Jaime and Lei swim with dolphins

In Cancun, Jaime and I went to swim with dolphins. A 45 minute up close adventure. It was AMAZING! We got to play with 2 dolphins - 1 male and female. They give us kiss, splashed us, pushed us to fly on water. We got to pet them, hug them, and make them sing. It was really an unforgettable experience, so of course we bought the DVD. This only covers some of what we did. I would highly recommend it.

Cancun Club Med was a blast

Top 13 moments

1. Swimming with Dolphins - bought a DVD - will upload it!
2. Learned how to Waterski - two skies - I did it four times and last time tried one hand for a bit. It was awesome. Thanks to Pablo who taught me. He is almost 50 and the oldest GO there, very nice
3. SUN, SUN, and more SUN - sky was so blue and the water was blue green / beautiful village with huts every where - I am probably the most tan than I have ever been
4. Very friendly GOs (Gentle organizers - all in their 20s and fun - they all work there to make you feel at home and have friends) - Emilia (cutest smile and sweetest girl), Gerline (wow, I want her body - perfect) , Terry (best michael jackson impersonator and just so FUNNY), Diego (Energizer bunny), Sergio (perfect beginning to every meal), Oscar (very huggable), Pepe (loves to dance), Alex (smiley eyes and a good DJ) Chiwawa (so flirtatious), Delia (she dance in boots in 90 degree weather), and so many more etc..
5. Amazing Jamaican Trapeze instructors - Mad Max and Herdlyn - they have muscles in places that we didn't think existed :-). Definite eye candies. Great teacher too - nice and encouraging. Yeah Man!
6. "Visual dessert" circus show on Thurs night - every one was reaped and did some amazing feats
7. Wonderful buffets - I gained two pounds - my favorite was the fresh salad station at lunch - everything made to order
8. Learned how to Sail - Kyle, the only GO from America was so good at teaching us. He is from Houston but looks like a California surfer boy
9. The West family - Morris (wow the things that come out of his mouth is both funny and shocking - loved it) , Jeanette (ObGYN surgeon and mother of 3, also performed on Thursday circus show after only 2 days of rehearsal. She is my idol), River, Ember, Jordan are their sons. They loved Jaime and climbed all over him
10. Meeting other GMs (Gentle Members - that's what club med calls guests).
    - Yasser and Jaime was talking Judo and ultimate fighting and DJ. Yasser and his wife brought their six month old son - Adam. Adam and I got along great. At one point he just nestled against my chest and started licking my boobs - guess he was hungry. so adorable!
    - John and Dorit - John knows the lead singer to Lincoln park. He was a super trooper and tried water skiing 4 days in a row - falling every day except the very last one. Wow.
    - Susan is 66 and was dancing up a storm and tried waterskiing for the firsttime. She got it and went for 3 rounds. I hope I will still be that adventurous when I am in my 60s.
    - Erica is from Redwood city and we all hang out the last night. Erica promises to visit us in SF
11. First time on water slides - I literally feel myself floating off some of the slides. One slide was called the space bowl. It whips you into a big bowl at 30 mph - one is open to the sky, the other is dark and super trippy. AWESOME!
12. Waking up to perfect weather EVERY DAY! I miss it so much!
13. and of course - many magical moments with Hubby. He looks more handsome every day. :-) He also tried water skiing and trapeze. he looked great on the Trapeze like a pro except for the landing - haha!
    
    

Size 2 again - a 19 months process

I am happy to say that I have lost the last of my baby weight (8 pounds and 4% fat) in the last 4 months and was able to keep it off over the holidays.  Horray!

It's nice to fit into all my clothes again and I rewarded myself with a nice shopping spree of boots, sweaters, jacket, scarfs, pants, etc... :-)  I took this picture at Christmas.  I am wearing a dress I wore at my college graduation xx years ago.  I kept this one just as an incentive so I can always strive to fit back into it.

This has been a long journey but I am glad to be back to my old physical self.  :-)  Forget reading People or In Touch where Heidi Klum is on the runway after 2 months of giving birth and her fourth kid.  It's doesn't happen to us.  Also stop listening to those who says they lost more weight after giving birth and weight even less than before.  That definitely was NOT me.

Here are my 10 lessons learned.

• Breastfeeding helps - to reshape my body back.   I didn't lose much weight during breastfeeding but I could see that my body was shrinking back nonetheless
• Don't try to get on a diet during breastfeeding - it affected my milk and didn't make me feel good.  I made two failed attempts of a week each and decide to just focus on breastfeeding.  I breastfeed for 10 months.
  
• Bikram Yoga is a gentle way to get back in shape - When Isabel was 3 months old, I started Birkram yoga again after realizing I couldn't do even half of a sit up.  I waited until Isabel is 3 months old since I had a C section and it takes awhile to heal.  Now I still do Yoga 2 times a week.  Very good for my sanity too
• Incorporate Cardio after 6 months - Doing only one kind of exercise - Bikram Yoga -allowed me to cheat and so I added Cardio at 9 months.  I probably could have done it at 6 months.  I started dance classes, cardio kick boxing, or running.  It definitely gave my energy a boast.
• Be Patient and Don't be hard on myself - being anxious about losing weight doesn't help.  While pregnant and breastfeeding, I developed a habit of snacking at night around 11pm since I was hungry a lot.  That habit was hard to kick.  It took me about six months after breastfeeding to stop it.  I was hard on myself for a little bit but the more I resisted in snacking, the more I thought about it, and the more I couldn't sleep until I snacked.  you get the idea.
• Believing goes a long way and South Beach diet works for me - Prior to pregnancy, I lost about 10 pounds 5 years ago when I changed my diet to a modified south beach.  So once I felt more energetic, I tried again the modified south beach diet at around 15 month.  I lost about 5 pounds in 6 weeks.  The fact I knew it worked for me before help me stay positive.  Now that's is my regular diet and I feel great and energetic.
  
• Reward myself -  dieting is never fun so I rewarded myself in two ways.  1) I paid a lot more for lunch to get good low carb food like steak, lamb chop, and sushi.  that made the diet fun and I look forward to eating the food that is good for me.  2) Shopping spree incentive - I didn't shop much in the last two years since I didn't plan to keep the same weight, but I was looking forward to shopping again once I got my shape back.
• Starving myself did not help - after 4 weeks of low carb, I thought if I did low carb some more, I will lose even more weight.  WRONG.  My body started storing all the food and I was low energy.  It actually made me gain a pound or two back.  So after initial low carb, it's good to add carb back to give myself energy to work out.  
• Girls' trip always help - I went to Cancun with girlfriend Dawn for 4 days.  Ate whatever I wanted but danced 4 hours a night and lost 3 more pounds.   I was in a pretty happy mood too. 
• Lastly but not the least, I had great support  - my husband always complimented me regardless of how big I was and that made me feel good.  He definitely also noticed when I lost weight in the last 4 months.  That helps a lot.  Also having Agnes around to take care of baby gave me time to work out 3-4 times a week.

All in all, a long but good journey. The female body is quite amazing.  Hope this will work out if and when I have number 2.   Happy 2010.

- Lei

Cancun remembered

I just got back from a great trip to Houston and Cancun. Trying not to be depressed in this rainy cold weather in SF. I was in Houston for the weekend to see my parents and then went with my girlfriend Dawn to cancun for 4 days.

here are the highlights. will share photos in another post

Houston highlights
- It was snowing the day before I arrived - wow
- love my parents new house - spacious, beautiful, comfy, great wood floors, love my room
- Saw my parents dance international ballroom at their Sunday class - am impressed how much they remember and are into it.

Cancun highlights
- perfect 85 degree weather (rained for 10 seconds only)
- Riu Palace was awesome, beautiful, and inexpensive ($200 per night for 2 all inclusive). I was told the week right before Dec 15 is the best - great weather and still off season rates. Other hotels that were recommmended are: Omni which has an all inclusive option and JW Marriott.
- Isla Mujere - an nearby island by fast board $15 round trip. sat by the palpas chatting about life with Dawn. Got an hour massage on the beach in a cabana before sunset for $30. Go to Playa Norte and ask for Marisala. They were top notch. Watched the sunset. Sat in the Palapas in front of Hotel Privilege (new, upscale, all inclusive). Maybe a good place for Jaime and I to visit sometime
- Sailing on the catamaran with Dawn - she rocks and took me out on this little catamaran. it was so fun. I am so lucky to have such a cool talented friend. Most of the hotel staff was impressed she could do it. She steered us back to shore no problem too. :-) I felt very VIP.
- Dancing the night away at Daddy O, Beach Club, and Coco Bongo - Cancun deliver on its promise and it was so great to dance one night outdoors in the sand with the warm breeze and great music
- Met lots of people - very friendly - Louise and husband, Joe and brother Alex from Utah, Edgar, David, Xavier, Pablo, a couple on the roof who may get engaged, people from Danmark - Simon, Nicoli, and an Asian guy, Lauren and Billy Jean from England, Miles and Rohan from Vancouver and Toronto, Susanne and husband who has been to Cancun over 50 times, Daniel and friends from Tijuana, Justin the stockbroker from Atlanta, another Lauren from New York - she is a nurse traveling alone and very cool chick. She will be in some of the photos.
- Last but not the least, it was great to just catch up with Dawn, my good friend from Wharton and do something for ourselves. We are both moms. Highlight recommend it to stay sane in life and rejuvenate.

I have such an awesome husband who supports me in taking some time off for myself. Thanks Honey! Best of all, I lost 2 pounds after all the eating and drinking. must be the dancing that helped and the warm, humid weather.

Lei