Mama Lifestyles

Dukan again!

Well, I'm back on Dukan and happy to have a goal again! At Christmas I was so bad and indulged my sweet tooth way too much that I now have to do something drastic. The Dukan diet works. It's amazing if you stick with it and I'm determined to get back to 130 again. When I look back at these posts I can't believe I was 130 in July 2010, just 9 months after the twins. I was so disciplined back then and motivated to exercise. Tracy Anderson does work, but these days I prefer yoga and walking. The good news is I'm 139 and by March 23 I will be 130 if all goes to plan. Why do I want to be 130? Simply because all my clothes are size S and when I was 130 I purchased a whole new wardrobe to celebrate. I am NOT going to purchase another set of clothes at my higher weight. I love my S clothes and my whole body feels better when I weigh less, especially my back.

Today was a PV cruise day and yummy because I can have vegetables. Not exciting to you,  but very exciting to me! I'll start to post recipes and meal plans etc. This time I joined the on-line Dukan counselling. It cost me $40. You enter your weight and details and each day Dr. Dukan sends you messages. Somewhat strange messages that only a French man can get away with, like, "You are a middle child and were not number one on the throne," or "You are like a ship leaving the harbour in stormy waters." I don't think they motivate me, but make me laugh out loud. 

I'm going to add some Tracy mat work and webisodes. I really can't handle Tracy cardio right now. The twins are 2 and a 1/4 and most evening (and mornings!) I just feel plain old tired. They are such busy little girls. I wouldn't have it any other way, but they are a bundle of energy and take over spaces like nothing I've ever witnessed. Join me on Dukan! I'll make it easier and post some great recipes for you.

Day 3

When you leave the Tracy camp and come back after a break you feel like such a beginner and such a loser for leaving in the first place. Even though I've added ab work into my yoga flows nothing can prepare you for Tracy's ab work! I did the mat dvd yesterday and my abs are hurting. I'll do the PDS1 tonight and should take a look at my metamorphosis dvds that I ordered and never looked at once. I had my porridge again this morning and the twins love it so the extra doesn't go to waste. I had strawberries and fat free cottage cheese for my mid-morning snack, but did sneak a cookie that I had just baked. It's pretty hard to try a new cookie recipe and not try the results!

Tonight is PDS1 as I'm just not finding enough time in the day to exrcise right now. The last week of school is hectic and I should just surrender to the crazy schedule. I see that Tracy has added a rebounder on her website. I used to have a video that went with it on this site - not sure if it's still on here!

 

Starting early for 2012!

You know you've been away from the Tracy camp for a long time when you're the last person to find out she's pregnant! Maybe she'll have more ideas for moms who want to get their old bodies back? (or better ones than before kids!) I just completed the mat dvd and hurt like the dickens. You're allowed to say that if you're British!

For anyone that's following my blog (and if you gave up on me I don't blame you) I became a yoga teacher over the summer and now teach yoga twice a week and manage my own business. That's why I've been away from my blog for so long. I definitely missed Tracy, but yoga and Tracy go together and I need some more cardio in my life if I'm going to enjoy all the delicious Christmas foods on offer. Not  being in England for Christmas will help this year as I went crazy while I was there! Comfort food from your childhood just tastes better than other food. 

Back to Tracy and healthy food. It's porridge for breakfast and my fruit and cottage cheese for snacks. I'll miss my cookies and bread, but it all had to end sooner or later. I'm going for a run tomorrow morning instead of the Tracy cardio because you have to ease back into it very slowly and maybe do the post preg dvd on Sunday. Oh, this blog makes me so accountable and I love it! Please update me on any other important Tracy news because I am clearly out of the loop.

Let the knitting begin!

My abs are hurting so much, most likely because I did the post-preg Tracy dvd. The last three toning dvds are knitting me back together like nothing else can! Hot baths with epsom salts are the answer to this pain. I'm hanging in there with the Dukan diet. It feels so good to have vegetables today and I started the day with a spinach and kale smoothie. It's not for everyone I know, but it tastes good and so fresh. You don't feel hungry on Dukan because of the eggs and pancakes for breakfast. The weight loss is good and I'll post the loss on Monday. I have to try really hard not to ruin my progress this weekend because it's my birthday and easy to indulge in some treats. I may have to have one bite of cake to appease my children, but that's it, no more. I notice that once I'm off the sugar and white flour I am good, but it has to be 100% or I just slide...

 

 

 

 

I was good all day!

Day 1 of Dukan is done - I was feeling fine all day and then felt really hungry at 6pm. For breakfast I had 2 eggs, 3 little oat bran pancakes (1.5 tbsp oat bran, 1tbsp greek 0% yoghurt and 2 tbp egg white) with mocha fat free yoghurt on top. I then did PDS 1 which was hard but remembered that I liked the music so got through it. Afterwards I had a capuccino and more yogurt. For lunch I had a chicken breast and a strawberry greek fat free yoghurt. At 4pm I had a glass of skim milk. At 6pm I had 3 pieces of Nando's chicken and some more mocha fat free yoghurt. Also some oolong, green and roibos tea. I am a certified tea addict and I love that on the Dukan diet you can have most drinks, even diet coke if you want. You know I'm a Perrier girl and rarely touch the fizzy brown liquid.

Tonight I'm going to do the 'Yogalosophy' dvd - Jennifer Anniston's yoga teacher. I tried the dvd once in Maui, but was distracted by the kids so don't remember it very well. I'm supposed to be doing 30 mins of Tracy cardio, but think I'll have to get it over at 6:30amtomorrow because I never feel like evening cardio. Hope everyone had a good day and if not, make tomorrow great!

I'm back....

Where have I been? Why did I let all my results slide? I blame it on my trip to the UK in December where I taste tested all my favourite foods from childhood (plus any new ones that have been produced in the last 20 years!) and on our trip to Maui in March when I ate anything I wanted. All of this was fun while it lasted, but now there's work to be done. I'm back on Dukan tomorrow morning. The papers in the UK are crediting Kate Middleton's weight loss to the Dukan diet and she looked beautiful on her wedding day. I also did Tracy dance aerobics on Thursday and Friday which nearly killed me after all my inactivity. I can't post my weight right now as it will make me feel down and I need to stay positive about the weeks ahead. I will get down to 130 and below if I want to because I'm a competitive person and I love a challenge. I just need to curb my sweet tooth and get ready for oatbran pancakes, rhubarb and lots of egg white omlettes! Oh, this does not compare to chocolate and cake. 

I will start posting the weight loss when it happens! I'm doing Tracy's mat workout this evening as I will probably alternate the cardio with some toning. I ordered her 'metamorphosis' cds and they were here for me when I got back to Maui, but of course I still haven't watched them yet, so this will be another goal this week. Tracy has been very busy during the time I was being very lazy! 

The twins are now 18 months and walking, running, talking and saying 'no'! I need to increase my energy level to keep up with them as they are now realizing how fun it is to run away from adults... If you've been ignoring the exercising for a while and noticing your clothes are a little (or a lot!) tighter then join me on the Tracy Dukan plan. Just make one change tomorrow and start the process. If all you can do is have a low fat breakfast then do that, or go for a walk. I have fallen in love with going on walks lately. Usually my husband would walk the dog and take the girls (remember I have 4!) and I'd stay home and do chores. I think I was not giving value to those walks because I didn't realize they were important for motivating me, getting fresh air and making time for myself. I now love going for walks and everyone is surprised that I'm the first one with my coat on and getting the babies ready. It's a good sign. Our bodies know what we need. I just read an article in the paper about the benefits of walking and I quote, "Hippocrates said that we have 2 doctors - our right foot and our left foot!" I love that and am using it to keep me walking with my family. Have a great evening and I'll let you know on Monday evening how my day went on the Dukan diet. This blog is so good for my accountability - thank you for reading it!

Perricone metabolic diet

I've been so busy witht the twins that I have not been posting anything - soooo sorry! I've been doing yoga lately (sorry Tracy!) and enjoying a change of pace. I'm on the Perricone metabolic diet after my supplements arrived. I've been drinking raw egg white with a tsp of cocoa and coconut oil, though I did cook the egg whites today - it's so cold outside and a cold egg white shake did not sound appetizing! The drink actually does not taste of anything, and I'll go back to the shake tomorrow.

Prior to the Perricone diet I had been eating anything I wanted, which was very yummy, but not good when your clothes are tight. Most of my clothes are a small size after I lost the baby weight, so I didn't feel like getting a whole new wardrobe. I was 136 on Monday, 135 yesterday and 134 this morning - yeah! The Perricone diet is 10 days and the results are good so far. I haven't been doing any cardio with this diet, just 1 hour of yoga so far. I have a yoga class tonight and will do a Tracy mat workout tomorrow to ease myself back into the Tracy world. I'm really beginning to see the benefit of watching my calorie intake for breakfast and lunch and having a good dinner. The Perricone diet has no snacks and I'm not used to no food from 7am until noon! However, the egg white does keep you full and apart from a cookie that I ate yesterday (I'm being honest!!) it's going well. Dinner is a piece of wild salmon, a cup of broccoli, 2 oz lentils and a watercress salad. Sorry if this post is all over the place - I have 4 little hands grasping at my jeans trying to get up on me!!

Back up and at it

I started my day with 30 minutes of Tracy cardio and ended it with an hour and a half of yoga. I feel good and always do when I have packed lots of exercise into a day. The twins are really cute right now (okay, they've always been cute!) but they are so chubby and round that they are almost edible. I love watching them crawl and my two older daughters (who are very pretty too - we moms get to brag now and again!) pretend to chase them which makes them crawl like Johnny Weissmuller. My husband asked me who he was and I sighed because he also doesn't know who Harold Lloyd is either. Did I really have that strange an upbringing in England??

Okay, I'm totally off topic. I had 6 oz of egg white (that is lots because I measured it in one of the twins baby bottles!) fried in 1 tsp of virgin coconut oil. Rememeber you're supposed to have it in a raw state, but I'm too chicken. I also had had a third of a cup of strawberries. And don't forget all the supplements - 3 fish oil, 1 evening primrose, 1 tumeric, 1 multi-vit, 1 zinc etc Basically if you're not taking 20 pills you're doing it wrong... I'm feeling pretty good toay and the only new pill I've added is the New Chapter tumeric pill. I didn't have any coffee today, just two cups of green tea instead.

Sorry, Tracy...

Well, 30 days turned into about 7 days and then boom - I couldn't take the diet and had to wean myself off that date and chocolate pudding. I should never have made that pudding...

The other event that stopped me was the arrival of my Dr. Perricone book, 'Forever Young.' I am a sucker for a Perricone book! His new diet gave me hope, and I think I can handle it a lot better than the Tracy diet. I just found her food combo's too strange - after all I am British and we do enjoy bland food, so cut me some slack! Dr. Perricone advises a fruit and egg white shake plus various supplements, though it seems lots of people are cooking the egg white (even though he advsises against it). I'm about to start and see if the 10 pounds will drop as he promises...

First I need to get back to cardio and was doing 30 minutes a day until Saturday until Thanksgiving hit and a weekend of excess took over. I will do some cardio or toning tomorrow plus I have yoga, so I guess I should go with the cardio. Please dear twins, sleep through the night, so I won't feel too tired to exercise. Tracy does not have to deal with these kind of problems...

Day 4 and doing things my way!

Yesterday I was 132.5 and today I am 132. Those are good numbers and I can't wait to see 130 on the scale. Yesterday was a bit of a mess. I had a hair appt over lunch time so couldn't have the salmon. Instead I had a zone bar for lunch. I also had no morning snack which is unusual for me and something I am going to try and do from now on.

I did the toning workout yesterday, but was too tired to do the cardio in the evening. This morning I did the cardio and will try and do the toning tonight, though I do have yoga class and maybe that counts?! For dinner I had chicken and rice. This is not following the day 3 program, but I had a small portion and the scales prove I have been good! For my afternoon snack I had the half portion of that chocolate pudding and an apple. I LOVE that pudding. It's 163 calories and tastes like a 1000! I think it's my new afternoon snack of choice...

This morning I had a egg white omlette with 4 mushrooms, 1/4 zucchini and 1 spring onion. I think this is day 3 breakfast, but I enjoy it and I don't like the sound of some of Tracy's breakfasts...