Well here it is. The pictures don't lie. PCP really works.
The "complete" section just treats PCP as a destination - Take good look at yourself, close your eyes, do the program and open them again only at the finish. That's how I approached PCP to begin with. Actually what has surprised me is that the journey itself has been a remarkably valuable (if not always completely pleasant) experience. It was always going to be a lot of hard work, perseverance and commitment, but its been worth every minute. Here's what it did for me:
1. I did actually learn something! This is not just a mumbo-jumbo diet where you live on just ginko nuts for three months but a full-on practical education into nutrition. You think you know about what is healthy? Really do it for three months, actually stick to it and then see what you really know (what Camilo says about this is interesting). While most of PCP is common sense, doing it has given me a new level of understanding and changed a lot of my perspectives.
2. I needed to do a detox. I have a relatively high stress job and I'd let myself put work first and body second for too long. I'm not quite sure how my blood pressure was, but I know it wasn't great. Greasy food and alcohol had become a way to bust the stress. PCP took out most of the fat, all the added sugar, all the chemicals and allowed me to thoroughly clean my system, but without having to eat odd things or do colonic irrigation or any of the other crazy stuff. I mean honestly, the guy that came up with the idea of colonic irrigation AND managed to get people to pay to do it to themselves deserves a medal.
3. Food had stopped being special. Going regularly to good restaurants, drinking lots of wine, eating plenty of rich food makes the whole dining experience boring and many of these strong flavours had lost their edge. It took a while, but now apples taste amazing, grapes awesome, I am loving my fresh fish and of course rich foods now frequently taste incredibly greasy. Going to restaurants these days is a completely new and refreshing experience, indeed it feels once again a privilege. Unfortuantely my eyes have been opened to how much grease and cheap carb that goes into most average restaurant food....we really are getting completely ripped off most of the time. I will be a lot more choosy over getting high quality meat and fresh veg from here.
4. PCP is accessible. It has a good mix: the food is time consuming but straightforward and balanced, most exercises are easy to do at home and its got some slightly more hairy-chested bits to keep the hardcore fitness nutters happy. So its something I've been able to do with my wife. And doing it together we have definitely found it easier and got better results. She's happy that her husband doesn't have a fat arse any more anyway. While I have had to modify the course a little to cater for my dodgy knees, I have also made it through with no new injuries and all my joints are still working which is quite something.
5. You can eat seven times a day and still lose weight. That's pretty cool.
6. On day one I could only do 30 sit-ups. And it nearly put me in hospital. I can now do more than 500 before getting...well...bored. I've done a lot of sport over the years, but now overall fitness is now better than it ever has been. Squash is a sport I've played for many years and I now thrash people that three months ago I couldn't get close to....to get to that point in such a short space of time is very very cool.
7. Low sodium is painfully tedious: I still have bouts of sense of humour failure over plain brown rice or steamed vegetables, but there are ways to get around the problem with creative cooking and with herbs and chili and other natural flavourings. . It's done amazing things for my skin! It's one of the hardest things to stick to, but just try it....
8. I'm chronically skeptical about, well, everything really and in particular having anything to do with "wellness". While certain yoga-ey or zen-ey type stuff occasionally gets dropped into the conversation, I have really appreciated the fact that PCP is refreshingly free of any gimmicks or agenda which would have ordinarily driven me nuts. Patrick is not only surprisingly a lot more knowledgeable and scientific about nutrition than I expected, but is very open and gradually explains everything extremely well as we go. Ultimately it does all boil down to eat vegetables, do the exercise, cut out the junk food, work consistently. There are no short cuts. That's the real message here but it's been really nice to know how the diet has been put together and why food combinations work and importantly have a bunch of people around help muddle our way through the process.
9. Its a good lesson in life. The PCP by itself is not sustainable under ordinary circumstances, but in order to live long and healthily we need a lot more control over our diet and exercise over the long term than we normally allow ourselves. I'm still quite far from my ultimate goal of a healthy to low body fat percentage, but at least I have a very much enhanced box of tools to help me get there. Probably I have to lose another 15 kg before the muscles start to show. After PCP, I'll be taking a bit of a rest and catching up with friends I have been missing since becoming a hermit, but I do intend to finish the job with more PCP...watch this space....and thereafter put together a suitable diet and exercise regime that maintains my condition and suits my lifestyle.
10. Some things are never going to change. I still love chocolate, steaks, sticky toffee pudding, deep fried anything etc... PCP doesn't fix that. So what Patrick says about you not wanting to eat this stuff after PCP is not quite true, but what is true is that greasy stuff now makes me feel quite sick. My post-PCP world will involve indulgences including all of the above and more, but having already indulged, I can say with some certainty it isn't going to be all that often. In any case, Mimi I am sure will strictly regulate such things. As apparently she didn't really appreciate the 20% extra husband she got for free...
....Oh yeah and I almost forgot, after literally working my arse off for three months, I lost 23kg (around 3 1/2 stone in old money) or 17% of my bodyweight. Pics are up..,
A very Big Thanks to Patrick and everyone on the course! And and even bigger one to Mimi for putting up with me thoughout all this. Roll the tape....
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
Thursday, 2 June 2011
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Not Quite...
Done the pics and stuff, but my computer chose that moment to break - will have them up and do the final post as soon as its fixed.
One thing I have done over the last few days, just as Patrick suggested we do an early exercise to see how we have come along, I have deliberately gone back to my pre-PCP diet to see what its like. I really am staggered by how greasy everything is (probably just as staggered as I was to find out how boring carbs are without some sort of greasy sauce when i started PCP). We were out on a boat trip with a bunch of people on the first day and nominally the food looked quite healthy, with different kinds of salad, quiches, sausages, roast chicken etc... The salads were dripping in oil, the quiche seems to be almost entirely made of butter..etc... I was feeling really sick by the end. In fact just about everything "normal" has left me feeling sick since the end of PCP. Restaurants really do pump their food with cheap carbs and oil to avoid using more expensive fresh ingredients...in most restaurants we've found it almost impossible to order something properly healthy. I thought I'd try a McDonalds for fun yesterday....yeap, big mistake. I played squash for an hour last night, but spent most of the time just trying to keep my food down. I think I've been cured....
During the working day we've gone back to a roughly PCP friendly diet, with the addition of a bit of fish to liven up breakfast. And I have started again at day 46 exercises last night. I won't necessarily do the exercises absolutely every day, but I will try about 4-5 times a week and keep dinners out to a reasonable 1 big one a week (and maybe one small one). We'll be keeping dinner very light otherwise. We have come this far, so we need to finish the job, but happy to take a bit more time over it. Another 40 or 50 years should be about right...
One thing I have done over the last few days, just as Patrick suggested we do an early exercise to see how we have come along, I have deliberately gone back to my pre-PCP diet to see what its like. I really am staggered by how greasy everything is (probably just as staggered as I was to find out how boring carbs are without some sort of greasy sauce when i started PCP). We were out on a boat trip with a bunch of people on the first day and nominally the food looked quite healthy, with different kinds of salad, quiches, sausages, roast chicken etc... The salads were dripping in oil, the quiche seems to be almost entirely made of butter..etc... I was feeling really sick by the end. In fact just about everything "normal" has left me feeling sick since the end of PCP. Restaurants really do pump their food with cheap carbs and oil to avoid using more expensive fresh ingredients...in most restaurants we've found it almost impossible to order something properly healthy. I thought I'd try a McDonalds for fun yesterday....yeap, big mistake. I played squash for an hour last night, but spent most of the time just trying to keep my food down. I think I've been cured....
During the working day we've gone back to a roughly PCP friendly diet, with the addition of a bit of fish to liven up breakfast. And I have started again at day 46 exercises last night. I won't necessarily do the exercises absolutely every day, but I will try about 4-5 times a week and keep dinners out to a reasonable 1 big one a week (and maybe one small one). We'll be keeping dinner very light otherwise. We have come this far, so we need to finish the job, but happy to take a bit more time over it. Another 40 or 50 years should be about right...
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Day 'nuff
I can practically taste the finish line!
Yes, its made of cheesecake...
My company restricted access to the blogging website, so I have been a bit quiet lately, but for some odd reason its working today (?). Anyway, while we've continued to haul our arses through the program, I haven't had the best few days: work has been that bit more stressful and unfortunately my last indulgence is getting waaaaay too distant in the memory, we're getting very tired now, worn out in fact, grumpy and down in the dumps. Only a couple of days to go, but the end couldn't come quickly enough. Looking forward to a lie in at the weekend and let the batteries properly recharge....bottles of Champagne and Great Big Cakes apparently recharge batteries like nothing else, so I'll be tackling a hamper full of those with "extreme prejudice" as they say in the movies.
Already have plans how to continue on with a (slightly more relaxed) version of PCP next week. As a certain Mr. Churchill put it: "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
Yes, its made of cheesecake...
My company restricted access to the blogging website, so I have been a bit quiet lately, but for some odd reason its working today (?). Anyway, while we've continued to haul our arses through the program, I haven't had the best few days: work has been that bit more stressful and unfortunately my last indulgence is getting waaaaay too distant in the memory, we're getting very tired now, worn out in fact, grumpy and down in the dumps. Only a couple of days to go, but the end couldn't come quickly enough. Looking forward to a lie in at the weekend and let the batteries properly recharge....bottles of Champagne and Great Big Cakes apparently recharge batteries like nothing else, so I'll be tackling a hamper full of those with "extreme prejudice" as they say in the movies.
Already have plans how to continue on with a (slightly more relaxed) version of PCP next week. As a certain Mr. Churchill put it: "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
80 - Some thoughts about the exercise....
Feeling tired today for the first time in a while. I wrote about food yesterday, so heres some thoughts on the exercise...
The current sets are getting on the long and boring side. I know I'm getting probably the best results from these at any time in PCP, but I can't help but think that 5 or more sets of something is too many and I'm finding the repetition a bit tedious. After PCP, I will probably use the time to do more exercises and smaller sets with higher resistance (as in earlier PCP).
Niggling aches and pains are starting to accumulate and increasingly just about everything hurts a bit, although I will admit it is partially from pushing it a bit too hard in squash training. Looking forward to having the odd complete rest day here and there....probably this will be Sunday.
I still haven't touched the skipping rope since week three and really quite pleased about it. The joints are holding together nicely and I'm managing to space out my squash matches so that the knees don't swell. After PCP I will try and play roughly every other day. AND I will try and incorporate a strength training session after every match (which was previously unthinkable). Skipping would never have been something I do after PCP, so I'm glad I've managed to do things which I'm interested in doing anyway....although....
The eliptical trainer thing has proven to be a revelation as I used to hate it with a passion and now I quite enjoy watching a bit of sport while churning away on the thing. I viewed it as the ultimate gerbil wheel, but I do miss watching sport on TV and this is my chance to catch up. And I am so amazingly a lot better on thing since day 1 that I never stop surprising myself, so I may even keep using it after PCP. Depends a bit on when I play squash and how often Mimi wants to go to the gym! (?).
Overall my basic fitness and strength has improved substantially, and this (injuries permitting) has made a huge differnce to my performance at squash - this is really great. It's a sport I've been involved in for nigh on 30 years now, so its quite important to me and doing PCP has pushed me back to being in touch with my best.
But lets face it, after three months of PCP, I'm still not exactly skinny, so there is still a load I can do to improve my power to weight ratio. As I said before, given my shabby condition at the beginning of PCP, 3 months was never going to be enough, so after a brief hiatus after PCP I will be back on the case. If I can be playing the best squash of my life while pushing 40, then that would be quite something...
The current sets are getting on the long and boring side. I know I'm getting probably the best results from these at any time in PCP, but I can't help but think that 5 or more sets of something is too many and I'm finding the repetition a bit tedious. After PCP, I will probably use the time to do more exercises and smaller sets with higher resistance (as in earlier PCP).
Niggling aches and pains are starting to accumulate and increasingly just about everything hurts a bit, although I will admit it is partially from pushing it a bit too hard in squash training. Looking forward to having the odd complete rest day here and there....probably this will be Sunday.
I still haven't touched the skipping rope since week three and really quite pleased about it. The joints are holding together nicely and I'm managing to space out my squash matches so that the knees don't swell. After PCP I will try and play roughly every other day. AND I will try and incorporate a strength training session after every match (which was previously unthinkable). Skipping would never have been something I do after PCP, so I'm glad I've managed to do things which I'm interested in doing anyway....although....
The eliptical trainer thing has proven to be a revelation as I used to hate it with a passion and now I quite enjoy watching a bit of sport while churning away on the thing. I viewed it as the ultimate gerbil wheel, but I do miss watching sport on TV and this is my chance to catch up. And I am so amazingly a lot better on thing since day 1 that I never stop surprising myself, so I may even keep using it after PCP. Depends a bit on when I play squash and how often Mimi wants to go to the gym! (?).
Overall my basic fitness and strength has improved substantially, and this (injuries permitting) has made a huge differnce to my performance at squash - this is really great. It's a sport I've been involved in for nigh on 30 years now, so its quite important to me and doing PCP has pushed me back to being in touch with my best.
But lets face it, after three months of PCP, I'm still not exactly skinny, so there is still a load I can do to improve my power to weight ratio. As I said before, given my shabby condition at the beginning of PCP, 3 months was never going to be enough, so after a brief hiatus after PCP I will be back on the case. If I can be playing the best squash of my life while pushing 40, then that would be quite something...
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Preparing for the end...where to start?
Getting tantalizingly close to cheesecake...er...the end of PCP, although I know there is still a lot in between now and then. As I am sure most people are, its time to figure out whats next? PCP turns a life upside down, massively changing the daily apportionment of time between social (down 90%), drinking (down 95%), exercise (up 1000%), junk food (down 100%) and healthy eating (up 1000%). I'm beginning to wonder whether I can maintain a monk-like existence or am I going to bury myself in pudding and then glue myself to the sofa when this is all over?
You see, after the first couple of weeks of PCP all I wanted was a steak....and then at the first indulgence I had one. And a great big icecreamcookiething. At the next indulgence I had some more meat...and I had promised that the moment I finish PCP, I'd be off on a plane to Japan to find my favourite steak house in Takayama and order one of the world's largest A5 steaks. But having knocked out the meat cravings in the indulgences, I don't really feel like it any more. A couple of weeks ago, I went out with a bunch of mates and got beltingly pissed (which counted as my last indulgence). My hangover was sufficient to put me off drinking probably forever, although while I am increasingly keen to get stuck into a couple of glasses of decent red wine, my cravings for lots of beer have gone. The really odd thing is that my cravings for pizza are also beginning to wane.... (wooo spooooky!)
Patrick mentioned that this would happen, however I instantly wrote this off as the mad ravings of some lunatic crazyman. Maybe I'm a late developer and I know for a fact I'm still going to indulge when I'm done, but I can't help but think I'm beginning to enter the bermuda triangle of my own feelings about food. Strange things are afoot where a visualisation of cake no longer induces the same seek and destroy emotions that used to instantly invade my mind. Ok, I lie. I did come across a cheesecake the other day and it only survived by the skin of its teeth. And just a little bit of it didn't. Making sense of this I suppose is that as long as its not around, I'm not thinking about junk food and I'm not making plans to do anything to get more of it. But if it's there in front of me, it had still better look out....its a step in the right direction though.
So what plans have we actually made? At the end of all this, we'll be off on a boat trip with some friends and have a few drinks, but the next day I will endeavor to get outside of a stromboli and a banoffee pie. That should knock out the remaining big craving. Thereafter each weekend, it'll be catching up with friends that we've been missing for the last three months.
We then need to rebuild with a post PCP daily diet and routine. Not sure of the ratio yet and still waiting to hear what kind of exercise program Patrick proposes but we figure that each evening out or proper dinner from now on requires a payment of say at least three big exercise sessions. We'll do our best to continue PCP type meals and eating schedule during office hours. Ultimately it seems we will have to maintain some sort of rule based approach to food. Its not ideal and it would be lovely to say I have suddenly become self moderating, but that just isn't me. With some rules, where I knock out cravings periodically, pay for them with exercise and stick to a PCP friendly diet and regular exercise in the meanwhile, I should be able to broadly stick to a longer term weight and fitness target.
What is the best thing about PCP and food now? Well the other day after going to the gym, we stopped and ordered a dry salad. That salad had a handful of croutons in it. Those croutons had just been covered in garlic butter and fried and they were just fantastic!! And now I'm banging on about croutons in a blog when three months ago, I wouldn't have even registered that they were there...Yes, the tastebuds have been switched on and I now recognise that rich food should be treated as a special thing, rather than a norm. Because yes, good food had become boring...
What is the worst thing about PCP? Its probably the thing that induces many of us to get fat in the first place: stress! How do you bust the stress in a PCP friendly way? "I've had a really crappy day at work and I'm going to go out and have..."
a) some egg whites?
b) a yogurt?
c) ten pints of lager?
If, Patrick, you can figure out how to answer the last one, you'll be a millionaire....
You see, after the first couple of weeks of PCP all I wanted was a steak....and then at the first indulgence I had one. And a great big icecreamcookiething. At the next indulgence I had some more meat...and I had promised that the moment I finish PCP, I'd be off on a plane to Japan to find my favourite steak house in Takayama and order one of the world's largest A5 steaks. But having knocked out the meat cravings in the indulgences, I don't really feel like it any more. A couple of weeks ago, I went out with a bunch of mates and got beltingly pissed (which counted as my last indulgence). My hangover was sufficient to put me off drinking probably forever, although while I am increasingly keen to get stuck into a couple of glasses of decent red wine, my cravings for lots of beer have gone. The really odd thing is that my cravings for pizza are also beginning to wane.... (wooo spooooky!)
Patrick mentioned that this would happen, however I instantly wrote this off as the mad ravings of some lunatic crazyman. Maybe I'm a late developer and I know for a fact I'm still going to indulge when I'm done, but I can't help but think I'm beginning to enter the bermuda triangle of my own feelings about food. Strange things are afoot where a visualisation of cake no longer induces the same seek and destroy emotions that used to instantly invade my mind. Ok, I lie. I did come across a cheesecake the other day and it only survived by the skin of its teeth. And just a little bit of it didn't. Making sense of this I suppose is that as long as its not around, I'm not thinking about junk food and I'm not making plans to do anything to get more of it. But if it's there in front of me, it had still better look out....its a step in the right direction though.
So what plans have we actually made? At the end of all this, we'll be off on a boat trip with some friends and have a few drinks, but the next day I will endeavor to get outside of a stromboli and a banoffee pie. That should knock out the remaining big craving. Thereafter each weekend, it'll be catching up with friends that we've been missing for the last three months.
We then need to rebuild with a post PCP daily diet and routine. Not sure of the ratio yet and still waiting to hear what kind of exercise program Patrick proposes but we figure that each evening out or proper dinner from now on requires a payment of say at least three big exercise sessions. We'll do our best to continue PCP type meals and eating schedule during office hours. Ultimately it seems we will have to maintain some sort of rule based approach to food. Its not ideal and it would be lovely to say I have suddenly become self moderating, but that just isn't me. With some rules, where I knock out cravings periodically, pay for them with exercise and stick to a PCP friendly diet and regular exercise in the meanwhile, I should be able to broadly stick to a longer term weight and fitness target.
What is the best thing about PCP and food now? Well the other day after going to the gym, we stopped and ordered a dry salad. That salad had a handful of croutons in it. Those croutons had just been covered in garlic butter and fried and they were just fantastic!! And now I'm banging on about croutons in a blog when three months ago, I wouldn't have even registered that they were there...Yes, the tastebuds have been switched on and I now recognise that rich food should be treated as a special thing, rather than a norm. Because yes, good food had become boring...
What is the worst thing about PCP? Its probably the thing that induces many of us to get fat in the first place: stress! How do you bust the stress in a PCP friendly way? "I've had a really crappy day at work and I'm going to go out and have..."
a) some egg whites?
b) a yogurt?
c) ten pints of lager?
If, Patrick, you can figure out how to answer the last one, you'll be a millionaire....
Sunday, 15 May 2011
77 Frustrations
Last few days have been mixed again: after a week off and managing to average 2-3hours exercise a day and then being back at work and struggling to find an hour here or there, I have naturally felt irritation that I am not so far putting in quite the strong finish I was looking for.
I have to get myself to the gym and glue myself to the eliptical this week as I'm simply too tired by the time I get home to do exercise and particularly now its increasingly humid, I'm not really that keen to sweat all over the bedroom floor either.
Nevertheless, I am getting the week off to a good start by playing in a squash competition tonight. I've been drawn against one of the top club players in HK and I am going to get slaughtered, but it'll be amazingly good exercise. And then I will be going to go to the gym....how times have changed....
I have to get myself to the gym and glue myself to the eliptical this week as I'm simply too tired by the time I get home to do exercise and particularly now its increasingly humid, I'm not really that keen to sweat all over the bedroom floor either.
Nevertheless, I am getting the week off to a good start by playing in a squash competition tonight. I've been drawn against one of the top club players in HK and I am going to get slaughtered, but it'll be amazingly good exercise. And then I will be going to go to the gym....how times have changed....
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
day 73
Back at work for last couple of days...really think I did some good stuff last week and now just don't have the time to do the same amount of aerobic stuff as I was doing before....feeling a bit lost without my hour of cross country trainer thingy with rugby on the telly...just playing squash for aerobic stuff for the moment.
Sets continue to get harder, but I can really start to see the results now.... With a couple of weeks to go, I think I'm getting dangerosly close to that shrink-wrap zone where every additonal kg lost will make a big difference to the way I look, but I'm still a good couple of PCP months away from six pack territory. Just happy that I've made some solid progress, have got myself back in shape, playing sport back at the same level I was 5 years ago and importantly have a pretty clear picture of what I need to do if I want to take it to the next level. I'm defintiely ready for a couple of weeks off this (I could murder a pizza), but it'd be a shame having come this far if I didn't aim for a six pack once in my life, wouldn't it?
Sets continue to get harder, but I can really start to see the results now.... With a couple of weeks to go, I think I'm getting dangerosly close to that shrink-wrap zone where every additonal kg lost will make a big difference to the way I look, but I'm still a good couple of PCP months away from six pack territory. Just happy that I've made some solid progress, have got myself back in shape, playing sport back at the same level I was 5 years ago and importantly have a pretty clear picture of what I need to do if I want to take it to the next level. I'm defintiely ready for a couple of weeks off this (I could murder a pizza), but it'd be a shame having come this far if I didn't aim for a six pack once in my life, wouldn't it?
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Day 70
Not too much to report...holidays over, hopefully back into a better routine now that I am back in the office. Still doing good sessions in the gym - yesterday I started doing sit-ups & got to the end of the first set and felt ok, so carried on, and got to the end of the second set and still felt good and carried on and before I knew it, I'd done 400 in a row and could have done probably quite a lot more. I couldn't do 30 without rolling around in agony to start with so thats pretty good, however I'm still completely hopeless at bicycles - I still can't finish more than 3 sets, so thats where I should probably focus from now.
The last week of big aerobic sessions has already made a substantial difference to the fitness, so have to make use of it somehow....
The last week of big aerobic sessions has already made a substantial difference to the fitness, so have to make use of it somehow....
Day 68
Have had a very welcome week off work and been taking it easy at home and dealing with the last bits and pieces left over from a year long house renovation. PCP-wise its been mixed. The workouts have generally been huge - some days on top of the sets I managed to get in more than 3 hours aerobic exercise either from hiking, squash or on the elliptical trainer...but diet hasn't always been the best. Its difficult to stick to a very structured eating regime when not having a very structured day. And I had a mate in town yesterday and well, you know what happens when duty calls. Lets just call it an off plan indulgence. The hangover today is monumental: I've definitely learned that drinking is baaaaad.
Progress otherwise has been good and the scales have consistently ticked lower (I've now lost 20kg) and I'm getting back into an increasingly large proportion of my old wardrobe. Three weeks to go, still got a lot to do.....
Progress otherwise has been good and the scales have consistently ticked lower (I've now lost 20kg) and I'm getting back into an increasingly large proportion of my old wardrobe. Three weeks to go, still got a lot to do.....
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Day 63
Had my brother staying with us over the weekend: he was here in Hong Kong for the first time in the ten years I've been out here, so there were ample opportunities for things to go wrong PCP-wise, however I think we did pretty well to keep it interesting while limiting the damage. We had a big dinner and and big lunch, but managed not to drink and kept the carbs to a minimum. Meanwhile we did plenty of hiking and moving and still managed to do our sets so I'd like to think we burned much of the excess....I was certainly knackered enough at the end of it!
The one lesson learned was that you can't just rearrange meals all that easily - we were quite busy through the weekend and because of going off to slightly remote locations, we tended to group stuff together and miss a bit here and there and add it on elsewhere. It just doesn't work. We messed up the basic rhythm that we have gotten used to and we ended up stuffing ourselves at one time, feeling too full and going hungry at other times and I can immediately see the logic behind the continuous controlled stream of consumption...it really works to keep the hunger in check while managing the flow. My system was all over the place this weekend and it really wasn't all that pleasant - my body definitely prefers this new way of eating...
I have the week off this week: Progress remains on the slow side, but I have the time to put in some extra hours on the trails and try and increase the fat burn. Four weeks to go & plenty to do....
The one lesson learned was that you can't just rearrange meals all that easily - we were quite busy through the weekend and because of going off to slightly remote locations, we tended to group stuff together and miss a bit here and there and add it on elsewhere. It just doesn't work. We messed up the basic rhythm that we have gotten used to and we ended up stuffing ourselves at one time, feeling too full and going hungry at other times and I can immediately see the logic behind the continuous controlled stream of consumption...it really works to keep the hunger in check while managing the flow. My system was all over the place this weekend and it really wasn't all that pleasant - my body definitely prefers this new way of eating...
I have the week off this week: Progress remains on the slow side, but I have the time to put in some extra hours on the trails and try and increase the fat burn. Four weeks to go & plenty to do....
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
58
Had another fantastic chuncky piece of grilled barramundi for lunch today. It can taste muddy from time to time, but when I get a piece like today that doesn't have that earthy flavour, it's so hard to beat. Had it on top of a bowl of "fried" vegetables, basically chopped shrooms, tomatoes, asparagus, onions, peppers fried without oil, just with a lid on the pan and and occasional top up of water. A few herbs, pepper and the usual helping of chopped chilli... very filling and good! Yesterday we bought a veritable smorgasbord of different kinds off fish fillets, so the next week of lunches is going to be fabulous.
One day to go before taking a good solid long week off work. Not going anywhere - not much point as I won't be allowed to demolish any breakfast buffets, so going to be taking it easy at home & spending some time in the garden....and probably quite a lot more on the trails or in the gym. Counting the minutes in the office & trying to fill in the time by doing stomach crunches at the desk. Basically lean back in your chair, press down with your hands on the desk top, lift your feet up and hold. Have to be careful not to grimace or your colleagues might think you have are attempting to fill your trousers, but it helps pass the time in a PCP friendly way.
One day to go before taking a good solid long week off work. Not going anywhere - not much point as I won't be allowed to demolish any breakfast buffets, so going to be taking it easy at home & spending some time in the garden....and probably quite a lot more on the trails or in the gym. Counting the minutes in the office & trying to fill in the time by doing stomach crunches at the desk. Basically lean back in your chair, press down with your hands on the desk top, lift your feet up and hold. Have to be careful not to grimace or your colleagues might think you have are attempting to fill your trousers, but it helps pass the time in a PCP friendly way.
Sunday, 24 April 2011
56
We are getting dangerously close to being only one month to go. So here's a bit a of a boring progress update. The good news is that after plateauing for a bit, I finally cracked my second milestone of 120kg and came in at 119kg yesterday. I am now the same weight I was when I got married: Six years have been repaired! I am gradually shrinking and down to the last notch on my belt, so it is happening, but...
This decelleration in weight loss over the last month has left me with a load to do to make my 110kg target. It's still achievable, but hopefully any muscle growth will slow and and the fat burn can accelerate from here. Just got to lose the gut somehow!
To kickstart the progress again, I have ramped up the aerobic stuff a bit recently and have been doing the sets and then 1hr at a time on the cross country machine (it helps that there have been some cracking rugby games on the telly over the last few days). Not sure if I can sustain this much, as often I can end up spending the best part of 2 hours in the gym at a time. But will do my best to keep at it and hopefully if I can spend a bit less time rolling around on the floor making noises like a mortally wounded gnu then I should be getting out a bit sooner. I'm also still mixing it up with squash and hiking, so its not quite as bad as all that. I haven't touched the rope since week three and (fingers crossed) the joints are holding together nicely for now.
Aside from all that, am sleeping a bit better, feeling good and enjoying the beautiful weather. I do however have a couple of PCP pitfalls ahead of me - my brother is coming to town for the first time next weekend and I have another good friend in town the week after...I need to come up with a damage limitation plan as the resolve will certainly be tested!
This decelleration in weight loss over the last month has left me with a load to do to make my 110kg target. It's still achievable, but hopefully any muscle growth will slow and and the fat burn can accelerate from here. Just got to lose the gut somehow!
To kickstart the progress again, I have ramped up the aerobic stuff a bit recently and have been doing the sets and then 1hr at a time on the cross country machine (it helps that there have been some cracking rugby games on the telly over the last few days). Not sure if I can sustain this much, as often I can end up spending the best part of 2 hours in the gym at a time. But will do my best to keep at it and hopefully if I can spend a bit less time rolling around on the floor making noises like a mortally wounded gnu then I should be getting out a bit sooner. I'm also still mixing it up with squash and hiking, so its not quite as bad as all that. I haven't touched the rope since week three and (fingers crossed) the joints are holding together nicely for now.
Aside from all that, am sleeping a bit better, feeling good and enjoying the beautiful weather. I do however have a couple of PCP pitfalls ahead of me - my brother is coming to town for the first time next weekend and I have another good friend in town the week after...I need to come up with a damage limitation plan as the resolve will certainly be tested!
Friday, 22 April 2011
Some Thought for Food.
Brekkie looked good this morning: toast, mushrooms, asparagus topped off with scrambled egg with a little chopped chili! Tasted good too - no need for butter or salt! Thanks to darling wife for making eating simple food a pleasure!
Took a nice pic of my Salmon sando the other day too....I could have spent a bit more time making it look pretty but its definitely times like this that PCP seems a lot more approachable.
For me the food has to look right - a mush of brown pasta and brown meat and potato and...well lets just say I can see another reason why Patrick bangs on about different colours in vegetables. It just somehow looks healthy and tasty and with food, presentation is often 50% of the flavour!
Where I have the extra time, I'll definitely spend more of it on food artistry!
Took a nice pic of my Salmon sando the other day too....I could have spent a bit more time making it look pretty but its definitely times like this that PCP seems a lot more approachable.
For me the food has to look right - a mush of brown pasta and brown meat and potato and...well lets just say I can see another reason why Patrick bangs on about different colours in vegetables. It just somehow looks healthy and tasty and with food, presentation is often 50% of the flavour!
Where I have the extra time, I'll definitely spend more of it on food artistry!
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Happy Easter!
There's always something a little bit special about working on Hong Kong Holidays. The drive into a deserted Central is a real pleasure, a leisurely stroll into the office a little bit late, no noisy colleagues around and its great to sit and get stuff done. If I can really focus, I can be done and out by around 4pm and head off to the gym or play squash and then....
.....go to Mortons Steak House for happy hour (cheap cocktails and free steak sandwiches between 5pm and 7pm on weekdays).....
The dream sequence is now over. Sadly all that will have to wait. I'll be off instead to the supermarket for some more asparagus, mushrooms, low fat yoghurt, and Chocolate Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns dripping with warm melting butter...and...
...is this a dream within a dream?
Its a bit of a slow day. The motivation is still there and I'm managing to be a good boy, but I can't help missing the real joys of Easter and sadly I have to admit my brain hasn't yet become completely "PCP adjusted". I'm just glad I'm not doing this over Christmas as I'd be going completely insane by now!!
It is after all Good Friday, so BE GOOD!
.....go to Mortons Steak House for happy hour (cheap cocktails and free steak sandwiches between 5pm and 7pm on weekdays).....
The dream sequence is now over. Sadly all that will have to wait. I'll be off instead to the supermarket for some more asparagus, mushrooms, low fat yoghurt, and Chocolate Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns dripping with warm melting butter...and...
...is this a dream within a dream?
Its a bit of a slow day. The motivation is still there and I'm managing to be a good boy, but I can't help missing the real joys of Easter and sadly I have to admit my brain hasn't yet become completely "PCP adjusted". I'm just glad I'm not doing this over Christmas as I'd be going completely insane by now!!
It is after all Good Friday, so BE GOOD!
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Day Fiddy
Tired and sore today after some solid workouts over the last two days. Knee hurts after all those squats and I decided in my wisdom to use a new machine thingy they have that the gym to do those shoulder flys and its really got to a couple of muscles in my shoulders.
Glad to have something that is "eat as much as you can" on the menu as historically I've responded pretty well to that kind of encouragement! (although it used to be pizza rather than veggies).
Mentally things a bit better again - at the half way stage it was pretty depressing:
"man after all that, we're still only half way, f..."
....but now its swiftly becoming,
"Jeez, only 40 days to go, I'd better get this stuff done as I'm running out of time"
The fact that I've seen relatively little progress in my weight or my gut over the last 2-3 weeks is the worst. The only thing that's been keeping me going is the basic certainty that by doing my exercises its definitely better from than not doing my exercises. And the argument that muscle weighs more than fat is starting to wear a bit thin as I'd have to be some sort of Charles Atlas by now. The gut is proving to be remarkably stubborn at this moment, but as with my previous experience, these dieting things rarely end up being completely linear and there is often a tendency to plateau.
One thing I am going to change is that I have been going to the gym after work to make sure I get my exercises done early, but it means I tend to eat late, around 10pm (literally just before going to bed), which is really no good. So I think I'm going to try and get the food in somehow before the exercise and hopefully I can burn some of those calories before going to bed rather than while I'm sleeping.
Glad to have something that is "eat as much as you can" on the menu as historically I've responded pretty well to that kind of encouragement! (although it used to be pizza rather than veggies).
Mentally things a bit better again - at the half way stage it was pretty depressing:
"man after all that, we're still only half way, f..."
....but now its swiftly becoming,
"Jeez, only 40 days to go, I'd better get this stuff done as I'm running out of time"
The fact that I've seen relatively little progress in my weight or my gut over the last 2-3 weeks is the worst. The only thing that's been keeping me going is the basic certainty that by doing my exercises its definitely better from than not doing my exercises. And the argument that muscle weighs more than fat is starting to wear a bit thin as I'd have to be some sort of Charles Atlas by now. The gut is proving to be remarkably stubborn at this moment, but as with my previous experience, these dieting things rarely end up being completely linear and there is often a tendency to plateau.
One thing I am going to change is that I have been going to the gym after work to make sure I get my exercises done early, but it means I tend to eat late, around 10pm (literally just before going to bed), which is really no good. So I think I'm going to try and get the food in somehow before the exercise and hopefully I can burn some of those calories before going to bed rather than while I'm sleeping.
Sunday, 17 April 2011
Day 49
Have been a little wayward recently. Over the last week, I continued to do good sessions in the gym and "nail my grams", but on friday I played squash twice and didn't do my sets, on saturday I had another marathon 1 1/2 hour intensive squash session and also didn't do my sets. The good news is I played a bunch of guys that six months ago I couldn't get close to: the improvement in my power to weight ratio over the last month has been so much that I'm getting around really a lot more quickly, reaching things that were previously impossible and I find I have stamina to spare. I whipped them all! Its a good feeling, but I also know while i had a couple of excellent aerobic workouts, its really the strength training that makes this all possible, so I'll be very much back on the case this week.
The real naughtiness was that on Saturday night we had a dinner party at home. One of my very best friends is leaving Hong Kong this week after fifteen years and it was important for me to see him off in some kind of style. I knew we were due for an indulgence today, so I took it a couple of days early and did a barbeque with burgers, steaks, some decent wine. And a cheesecake from the Mandarin Cake Shop. Did I bust my calories? ..er..I think so. Did I feel sick afterwards? Yup. Do I regret it? Not this time.
So some good news and bad, but we still have roughly six weeks to go and now that I have satisfied any cravings, cleared my schedule and done the things I need to do, you have my promise that I'll be back, glued to the program with no excuses for at least the next two weeks!
The real naughtiness was that on Saturday night we had a dinner party at home. One of my very best friends is leaving Hong Kong this week after fifteen years and it was important for me to see him off in some kind of style. I knew we were due for an indulgence today, so I took it a couple of days early and did a barbeque with burgers, steaks, some decent wine. And a cheesecake from the Mandarin Cake Shop. Did I bust my calories? ..er..I think so. Did I feel sick afterwards? Yup. Do I regret it? Not this time.
So some good news and bad, but we still have roughly six weeks to go and now that I have satisfied any cravings, cleared my schedule and done the things I need to do, you have my promise that I'll be back, glued to the program with no excuses for at least the next two weeks!
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Day 44, Nearly Half Way
Have done some of pretty solid sessions over the last couple of days and last night managed 1 1/2 hours on a cross country machine which is up there for the longest continuous amount of exercise I've done - I've done longer and hard sports training sessions, but for non-stop fat burn this could be it!
I did actually set out just to do 30mins before doing the strength training, but then a really good TV show came on and I thought I'd watch the first five minutes and then a bit more and some more and then it turned out the show was an hour and not half an hour and then, well that was that. It was a highlights show of All Black victories against the Wallabies....I could quite happily watch the All Blacks play all day long and for that matter I could quite happily watch the Aussies get stuffed all day long (apologies to Aussies in the audience), so at least I know now what DVD's to add to my Christmas list...
I have been cheekily checking the scales again (I know i shouldn't), but am getting dangerously close to the second 120kg milestone: am off somewhere between 13-15kg (depending on where I stand on my scales - they are a bit crap). But the good news is that with six weeks to go, I'm well on target. The skin is definitely getting tighter around my face and complexion a lot better and if it wasn't for the massive bags under my eyes from lack of sleep, am sure I'd be looking a bit younger too!
Our PCP cousins who are about to leave us must be feeling some mixed emotions right now. I would imagine one side of the brain is focussed on a future of discipline, training, devotion, health and a strong sense of purpose.....and the other side is all sofa, beer and pizza. Either way, Good Luck!!!
I did actually set out just to do 30mins before doing the strength training, but then a really good TV show came on and I thought I'd watch the first five minutes and then a bit more and some more and then it turned out the show was an hour and not half an hour and then, well that was that. It was a highlights show of All Black victories against the Wallabies....I could quite happily watch the All Blacks play all day long and for that matter I could quite happily watch the Aussies get stuffed all day long (apologies to Aussies in the audience), so at least I know now what DVD's to add to my Christmas list...
I have been cheekily checking the scales again (I know i shouldn't), but am getting dangerously close to the second 120kg milestone: am off somewhere between 13-15kg (depending on where I stand on my scales - they are a bit crap). But the good news is that with six weeks to go, I'm well on target. The skin is definitely getting tighter around my face and complexion a lot better and if it wasn't for the massive bags under my eyes from lack of sleep, am sure I'd be looking a bit younger too!
Our PCP cousins who are about to leave us must be feeling some mixed emotions right now. I would imagine one side of the brain is focussed on a future of discipline, training, devotion, health and a strong sense of purpose.....and the other side is all sofa, beer and pizza. Either way, Good Luck!!!
Sunday, 10 April 2011
The Cure
Yes I know it's not completely PCP friendly, but after eating almost entirely white meat for six weeks, I had to have some: today's lunch was a super lean, but super good grilled fillet steak sandwich. Complemented by a small mountain of grilled onions and spot of chopped chilli, it hit the nail squarely and firmly on the head. And the first time I've felt full in days. I'm not going to be doing it every day, but I think a bit of lean red meat once a week wouldn't be remiss from now on...it's sorted me out big time. Now ready to take on the world again!
Sunday
It's been another fabulous weekend with a perfect temperature, humidity that's under control and glorious sunshine. Really hoped to go hiking, but today I'm just completely wiped out. Have done some great sessions all week and have pushed it as far as I can go. The hunger has however been getting worse and today I really have just simply run out of juice. The motivation is still all there, but after doing only a bit of work in the garden this morning, I am glued to the sofa, no energy, half awake, can't nap, staring into space, muscles only feeling tired. Actually reminds me a little of accounting lectures at university, but at least then I had the energy to run out the door. Need a bit of an energy boost here as I know this middle section of the PCP is key.....
Oh one thing before I go, we have some absolutely awesome fillets of barramundi yesterday and cod today, cooked simply in foil with some peppercorns, asparagus and mushrooms. This is one thing I have to thank the PCP for - I've been really enjoying getting back into quality pieces of fish!
Oh one thing before I go, we have some absolutely awesome fillets of barramundi yesterday and cod today, cooked simply in foil with some peppercorns, asparagus and mushrooms. This is one thing I have to thank the PCP for - I've been really enjoying getting back into quality pieces of fish!
Thursday, 7 April 2011
The Hunger
Well from looking at James Y's progress over the last couple of months it was around now that he went through big changes between weeks four and six and I now am beginning to understand why. The hunger is really kicking in. Last night I actually had to stop half way through playing a squash match and go and drink some water - just because my stomach was so empty it was making me feel ill! Getting up this morning was a real problem again - running on empty. Need more protein! Or something.
But at least I feel thinner every day. And the trousers are getting pretty baggy now. And some old shirts that I haven't worn for two or three years are wearable again. The trouble is that if I look in the mirror I don't really see it. This is a special feature of dieting: because everything gets smaller at the same time, my gut still sticks out as much as it did relative to everything else and it leaves me wondering what it is I have to do?? I am fully aware of this from my last dieting effort so nothing to worry about as it will go eventually. And the only thing one can do is shut up, keep the eyes closed and carry on with the program. Don't worry about it and only check the progress when its all done! Trust in the PCP and it will happen!!!
But at least I feel thinner every day. And the trousers are getting pretty baggy now. And some old shirts that I haven't worn for two or three years are wearable again. The trouble is that if I look in the mirror I don't really see it. This is a special feature of dieting: because everything gets smaller at the same time, my gut still sticks out as much as it did relative to everything else and it leaves me wondering what it is I have to do?? I am fully aware of this from my last dieting effort so nothing to worry about as it will go eventually. And the only thing one can do is shut up, keep the eyes closed and carry on with the program. Don't worry about it and only check the progress when its all done! Trust in the PCP and it will happen!!!
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
The Good Gerbil
After bleating quite a lot about the horrors of the gym/gerbil cage, I've done my last couple of PCP sessions there and I will go back again tonight. And I'm actually quite enjoying it (sharp intake of breath from the audience!). I quite like the range of resistance levels and proper machines to do some of this stuff where the edge of the table or the back of a chair would be normally trying to split my hand in two.
The other major advantage is that, well, lets face it PCP isn't very friendly to the knees and being a bit of a cripple myself, the gym presents a whole world of alternatives to pistol squats and skipping. I went through a couple of weeks of not quite knowing what to do to keep up and have developed a mountainous guilt complex. But since then even just a couple of hard sessions in the gym have left me feeling a lot better about my current progress and I've been able to do a lot of extra stuff on low impact cross country machines, squat machines etc. which give me more control over what my knee is doing (but doesn't give me the full range of movement I might get the PCP way). I know this isn't quite in the spirit of the PCP, just as Rocky trained down at the abattoir while his Russian foe trained on all the latest hi-tech equipment, but at least I'm working mostly the right muscle groups and walking out of the place completely drained and that's good enough for me.
Have found it very hard to get up the last few mornings and slept through the alarm yesterday which is very dangerous - absolutely can't be late for work. More protein??
The other major advantage is that, well, lets face it PCP isn't very friendly to the knees and being a bit of a cripple myself, the gym presents a whole world of alternatives to pistol squats and skipping. I went through a couple of weeks of not quite knowing what to do to keep up and have developed a mountainous guilt complex. But since then even just a couple of hard sessions in the gym have left me feeling a lot better about my current progress and I've been able to do a lot of extra stuff on low impact cross country machines, squat machines etc. which give me more control over what my knee is doing (but doesn't give me the full range of movement I might get the PCP way). I know this isn't quite in the spirit of the PCP, just as Rocky trained down at the abattoir while his Russian foe trained on all the latest hi-tech equipment, but at least I'm working mostly the right muscle groups and walking out of the place completely drained and that's good enough for me.
Have found it very hard to get up the last few mornings and slept through the alarm yesterday which is very dangerous - absolutely can't be late for work. More protein??
Monday, 4 April 2011
The Gym...
Was super bleary eyed this morning. Still getting the exercises done too late in the day which is not helping sleep much. The key is to exercise straight after work, which for us means going to the gym. However after years of gym dodging, it's become second nature to say "fck it!" and go home, which is what we did again last night. We did all the stuff when we got home, but it was easily 10pm by the time we finished, which for early birds is bed time already...
Why do I hate the gym so much? I suppose I've built up an impression in my mind that the gym is the saddest place on earth where human gerbils, trapped by an oppressive society, too lacking in imagination to go outside and do something worthwhile miserably grind away on machines in some sort of Orwellian effort to conform with the suffocating values of that society. On the adverts for Pure Fitnesss, they don't paint quite such a grey picture, but I'm sure five minutes in the hands of Terry Gilliam, and that's what we'd get.
Competitive sport seems to me a much more acceptable activity, where in my case, a friend and I will chase a little ball around a small room attempting to hit it as hard as possible. It is utterly pointless as well, but at least it retains a social element and the all important competitiveness that's missing from individual training - you get no points or no recognition for doing that last extra rep, so why bother? I will quite happily run after a ball like a happy labrador until I fall over with exhaustion without thinking about the pain once...
Where am I going with this ramble? Well I suppose my point is really that I'm sitting at my desk glued to a computer and when I go home, I often spend more time glued to a computer (as I can't deal with any personal communication in the office much) and there is no physical component to what has become an otherwise entirely sedentary existence. So in order to the redress the balance, I have to visit the gerbil cage once a day which feels as if had properly organised my life in the first place, it should be completely unnecessary. Working out at the gym seems to expend vast amounts of human effort singularly for our own personal physical betterment...surely there is a yet higher purpose to which we can commit so much of our energies?
Or why not just get new occupation where exercise is at least included as part of the job description? Mountain guide? hod carrier? Fitness instructor? But if you work in a gym, are you the teacher, helping people achieve their personal goals or are you the evil master, exploiting a blinkered populous? Maybe Animal Farm was an allegory for the local yoga studio?? Patrick???
Ok, just kidding... he'll be cutting my bananas next....oh...he's done it already.....apparently I can keep the apple as long as I say that yoga studios have nothing whatever to do with totalitarianism...
Why do I hate the gym so much? I suppose I've built up an impression in my mind that the gym is the saddest place on earth where human gerbils, trapped by an oppressive society, too lacking in imagination to go outside and do something worthwhile miserably grind away on machines in some sort of Orwellian effort to conform with the suffocating values of that society. On the adverts for Pure Fitnesss, they don't paint quite such a grey picture, but I'm sure five minutes in the hands of Terry Gilliam, and that's what we'd get.
Competitive sport seems to me a much more acceptable activity, where in my case, a friend and I will chase a little ball around a small room attempting to hit it as hard as possible. It is utterly pointless as well, but at least it retains a social element and the all important competitiveness that's missing from individual training - you get no points or no recognition for doing that last extra rep, so why bother? I will quite happily run after a ball like a happy labrador until I fall over with exhaustion without thinking about the pain once...
Where am I going with this ramble? Well I suppose my point is really that I'm sitting at my desk glued to a computer and when I go home, I often spend more time glued to a computer (as I can't deal with any personal communication in the office much) and there is no physical component to what has become an otherwise entirely sedentary existence. So in order to the redress the balance, I have to visit the gerbil cage once a day which feels as if had properly organised my life in the first place, it should be completely unnecessary. Working out at the gym seems to expend vast amounts of human effort singularly for our own personal physical betterment...surely there is a yet higher purpose to which we can commit so much of our energies?
Or why not just get new occupation where exercise is at least included as part of the job description? Mountain guide? hod carrier? Fitness instructor? But if you work in a gym, are you the teacher, helping people achieve their personal goals or are you the evil master, exploiting a blinkered populous? Maybe Animal Farm was an allegory for the local yoga studio?? Patrick???
Ok, just kidding... he'll be cutting my bananas next....oh...he's done it already.....apparently I can keep the apple as long as I say that yoga studios have nothing whatever to do with totalitarianism...
Saturday, 2 April 2011
Walking on Sunshine
HK has a summer "on" switch. It happened on friday and since then our miserable existences have been transformed into an orgy of fabulous weather. I'm sitting here with all the doors open out on the garden - its just an awesome day. Its also as far as PCP goes going to be the thing that supercharges all the exercises and thing I've been counting on. Those guys finishing the PCP shortly will have missed it, those about to start will learn to hate it, but we've had time to acclimatise in the cool and now we can get the full benefit of the heat and humidity. The exercised are already a lot harder than last month, but when the heat kicks in the benefit will be a truck load more! Keeping hydrated's going to be a lot harder from now on....
In keeping with my promise to replace the rope with other stuff, I hiked up Castle Peak yesterday. It took only about an hour and ten minutes to get up there which was a lot quicker than i expected (with stronger legs and reduced gut), but i reckon I could get the time down to around 55mins, so am going to give it another whirl today. Just trying to get psyched us for it as its a bit daunting. Its like being on an exceptionally mean stairmaster for an hour - and once you start you can't just hop off it...brilliant exercise in this weather though.
Weighed in at 125 yesterday. I was complaining I hadn't met my target of losing 10kg in the first month, but a late spurt and I made it two days after. I'm now in sight of the second milestone - get down to the same weight as I was when i got married, 120 and the next is the same weight I was when I met the missus - 110. My final target is 100 which is unlikely to happen during the PCP time, but I'll keep going till I get there. And then figure out a lifestyle to keep me there...with a social life!
In keeping with my promise to replace the rope with other stuff, I hiked up Castle Peak yesterday. It took only about an hour and ten minutes to get up there which was a lot quicker than i expected (with stronger legs and reduced gut), but i reckon I could get the time down to around 55mins, so am going to give it another whirl today. Just trying to get psyched us for it as its a bit daunting. Its like being on an exceptionally mean stairmaster for an hour - and once you start you can't just hop off it...brilliant exercise in this weather though.
Weighed in at 125 yesterday. I was complaining I hadn't met my target of losing 10kg in the first month, but a late spurt and I made it two days after. I'm now in sight of the second milestone - get down to the same weight as I was when i got married, 120 and the next is the same weight I was when I met the missus - 110. My final target is 100 which is unlikely to happen during the PCP time, but I'll keep going till I get there. And then figure out a lifestyle to keep me there...with a social life!
Friday, 1 April 2011
PCP a-go-go
Well kinda. Trawled through the sets, snotty nose and all, but only managed 200 skips before I realised its just not going to happen. Knee and ankle flared up again. I think we're just going to have to figure out how get through this thing without the rope as its just sending me backwards phsically and not doing much to improve my sense of humour either.
We live on a very steep hill (basically one of the steeper continuous hikes in HK) and while I've been up it before, I've been dreading he day when I feel I need to do it again and I know now I've run out of excuses. It only takes 1-2 hours depending on the weather, so its something we can do in the morning and if i can go up and down that thing a couple of times a week, I'll have legs like tree trunks. Maybe swimming a couple of times a week and squash three times and I should be pretty well sorted. Anything that involves stepping or lunging is fine, but pounding seems to be a problem - so any ideas of other stuff i can do, then I'm all ears...ballroom dancing???
The best news is that this is the first friday I've finished work without being absolutely desperate to go out and get completely smashed - the cravings are gone! A relatively quiet week and being a bit under the weather helps, but is this the beginning of a new me?
We live on a very steep hill (basically one of the steeper continuous hikes in HK) and while I've been up it before, I've been dreading he day when I feel I need to do it again and I know now I've run out of excuses. It only takes 1-2 hours depending on the weather, so its something we can do in the morning and if i can go up and down that thing a couple of times a week, I'll have legs like tree trunks. Maybe swimming a couple of times a week and squash three times and I should be pretty well sorted. Anything that involves stepping or lunging is fine, but pounding seems to be a problem - so any ideas of other stuff i can do, then I'm all ears...ballroom dancing???
The best news is that this is the first friday I've finished work without being absolutely desperate to go out and get completely smashed - the cravings are gone! A relatively quiet week and being a bit under the weather helps, but is this the beginning of a new me?
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
On the way back...
Flu really sucks. Left work early yesterday feeling like absolute crap and went to bed around 7ish, body temperature dropping like crazy. Lay there for a couple of hours shivering under two duvets and in my ski suit (in HK!). Then the darling wife brought restorative yoghurt and 'nanas. Soon temperature started climbing and finally around midnight I was more or less back to normal....And apart from a few small aches and pains and a mega runny nose, this morning I feel a billion times better and almost ready to jump back on the PCP wagon. Even the pain in my ankles and knee has miraculously disappeared after about 10 days of agony, although I'm a bit nervous about picking up the rope again - will do my best to find other stuff to do as the knee joint is just not really up to it after ACL/meniscus operation a few years ago.
I've made precisely zero progress this week for all sorts of reasons, but at least I haven't gone backwards - progress for the month as a whole wasn't at all bad, but I did hope to lose 10k instead of just 7k. Will take it easy again today and make sure I'm over the worst of it, but will be giving it some over the weekend to jumpstart the progress again....
I've made precisely zero progress this week for all sorts of reasons, but at least I haven't gone backwards - progress for the month as a whole wasn't at all bad, but I did hope to lose 10k instead of just 7k. Will take it easy again today and make sure I'm over the worst of it, but will be giving it some over the weekend to jumpstart the progress again....
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Day 30
All forms of blogging, blog reading, personal e-mail, photo viewing, all that stuff is banned in the office - why I've not maybe been quite so avid a blogger or commenter as I migth have been....but just discovered someone forgot to block blogger.com....so hopefully should be able to keep up a little better!
Leg situaiton still bad. I haven't skipped in a week and have done my best mix up the exercises, but recovery hasn't gone terribly well. The left leg is fine, but my right feels like its been badly strained and the knee twisted (which i haven't actually done, just something to do with the fluid on the knee and shin splints). Got my third throat infection/cold of the year yesterday which has only added to the frustration. I felt freezing cold all day yesterday and have no doubt it was a contributing factor. Almost felt like its because my blood pressure has dropped and its having an effect on my core temperature - I definitely don't run as hot as I used to....
I guess in pure exercise terms, if I add it all up I'm probably behind three or four days worth from all the disruption that has accumulated recently and physically I feel like I've been going sideways for the last few days. Doing my best to hang in there as we got a long way to go and plenty of time to get back on top of things.
On the bright side, I've managed to stick to the diet fairly closely. Its fairly easy as I take a bag of stuff to the office to eat and I can turn my own inate laziness to my advantage by not getting off my fat arse to go and buy something naughty thats not on the PCP menu. Am sure there has to be something about this in martial arts philosophy as they are full of useful stuff like using your opponents weight against him and all that, but "use your laziness to conquer your temptations" must be in there somewhere as its bloody handy.
Leg situaiton still bad. I haven't skipped in a week and have done my best mix up the exercises, but recovery hasn't gone terribly well. The left leg is fine, but my right feels like its been badly strained and the knee twisted (which i haven't actually done, just something to do with the fluid on the knee and shin splints). Got my third throat infection/cold of the year yesterday which has only added to the frustration. I felt freezing cold all day yesterday and have no doubt it was a contributing factor. Almost felt like its because my blood pressure has dropped and its having an effect on my core temperature - I definitely don't run as hot as I used to....
I guess in pure exercise terms, if I add it all up I'm probably behind three or four days worth from all the disruption that has accumulated recently and physically I feel like I've been going sideways for the last few days. Doing my best to hang in there as we got a long way to go and plenty of time to get back on top of things.
On the bright side, I've managed to stick to the diet fairly closely. Its fairly easy as I take a bag of stuff to the office to eat and I can turn my own inate laziness to my advantage by not getting off my fat arse to go and buy something naughty thats not on the PCP menu. Am sure there has to be something about this in martial arts philosophy as they are full of useful stuff like using your opponents weight against him and all that, but "use your laziness to conquer your temptations" must be in there somewhere as its bloody handy.
Saturday, 26 March 2011
Day 26 1/2
Its official, skipping has completely ruined my right knee, my shins and ankles. Pissed off as any leg exercises are just agony now. Rope is going in the bin - when I recover its going to be squash, hiking, more circuits and swimming from here on in....anything that pounds or jars the joints is a nono for me...
Friday, 25 March 2011
Day 26
Decided to do all the photos and stuff at the weekend as its always too dark in the evenings and am always coming back too late to worry about it. So am going to call this the end of month 1 even though I know we're not quite there yet. Weight lost 7kg, GMAX (max distance around gut) down to 117 from 126cm, and the pic makes the change look fairly obvious now. I realise that weight is not all that important, particularly as i can already tell I've put on a lot of muscle, but at 128kg, I still have plenty to do.
Some people seem to get quite energised by whatever changes they see. I think partially because I've done this before and (incorrectly) believe I can lose weight whenever I feel like it and partially because i had PCP sense of humour failure yesterday, I can't claim to be quite so pepped up.
Patrick's note about PCP blues was extraordinarily well timed as I got it in size yesterday. Just soooo sick of boring food, particularly as rice and pasta taste horrific now and I'm pretty desperate for a few drinks as well. The only thing I've got to look forward to is good bread and salmon. My stomach has been feeling full, but my mouth and brain have been telling me I'm still hungry, my shin splints have spread into my ankles and even playing squash is now becoming agony, I haven't slept well for seemingly ages, I've been drinking too much coffee and the sheer amount of change that's happening around me has generated a lot of pent up stress. How do you let your hair down in a PCP friendly way????
The timing of the indulgence couldn't be better, but I think if I'm going to stick this out for the next two months, its going to have to be a bit more than a piece of carrot cake...
Some people seem to get quite energised by whatever changes they see. I think partially because I've done this before and (incorrectly) believe I can lose weight whenever I feel like it and partially because i had PCP sense of humour failure yesterday, I can't claim to be quite so pepped up.
Patrick's note about PCP blues was extraordinarily well timed as I got it in size yesterday. Just soooo sick of boring food, particularly as rice and pasta taste horrific now and I'm pretty desperate for a few drinks as well. The only thing I've got to look forward to is good bread and salmon. My stomach has been feeling full, but my mouth and brain have been telling me I'm still hungry, my shin splints have spread into my ankles and even playing squash is now becoming agony, I haven't slept well for seemingly ages, I've been drinking too much coffee and the sheer amount of change that's happening around me has generated a lot of pent up stress. How do you let your hair down in a PCP friendly way????
The timing of the indulgence couldn't be better, but I think if I'm going to stick this out for the next two months, its going to have to be a bit more than a piece of carrot cake...
Its Friday, the sevens start tonight and I'm at home with a salad....
But, when its all over there is finally a Bar for PCPers to go....
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/bar-stool-cycling-bar-stool-exercise-bike,news-10554.html
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/bar-stool-cycling-bar-stool-exercise-bike,news-10554.html
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Back on Track
Well I can't say I've had the best or most relaxing weekend. In part its because the in-laws are in town and staying with us....all of 'em. And they've commandeered my sofa. Which is directly in front of my telly. I've also been busting my gut attempting to catch up with my exercises. And after two double sessions yesterday and today I'm pretty much there. Need to do a bit more tomorrow and I will have done every push, pull, jump etc on the program. Also got on top of all my other personal crap this weekend, paper work, fixing the house etc. So at least I should be able to sit back and genuinely say I'm on top of my shit, all of it, by the end of week three!
You may have noticed me mention my my favourite subject of steak and wine on a number of occasions, and it might be easy to think I've been naughty on the side, however I've only made one teeny mistake on my regime in terms of amount and regularity when I missed a dinner and ended up having a small packet of oatmeal biscuits instead. But back to steak, I think I've already decided on day 91, I'm going to catch an early flight from HK to Nagoya, hop on the train to Takayama and hunt down a farm shop I went to before at the end of last year. The shop has a "restaurant" which is amazingly similar to my old village dentist's waiting room circa 1977, but here's the thing: They sell 700 gram, thick cut, A5 Hida beef steaks at around 100 bucks a pop. Chopped, whacked on a charcoal BBQ and washed down with their giant flagons of ice cold nama beeru and I challenge any man, any man not to fall in love!
After a bit of a miserable weekend, I'm just going to hold that thought for a bit....
You may have noticed me mention my my favourite subject of steak and wine on a number of occasions, and it might be easy to think I've been naughty on the side, however I've only made one teeny mistake on my regime in terms of amount and regularity when I missed a dinner and ended up having a small packet of oatmeal biscuits instead. But back to steak, I think I've already decided on day 91, I'm going to catch an early flight from HK to Nagoya, hop on the train to Takayama and hunt down a farm shop I went to before at the end of last year. The shop has a "restaurant" which is amazingly similar to my old village dentist's waiting room circa 1977, but here's the thing: They sell 700 gram, thick cut, A5 Hida beef steaks at around 100 bucks a pop. Chopped, whacked on a charcoal BBQ and washed down with their giant flagons of ice cold nama beeru and I challenge any man, any man not to fall in love!
After a bit of a miserable weekend, I'm just going to hold that thought for a bit....
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Day 19
Had a killer week with 14-16 hour days and mega stress. I managed to stick with the food quite well and only missed one meal. I really see the sense in the eating program now. I'm now very keen to eat something fatty in the morning to give me energy, protein at night to help me build muscle and now i never even need to check the clock when to take my fruit snack. I can somehow just seem to detect my blood sugar dropping and I have to pop some strawberries - if I'm late by even a few minutes, I start to get manically desperate.
Exercise went out of the window on wed and thurs and friday I got home earlyish around 9pm, but was just too knackered to contemplate it. I managed to squeeze in a couple of games of squash in gaps during the week, but I'm three days behind. I did a double session today to catch up and will do another double session tomorrow. Its quite nice that the exercises vary muscle groups from day to day so if I do have to do double, its actually not too bad. I bought a dumbell set last week and have been doing the upper body stuff with those and really noticed a step change improvement - maybe we couldn't find strong enough bands, but much happier with progress here now. The rest from skipping may have also been a blessing in disguise as I have a dodgey knee (had ACL op a few years ago) and since starting PCP its swelled up like a grapefruit. Three days off the pounding of skipping has made a big difference. That and the new bionic knee brace thingy I've found...1700 skips today went like a breeze!
Its been a tough week for a lot of people, and I'm sure at least one has dropped out. I've certainly had a lot of bad thoughts, but I think there are a couple of important things to bare in mind.
1. PCP is three months. In dieting terms that's a lifetime. If something really important comes along that's going to screw with your PCP plan for a few days, that shouldn't be a big deal....as long as you don't do really stupid stuff for any great lenght of time. A week long drinking bender will take a lot of time to correct, but missing a day or two of exercise or accidentally necking a couple of glasses of wine and a steak isn't going to ruin three months work.
2. Even if you're missing your grams and exercise is not going quite as well as you hope, you're still not eating even half the fat, sugar and salt you used to eat and are probably still doing a lot more exercise. I often remind myself that even if I'm doing 30% of what I set out to do, I'm still doing two or three times more than what I would have been doing anyway. Its ok to let it slide a bit from time to time even if it annoys Patrick - its his job to get you super ripped, but I think most of us would be pretty chuffed with even half the results he's setting out for us.
To cut a long story short, I'm doing my best to stick with the program and catch up where I'm falling short, but I'm not going to get fired just because I have run off and do some skipping. Hopefully back to some sort of normality next week!
Exercise went out of the window on wed and thurs and friday I got home earlyish around 9pm, but was just too knackered to contemplate it. I managed to squeeze in a couple of games of squash in gaps during the week, but I'm three days behind. I did a double session today to catch up and will do another double session tomorrow. Its quite nice that the exercises vary muscle groups from day to day so if I do have to do double, its actually not too bad. I bought a dumbell set last week and have been doing the upper body stuff with those and really noticed a step change improvement - maybe we couldn't find strong enough bands, but much happier with progress here now. The rest from skipping may have also been a blessing in disguise as I have a dodgey knee (had ACL op a few years ago) and since starting PCP its swelled up like a grapefruit. Three days off the pounding of skipping has made a big difference. That and the new bionic knee brace thingy I've found...1700 skips today went like a breeze!
Its been a tough week for a lot of people, and I'm sure at least one has dropped out. I've certainly had a lot of bad thoughts, but I think there are a couple of important things to bare in mind.
1. PCP is three months. In dieting terms that's a lifetime. If something really important comes along that's going to screw with your PCP plan for a few days, that shouldn't be a big deal....as long as you don't do really stupid stuff for any great lenght of time. A week long drinking bender will take a lot of time to correct, but missing a day or two of exercise or accidentally necking a couple of glasses of wine and a steak isn't going to ruin three months work.
2. Even if you're missing your grams and exercise is not going quite as well as you hope, you're still not eating even half the fat, sugar and salt you used to eat and are probably still doing a lot more exercise. I often remind myself that even if I'm doing 30% of what I set out to do, I'm still doing two or three times more than what I would have been doing anyway. Its ok to let it slide a bit from time to time even if it annoys Patrick - its his job to get you super ripped, but I think most of us would be pretty chuffed with even half the results he's setting out for us.
To cut a long story short, I'm doing my best to stick with the program and catch up where I'm falling short, but I'm not going to get fired just because I have run off and do some skipping. Hopefully back to some sort of normality next week!
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Day 60...ish...
Patrick was certainly right that is about now that the attention starts to wander and PCP starts to look like an increasingly big hill to climb. Whats happening in Japan certainly puts a lot of things in perspective and that with lots of additonal stress at work just makes my own personal crusades seem a bit pointless.
Somehow though, with iron will and determination, mostly displayed by my wife, I've managed to ride the dip in focus, the stress and all the other stuff and not drop the ball so far. While those bottles of wine seem all too approachable and those nice salty greasy steaks all too friendly, 100% PCP compliance has been maintained!
I still can't help being incredibly jealous of our PCP brethren on day 60 however. Only a month to Pizza and Beer! My watch seems to have stopped somehow because for some reason its telling me I'm actually only on day fifteen....I'm sure I've been doing this for half a year already...
Somehow though, with iron will and determination, mostly displayed by my wife, I've managed to ride the dip in focus, the stress and all the other stuff and not drop the ball so far. While those bottles of wine seem all too approachable and those nice salty greasy steaks all too friendly, 100% PCP compliance has been maintained!
I still can't help being incredibly jealous of our PCP brethren on day 60 however. Only a month to Pizza and Beer! My watch seems to have stopped somehow because for some reason its telling me I'm actually only on day fifteen....I'm sure I've been doing this for half a year already...
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Day Something-or-other
Well we're still not even at the end of the second week and its already starting to feel vaguely normal. As I set out to begin with I think the most important thing about dieting is for me to ignore the time and current weight or its very easy to fall into despair and jack it all in. Keep the eyes closed, do the exercise, eat the stuff and only open them again when its all finished...
So anyway, I couldn't help a little peak and stepped on some scales - off 3kg, which is actually less than I would have guessed and exactly the reason why I should avoid the scales. I'll save that until week six for now. Food's going fine - ramped up the onions and chilli and aside from increasingly bad breath, the food has got a lot more interesting. Feel like I'm doing way too much bread at the moment and am going to try switching to pasta, simply to reduce the volume. I've learned one very important lesson about this: that what I though of as carb before was not really carb. My bread always came with butter, my pasta with oily meat sauce, my rice with curry etc...carb in the real world is just a grease transportation device. Carbs are actually dry and really very boring by themselves....if at some point we have to give lots of it up, I won't be missing it...
Everyone seems to complain about loss of sleep - for me its all about dehydration - I'm doing a lot more sweating than normal and even though i normally get through a couple of litres of water during the day at work, if i exercise late, i can still end up quite dehydrated and not sleep well. How can i tell? well I've noticed a pretty high correlation between bad sleep and very yellow pee in the morning (just thought I'd share that with you) so am trying to drink quite a bit before going to bed.
Exercise is going fine - tried using the gym today and its a lot better with more toys, resistance levels and most importantly a sprung floor for skipping. My right knee's developing a fine bulge of fluid, mainly from pounding on concrete as far as I can tell. Hoping the gym will be the solution.
Noticing some of the earlier group of PCPers are making BIG changes over the last couple of weeks - seems like their program is starting to really accelerate their progress. James Y's barely recognisable!
So anyway, I couldn't help a little peak and stepped on some scales - off 3kg, which is actually less than I would have guessed and exactly the reason why I should avoid the scales. I'll save that until week six for now. Food's going fine - ramped up the onions and chilli and aside from increasingly bad breath, the food has got a lot more interesting. Feel like I'm doing way too much bread at the moment and am going to try switching to pasta, simply to reduce the volume. I've learned one very important lesson about this: that what I though of as carb before was not really carb. My bread always came with butter, my pasta with oily meat sauce, my rice with curry etc...carb in the real world is just a grease transportation device. Carbs are actually dry and really very boring by themselves....if at some point we have to give lots of it up, I won't be missing it...
Everyone seems to complain about loss of sleep - for me its all about dehydration - I'm doing a lot more sweating than normal and even though i normally get through a couple of litres of water during the day at work, if i exercise late, i can still end up quite dehydrated and not sleep well. How can i tell? well I've noticed a pretty high correlation between bad sleep and very yellow pee in the morning (just thought I'd share that with you) so am trying to drink quite a bit before going to bed.
Exercise is going fine - tried using the gym today and its a lot better with more toys, resistance levels and most importantly a sprung floor for skipping. My right knee's developing a fine bulge of fluid, mainly from pounding on concrete as far as I can tell. Hoping the gym will be the solution.
Noticing some of the earlier group of PCPers are making BIG changes over the last couple of weeks - seems like their program is starting to really accelerate their progress. James Y's barely recognisable!
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
No more Mr Nice Guy...
So day 8 was a bit painful - lots of food prep, more tupperware than I've seen in my whole life and a realisation that we really need to get a bit creative with the food straight away or otherwise its going to be a very loooong three months. Brekkie started out with a triple decker scrambled egg sandwich, which seemed like a cracking idea to begin with, but six mouthfuls in I realised it was really very boring. So I reckon the first thing to do it hunt down the strongest tasting herbs and vegetables: chilli, onion, tomato, corriander etc... and make sure I have a vat of salsa and other strong sauces ready for any boring moment.
Exercise was a lot more today and was fine apart from the skipping. Am still averaging about seven jumps in a row and max out at about thirty.I started to get a bit frustrated about being so bloody crap at this around the half way mark at which point the next door neighbour's dog started whining and barking at me which didn't improve my sense of humour one bit. The dog barks almost continuously and has over the last couple of years become the bane of my life! However, a sudden vision of the dog with skipping rope handles protruding from either end propelled me through the end of the session with a broad smile on my face. Its all in the imagination after all....
Exercise was a lot more today and was fine apart from the skipping. Am still averaging about seven jumps in a row and max out at about thirty.I started to get a bit frustrated about being so bloody crap at this around the half way mark at which point the next door neighbour's dog started whining and barking at me which didn't improve my sense of humour one bit. The dog barks almost continuously and has over the last couple of years become the bane of my life! However, a sudden vision of the dog with skipping rope handles protruding from either end propelled me through the end of the session with a broad smile on my face. Its all in the imagination after all....
Monday, 7 March 2011
A new week approaches
Well, the party's definitely over! Diet starts tomorrow and after talking to Mimi about it for a while, it's not quite so bad after all. I could probably live forever on tuna salad sandwiches, so the realisation that stuff like this is still possible for lunch is excellent news! I might even still be able to get in the odd trip to subway if I'm really lucky!
The exercises look fairly daunting, particularly as my right knee is starting to complain about all the skipping: Will be trying to hunt down a mat like the ones at kiddies play grounds to give it some protection. Any ideas where to get one, let me know.
The exercises look fairly daunting, particularly as my right knee is starting to complain about all the skipping: Will be trying to hunt down a mat like the ones at kiddies play grounds to give it some protection. Any ideas where to get one, let me know.
Sunday, 6 March 2011
How its really done...
apparently this is what happens when you actually finish PCP....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In6jZU8OG0I&feature=related
I'm still struggling to do more than ten in a row....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In6jZU8OG0I&feature=related
I'm still struggling to do more than ten in a row....
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Day 6
Have finally caught up with the exercises....everything under control. Aapart from the pain of course, but if you're gonna make an omelette, you gotta break some eggs...
Friday, 4 March 2011
Day 5
Well, my fellow PCPists, it's 8am on Saturday morning and I've done my stuff already, who'd have though it? "Morning Person" is definitely not my middle name and Mrs Weatherall is still tucked up in bed! Although she did do her exercises at around 1am last night after getting home late and really struggled with her "runges", which kept me amused.
Whats the catch? Well because I shredded my stomach muscles on day one, leaving myself in a state of complete agony for a couple of days, I'm still effectively only on day three. I have to catch up over this weekend, so started early today in order to get another session in later and similarly will do two tomorrow. Today's Patrick message about being consistent on a daily basis is obviously making me look a bit silly here, but can't really let the side down.
Foodwise, well I haven't exactly been a saint this week, but I guess because I ate so much crap last week, I have at least maintained the spirit of the eating half portions! I have dialled in some vegetables for brekkie in a last ditch attempt to salvage some pride for the week. Next week I will be all over this...
Whats the catch? Well because I shredded my stomach muscles on day one, leaving myself in a state of complete agony for a couple of days, I'm still effectively only on day three. I have to catch up over this weekend, so started early today in order to get another session in later and similarly will do two tomorrow. Today's Patrick message about being consistent on a daily basis is obviously making me look a bit silly here, but can't really let the side down.
Foodwise, well I haven't exactly been a saint this week, but I guess because I ate so much crap last week, I have at least maintained the spirit of the eating half portions! I have dialled in some vegetables for brekkie in a last ditch attempt to salvage some pride for the week. Next week I will be all over this...
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Day 3
Think I've fallen by the wayside a bit already this week...I had the unfeasibly bad luck to get a text saying "hello mate, I'm in Hong Kong tomorrow and....", well you get the picture. Basically rabbit food doesn't absorb alcohol terribly well and I have had the mother of all hangovers today. It is however absolutely the last time I will be doing this for the next three months so expect a more attentive me from this point on. Embarrassingly I strained just about every muscle massively on day one so exercises have been impossible anyway. I played a couple of games of squash in the meanwhile, so at least I'm getting some exercise, but I understand I have to keep up with the PCP or I've got no chance of finishing. I will be doing lots of catching up over the weekend when my stomach stops feeling like I'm being continuously disemboweled. You have my word that not a single skip or press-up will be missed!!
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
The Peak Condition Project - Day 1
Well, finally got cracking. Looking forward to it? Er...well.... but determined to see it through. The major challenge is time I think - having done a big diet thing once before, its all about perseverance and seeing it through for as long as possible. And then seeing it through some more.
I remember the main problem being that for the first two months, I didn't actually SEE any changes, but just as one might imagine a tasty chocolate bar being shrink wrapped, you only see what the object is when the last drop of air is sucked out. So I only see ribs and muscles when I'm down to the last couple of kg I have to lose: The first twenty or so are just depressing....And weighing in daily is probably even more depressing. Time tends to go very very slowly when I do this and every tick of the clock reminds me how hungry I am. So I will do my best to pretend its all just normal, get on with keeping busy and do my best not to think about beer and steak and pies and that.
Exercises went well to begin with, although I know i will be sore tomorrow....I've never skipped much before and its quite a bit more punishing than I imagined. Hopefully with a bit more practice, it'll get easier.
Targets, well I'm 135kg right now. 110 would be nice, 100 would be awesome. Biggest distance around gut (we'll call that "GMax" to keep the dietitians in buzzwords) is 126cm for reference....I'll try and update once a month only to keep my mind off what I'm doing...
I remember the main problem being that for the first two months, I didn't actually SEE any changes, but just as one might imagine a tasty chocolate bar being shrink wrapped, you only see what the object is when the last drop of air is sucked out. So I only see ribs and muscles when I'm down to the last couple of kg I have to lose: The first twenty or so are just depressing....And weighing in daily is probably even more depressing. Time tends to go very very slowly when I do this and every tick of the clock reminds me how hungry I am. So I will do my best to pretend its all just normal, get on with keeping busy and do my best not to think about beer and steak and pies and that.
Exercises went well to begin with, although I know i will be sore tomorrow....I've never skipped much before and its quite a bit more punishing than I imagined. Hopefully with a bit more practice, it'll get easier.
Targets, well I'm 135kg right now. 110 would be nice, 100 would be awesome. Biggest distance around gut (we'll call that "GMax" to keep the dietitians in buzzwords) is 126cm for reference....I'll try and update once a month only to keep my mind off what I'm doing...
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