Quick Note!

Sorry I haven't been blogging the last few days. Hectic around here (as usual) - I'll try and be better with my updates! :)

Been running almost every morning. Running 5 Kilometer's every time. It's a mix of jogging and fast walking. Can't wait till i can actually run the entire 5k! It'll happen. With more practice :)

Weight wise, been up and down. I've added a little carb because of my upcoming race in less than 2weeks. But in total I have lost 5Lbs so far. Got another 5 lbs to lose for my challenge before/on Aug 27th! Hopefully that will happen! Will keep you updated for sure.

I think I'll re-do attack phase for a few days after the race, just to get the carb out of my system again. That's the plan so far.

Thanks for all your support and lovely comments. Especially about your advice regarding food/my 5K run/ weight loss/ and everything! Thanks!

Guess What?!

Before I tell you my big news let me tell you about my day :) - I lost 0.4 lbs, which isn't too bad. Still going strong and in the right direction.

I had a "kinda" bad cut this evening opening a can of beans. Blood everywhere. Was pretty deep, so to the E.R my husband took me!  The location of the cut made it hard for stitches (close to the nail, sideways, as if around the finger). So, they "glued it!" hehe, cool. I would rather have that than stitches! So, all is well now, just finding it really hard to type. So, I'm just going to mention my big surprise before I end this post (which is taking forever to type!:)).

Last night I signed up for a 5K run in 2.5 weeks!! Yep. Did it and I already did my first training fast walk/jog this morning! I did 1.5 miles. Felt really happy and proud of myself. Started my run at 6:30 a.m. to run! Happy happy happy!  I should do at least 40 minutes a day of jogging/walking, until i reach my goal of actually running 5K. Hopefully I will get there in time for the race (on the 19th of Aug). My good friend, who is a runner is supporting and encouraging me! Soo blessed to have her!

Normal day food wise. The usual. Didn't mess up. Hopefully scales go down in the morning.

Have a great Dukan Day!

Day 5 Of Challenge - PV

Daily Weight Loss: .8 Lbs
Total Loss on the challenge: 3.8 lbs

So, 3.8 Lbs in 4 days. Pretty cool. Happy about it. Hopefully it'll keep going this way!

Breakfast: Coffee w/ non fat creamer , Activia light
Lunch: Mexican salad (beef seasoned with Mexican seasoning w/ lettuce, tomatoes and a little avocado w/ fat free sour cream).
Dinner: 1/2 slice of pita bread w/ 2 slices of non fact cheese (i know! shouldn't have)

I officially have a cold. Didn't have the energy to cook today. So just had whatever was there around me.  Drinking a lot of water and tea. Hoping it'll help the cold a bit.

That's about it for today. Hopefully this weekend I will do well with food. Weekends are the hardest! - But feeling pretty good so far about my weight loss. Keep in mind, I still didn't get to the lowest weight since I've begun the Dukan! Hopefully soon.

Have a good one!

Day 4 of Challenge - PP

Same weight this morning. Still got 7 Lbs to go. 

I'm not worried or upset about not losing weight today. I lost 3 Lbs in 3 days, which is pretty good :)

Breakfast: Cup of coffee w/ non fat creamer
Snack: Activia Light
Early Lunch: 2 hot dogs w/ 2 eggs
Snack: 1 non fat/ sugar free Jell-O chocolate mousse
Dinner: Rotisserie Chicken (No skin) - Store Bought. w/ a little non fat yogurt.
Snack: (probably having an oat bran cookie or/and chocolate mousse.

Felt a little tired today. Not from the diet, but I feel like i'm coming down with a cold/flu. Hopefully it's not! I hate getting colds!

Have a good day!

Ready, set, BAKE!

Good day in general. Nothing exciting really. Rained almost all day, it sucks! Everywhere else in the States are getting a massive heat wave, except us, here in Seattle! You'd think we get used to it. We don't! Oh well, it's just another day.
I wanted to workout, but again, didn't get the chance to do that. Also, I know I need to drink more water. I don't drink enough. Some days, I realize I've only had 1 or 2 cups of water. NOT GOOD!  Got to get myself into the habit of drinking more.

Breakfast: 1 cup of coffee/ non fat creamer, Activia light
Lunch: 2 eggs, 1 slice of 2% Swiss cheese, a little crab
Snack: Cup of coffee w/ non fat creamer
Dinner: Miracle Noodle & Walden Farms Pasta Tomato Sauce & Ground Beef
Snack: 3 slices of fat free swiss cheese & some crab (felt a bit hungry after dinner).

I'm "attempting" to bake Chocolate Oatbran Muffins tonight! If they're good, i'll probably have it for a snack with a cup of tea. I'm trying Vicki's recipe. Wish me luck! :)

FYI: I didn't have the Wheat Bran that the recipe needed, but did find something called Cream of Wheat (it's not creamy at all, has the Oat Bran texture). Thought I'd give it a try with that. Let's hope it works! :)

The last few days have been really tough for me. Not talking about the diet (directly), but life in general. That's when I struggle with my food. It's like "yeah, whatever, I'll just eat" . In the past, that's something I would do. Lately, I've been better. Although it takes everything in me to be disciplined about it.
It's also really hard to concentrate on myself and what I need to do to get healthier and be happier. It takes a lot of work to do that. Especially with the daily struggles, routines and experiences with my two little boys. Don't get me wrong, I love my boys. I would do anything and everything for them. I'm just saying, it takes a lot of effort physically and emotionally to juggle between the family needs and my own personal needs.
I'm sure a lot of mom's out there understand where I'm coming from :)

with my husband at the Manchester United Game

Going to another subject now! Last night, my husband and I went to a soccer game (as it's called in the united states) also known internationally as football! :) - My favorite team, Manchester United  were the visiting team. And they were playing our own Seattle Sounders FC. It was a great game.Great atmosphere. And I loved every minute of it. And the timing was great, since I needed a break and do something with my husband without the kids :) 

Have a great one!

Disappearing for a few days!

I'll be back either Sunday or Monday. I'll be doing the DUKAN! so no worries :) - well, I'll be doing it as much as I can. It's harder on weekends! :) - But reading all your beautiful blogs this morning got me inspired! Such great attitude towards the diet. Very inspiring indeed!

See you in a few days & have a great weekend! Hopefully, A great Dukan friendly weekend!

Ciao!

Got my shipment!

No change in my weight!

It feels like I'm in some kind of "stabilization" phase! I'm thinking after these 3 days of PV I should probably have a PP day. We'll see how it goes tomorrow - I'm still having constipation problems, even with my PV days & with the powder fiber that I have with my drinks! - thankfully, headaches are GONE! :)

I was waiting for this shipment. It's an order I made online for the (Non Fat, No Calorie, Gluten free ...) products. I used a couple of their products before. And now, this order, I got some new things. I already tried 2 new products.

1- Ketchup: Zero everything! The color is like Ketchup but it was more liquidy (that is probably not a word!) but you know what I mean ;) - It tasted good. Don't expect the real taste of Ketchup, but it's pretty close and descent.
2- Mayonnaise: Same color, different substance. It was as the ketchup was "more liquidy" - kinda more like a dressing substance! Yes, that's it .. a dressing! And it did taste good. (not like real mayo though).

I also got some ready made tomato sauce (ready made pasta sauce), peanut butter spread, chocolate spread, strawberry jam, garlic herb (pasta sauce). And I'm looking forward to trying them all somehow! :) - Again, they're calorie free and all.

I just realized I never mentioned where I get all these products from! They're from a company called Walden Farms. If you'd like to check their products or order anything, here's the website http://waldenfarms.com/.

Breakfast: Cup of coffee w/ creamer
Lunch: 3 hot dogs w/ Walden Farms Ketchup & Mayo
Snack: Sugar Free Jello Chocolate Mousse
Dinner: Sauteed mushrooms & crab w/ some garlic, Walden Farm Alfredo Sauce & some chicken broth added for some sauce. Had it with the miracle noodles.

I didn't have anything for breakfast because I forgot! I fed the boys & then we all got ready to go to a morning play date. Totally forgot about breakfast.

10 Lbs in 3 weeks?

Is this something I can do? I would really like to challenge myself and try and lose 10 Lbs in 3 weeks or less. I'm thinking, it is doable, If I stick to my diet. Any thoughts?
August 27th (which also happens to be my birthday), we're going on vacation. That requires a swimming suit! In public! (when we went swimming with my boys last week, it was just us in the pool)!! Haven't done that because of how self conscious I am about my body and being in a swim suit. So, i'm thinking 10 Lbs in 3 weeks (the trip is at least 6 weeks away) should make me feel VERY good about myself! :)

First day = Success! -PV Day

Daily weight loss is 2 Lbs
Current Weight: 184 Lbs (I went up a couple of pounds over 2 days before starting my new plan)
I was unsure if my new plan would work, but I was really happy on the scales this morning. I lost 2 lbs eating healthy "yummy" food and feeling full. How great is that?  :)
I'm still constipated, but I'm sure it's going to take a few days for my veggies/fiber to kick in. I do have a headache this morning, but I'm thinking it's because of having to be up with my 1.5 yr old from 11:30 p.m till 3:30 a.m!  - I think he's teething.  (he still has a few more teeth left to come out!) :)
Breakfast: Cup of Coffee w/ creamer , Activia Light
Lunch: Crab Salad - I had to have it today again! ;)
Snack: Cup of coffee w/ creamer
Dinner: Baked Tillapia seasoned with Taco seasoning with a tomato relish - Delicious!
Snack: Iced Non Fat Latte

Feeling good. Loving the PV days :) - Never thought I'd miss vegetables as much as I did. I've been enjoying my food the last couple of day and it makes things easier.

Again, tonight, I'll probably have the oat bran cookie with a cup of tea while watching t.v. I think, in the past, the most calorie intake for me was during the evening, munching, while watching t.v.  I mostly loved eating Chips! I'm slowly getting out of this habit! Finally!

Have a good one!

The Plan!

I decided to start the week with a PV day. And I'll have more PV days in a week than PP. I will eat more vegetables and fish. Will try to cut down on red meat and have chicken more often (although it's not one of my favorite ).
I know i'm worrying about continuing with this diet, but i'm also really worried to gain all the weight back. I feel Dukan keeps me in check and on track.
I will stay away from carbs and fruits for now.

My Day:

Crab Salad

Breakfast: Cup of Coffee w/ creamer , Activia Light
Snack: Cup of Coffee
Lunch: Crab Salad (Lettuce, cucumbers, olives, topped with crab meat & Calorie free Thousdand Island Dressing).
Snack: Activia Light
Dinner: 2 Tilapia Fish baked and seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Topped with a tomato, garlic, mint, lemon juice relish. YUMMY!

I was really happy about the menu today! Loved everything I had. Made it feel like I wasn't on a diet. Love the feeling. Especially the feeling of being FULL! :)

Later on tonight, I'll have a cup of tea w/ my Oat Bran Vanilla Cookie!

Have a wonderful evening! (morning, afternoon , wherever you are in the world!).

Thought Of The Day

I'll get right to it. I am starting to worry about eating a lot of protein and not enough vegetables. Not worried about carbs really. I can do without them. But the protein, well, I'm worried. I have a bad family history of heart disease, cholesterol and high blood pressure. I mentioned this on this blog in the past, and I stopped the diet for a while. I came back to it because my desire to losing weight was my priority. And of course it wasn't proven that Dukan was a "bad" diet. 
Now, again, I worry. And my husband worries. He has been very supportive of me through my ups and downs on this diet and other diets I've been on.

"If you can do the Dukan Diet, you can do pretty much any other diet" his words.  Maybe try counting calories (which is what I did for a while, it worked when I stuck to it). Or maybe try a healthier lifestyle. More veggies , fiber and lean protein. Got to mix up the diet. Many thoughts and ideas.

I'm still getting the headaches. I'm very constipated even with the fiber powder that I add with my drinks. It's actually starting to bother me.

I'm not saying I'm quitting Dukan. I just wanted to share my thoughts. After all, Dukan or not, we're here to lose weight and get healthy. That's my main goal. I want to be healthy for my husband, my sons and for me.

It's the weekend! PP Day

Nice relaxed day. Didn't do much, which is good for a change! :) - But still my meals were all over the place. No planned breakfast, lunch or dinner. Just food in general throughout the day.

So, here's what I had throughout the day:

- 2 hot dogs
- 2 slices of cheese
- 2 Tbls of non fat vanilla yogurt
- 1 hard boiled egg
- 2 diet soda
- 2 cups of coffee
- 1/2 a slice of small pizza (i know!)
- Grilled chicken breast

Lots of water!

Oh, and there was no change in my weight this morning.

Have a good one!

Getting back on track - PV Day

Morning Weigh in: 184.4 Lbs

Because I wasn't sure how much I weighed yesterday, I'm not sure how much weight I lost. Either way, it's a pretty good one :)  (Either 2.4 Lbs or 3 Lbs - Doesn't really matter as long as it's going down).

You cannot believe how much I want to be out of the 180's! I haven't been under in a very long time. It'll happen. I know it will :)

I decided to do 1 day PP/ 1 day PV for a few days. Just because I haven't had vegetables in a long time. So, i'm looking forward to my PV day today.

Breakfast: Coffee w/ non fat creamer w/ Activia Light
Lunch: 2 hot dogs w/ a little sauerkraut & Light Greek Yogurt w/ Cucumber Salad
Dinner: Sliced Beef w/ Taco Seasoning with Oat Bran Wrap w/ 2 Tbl non fat sour cream. Topped with a fresh tomato, parsley, garlic, hot pepper salsa.
Snack: 1 Activia Light & Cup of Tea & Salad, no dressing (cucumber, tomato and lettuce).

Taco Seasoned Beef w/ Fresh Salsa
Kinda ended up like pizza!

Great day. Feeling full. Loved dinner. The Oat Bran Wrap was good. Though i wasn't able to wrap anything in it because it would break apart. So what I did was just lay it down on a plate and put the beef on top, and then the salsa on top of the beef w/ the side of light sour cream. It was delicious! To me, next time, I will make the beef and salsa without the wrap. For one reason only, which is I would rather my Oat goes towards the Oat Cookie! Yep, I like that more! :) Especially with my cup of tea in the evening/morning. Don't get me wrong, the wrap was really good. It's just my preference with the cookie.

I wanted to do some exercise today, but didn't get the chance to do anything. Except running around 2 hyper boys all day! (I think i got a little exercise doing that!)  :)

Hope you all had a great Dukan Day. Looking forward to hearing about your day.

Thank you soo much!

Thank you for the lovely messages, comments and emails! Wow, I'm soo grateful to have online friends like every single one of you. You guys keep me going!

I don't give up easily. I can have my low points but dammit, I'm going to lose this weight!! One way or another! (excuse my language) :)

Also, I appreciate all your advice on what to do next. As some of you suggested, I'm going to do PP tomorrow for one day. Then do a rotation of PP/PV till the weekend. Monday, I'll start 3 days of PP followed by 3 days of PV. And I'm going to stay on track. And I'm going to lose weight! :)

On another note, we've been lucky to have extra ordinary beautiful weather here in the northwest (Seattle). It was 83 degrees today. My husband decided to take the day off and take the boys swimming. A lot of fun. Came back home, took naps (yes, we all did! That almost NEVER happens for us) and then hung out in the backyard in the kiddos pool. Yep, I sat in that small colorful plastic pool! hehe .. Kids loved it! Fun day. Fun time with the family. Love my boys. Life is good.

Our Family

Have a great one. Until you hear from me tomorrow! - with good news!

P.S I also will take the suggestion of weighing in tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Dukan Loses?!?!

So, Dr. Dukan lost the law suit. People are saying that the Dukan diet is unhealthy. Lots of mixed reviews about the diet. No problem about whether it works or not. But the main problem is if it's healthy or not. And if it's good for you on the long term.
Have you ever wondered? Any thoughts about that?
Here's the link about losing the law suit if you're interested in reading it
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14020154

I come from a family with a lot of "heart problem" issues and I've always wondered if this diet works for me, health wise. Although i LOVE how i can actually lose weight on it and feel good.

I'm not trying to encourage or discourage anybody about the diet. I'm just wondering how much you know and how much are you willing to risk? or if there are any health risks.

Just random thoughts! :)

Cruise Phase - 5th Day of Attack / Weekend Oh Boy!

Yep, it's the weekend and this is when a lot of unwanted things happen. Ate things I wasn't supposed to do. We went earlier in the morning to Home Depot to buy a few things. We're working on our backyard. Then got busy with the kids & I didn't get a chance to eat (forgot actually) until I was starving at around 2:30 p.m!

So, we stopped by McDonald's, that's what I wanted, and had a small cheese burger (from the dollar menu). I also ate a little bit of fries. BAD BAD BAD

We then went for a picnic with friends (84 Degrees today in Seattle, AWESOME) so we had some snacks packed (very hard to pack Allowed Dukan - And i didn't have the time to prepare anything). So I ended up eating a few carrots, more fries (but not a lot), few slices of cucumbers, a hand full of chips. BAD BAD BAD

In addition to all that I had an Iced Non Fat Latte - Felt soo good on a hot day!

Overall, I didn't eat A LOT throughout the day, but I sure did eat things I wasn't supposed to eat.  And the timing sucks really. Tomorrow is my weigh in! ugh ... I should've done better but It's okay. I just went with the flow of the day and it turned out to be a fun day with my family and friends.

Hope you're having a good weekend!

Cruise Phase - 2nd Day of PP

Survived yesterday and today seems to be going well too! Hopefully it'll end this way.  I didn't check the scales. Will update later on that.
Breakfast: 1 cup of tea with non fat creamer & 2 Boiled Eggs
Snack: 2 slices non fat cheese
Lunch: Miracle Rice with Alfredo Sauce and grilled chicken from yesterday. (I hate leftover chicken!).
Snack: Cup of Coffee w/ non fat creamer
Dinner: Miracle Rice w/ cooked yogurt with Lamb
Snack: 2 Activia Light

Overall a good day. Although about mid day I started getting a headache! Probably from the PP days. But it passed and I survived yet again another day!

Cruise Day 1 PP (New Cycle) & New Product Review!

First day of my 5 day PP cycle. Pretty excited and feeling good about it.

Here's how my day went:

Breakfast: Coffee w/ non fat creamer , 2 hard boiled eggs
Snack: 1 Non Fat Latte
Lunch: 2 hot dogs w/ Non Fat, No Carb, No calorie Thousand Island dressing as dip (Yep, no sugar, no carb, no gluten, no calorie product - Will tell you all about it in a bit!).
Snack: 2 slices no fat cheese/ 2 slices of shaved chicken (cold cut)
Dinner: Chicken strips cooked w/ Alfredo Sauce (no carb, no sugar, no calorie) with Miracle Noodle & 1 piece of Kiftah.

Okay, here we go ... I tried 2 new products today. Here are my thoughts:

1) Thousand Island Dressing: AWESOME! It actually did taste really good. It's not as creamy as the regular dressing, but it tasted really good and almost the same. I'd give it a thumbs up and would recommend it.

2) Alfredo Sauce: First thing you notice when you open the jar is that it's not a thick sauce. Rather light and kinda like a dressing. I tasted it (before cooking) and it tasted a little like ranch dressing. Which is still good really. When I added the Alfredo Sauce to my miracle noodles and cooked chicken,it did taste good. Don't expect thick Alfredo sauce though. But pretty good. I mean, common, it's ZERO CALORIE, ZERO CARB, ZERO FAT, ZERO SUGAR, ZERO EVERYTHING! I would say, it's pretty darn good! :) - A thumbs up again & would recommend it too.

Decision Made!

Today will be a new Dukan PP/PV cycle & I'll be doing 5 days PP/ 5 days PV! It does sound hard, especially the PP days, but I want to try it. I'll do the 10 days and see if i can manage more! :) Wish me luck!!

I'm thinking maybe this is the way that i need to kick start my weight loss.  Like noticing more weight loss. And another HUGE decision. I'll be weighing in after doing the 5 days. Not doing it on a daily basis! This is big because I'm a scale freak!! I weigh myself at night before going to bed to give me an idea how I my weight will be in the morning. Yep, I did it 2 times a day! And I think it's "getting to me!" if you know what i mean :) ... so, not doing that anymore. Day 6 in the morning is when I'll check and report to you about it.

Take care & hopefully this will work out!

PP/ PV Rotation Days

I was wondering what PP/PV rotations you're using? I've been doing 1 day PP/ 1 day PV and I'm thinking of switching to 5PP/5PV... has anybody tried this? Any thoughts?

It seems a bit easier to do the 5PP/5PV with food preparation and having leftovers. And I think it might actually help with the weight loss.