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 – Day 198 – Back in Hangzhou

Posted on March 5, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Monday was a PV day.

Daily weight loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg
Total weight loss: 74 lb/33.61 kg

I have no idea how I lost weight while out of town in Taizhou. Having eaten pork intestines, pickled octopus and various and assorted other things… I was careful not to eat anything in gravy, and I even had half a piece of fruit that was like an apple and pear together… but the scale was kind to me… thank you scale!

Whirlwind couple of days on a trip that was a surprise… holding on to the fact that I caught 2 babies keep my spirits up. Coming back yesterday was challenging, I’m not sure which event launched me into a “Michael Douglas in Falling Down” mode, but I felt like a volcano ready to erupt… was it the guy hocking loogies in the restaurant? (everyone here hocks up loogies openly… loud and proud, and spits them on the floor, wherever they might be… men, women, children) or was it the fact that my employer forgot to pick me up at the train station and I had to get in a 1+ hour que to get a taxi… Or was it the lady in said taxi que that did the Haitian nose blow onto my FRIGGIN hiking boot… my reaction parted the crowd like the Red Sea and we moved right up to the front of the line 😀 Or, it could have been the fact that I couldn’t get a taxi to go to a friends house because they do shift change at 5 p.m. and it was GOD FORBID 4 p.m…. her flat is a 15 min. taxi ride… SO I WALKED THE 3.5 MILES… or it could have been witnessing, for the 1000th time, a kid who’s grandmother is hovering her over the sidewalk while she craps, then wipes her and leaves the tissue on the sidewalk… Yeah… FALLING DOWN… argh!
I also walked the 3.5 miles back to my flat… so I think I got my exercise in for the day!

So the sun is TRYING to peak through the pollution, and it’s time to walk to work and confront them about the fact that they sent me on a 2 night trip, with no extra clothes or panties AND forgot to pick me up at the train station… should be a fun mornin’ 😀

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 182 – 70 POUNDS GONE!

Posted on February 17, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Well, it took me 7 extra days to get to the goal, but I DID IT! Not too bad given that I spent 3 weeks home on a super fun vacation 😀

Friday was a PP day.

Daily Weight Loss: 1.1 lb/0.50 kg
Total Weight Loss: 70.2 lb/31.91 kg …. 5 STONE!

I’m doing the happy dance! Seriously… the happy dance burns even more calories 🙂

I was off today and slept until 7! That is the first morning I’ve slept so late in over a month! Got some blogging done and threw in laundry. Then off to catch a taxi to Kira’s house for breakfast. On the way, the sun peeked through the ever present haze/smog and I snapped a shot…

This picture was taken at 927 a.m…. the weather is still crappy and cold, but I did get to see the sun and that’s all I needed to cheer me up!

Breakfast was a crustless quiche, made especially Dukan friendly just for me… THANKS, KIRA! And I was so busy playing with the amazingly adorable Soren that I didn’t get any other pictures besides this one, which I thought was particularly artsy…

I present… Soren’s Spoon Art

It’s a little blurry, but you get the point… It’s skippy peanut butter on a demi-spoon. He stuck it there because I didn’t want to “taste” it… LOL

Anyway… long walk to the bank to open an account with an American company (CitiBank)… treated like a VIP and it was the least painful banking experience I’ve had thus far in China… WOOT!

Then home to have a very accomplished afternoon of laundry, boxing unpacking and repacking, setting out candles all over my flat to raise and lift my mood, burned nag incense to make the house smell good, organized my office room as an art studio and cooked myself a yummy Curry Stir-Fried beef with onions.

All in all a good day, capped off by a wonderful, happy inducing weigh in this morning!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Remember, that being a success without happiness is meaningless.
~ Richard Denny

Dukan – Day 180 – Lovin’ the Whoosh

Posted on February 15, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Wednesday was a PV (Protein/Vegetable) Day.

Daily Weight Loss: 1.5 lb/0.70 kg
Total Weight Loss: 68.7 lb/31.21 kg

NICE 🙂 My first post-vacation whoosh (not counting the one from last weekend, since I was flying for 2 days on a plane and that truly was water loss). I knew the morning weight in was going to be good, because I snuck a peek on the scale last night and I weight 0.10 kg less than the morning, and that was after a fantastic dinner 🙂

Early in the mornin’: 4 oz cup of yogurt with splenda and bran
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 2 slices of ham + 2 tea eggs
Dinner: Beef sirloin burger with bacon and a small amount of mozzarella cheese (without the bun) + a salad with tomatoes and cukes with a splash of olive oil and sea salt… yum.

Had dinner at The Vineyard with Kitty, Chiara and Joe. Feels “normal” there because it’s an American restaurant, and I feel a bit at home. I looked at their appetizer of fried onion rings, fried calamari, fried mozzarella and chicken wings and thought how awful that food would make me feel. I did pick up one onion ring and smell it… LOL

In regard to my blog… I am reaching between 150 – 200 readers per day, which is awesome! I am humbled that people would spend time reading my words and commenting. My blog has reached nearly 16,000 views. Makes me happy. 😀

Well… off to get ready for work. I hope you all are having a fabulous week… mine is looking up!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

Dukan – Day 121

Posted on December 20, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Monday was a PP day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.0 lb & kg
Total Weight Loss: 53.7 lb/24.41 kg

So no change on the scale which is fine by me… staying the same is better than gain! Back to work today and don’t feel like I had a weekend off. Because of a schedule change I had 1/2 day Friday, worked Saturday and off on Sunday… but I had running around to do, so after the massage I was off to the mall and didn’t get back until nearly 6 p.m…. then my next day off is Friday!!! Anywho… it was a nice day at work. Got 3 policies written and edited and sent off to Kitty for translation, so I feel accomplished 😀

Breakfast: You got it… 2 tea eggs
Lunch: Beef slices with cilantro and garlic stems and a bowl of CHICKEN SOUP… oh my gosh was it yummy and oily… LOL I left the carrots and ate the rest. The broth was so good!

Chicken Soup from the halal restaurant

Dinner: Stir fried sirloin with onions and garlic stems and I threw in 1/8 cup of low-fat mozzarella… it was kind of like having a philly cheese steak w/o the bread!
Snack: FF Greek Yogurt with Splenda and bran

All in all a good day. A couple things in there that may have influenced my lack of scale movement, but I’m not worried. I drank 1.5 liters of water and walked to and from work (a mile each way). The best part of the day was getting a picture from Danee Daniels with her and my niece Charity in it… I have no idea where they were or what they were doing, but they were together (with Dana, as well) and those have to be 3 of my favorite midwives in the world 😀 Thanks for posting, Danee!