Day 90

So this is the beginning of my life without PCP, and while it is a little daunting not having my meals laid out to the gram, not knowing exactly what exercises to do each day, I know that what I learned in the last 90 days are going to help me continue to live healthy and stay in shape for a long time to come.   A couple posts ago I put up some thoughts on PCP and I think unlike previous posts, today I am just going to leave it to a few words.

First, to the guys on Team Orange Crush,  I thought at least one of us wouldn't make it, or a few would slack off, or that the results wouldn't be what we all were looking for, but I was wrong on all counts and it's been great getting in shape with you, the blogs, the support, it all worked, and we all look great and couldn't have done it alone, so thanks for everything.

Next to Patrick, thank you!  This program is life changing, and that is as true a statement as it may be  cliche,  but my life is not the same as it was 90 days ago, I know how to eat well and eat healthy, I know how to exercise efficiently, and I know that these are things that will forever shape the course of my life going forward.  It's an amazing program you have designed and despite my occasional whining (Boiled eggs are still gross) was a pleasure doing this with you.

To those thinking about doing PCP, go back and read people's blogs, it isn't easy, at times it is down right hard, and shouldn't be done on a whim.  Don't read the last few days of posts by people are start thinking, "jeez, sounds like a cult, what a bunch of weirdos".   That sort of thinking means you should probably redirect your browser to www.peopleofwalmart.com, look for your friends, grab another bag of Cheetos and rewatch My Name is Earl for the 30th time.   Ok, that is a bit harsh, but understand, if you do this, it IS your life for the next 90 days, and it will consume you to an extent, not in a bad way, but be prepared to jump in 110% or you won't make it thru.    Bottom line though,if you give it your all, you will come away a different person, literally and figuratively.


And to my abs...

   We've worked pretty hard the last 3 months, and sure it's a bit scary coming out into the world from behind that visceral fat for the first time in over a decade, but get the hell out here already, what are you WAITING for!?   One way or the other, you're coming out, so I suggest you make it easy on yourself and just do it all ready, cause I will v-sit your ass all day long if I have, but we WILL be bouncing quarters off you by spring dammit!!  14.5% body fat or bust...

Lastly...I'll be jumping rope tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and the next......



Before -                                                                                            After
76.2 KG, 32.5in waist                                                                     69.9KG, 30in waist























Back - So Gross                                                                Back - Not so Gross

















In Full Color

And one of the many pairs of pants that will be donated to a bigger man than I...w/ obligatory retarded pose.

Day 85...some observations

Here we are with 5 days to go and I just have a few observations that I want to blog about

Workouts:  The first set has gotten easy, the last set, super hard.   When we started I struggled thru all the sets, but could generally do all prescribed reps with reasonable form.  Somewhere around the middle all the sets were tough, and I whimpered across the finish line with atrocious form if I even made it to the finish line.  Now the first set of any exercise...it's a breeze, some times the 2nd set is just as easy, I start wondering if I should do more than the max, then the 3rd and 4th sets start to wear me down while the 5th and 6th sets are killers.   I think this means my muscles are 1) stronger and 2) getting worn the hell out...both of which are awesome. 

Food:  I can see how I am going to sustain this for the rest of my life, I can use honey over sugar any time now, I love the fruit snacks, I don't even mind a glass of milk with a raw egg in the morning and evening. I don't miss big carbo overloads, I don't miss sweets or even deep fried animal parts.  Sure I miss booze and I'll be drinking that again, and I won't be counting every gram, and I will be eating out again, but I see now how this is sustainable with just a little bit on conscious effort, and that is awesome

Body Temp:  I'm cold...often.  It's winter of course, but I used to be sweating under all the blankets at night even in the dead of winter, now I am freezing if I don't cover up.  My extremities in particular get cold easy, and they take a while to warm up....have you looked at your fingers closely?  Mine are a lot thinner than when we started, and I think the loss of body fat is definitely playing a part in my body being cold more often than not...and that is not so awesome on the cold thing, but awesome on the body fat being down side

Health:  5 days left so I don't want to jinx anything, but I have been pretty energized the last 90 days, I am sleeping better, I've stopped snoring, headaches I used to get 1-2x a week, I don't get any more, that awful pain in my upper back right below my neck from sitting and staring at a computer 10hrs a day is gone, it hasn't bothered me in almost 2 months now, I didn't get sick even when those around me were battling colds.  I don't think I have had three months of such consistent good health in a long long time, and that is awesome    Going to get a yearly physical on Day 91 and see what the internal parts are doing, very curious to see what my cholesterol looks like. 

Metabolism:  This is my suspicion and not based in anything factual, but I am hungry about every 90-120mins after I feel full.  Sometimes the meals are too much, I trim the carbs, or maybe force down a couple bites which I won't do when we are done, but trying to stick to it 100% until the end.  But even when that last bite feels like a rock going down, within a short period of time I want something to eat...so I have to chalk that up to my metabolism working a lot faster than it used to.

Body:   The abs are a sort of 4 pack now with the right flex and light, not exactly what I want but certainly better than it has been since I turned 25, my shoulders and upper body is lean and fit, it is hard to miss the definition in my back now, the difference between day 1 and day 85 is most noticeable there.    My legs are an area I never worked out, call it vanity, or that I thought I got enough of a workout with some exercise bike work to warm up and walking a lot, but the jump rope and leg exercises have shown me that even a dude with skinny legs can get them in a good shape and add a lot of muscle, it's my least favorite area to work on, but one that I intend to keep improving when this ends.

All of you on PCP with me: we are almost all done and everyone is still here, and everyone looks great, and the blogs worked, the support system worked, the program worked, and while most of you are still have faces only a mother could love, it matters less now cause your bodies look awesome.

Patrick:  In a word....Awesome.

The Gym....

Since I have been going to a gym near the office to do my workouts at lunch, the homework assignment from Patrick was pretty simple.  In fact long before he asked us to blog about what we see at the gym, I have been noticing more and more the stark contrast in training styles, the people who really seem to know what they are doing versus the ones who are winging it, or seem to think that just going to the gym, regardless of what you do there, is going to get you into better shape.    I definitely get a lot of looks at the gym when I exercise, I think that is more a factor of me being the only person there who jumps rope, uses resistance bands, and doesn't use any of the machines than anything else.   No one has come up and asked me what training program I am on, but I probably don't look terribly approachable when I am grunting thru my reps. 

I don't want to be too critical of the people at the gym but what I notice a lot of is people taking long breaks between reps, or doing some sort of circuit training but each exercise focuses on a different muscle group and by the time they get back to the same group it has been 5-7mins.  The guys that do a set then walk around for a couple minutes, looking at themselves in the mirror, talking to people.  Then there is the guy who just does one set of each exercise, maxes out and moves on.   There are the speed walkers on the treadmill who then do a dozen situps or so when finished and that is that.   There are the people who never work out their legs, you see them focus solely on upper body and even then it is mostly upper upper body, ie chest and biceps.   There is the person who doesn't seem to know what the hell they are doing, curls with their elbows flying away from their sides, I am just waiting for them to throw their back out.  Then there are the guys who are just spazes, am sure you know the type.   There is the yoga crew, the stretchers who then do a bit of time on the treadmill, there is the guy who does spastic pull ups, I am not sure what muscle group he is trying to work there.   Then there are the couple guys and girls who are in shape, they are obviously on a training program or have learned how to do things properly, they work efficiently, they actually take a lot of notes, or check their notes, they do some similar exercises as PCPers, V-sits, Planks, Kung-fu sit ups, they do a couple different exercises for each muscle group and multiple sets.   Finally there are the roid users, well, maybe they aren't REALLY using roids, but they might very well someday.  They do only free weights, no cardio, they are big, but have a belly in some cases, they grunt and pant and make the most noise, they have end of summer tans in the winter, they wear muscle tees and flex too much and like to wear spandex shorts which frankly should not be allowed.  

You can really see the people wasting their time vs those who are getting some benefit, I have seen the same people there each and every lunch time for the last 3m, and in at LEAST 60% of the cases, they haven't changed a bit in 3 months of working out 4-5x a week.   I thought about posting a flyer for PCP the other day...

One week to go...

Indulgence

As per my plan I opted to go for the indulgence when the mood hit me, which was last night...after a long day at the office, I just couldn't be bothered to go home and cook a meal, so I hit the burrito place I used to go to twice a week before this all started, and then to really throw a load of crap into my system I grabbed some fries from McDonald's.  Now I didn't go completely nuts since I had the fries unsalted and didn't use any ketchup, I also opted out of rice and sour cream in the burrito and asked them to go light on the cheese.   In the end, I will admit that the food was a bit of a let down, it tasted fine, I can't even say that it tasted how I remember it, cause it didn't, it just tasted ok, I didn't sit there eating it and thinking, "wow, THIS is what I have been missing!"  In fact the smell of the fries was far more alluring than actually eating them.  What was however NOT a letdown...the convenience, and not having to cook a meal for once.   Being able to just come home, sit down and relax and have a meal ready for me was the real indulgence in all of this.   I swear if I am ever filthy rich, I am going to have a personal chef before I get any other unnecessary toys...outside of a fur-lined sink of course.  

Workouts are tough, and I am still really annoyed at the lack of definition in the abs, I am working on getting the new 4 egg per day allotment in, which is a real killer for me, but I am trying.   I actually am very happy to drink the eggs raw with a little milk when that option is available, far better than boiled in my opinion.    I can see the muscles in my shoulders, back, arms, even legs are getting defined, but the abs, I have like a semi two pack up at the top, but the middle two are barely noticeable, and the lower two seem to be hidden still under a layer of visceral fat that just won't go away.   According to the overpriced scale I still haven't learned to use properly, my body fat is about 16.5%-17% depending on the day, down from the 21% or so when I started, but nowhere near the sub 15% that was my goal.   I am starting to put back on a little weight, which I assume is muscle mass, after bottoming around 69.7KG about 2 weeks ago, I am close to 71KG now.   Would just like to see those abs a bit more and not sure what I can do but stay the course for now, am sore pretty much regularly around the midriff and have been trying to do all exercises to failure or the max reps/sets of each.    I know this is being a bit picky and the Day 1 vs Day 72 photos show the obvious progress I have made in less than 3 months and that's awesome, but I still want just a bit more before this is all over.   With 12 days to go, want to push hard over the finish line and bounce some quarters off my six pack when it's done.

Less than 2 weeks to go...

Home stretch, yesterday I nearly bested the pull ups, doing 5 sets of 8 before failing at 6 on the final set, before this is over, I am going to get thru 6 sets of 8.  Kung fu sit ups are tough on the shoulders more than anything, I have trouble by the last two sets because of the pain from hanging, but can usually manage to finish them all.   I am trying to go to failure in all exercises now, some days it means adding more in the final set, other days it happens before I get to the final set.  Jump rope is testing my ADD, I get bored with the longer sets more than I get tired by them, same reason I have always hated running, sheer boredom, I don't feel that runners high, so every minute is just annoying and I can't wait to finish.  I think the jumprope length is about the most I can stomach, but certainly a maintainable level.  I've tried to do some tricks, but realized quickly that 1) I don't know any and 2) I am not that coordinated.  So I went with seeing how many jumps I can do in a minute, record so far is 177, I am gonna try for 200 by the end of this thing.   I can really feel the full body work out when I go for speed, have to tense the upper body to get the speed up, it's tough, probably makes the 6-7min set a bit tougher than if I just went at a steady pace the whole time, when I am done, my pecks and arms are sometimes sore.  Maybe I need to relax...

Food is good, getting to actually be a bit much at times, but I have been finding a few restaurants that are able to do PCP friendly dinners, Yakitori seems the best, just grilled meat and veg, wasabi and Ume, nothing else.  I will not miss the endless prep of making all my meals all the time, but I have found that you can have some pretty good stuff that is very PCP friendly and that certainly a healthy balance of homemade meals and eating out is doable in perpetuity.   

Indulgence this week, though I am trying to think long and hard about what I really want to eat or drink and nothing, NOTHING, is coming to me.  I don't crave anything when I think about it...I do however crave things when I see them, so maybe for this indulgence I am not going to plan anything, and some time in the next few days I'll see if the mood strikes me and just go with it.  I would like to wait until next Tuesday night, get a burrito and some McDonald's fries, a beer and watch the Patriots play the Jets in Monday Night Football, but that would be day 84 and past the deadline for indulgences, and if the Pats don't win, would ruin the meal for me anyway. 

Day 77...wow. 

PCPizza

Made pizza last night.  Whole wheat crust, no salt, homemade sauce with PCP approved spices, grilled chicken, veggies, one was asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, and basil, the other was cilantro, bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, and red chili peppers with a bit of lime after baked.   All in all was pretty good, put a tiny bit of cheese on it, but just enough to taste.  The dough was pretty good, a bit heavy vs white flour I guess, still would recommend it if you have time, takes about 15-20mins to cut the stuff and make the dough, then about 25mins to cook in the oven....looks like this...

Day 72, Happy Thanksgiving

After lunch today I will have eaten the exact same thing 7 times in a row now.  Brown rice, grilled vegetables, and grilled chicken.  I marinated the chicken in the yogurt mix again and threw in a couple habaneros, damn spicy.   I am not sure what this says, either I am getting less creative or lazy, or just tired, I don't even really think about the taste, I just eat it at each meal and go on with the day.   Am not really craving anything to be honest, not saying this to complain, just stating what has been going on with my diet.  What has NOT been going on with my diet is all the eggs.  I have taken to milk and a raw egg white when I first wake up eating breakfast (no milk) about 90mins later.  Then I have fruit, no egg for the AM snack.  I am choking down an egg white in boiled form after the workouts, but can't bring myself to eat another in the afternoon snack.  So am getting 2 out of the 3 required eggs...and trying to have a tiny bit more protein to make up the difference, I just can not get anymore down.  Actually like the milk and raw egg best, don't even taste it, but not doable at the office.   Hope that the egg white I miss isn't killing my muscle growth.   Has anyone got a substitute?  

Workouts are going all right, I get to failure pretty quick on some exercises, while others I add a few reps at the end.  Plank is now my most hated exercise, I haven't completely conquered pull ups but I can do a lot more than when we started.  Shoulders are still the most difficult area for me to do all the reps, I reach failure pretty quick, whereas biceps seem to be the region I have to add reps to get to failure (though today I upped the resistance band and it wore me out).   Workouts still take less than 50mins with the jump rope, and if there are no legs on a given day and my jump rope goes smooth, I can usually get done in about 40-45mins.  I don't think I am waiting as long as I should between sets and wonder if this is a bad thing.  I definitely don't wait much at all between exercises.  I almost challenge myself to get it done as quickly as possible. 

I really need some new clothes, I cut 2" off my belt the other day and it is still big on me, and my pants are starting to look retarded, which isn't what you want when you already look retarded regardless of your clothes being ill fitted or not.  And what the hell is with the lack of tapered sweaters and stuff in this country, my shoulders vs mid riff ratio doesn't work if stuff is cut straight down now, the shoulders fit and then it looks ridiculous around my stomach area, two sizes too big.   Looks like a post PCP shopping spree is in order, but will probably wait till early 2011 just to see how my PCP body holds up in the end.

After tomorrow, less than 2 1/2 weeks to go.   

Worst Week Yet.

It took about 64 days before things really broke down, but last week in HK on business things fell off a cliff, hard...splat!  First off the diet was a nightmare, I couldn't carry the 27 eggs a day that we are eating now around in my suit pocket, and with nowhere to buy them on the fly, I did what I could, but was only eating about 1/2-2/3 of the required number.  Then the AM protein, hotel had sausage, bacon, some other sort of processed meat product or Fish, none of which I was gonna touch, so AM protein got subbed out in lieu of egg whites which I guess helped my overall egg count, but I fell short on dead carcass quotient.   Then every other meal, HK doesn't have low fat milk at almost every restaurant, just non fat or regular, so I tried to alternate, and I couldn't find a low fat yogurt that wasn't sweetened with some fruity crap or other.   In general the dinners at the hotel were PCP approved, but lunches were a crap shoot, too much oil in most things, and the plane ride home, running late to make the flight, I just had to go with the dogshit they try to pass off as food on ANA.   I also broke down once and had a gin and tonic at a friends wedding on Saturday, which might have been the worst of the days, though with the plane ride Sunday it was a toss up.  The W hotel in HK doesn't have JACK SQUAT on the menu for PCP lunch or dinner really, they did manage some steamed veg and grilled chicken, but at lunch only white bread for carbs, and dinner the only chicken was grilled in some tandoori marinate, which definitely had salt.  So from Wed-Sun food was a complete clusterfuck.   Getting back to Japan I am still having issues with the snacks, I forget them, like today, forgot the carbs pre workout, and can't find a boiled egg post workout.   It's all going pear shaped, and fast.  

Workouts weren't much better, I could barely find the time to do them, I was running back to the hotel room between meetings to try and jumprope, which in the actually hotel room, barefoot on the carpet wasn't easy and started to become painful, but I managed to get the sets in and for the strength stuff I did as much as time allowed but honestly I don't think I had one complete workout while I was away.  I wonder if the lack of protein coupled with the difficulty level of the workouts now is the reason I struggled or if it was just being in a rush, always watching the clock and not being able to focus on the task at hand.

Anyway, was hands down as bad a week as I have had since starting PCP, and with 21 days to go, I need to get back on track.  I still don't have the abs I am after, speaking of which...90sec of the plank..times FOUR...are you kidding me!?   I was able to do 90sec once, then started breaking down in the 2nd set, by the fourth I think I made it 30sec before falling flat on my face.   Maybe that is why I can't see the abs yet? 

It's go time people, Fuck you PCP, 21 days left, I'm gonna make you my b-tch.  Bring it! (but no more god damn eggs!)

Hey abs!!...come out come out wherever you are, damn you!

All right, crunch time people, just finished today's workout...day 62, that means less than 4wks to go.  I am seeing the results all over, which is great...but I am waiting for that washboard stomach to come out, that six pack of abs, the kind you can slide a finger in between each muscular square.  I still have a bit of visceral fat I think, and I can feel the abs under it, I just can't see them as I would like.    

Shockingly I don't have much to say today, just that the workouts are hard to finish all sets and reps, though today I did 3 sets of 8 pull ups, a set of 7 and a set of 5 which is a personal best.  I busted my jumprope the other day and have been relegated to a crappy don quijote one which is too short and is really frustrating the hell out me, I keep tripping up, but still manage to get thru the rope and strength work in under an hour.   Need to find a better rope though.  

Diet going fine, though I am off to HK on biz from Wed-Sun including a wedding on Sat.  Not sure how well I am going to do with the diet, but will try my best. 

4 weeks to go, gotta find those abs...

Day 57

I had a lunch the other day with a client, went ot Nobu where they do a good PCP approved meal, grilled chicken, grilled veg and brown rice, no salt, no sauce, all fresh.   My buddy got all fired up when I ordered telling me I have lost enough weight, come on already.   Really ticked me off, it was the first time I think that someone was actually UN-supportive, some have been indifferent, some joke, most try to understand and support, but this was a real attempt to get me to stray, seriously WTF, it's like a buddy trying to get you to do another shot after you say you've had enough, am I still in college?!   People really need to respect others attempts to better themselves even if they don't want to do anything similar.

Today was a headache at the gym, the area where I usually jump rope was taken with some sort of board meeting, and there isn't space elsewhere, so I went for the bike instead, the lack of space meant floor jumps were tough so I did what I could and added  a bit to the pistol squats.   The shoulder work continues to be an area where I struggle to get thru all the sets, I was flat out panting by the end, on the positive side my back is slowly recovering and I was able to get thru all the V-sits with not too much discomfort. 

Workouts really do seem to ebb and flow, some days I walk in and it flies by, I barely get winded, other days I can't catch my breath, feel like it takes forever, and have a lot of trouble getting all the reps done, but have learned that those are the days where you can really build some muscle, so I push through and generally feel a good sense of accomplishment once done. 

Got our new diets today, have ANOTHER egg in mine now, asked Patrick if I could sub some meat for one of the eggs, or have eggs at breakfast and 50g of protein later in the day.  He said that was fine which is good because I just don't love boiled eggs.  Have actually been bringing egg white seasoned and cooked in a pan to work and eating them cold as my snack.  It's tolerable, but that is about it.   I completely forgot to have my milk last night w/ my night time snack...on that subject, are other people doing yogurt and milk?  I tend to be drinking low fat milk wherever it says yogurt because I can not find low fat yogurt near my office.  Pretty sure that is ok, but wondering if I should really be having yogurt when that is the prescribed snack? 

My funky scale has me gaining weight this week, I am up to 71.7kg, but my body fat % was down to 17.1%, body age down to 29...I guess that is a good sign, though I am still waiting for those defined abs to come out, and there is definitely a bit more visceral fat that needs to come off, I can still "pinch and inch" around my midriff and especially in parts of my lower back as well as the sides of my mid back...will it ever go away?  I can feel the abs developing under the fat, just want to see the results of my hard work a bit more.  

Still, day 58 awaits, not even 5 weeks left!   Would never say it has been easy and know there is still time to go, but I feel good and am recommending all my friends to get involved...Patrick, what kind of kick back I get for the intros?

Day 53- 55 Indulgence and back pain...

Right so indulgence...I didn't really have a strong craving for anything, what I find I am really missing is the flexibility that comes from being able to eat out, or get take out.  It's really less about the food, which I don't mind, even the shake dinners aren't terrible, but it is the hassle of prepping it all, and the rigidity, in particular when I am tired.   I want to grab take out on the way home after a long day at the office, I don't want to prep my meals for the next 3~4 days.  That is the real headache for me, not the lack of a certain food, as I said, not really craving much, but craving a bit more time to just relax, and it'd be nice to have a dinner out, or even Indian take out on a night when I have no energy to cook.   All that said, I can see striking a balance between the two once this is done, probably maintaining a 50/50 split between eating as I am now and mixing in some brunch/lunch and dinners out.  Certainly keep up the snacks (speaking of which am choking down the AM egg...not pleasant but getting the protein). 
In the end my indulgence was a bit uneventful...I went with my old standby boneless wings and fries, and then I topped the day off with a few pints of beer amongst friends.  As I was making the meal (which I had for lunch) I noticed that it really wasn't terrible.  It's chicken coated with PCP approved spice, lightly pan fried in a tiny bit of olive oil, the sauce is probably not great as it has Tabasco and sesame oil in it, but total amount is probably 1/8 cup.  Fries are handmade and not deep fried, I also use canola oil and don't salt them, so while it isn't great, I am not sure it's awful on occasion.  I used a bit of blue cheese and low fat yogurt (canned the sour cream) as a dip...also realized the meal had no carbs (well, potatoes, but that is veg here).  So maybe I could have gone a bit more crazy with the food side of things, but frankly was what I wanted, and tasted GOOD.   The beer, oh frosty the adult libation, my GOD I have missed you!   Went to the Harajuku Taproom, home to Bairdbeer.com (check it out people), only a 3x gold medal winner at the 2010 world beer championships.   Had some fall seasonals on tap...I think I may have cried a little into my final half pint.  Surprisingly felt just a bit buzzed, not at all drunk, and felt fine the next morning...got up and skipped rope first thing.

Workouts are going along all right, my back still a huge pain...literally.   Am really struggling with anything ab related, but particularly with the leg lifts, v-sits and kung fu sit ups, I think that I damaged the lower back doing the leg lifts last week, really not great, but I am managing to get thru the workouts and other than the aforementioned ab related exercises, the back isn't an issue.  I really gotta stretch out more. 

Hmmm, think that is it for now.

35 days to go...doesn't sound like much at all.

Day....actually I am not sure

I just finished today's workout...I think it was day 51, but actually I am not even sure, I have given up counting the days, I am just trucking along.   New diets are proving a bit tough for one specific reason, the egg at the AM snack.  I hate boiled eggs, and with no milk to chase it, I am not bringing a raw egg to the office and downing it.  So far I have done a pan fried egg white in the morning with just about every spice that is PCP approved and eat that along with the fruit in the morning.  It isn't what you would call "good" it is more in the "not so tasty" camp, but I can get it down.   Hmmm, I've read a few other blogs where people talk about their cravings gone, never coming back, totally reprogrammed, and while that sounds great, I don't expect to ever get there, I LOVE good food, all types, some probably very good for me, others maybe not.  Never been much of a sweets guy but I can't see giving up french fries, chicken wings, nachos, cheese when all is said and done.  I can however see balancing my habits a bit more, eating better carbs, having the veggie snack before bed.  The egg snack though...that's not gonna be a staple in my diet when this is over. 

Workouts are tough, speaking to a couple people, seems like very few are getting thru every rep and every set.  Tripling up now on trgt muscles, I am going for the least reps per set and trying to make it thru, but still really tough.  The resistance bands I have at home are different from the ones at the gym, gym ones have a lot more resistance and make it even more difficult to complete all the reps.   Jumping rope has become interesting, I find that it is harder at the beginning to get going, but by the time I am on the last set I am thinking, "wow, done already?"   Had a little set back yesterday, my lower back, this time the lower right hand side starting bugging last night.  Was about 6 hrs after I finished the workout, no really sure what caused it, was doing some chores around the house and just started acting up.  Is hurting a lot today, feels better when I stretch my hamstring, but kept me from jumping today...did bike work instead, and was very painful when trying to do the kung-fu sit-ups.  I think I may have pushed it a bit y'day with the leg lifts, remember feeling the strain a bit on the last set. 

Starting to see the result a bit now around the mid riff, but according to my high tech scale, which to be fair, I really do not know how to use properly, I am 71kg (up 0.25kg in about 1 week) with 17.8% body fat,  and a body age of 32.  Said something about my muscle mass and visceral fat too I think but I can't read the Kanji for that stuff.  Odd that my body age was 31 about 5 weeks ago when I got the scale.  Maybe my back issues are proof this is aging me?   Body fat was a bit disappointing, I started around 20-21% I think, would have thought that losing nearly 6.5% of my body weight so far would have meant a bigger decline in body fat.   Are these scales accurate anyway? 

So day 51 or 52 is done...30 some odd to go...piece of cake.  Hmmmmm, cake. 

Indulgence tomorrow...

Day 49, bring back my dinner dammit!

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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!