hangzhou after a trip yesterday to Shanghai. Got an early start on fine tuning a PowerPoint presentation on water birth for tomorrow (Sunday). I walked to work, as usual.

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, 3 slices of lean bacon, coffee
Morning Snack: 1 ounce of Pepper Jack cheese
Lunch: 2 tea eggs, 3 slices of lean bacon
Afternoon Snack: 1 tea egg, 1 ounce of Pepper Jack cheese
Dinner: Lomo Saltaldo… oh MY was it good!
After Dinner Snack: Fat Free greek yogurt with Splenda and flax seed meal… I’m eating that now as I write this blog 🙂

Exercise Today:
Walk to work = 1 mile
Walk home for lunch = 1 mile
Walk back to work = 1 mile
Walk home from work = 1 mile
After dinner walk = 2 mile
Total = 6 miles

Water = 3+ liters of water today.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Ciao!

Parting shot… Baby Moon-Moon this afternoon… I love my babies!

Guest post for AGoodRun

Posted on July 16, 2012 by flamidwyfe

My guest post on AGood Run… Check it out 🙂

A Good Run

Written by Sandi Blankenship

The past 11 months have been quite an adventure for me. Last August, I went home to the States for my 30-year high school reunion and met with a high school friend who is a life coach. I was living and working in the Middle East, had been offered a job in China and weighed 255 lbs. I completely changed my lifestyle a few weeks later, moved to China in September, started running in January and lost 111 pounds! I ran my first 5K on June 9th and came in just past the middle of the pack. I’m now training for a triathlon.

My Run:
I started my run at The Vineyard. A restaurant in the West Lake District that is run by an American chef, Reuben, who gets my diet needs. I am so thankful for the food I’m served there and the friends I’ve…

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Dukan – Consolidation Day 60 – Two Months!

Posted on July 10, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been 2 months since I reached Consolidation Phase! Two months and I’ve actually lost weight, not just maintained. Which says a lot about this amazing lifestyle change… it’s for the long term. It doesn’t abandon you once the weight is gone.

A former colleague, Rachell, is on Dukan and has lost 19 Kgs (nearly 42 pounds). She looks AWESOME! One of the comments under the picture she posted that she was on Dukan and one of the people commented back, ” I must look into it, do you eat anything?”… This is the general mentality we have about diets… that you must not eat… well I’m here to tell you that on Dukan you eat and eat and eat… but you eat GOOD, HEALTHY FOOD. Nourishing food. It’s a lifestyle change and if you stick to it, it continues to keep you fit and healthy… while you eat and eat and eat! 😀

Daily Weight: 144 lbs/65.45 kgs (yes, mother, I know… lol)
Goal Weight: 155 lbs/70.5 kgs.

So, this is something interesting. When I started the Dukan Diet way back in August of last year, Dr. Dukan asks what you think your weight should be. I said 145. He said 165 was my True Weight based on age, # of pregnancies, menopause and other factors. So I agreed to set my goal at 155. Which is what I reached 60 days ago. I am now 11 pounds below that goal and just 1 pound below what I thought my weight should be. I feel good. I’m eating and eating and eating (you get the point)… but my exercise has increased from being a couch potato 10 months ago to running 5K five times a week, yoga 2x a week, mountain hiking on Sunday mornings, walking a mile to and from work every single day, etc. I have increased my calories, as well. Trying to match my motion burning energy 🙂 So, in all actuality, I’ve lost 111 pounds… what a cool number that is!

For a glimpse into my typical Sunday… here we go…

Up at the crack of dawn… no alarm, drives me nuts, as I’d love to sleep in just a little, teeny bit, but nope, my body goes to sleep at 10 pm and wakes up just before 6 am every morning, work or not!

Breakfast: FF Greek yogurt with Splenda and 2 Tbs. Flax seed meal, cup of coffee and 750 mL water with Crystal Light. Strap on my hiking boots and off I go to catch bus #900. Towards Guyuan Park, where I get off to walk to the entrance of the mountain hike.

Along the way to the mountain gate there are many paths to choose from to get there…

And then, as I came out of the park to cross the road to the gate, I encountered this…

No end in sight… but the construction workers waved me over, moved the walls and let me pass through… YAY!

More paths to choose from 🙂

There are 838 steps to get up to here…

West Lake in the background… the view is stunning in person. I drank another 750 mL water while on the hike.

And this is the path I take, thanks to Runkeeper!

838 steps up, 483 ft elevation… nice climb! I paused up at the top for pictures and about a 25 minute guided meditation.

After finishing the hike, I walked down to the first traffic light in front of the University to meet my driver Jerry and found Teresa’s… how in the WORLD had I not found this place in the past 10 months is beyond me!!! I texted Jerry and told him to meet me there and we had brunch… it was Mmmm Mmmm good. The iced coffees were a perfect way to cool off after the long hike!
Brunch: Avocado & Bacon salad. Two tea eggs (smuggled in). 2 Iced cafe lattes with splenda and about 500 mL water.
Groovy restaurant…

Then Jerry took me to the mall to do a little shopping… I was able to find 2 bras that FIT, which is a score here in the land of little women! And after a few hours of shopping, we ended up for a late lunch at The Vineyard… Jerry wanted to know how I could eat so much… YES PEOPLE… YOU GET TO EAT ON DUKAN!! WOOT!
Late lunch: Philly Cheese steak with grilled peppers and extra grilled onions, no bread please and no french fries… side salad instead and several glasses of water. Jerry had french fries… I sniffed them, no appeal, whatsoever!

Then Jerry dropped me off at home. And around 730 p.m. I made the deviled eggs from yesterday’s recipe and while making them, I had salmon shashimi with wasabi & gluten free soy sauce (Tamari). I also ate 6 halves of the deviled eggs… YUM! Drank another 500 mL water and took a 2 mile walk around the complex after dinner and then fell into bed at 10 p.m…. wonderful day. I love being so active!

What do you do on your days off from work???

Ciao!

Dukan – Consolidation Day 55

Posted on July 5, 2012 by flamidwyfe

I am really missing my daily blog posts! I still don’t feel like I’ve caught up from my vacation!

Daily weight: 147 lbs/66.8 kgs
Goal weight: 155 lbs/70.5 kgs

Things weight and goal wise are going very well. I have to remind myself often that I am no longer in the Cruise Phase and can add a few things into my diet! Today (Thursday) is a PP day and so far I’ve stuck to that. On the Consolidation Phase (which for me will be 500 days long) you get to add some stuff back in to your diet, you get to have one celebration MEAL (not day) a week and you still have one PP day a week. Dr. Dukan suggests Thursday as that day, and I’m going to stick with that.

On Tuesday morning I got up early and went for a 2 mile run at sunrise. I then came back and did Chaz’s YOGAmazing 10 Minute Morning Flow workout. The combination of the two is a great way to start my day! Chaz has some amazing short yoga workouts that are easy to fit into your day and he also has workouts that focus on specific areas of your body, which I really love!

I then headed to work by walking and within the first hour was told I was being requested for a water birth. All day labor, difficult birth, as the baby was face up instead of face down, but this momma pulled energy from the universe and after nearly 3 hours of pushing had a gorgeous baby boy with a funny looking head… lol (it’s looking much better this morning!)

On Tuesday evening Alice came back for a night stay over. We went out to dinner with her son, Leon. Alice and I had the salmon with horseradish appetizer and we all three ordered mixed grill. The meat was DELICIOUS!

The waitress that took pics for us kept tilting all of our cameras… so none of us have a straight shot, lol!

Alice and I then headed back late to my flat and I was in bed at 1 a.m. (gasp!!! that is SO late for me!). And we were up at 6 a.m. to get a ride to the train station. Alice had a noon flight to Hong Kong.

Wearing Red, White & Blue on the train to Shanghai in honor of America’s birthday!

So off we went to Shanghai on Wednesday morning… the 4th of July. Not only is this America’s Independence Day, but it is also my little sister Nannette’s birthday!

Alice and I were suppose to be on the high speed train to Shanghai, which usually takes about 42 minutes, but we somehow got on the slow one… so between that and the subway ride on Line 2 from one end of Shanghai to the other to get to the airport, it was cutting it close… good Lord I was glad it was Alice traveling and not me, as we all know how bad my travel anxiety and time goes! We, of course, got there with plenty of time and from the pics that Alice posted on her Facebook wall of Hong Kong, she got there in one piece!

Bye Alice!!! It was fun hanging out!

I then got back on the subway and found my way to the grocery store that I shop at in Shanghai and found a restaurant that I hadn’t eaten in before. Sat down at a table with a lovely gentleman named Stern from New Jersey, in China teaching for a year, and had a wonderful conversation over lunch… we’re Facebook friends now 🙂 and then I got a little shopping done… mostly a backpack and sack full of groceries to sustain me through the week. I then took the subway back to the train station for the ride back to Hangzhou. I called Jerry, my driver (I love saying that… he’s a very cool dude!) and asked if he could pick me up… he said yes and told me to keep an eye out for the special way he was going to display my name at the train station…

You see MY driver uses an iPad instead of cheesy paper! 😀 Thank you, Jerry, for making me feel so special and important and for being environmentally friendly!

He then informed me that he was taking me to dinner to thank me for all the referrals that I gave him. He was taking me to the “best Chinese restaurant in town” and inquired about what foods I could and could not eat… the man pays attention! Too bad he’s married with a kid, lol! Just joking, his wife is one lucky lady!

So, he takes me to Nongtangli Restaurant near West Lake and he was not kidding… it was the best Chinese food I’ve had since I’ve been here! I decided right then and there that Wednesday, July 4th, was going to be my Celebration Meal of the week. Not that I ventured too far… I don’t do wheat, rice or potatoes… here’s what we had…

Spicy Black fungi and to die for pork… nommy, nommy pork, melt in your mouth, fall off the bone, better than sex pork 😀

And pumpkin with a creamed coconut sauce… now this was yummy!

And I had juice, which is something I haven’t had since August! It was fresh juiced green apple and grapefruit… cool and refreshing on this hot summer’s eve!

Awesome dinner, awesome dinner companion. Jerry then took me back to my flat and didn’t charge me for the pick up… such a great guy!

So my 4th of July food was:
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, coffee at train station
Lunch: Salad greens and a poached salmon steak
Snack on the train: about 2 ounces of aged cheddar that was crumbly and sharp!
Dinner: See above… Yum!!
Snack before bed: FF Greek Yogurt with Splenda and flax seed
Water: About 3 liters
Exercise: 1 mile walk after dinner and 20 minutes of meditation

So how was everyone else’s 4th of July??

Ciao!

Dukan – Consolidation Day 52 – Monday Weekend Round-Up!

Posted on July 2, 2012 by flamidwyfe

I can’t believe I’m already 52 days into Consolidation! My weight is holding steady and I’m super excited about that. I’ve not had a moment to breathe much less blog since I’ve been back in China. Here’s the stats…

Today’s Weight: 146 lbs/66.36 kgs
Goal Weight: 155 lbs/70.5 kgs

Last Thursday my friend and fellow Florida midwife, Alice called and said she was still in Hangzhou… could she come hang out… ABSOLUTELY! Nothing like staving off the “just returned from home vacation” blues like having someone to hang out with on my after work hours! We’ve had a good time playing catch up and eating some yummy food. Alice follows a Paleo life style, so our foods work well together!

Friday food:
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, 500 mL water*, 1 oz of Edam cheese
Snack: 10 almonds, cup of coffee
Lunch: 3 slices of beef, 1 tea egg, 500 mL water
Snack: 500 mL water, a few more almonds
Dinner: Alice made a duck soup with: duck (duh), broth made from the bones of the duck, carrots, garlic, ginger and red cabbage… YUMMY!!!!!!!!! She also made a very delicious salad with red cabbage, cukes and apple slices! We also had a plate of duck meat.
Snack: FF yogurt with splenda and flax seed meal and a pinch of cinnamon
Exercise: Walk to and from work x 2 (went home for lunch) Total: 1 mile/1.5 kms
Neighborhood walk in evening: 1 km with Alice
**I put a packet of Crystal Light in my 1.5 liter bottles (1 pkt is suppose to be for 16.9 ounces) It helps me get all my water in!

Duck Duck Soup

Gorgeous Salad

So good!

My guest chef, Alice!

I worked on Saturday and had a pretty good day at work. They are trying to get me to come up with a plan to continue working here after my contract is up. So discussions about that a lot of the day.

Saturday food:
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, 500 mL water
Snack: 500 mL water, 10 almonds, 1 ounce cheese
Lunch: Walked home and pan friend Tilapia coated with flax seed meal and Italian seasoning! Yummy! FF greek yogurt. 500 mL water and a Coke Zero (Alice is a bad, bad influence on me!!! LOL)
Snack: 500 mL water.
Dinner: Bus to the Mexican restaurant where I had a big bowl of guacamole mixed into my beef fajitas, minus the tortillas. Spicy as all get out tonite!
We then walked to 35mm Cafe for a cafe latte…

Mmmmm

We then had a nice walk back to my flat!

Sunday… off work and a planned run/walk with my friend Rory. I am writing a guest post on the blog AGoodRun, due July 16th and I needed to map it out and take my pictures for the post. Rory was kind enough to volunteer. We ended up not running at all, since it was 98F and 88% humidity. We had a lovely fast walk, with breaks to take pics and one break for water and refreshments at Starbucks… nearly 15 kms in 3 hours… it was AWESOME!

Hot but GORGEOUS day to walk along West Lake.

My walking buddy, Rory.

Bamboo forest… the point of A Good Run’s blog is to show thankfulness. So, You will see me holding a sign that says Thank You in both English and Mandarin.

This was the halfway mark… My goal was to go to the bull sculpture and back… and we did it!

We started and finished at The Vineyard, my favorite place to eat in town. I love it there because the chef Rueben a. Reminds me of my son, Nick and b. Cooks food to my order, so it’s gluten and sugar free… he’s awesome!

My favorite chef in Hangzhou!

I had a Chicken caesar salad without the dressing and some hot chicken wings, without flour and a gluten-free ranch dressing for dip… plus lots and lots and lots of water!

So, that’s my weekend round up! How did everyone else’s weekend go?

Ciao!

Results ARE typical – Dukan Diet

Posted on June 28, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Dukan Diet – Consolidation Phase – Day 49

Today’s Weight: 148 lbs/67.27 kg
Goal Weight: 155 lbs/70.5 kg
Weight loss Total: Well… the starting weight was 255 lb/115 kg!

This morning, it’s Friday morning here in Hangzhou, China, I woke up to an email from the Dukan Diet web site. They had posted my success story on their web page. I am honored! Here’s the link Sandi B. Success Story.

I want people to know that with the Dukan Diet RESULTS ARE TYPICAL. They really are. If you follow the principles outlined by Dr. Dukan in his book you WILL lose weight, meet your goals AND keep it off. I bought my book in Abu Dhabi at the urging of my friend Lucy, thank you Lucy! You can buy the book here iTunes or here Amazon. If you are thinking of following the Dukan Diet I strongly recommend that you read the book from cover to cover. I met Dr. Dukan’s True Weight 3 days after he told me I would… In other words, 8 months after putting my data into the Dukan site, I hit my TW 3 days after he said I would. Dr. Dukan knows what he is talking about!

The other thing that made me successful on this diet were following the blogs of Charlotte and Moonday and Mel and many others who share their ups and downs and their over and outs… LOL. There are many, many other blogs that I follow now (which reminds me I need to update that blog roll!). Constance at Becoming She Hulk has also lost more than 100 pounds and is keeping it off… great advise at her blog about Dukan, body building and more. She has been a true inspiration to me!

So go on over and read my success story… I’m so excited about it! I’ll blog later about the meals I’ve been eating in Consolidation and I promise I’ll get back to daily blogging about Dukan and running. I woke up this morning FINALLY feeling non-jet lagged! 🙂

If this is your first visit to my blog… welcome. Take a seat and stay awhile. For those of you that have been on this ride with me for a while… thank you 🙂

And the proof is in the pictures….

BEFORE PICS: