Day 48 - Progress?

I posted my day 48 photos, trying to be objective knowing that the changes might be so slight that they are unnoticeable to my eyes on a day to day basis, I was expecting to see some difference between my day 38 shots and day 48 shots and I did, but not the way I wanted.  Maybe I am wrong, but I think the day 38 shot looks fitter than day 48, as if I have reverted or something recently.  This visceral fat isn't getting any smaller, and it feels like the lower to mid back areas are just as full of fat pockets as they were when I started.  

Wondering if I am doing something wrong or if it is just my body type.   I am keeping to the PCP diet, mostly brown rice, pasta, some whole wheat bagels and bread are my go to carbs.  I may be using more olive oil than most, my veggies tend to be raw, sauteed, or grilled in that order, with the steamed variety coming in a close 4th, perhaps I am having too many potatos (sweet and regular)?   Protein, all chicken outside of the milk and eggs.  No salt, sugar (using honey in the dinner shake), nothing processed.    I am using cheese on occasion, but in tiny amounts so don't think I am straying too far from the prescribed course, still I am waiting for more visible results.

Workouts are tough, I am skipping rope first thing in the morning on weekends now, it is a struggle at first, but after about 5mins my body wakes up and I get into it.   The strength part is a lot more of a challenge now, doubling up on muscle groups means I am almost always unable to finish the final set.  Shoulders in particular are tough, I usually make it thru 2 of the 4 sets with good form, the 3rd is a struggle and by the 4th I get about halfway thru and my muscles can barely function.  Have been taking Patrick's advice to really focus on the muscle group I am working and it has made a big difference in the ability (inability) to finish all the sets.  On the abs...oh the plank is starting to really suck, but the bicycle is still the bane of my existence, I hate that one, it isn't even the abs, but my legs, I can't hold them up for the life of me by the middle of the 3rd set.   And the new Kung Fu sit ups...is anyone else swinging all over the place on those?  I think it is the pull up bar I have at home, the way it fits in the door from is not conducive to those sit ups, will see how it goes at the gym this week

All in all though I feel better than about a week ago when I was really dragging...still some visible results would have helped reinforce things as we move into the 2nd half of the program.   Maybe I need to get better at photoshop? 

Day 43 - Bad workout

I am not sure if it was the time of day, or the fact that my back is giving me trouble, perhaps it was the fact that I had a client lunch (my first meal out in at least 5 weeks) and Nobu did a good, but not great job of preparing my PCP meal.  Sidenote: is Miso soup allowed?  I didn't drink it, but was wondering.   Whatever the reason I had a horrible workout on Day 43.  Everything was a challenge.  I started on the bike because my back was acting up on the jumprope, the leg exercises in reverse, the floor jumps followed by the lunges, did me in.  I couldn't manage to get thru the full 4 sets on any of the other exercises, my muscle were burning, my form was poor, it just wasn't happening.  And the whole process felt like it took a couple hours when in actuality it was probably about 45mins.   Chalk it up to a bad day, my first one really when it has come to the workouts.  Are my muscles getting to the point where they are constantly worn down or are the reps and sets getting upped to a point where it is more challenging to complete them all?   I tried looking in the mirror at the spot I was working as per Patrick's advice and it did help a bit, maybe that was the difference, for the first time I was really "targeting" the muscle group in earnest and they wore down faster?   I am not sure the reason, but it was no fun working out and I was very glad when it was over. 

I am down now to 71.5kg, which is lower than I personally wanted to go, hoping to put back on a couple KGs of muscle by the end of this.  I thought I was getting to light until a friend of mine who is about 1in taller said he was just 68kg, still I am looking for a big bigger muscle mass in the end.  

Food is going ok recently, have been trying some new meals, and I have just given up on caring that dinner is less about taste and enjoyment than just getting the nutrients in my body at this point.  Am happy to have carbs cut a bit in the AM as I still find myself not terribly hunger when I wake up.

Forgot to update my weekly photo yesterday but will take some in the next couple days, personally I still see the visceral fat hanging around, can feel the abs forming underneath but they aren't visible to the naked eye.   Maybe it's closer to day 50 that it starts coming off, huh Patrick?

bad, then good, then worse, and interesting....

I am not much in the mood to blog at the moment, but it has been a few days and I need to get this out there or I am never going to do it.  Am dragging a bit recently, work is a drain, the program is still a drain on the food prep front, life in general is a drain at the moment, still I feel the need to push thru knowing this is all temporary and the ebbs and flows of life probably mean things could suck a lot worse so I should be happy they are only marginally craptastic at the moment. 

Bad:  Woke up yesterday morning at 5am absolutely in pain, migraine and feeling a full blown flu coming on so decided to listen to my body, get some much needed rest and stayed home from work.  By about 10am the migraine had passed and I was feeling a bit better.  After eating my PCP breakfast I managed to summon up the energy to try and work out...

Good:  The workout flew by, I don't know what the hell happened, but I banged out the entire 1450 jumps in one set.  I just seemed to get into a rhythm and it carried me thru the entire workout.  Was beat at the end, but my body felt good, as if I had a fever and it broke, I was energized

Worse:  I don't know what happened, after the workout I went to the super market to get food for dinner and today's lunch, walking back home I felt something twinge in my lower back and having been the recipient of several back spasms in my life I knew that wasn't a good sign.  Sure enough, my back started to act up and by the evening I was struggling to find a position where it didn't hurt.   I did find that stretching my abs helped alleviate some of the pain, perhaps I didn't stretch well enough after the workout and that is what caused the problem.  Regardless, today was just a jump rope day so I opted for a 25min session on the bike on hilly terrain and then some good stretching afterwards, back feels a bit better today, but not sure how it'll be when we have strength work tomorrow...

Interesting:  I needed something to get me back into focus, to reaffirm why I am doing this...I thought about breaking up with my girlfriend just so that I could be incentivize to look good for all the single ladies out there, but that seemed a bit extreme.   Instead I rented Food, Inc.  For those that haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and wait for an indulgence day, get yourself a nice juicy burger and watch this film!   It is pretty shocking the type of crap that goes into our foods, but more egregious is the way farmers and workers and frankly we, the consumer, are treated by a small number of mega corporations who apparently you can't even criticize in public when they try to put disease ridden crap into your bodies.    Here's the plan, somebody a lot smarter than me needs to find a vaccine for all cancers in the world, you sell it at a variable price depending on a person's income so that you get rich while curing cancer but not by gouging the little people in the process and then you take that money and bury these huge food conglomerates...

Business idea II...." The PCP Cafe' "...I think we should open one up  

Slowly regaining focus

After feeling very much like I wanted to put anyone eating a slice of pizza, cheese, fries, cookie, burger, in front of me thru a wall and cursing Patrick under my breath at each meal, I am slowly pulling away from the edge.  I really think taking that kids' ice cream and throwing it at his overweight mother was very cathartic and I highly recommend it.  

Last couple days have been better and despite the workouts getting tougher and tougher, I am starting to feel a bit more into the whole process again.  Food wise am branching out a bit more, I did a salad with chicken, cucumbers, onions, red peppers, and tomatos for lunch today, put it on top of some brown rice for the carb portion and then tossed it with a yogurt, garlic, lime, and pepper sauce and sprinkled some fresh parm on top, was actually pretty good, and easy to make so will probably put it in the rotation going forward.    I still miss dinner, not just the food, but the sitting with people, talking, enjoying a meal together at the end of the day.  Something sorely lacking as I sit at the table watching my girlfriend eat her pasta while I have a cup of sludge.  I also finish in about 1/5 the time it takes her which leaves me sitting and watching and thinking how much I would like a bite.   I've gone to just cracking an egg white in a glass with milk in the morning and then eating raw veggies and some whole wheat toast or whole wheat English muffin for breakfast, has sped up the process, can't say I am loving the meals though....isn't eating supposed to be one of the great pleasures in life?  Like sex, fine wine, or making fun of the French?   I am taking the view that this program is actually going to make me that much more appreciative of a fine meal when I can finally eat them again.  

Last couple days I have blown thru the jumprope, did the 1400 jumps yesterday in just under 9mins, today was a bit more difficult, took about 12 mins to get through.  Am trying to do as much as I can in one go without letting myself get too winded, some days I can make it thru 1000 before I really feel like I need to catch my breath, other days I start to feel short of breath after a few hundred.   Find chest related and back related (sans pull ups) to be the easier muscle groups to workout, the burn hurts but not like it does for abs, shoulders, legs and arms.   And this bicycle ab exercise...I find it is my legs that are getting burnt out by the end of it, much more so than the abs...am I doing it wrong?  

Down to 72.2kg, about 4kg lighter than were I started now, and lost maybe 0.6kg in the last 7-8 days.  Am hoping there will be a tipping point when the muscle mass comes on and my overall weight goes up.  Since I apparently suck at fantasy football, I am just going to have to go out for the NFL.   

Hitting a wall...

Day 35 passed just over 7 hours ago, I am more than 1/3 of the way there, the half way point is in site and I am SICK OF IT!  I know this is a bump in the road and have no real intention of giving up or straying from the course, but I am really having a hard time recently.  Not with the workouts, though they leave me exhausted, I still like the relatively short time they take and I do enjoy the sense of completion after each session.  I've been alternating jumping and biking to give my leg and foot a chance to recover, which has gone nicely and now when I jump rope it doesn't hurt too much afterwards.  Still find my muscles failing in the final set of almost every exercise, but I don't mind the burn, and when it doesn't come it is actually a bit of a disappointment, a sign perhaps that I am getting stronger, or perhaps doing the exercise incorrectly. 

The food however is a completely different story, not the type of food although I am getting sick of the dinner shake (haven't seen this upcoming weeks menu...please, please, PLEASE tell me that the shake is going the way of the dinosaur), but the prep time for the meals is beginning to weigh on me, I found myself throwing a tomato, milk, and an egg in the blender yesterday morning because I was running late for work, I briefly debated throwing some oats in there as well and downing the thing in one fell swoop.  Lets put it this way, I doubt the oats could have made it taste any worse.   Eating is no longer enjoyable, it is a chore, I find breakfast the hardest workout on the program, my stomach is saying, "it's 5:30am, you've been up for 20mins, seriously, I am not ready for this amount of food".  Some mornings I am close to breaking into a sweat trying to finish the last few bites of my AM meals.   No way am I close to getting the requisite 8 hours of sleep a night, I spend almost 75% of my non-work hours prepping, eating, and sleeping.  Would say I have maybe 1-1.5hrs a day now to do what I want to do, and it is taking it's toll.   

Hope this is merely a phase and perhaps others are feeling the same way but it was a tough last few days when all I wanted was take out on the way home and to sit on the sofa for a few hours and veg out...

What used to be "just 55 days to go!!" has become "55 five more f-cking days of this sh-t!". 

Got to refocus mentally here and get back to a positive frame of mind...hope the next blog sports a different tone. 

Cravings....

Ever since that indulgence day I am finding it harder and harder to resist my food cravings.  Was out the other night having some ice tea while people around me downed fries and pizza and beer...I wanted to break a glass over their heads.  It wasn't like this at all before the indulgence, but having those tasty fries and buffalo wings so recently has left a taste for them in my mouth and I am really struggling to abstain from the tasty delights that abound.  I've been good about sticking to the diet, but it has gotten much more difficult.  Pre indulgence day I wasn't having any problems at all, feels like the whole thing has backfired, now I want those foods even more. 

Workouts have stepped up a bit, finding my muscles really burning on the final set regardless of the exercise.  Shoulders are the hardest, usually by the middle of the 3rd set my muscles start to fail me.  Pull ups are coming along slowly but surely, was able to make it thru 3 sets of 7 and then a final set of 5 the other day.  I still don't see many changes in my body, especially the mid riff and lower back areas, but suspect these are the last to see fat come off.   I did a couple days of biking to give the foot a rest, then 2 days of jumping rope and it still hurts a bit but is getting better.  I'll probably bike today (day 34) and then jump tomorrow just to make sure I give it enough time to heal properly.   

Dinner is getting a bit dull, there is only so much you can do with a banana, an apple, one egg white and milk.  That may be contributing to my cravings getting stronger.  Made some burritos all PCP approved over the weekend...definitely not as good as ones with cheese, but still pretty tasty.  

glad they don't have the food network in Japan...I'd be on it like porn if they did...

Day 29 workout...stupid gym people!

Patrick said that we are kicking it up a notch and he wasn't kidding.   Day 29 brought a whole new level to the once tough but enjoyable workout routine.  My legs and abs were on fire by the time I got thru the exercises, that last few floor jumps and the final 30sec of the plank wore me out and I was barely able to finish. 

I went back to jumping rope and tried to mix it up with some double jumps, one foot hops, crossing the arms and general awesome-ness, but was quickly brought to the realization that I am not some 12 year old out playing double dutch on the sidewalk and went back to normal jump rope.   Foot was all right but still pretty sore after the jump rope and floor jumps and it didn't help that some idiot at the gym stepped right on top of it as they were coming out of the locker room not watching where they were going.  Shot a pain all the way up my leg that took a couple hours to disperse. 

And speaking of morons at the gym, what's with the meathead hogging the pull up bar and taking 2 minutes between sets as he walks around and eyeballs himself in the mirror?   I had to go with the rowing first, and then hover around the pull up bar while this jockstrap did his final set of ONE.   He hadn't even made it to his next exercise (cause he had to pose down in the mirror a couple times) and I was on set two of my pull ups, which still get me by the 3rd set, I made it thru 6-6-5-3 and then hit the incline pull ups for 5 after which my body said no more.   Needless to say I was not a happy camper with the gym folk today.  

Posted new photos which I know are part of the project, but everytime I take them I sit there afterwards and try to disect my body, looking for any sign of a change.  I see it in the back getting a bit leaner, but I struggle to see much difference in the side or front angle.   Seems like my weight has flatlined and I've even gained 0.2kg  according to my fancy scale at home.  It also told me that my body fat is down from 18.8% to 18.1%, still not sure how to read the muscle mass and visercal fat levels though.  

On another note, if anyone is trying the yogurt marinate I posted...add some cumin and tumeric to it and its better, gives it sort of an Indian tandoor flavor if you grill it.  

Day 30 awaits...1/3 of the way there! 

Last Meal....

So we got our new meal schedule and while breakfast and lunch haven't changed much, dinner is now very different.  I ended up blending all the ingredients with a little honey and some cinnamon thanks to Fish's recommendation and it wasn't half bad.  Had a plate of veggies later in the evening which I didn't mind and feel pretty full now.   That said, I don't really want to be having this shake for dinner for more than a week or two...it'll get pretty tiresome.

The meal I had before the new routine is below....

Meal Idea...

I don't have a picture, but made this last night for dinner...I am chickened out, but since I don't eat seafood, pretty limited on what I can do, so trying to be creative, try this on a grill if you want something different

In a food processor
chunk of ginger (about the size of your thumb)
2-3 big cloves of garlic
2-3 red chilli peppers
Juice of 1 lime
Handful of cilantro (more if you like the stuff)
about 1 cup low fat yogurt.

Blend until smooth

marinate chicken overnight for best results, then grill until done.  It's a good sauce and I think it's PCP friendly...

Pull ups make me their b*tch, foot pain, indulgence and other random thoughts....

Right, so the workouts have been going well except for, leg work, jump rope (see foot issues) and pull ups, oh devil pull ups, how I hate thee, let me count the ways.  I admit it ok, pull ups have made me their b*tch, it's just embarassing.  I used to actually be pretty good at pull ups when I was 18, not a shadow of my former self, pulls ups own me.  I am determined to get thru 4 sets, FULL sets by the time this is done.  So far my best has been 2 sets of 6, followed by a set of 5 followed by a set of 2, but not REALLY two, it was one-ish, followed by a little push off the floor to help me get my chin up to the bar.   I'd like to blame the pull up bars precarious position in my apartment which was definitely not meant to hold a pull up bar in the door way.  I'd like to tell you that I have to be very still for fear of the bar coming loose and falling on top of me in the middle of a set, but that'd be a lie, I just can't do it, I can not get my damn body pulled up, I'm on a mission now, I am going to turn the tables on push ups by the end of this thing, and when I do, I'll have a completely emotionless activity to "look" at and say, "who is whose b-tch now!?"...that'll be awesome. 

Steve and I worked out yesterday, we were burning thru the exercises (no pull ups obviously).  We finished the whole lot, jump rope included in about 30mins and I was wiped out.  My foot is really giving me problems, have tired to alternate some biking with jump rope to give it a little rest and it doesn't hurt while I am jumping, but afterwards it throbs, and today the pain is in my shin, ankle, and top of my foot.  It hurts less when I can elevate it, but sitting or standing it throbs, when I walk the pain is less.  I hope I am not doing any permanent damage to it.   I notice that I jump on the balls of me feet, keeping my toes pointed down when I am in the air...is this right?  Does anyone out there jump flat footed, I tried to do it a couple times the other day and just kept messing up, wondering if changing my jumping style will help my foot.

Bought a scale, not sure I am using it correctly, but weighed myself last night, was 73.5kg, up 0.45kg  (wonder if that was the indulgence), 18.8% body fat, and 24.2 BMI, it gave me some other details, pretty sure one was muscle and one was viseral fat, but all in Japanese, so gotta sort out how to read that.  What I could read was where I fall in my age range was in the high end on avg, so got some work to do.  Body age is apparently 31 however.  I can't tell if my body is changing to be honest, somedays I think it is, other days it looks about the same...I did notice a bit more pronounced bump on the left hand side of my rib cage, so maybe I am getting lean, and seems like my back is a bit more fit, the gut however is a work in progress....

Indulgence:  there was a lot of thought that went into this...go out to eat?  Cook something I have been craving, booze?   Generally have no interest in sweet foods, so eliminated that as an option.  In the end I went with my homemade buffalo wing sauce (assuming tobasco and bottled chilli sauce are the not PCP approved, but otherwise nothing in it that is not PCP friendly), and fries made w/ canola oil and lightly pan fried until crisp.   Had blue cheese with low fat yogurt did on the side.  Not sure I really indulge with crappy food but I definitely ate a lot, it was so good, and afterwards for the first time in a while I felt that, "ugh, I ate way too much" feeling.   I should have stopped at about 75% and that would have been more than enough, but knowing that it was a treat, and I wouldn't be having it anymore, like any good PCPer I pushed thru the pain and exhuastion and finished that meal dammit!  No one is going to call me a quiter.

Nearly 1/3 of the way thru, and it has gone by relatively quick, think the blogs and support of everyone is really helpful, that we are all sticking to it and pushing each other really makes it a lot easier...keep it up people. 

Day 23

Today was ok, I went back to jumping rope and got thru the 1050 jumps, actually lost count at some point and made sure to do extra so that I didn't come up short.    Got thru the rest of the exercises with little trouble (no pull ups today!) though still find any shoulder related ones to be a struggle near the end.   I gotta pay more attention to the poses in the photos, I realized that I had been doing normal push ups all along, not the knee ones at the beginning, and it's good Patrick pointed out that the dips are now straight legged or I would have missed that as well.    My feet are still having problems, during the jump rope I felt fine, but after I took my sneakers off I noticed my left foot was swollen a bit again and was hurting for the rest of the day...it feels better when I elevate my feet, but walking is tough.

Still finding there is very little time left in the day by the time I do the meals and workout and work.  Today I had a later day at the office, I just finished dinner and it is nearly 8:30, I need to be in bed in an hour or so in order to get my 8 hours.  Problem is I am always awake at this time, I find myself dragging a bit in the early evenings, but come bedtime, wide awake, then I start thinking, "I have to get some sleep" and that spirals into a whole slew of thoughts that keep me up for another hour, vexed...I gotta learn to relax more.

Uploaded the new photos and sat there afterwards wondering if I look better or worse than in week 2, definitely think my back muscles are starting to show a bit, but gut looks bigger in week 3 than 2...I think I need to stop obsessing over this and just wait till the end result.  I definitely notice a difference from day one to day 22.  Speaking of which, never uploaded day one photos and tried tonight to do so, but they don't go in order on flickr and can't figure out how to move them around...

Seeing as how I am behind on a few other things and need to get some sleep soon I will leave you with a few meals I have had.

Anyone have any good ideas on food, love to hear it...I am trying to be creative while keeping to the diet, but my simple mind only goes so far.

So this was dinner the other night before my carbs got cut. A bed of brown rice topped with grilled chicken, a sprinkle of cheddar cheese, then covered in a homemade salsa of tomatoes, red onions, lime, cilantro, chili peppers, and garlic with a side of homemade guacamole

And the above was tonights dinner, grilled red pepper with a bit of balsamic vinegar and stuffed with a cajun grilled chicken, topped off with some homemade salsa

night all...food suggestions please!

Day 22 - Where's my dinner & general suckage

So we got our new diets in the morning, unfortunately by the time I recieved mine I had already eaten breakfast.  Dinner cut to ZERO carbs...when I made the alloted proportions, some grilled chicken and veggies, it looked awfully pathetic on the plate.   However I found it to be enough food to quell my appetite, and after a piece of fruit before bed I was satiated until the morning.  It's amazing to see how little we need to eat so long as we are eating correctly.   

I thought that I was losing too much weight, but yesterday I hit the scale and weighed in at 73.05KG, which is roughly where I was a week ago (161.5lbs) when I last weighed myself in the US, so I guess it is just the shape of my body changing, and despite my pants being a bit looser, I am not losing any weight, which is what I want. 
Workout on day 22 was tough, a big magnifying glass on the areas where I basically suck.   Pull ups, 4 sets of 5-7 doesn't sound that tough but you'd be wrong to think that, I got thru a 2 sets of 6 with some grace and then it all fell apart.  On the 3rd set I was flailing my legs about, inching my right arm then my left up as I made a lame attempt to get my chin anywhere that could be considered in the general area of the pull up bar...by the 4 rep, it wasn't happening, so I moved to incline pull ups for 2 sets of 5 to finish off the exercise.  Davinci...yikes, my shoulders must be about as strong as a 6 year old girls' or maybe it was just the day, but I could not get thru the final set to save my life, meek little 12 inch moves with my elbows bent was all I could muster on the final 5 reps, and even then I was done at 10 not 12.    I went for the biking on hills again as my foot is still bothering me from jumping rope but I think I overdid it, about an hour after the workout I felt my knee wobble and a bit of a sharp pain in my lower left thigh.   I stretched it out in the PM and it is a bit better now, but not sure if I did any real damage, will see how day 23 workout goes.  Squats after the bike ride were tough, much more difficult than after jump rope, and while I made it thru the set, I was definitely not going at the perscribed "steady pace" on the last set and a half and by the end I nearly fell over rather than standing back up.  

I am hoping that yesterday was just a bad day in the gym....

Workouts and time

I have to say that I actually really like the minimal length of these workouts, for the most part I can complete the entire thing in about 30-35mins.  In the past I dreaded going to the gym because of the time requirement, and I hate running, biking, swimming  for the same reason.  It is great to find an exercise regime that doesn't take up too much of my time.   When I would go to the gym before PCP I'd try to bang out the reps as quick as possible, I would get frustrated as time elapsed and start watching the clock and just wishing it would end.  With PCP workouts I barely look at the clock and when it is over I am constantly thinking "my god, the ass on that woman!" oh, and also, "wow, that was quick".  I am not sure what the maintainence will be like once PCP ends (imagine the guru has something up his sleeve) but I could certainly see keeping up with the PCP approved workout regiment indefinitely.  

My foot was killing me after jumping rope yesterday, so today (day 21) being a jump only day I opted to go with a 20min bike ride on hills.  Was good for my foot but turned out to be a hell of a workout for my legs, even with the lunges, squats we've been doing, my leg muscle are definitely not where they need to be.  

Despite the relatively short workouts, finding the dietary requirements coupled with work and the workout to pretty much be taking all of my waking hours (trying really hard to get 8 hours of sleep a night, but honestly, it is closer to 7).   Wonder if anyone else feels this way?  I am up at 5am, make and eat breakfast, leave for work at 6, get home around 6, workout, eat dinner, have about an hour to relax, eat a snack, and then it is practically time to get into bed if I want to get the required 8hrs.  

Days...actually not sure, it's a blur

First off, you don't want to be stuck in Terminal 7 at LAX at lunch time if you are looking for a PCP approved meal.  There isn't a single healthy option in that place, so I went with the best that I could find, and it was 1) pathetic and 2) definitely not what I am supposed to eat.  No wonder people in the US are so fat, it actually did not taste good at all and left me really pissed off until I righted the ship at dinner time.  It did however teach me a lesson, so in San Fran I hit whole foods and got a bunch of steammed veggies, some brown rice, and grilled chicken for the flight back to Tokyo.  With the exception of the LAX debacle I would say I did a pretty good job of sticking to the diet while traveling and eating all meals out. 

So I am back in Japan now, which meant I did three workouts in a span of 36hrs and ate 2 dinners in order to keep up with the schedule.   Workouts went all right, though my left foot is killing me after jumping rope these days, not sure what the problem is, I may try to rest it for a couple days and do one of the other exercises that Patrick suggested...

I put on a suit for work this morning and noticed that I am swimming in the pants, I must have lost an inch or more from my waist line.  I actually don't want to lose to much weight but assume that the muscle will come to replace the fat I am losing.   I definitely see a bit of a change in my body which is good, and now that I am back and have a kitchen should be easier and less stressful to maintain the diet.  

Last night I made some chicken with garlic, paprika, pepper, and cayenne pepper, put in over a bed of brown rice and topped in with my veggie allotment in the form of homemade salsa and guacamole, no salt, all fresh, and it was good...had the same for lunch today.  

Had to get up at 5am this morning (jet lag helped) to eat breakfast and still get to work on time, not sure how I am going to feel about that once the jet lag goes especially since it is pitch black when I get up now, and starting to cool off.  

Workout today is half done, did the strength part at the gym and will jump rope tonight at home.   Already feeling stressed out back in the office for half a day...this is just not a healthy industry.

Gonna have a dinner with my fellow PCPers at some point soon, and need to get down to Yokohama to work out with the guru.  

Off to get my afternoon snack...