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....
Great post Roland, by all means go nuts at the end of PCP. I guarantee after a few days of that you'll find yourself craving a plain bowl of vegetables with the same intensity you used to crave your steaks. From then on it's easy to live a balanced life.
ReplyDeleteThe stress angle is key. Now you understand how wrapped up poor food choices are with a stress filled life. The solution is of course to reduce your stress levels! Easier said than done.