Evil, evil things. I thought my legs might just fly off this morning. The double sets are a significant step up as far as I'm concerned - but I guess that's what we need for progress.
Also felt pretty crappy this morning even after breakfast. Naz and I exercise together every morning and now the kids are back to school, it means a 530am start..! That's ok but by the time I get to the office, I feel shattered and ready to go back to sleep - which I nearly did in a meeting with a client today. I'm delaying my yoghurts from breakfast to around 10am and then have my fruit at around 12 noon to stretch lunch to 1pm - otherwise by the evening my lovely egg white dinner doesn't even touch the sides. That said, I feel I've eaten something in the evening and we're going to bed early enough that I don't have time to get hungry again.
I reckon the next four weeks are going to be pretty tough - just got to stick it out
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Sunday 28 August 2011
Day 28 and into week 5
Good weekend...every one that goes by means that it's that much easier not to think too much about a glass (or five) of wine....!
Feel I'm making good progress although my running today was pretty shambolic - but that might have had something to do with the humidity and heat of running in Tokyo on a sunny day in August at 3pm! Have to spend a little bit more time on the running though for my triathlon at the end of September. Slightly apprehensive about the food for the coming week - I can really see the impact the diet's having on me (and I've even managed not to look half asleep in this week's photo) but there are times - again at weekends - where I feel I want to start tucking into the table/chair - anything really!
Feel I'm making good progress although my running today was pretty shambolic - but that might have had something to do with the humidity and heat of running in Tokyo on a sunny day in August at 3pm! Have to spend a little bit more time on the running though for my triathlon at the end of September. Slightly apprehensive about the food for the coming week - I can really see the impact the diet's having on me (and I've even managed not to look half asleep in this week's photo) but there are times - again at weekends - where I feel I want to start tucking into the table/chair - anything really!
Thursday 25 August 2011
Salty Miso
Had a work dinner tonight...stayed off the sauce which was good but smelt like a smoking house by the time I got home. The amount Japanese people smoke is off the charts. Something totally wrong about heavy smoking in a sushi restaurant. Oh well - when in Wome etc etc.
Second weigh in of PCP today....down to 100.7 kgs, which is now a total reduction of 4.7kgs...or as I would know it, 10.5lbs - which isn't that far off a whole stone! Went swimming (1.5kms) as part of my triathlon prep for the end of Sept and was amazed how much the shoulder exercises have done already. Starting to see real progress so I'm pretty bull market on the whole thing still.
Exercises getting more brutal - those squat jumps are just wrong. And tomorrow's creep is just a bit silly quite frankly. I'll feel like Yoda or something trundling around the living room. Or garage - if I'm allowed to do funny walks in there. Can't skip (although I think me and the security guard have come to some sort of arrangement - he daren't come in when I'm in full flow). Sorry to hear so many folks are having knee issues with the skipping - I haven't had this problem...just get a very sore shoulder from trying to hold the rope in the right place, but anyway I feel I'm winning my skipping battle.
Onwards and upwards...
Second weigh in of PCP today....down to 100.7 kgs, which is now a total reduction of 4.7kgs...or as I would know it, 10.5lbs - which isn't that far off a whole stone! Went swimming (1.5kms) as part of my triathlon prep for the end of Sept and was amazed how much the shoulder exercises have done already. Starting to see real progress so I'm pretty bull market on the whole thing still.
Exercises getting more brutal - those squat jumps are just wrong. And tomorrow's creep is just a bit silly quite frankly. I'll feel like Yoda or something trundling around the living room. Or garage - if I'm allowed to do funny walks in there. Can't skip (although I think me and the security guard have come to some sort of arrangement - he daren't come in when I'm in full flow). Sorry to hear so many folks are having knee issues with the skipping - I haven't had this problem...just get a very sore shoulder from trying to hold the rope in the right place, but anyway I feel I'm winning my skipping battle.
Onwards and upwards...
Monday 22 August 2011
Apologies - new photo time
Again for looking like I'm (a) about to fall asleep or (b) about to get really pissed off. What can I say - I've got a day of work ahead of me...
Fighting on
Been a while since my last post - Naz and I were away for the weekend (or tried to go away) but all in all it was a bit of a shocker - bad weather and a trip to the beach never really works that well. Also found out first hand how hard it is to go away and stick to the PCP diet properly...managed to avoid carbs etc and to have grilled stuff but restaurants always go for tons of oil etc in one way or another! Anyway, got back to Tokyo yesterday and the very unseasonable rain...but meant we spent the afternoon cooking cooking cooking. More vegetables than you can shake a stick at in our fridge. God knows how our sewage system copes. Anyway - week four starts, and that's three weekends without so much as a look at a glass of red. Slightly amazed I don't miss it more. The only real time was going out for dinner whilst in Shimoda - and there it wasn't that much of a deal...and the weekends seem so much longer...there I was laste night wiring up my new back up system (and no I'm not some sort of tech geek) and it worked..!
Anyway, I'm enjoying the exercises and I've cracked the skipping...despite what Patrick says, I reckon polished concrete the best surface as the thing that was hardest was rhythm and that was impacted by the rope sticking to the carpet ! Looking through this week's exercises, I'm filled with a horrid fascination....Creeps. What sort of exercise is called 'creeps'!? Anyway, I'm always up for something new.
Good luck PCPers - I am sufficiently into this now that I feel like I'm in some sort of fat camp without actually being locked up. And I've consistently managed to turn down work lunch invitations on the basis of my 'special diet....'. It will end...oh yes it will.....
Anyway, I'm enjoying the exercises and I've cracked the skipping...despite what Patrick says, I reckon polished concrete the best surface as the thing that was hardest was rhythm and that was impacted by the rope sticking to the carpet ! Looking through this week's exercises, I'm filled with a horrid fascination....Creeps. What sort of exercise is called 'creeps'!? Anyway, I'm always up for something new.
Good luck PCPers - I am sufficiently into this now that I feel like I'm in some sort of fat camp without actually being locked up. And I've consistently managed to turn down work lunch invitations on the basis of my 'special diet....'. It will end...oh yes it will.....
Tuesday 16 August 2011
Start of week 3
So yesterday saw my first weigh in after starting PCP....was pleasantly surprised with 3.4kgs having come off. Soon had the wind taken out of my sails by Ren, a PCP veteran who gave me a stern talking to about weight fluctuations, and generally that after two weeks I'd done NOTHING!!! To be fair to him though he's just finishing some uber-intensive six week Patrick nutter programme (especially designed for people who are slightly unhinged) so I guess he's earned the right....Still - he's been very supportive generally so I'm grateful overall. Still for lumps like me, getting rid of half a stone (in old money) in two weeks is pretty pleasing. I know I'm going to hit a wall at some point and it will be hard to get through it - so I reckon you have to take the positives when you get them!
Monday 15 August 2011
Week three
Another weekend negotiated and not a glass of red in sight - even with fillet steak on Saturday night...Cycled 83kms on Sunday morning and stuck to the diet during the day - not sure it was sensible but it certainly knackered me out: we were in bed asleep by 930pm! Certainly confirms that on the PCP you need a lot of sleep.
Preparing dinner this evening was a laugh...in the way you laugh when you can either do that or cry. 100g protein. Salmon in 100g pieces looks pitifully inadequate. And then veg. Not a great steaming pile of crunchy veg and spicy ratatouille, but a rather small lonely looking assembly...and it was all gone in moments without a trace. However, I don't feel hungry at the moment - but then again I've just finished it - and my tactic for getting hungry later is to go to sleep. I can see this week being pretty hard towards the end with the exercise stepping up and the food stepping down. Still that's what we're here for I suppose!
Preparing dinner this evening was a laugh...in the way you laugh when you can either do that or cry. 100g protein. Salmon in 100g pieces looks pitifully inadequate. And then veg. Not a great steaming pile of crunchy veg and spicy ratatouille, but a rather small lonely looking assembly...and it was all gone in moments without a trace. However, I don't feel hungry at the moment - but then again I've just finished it - and my tactic for getting hungry later is to go to sleep. I can see this week being pretty hard towards the end with the exercise stepping up and the food stepping down. Still that's what we're here for I suppose!
Saturday 13 August 2011
Busy week
Got to the end of the week - and now a weekend with the family which is great. Enjoying the exercise and the hints about pushing through to muscle failure really helping...makes you feel as if you're really doing something.
Spent this afternoon teaching my daughter to cycle - she's there already so now we'll have to spend hours going round and round the park as she thinks it's great - which it is! Anyway, will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings in terms of the diet...does it change every week, every 2 weeks?? Who knows. Anyway, two weeks successfully completed, although I was a bit annoyed (and slightly concerned) by the really bad throbbing headache my skipping gave me this morning: it's like a hangover headache when you stand up and you get a throbbing head - but I was getting it from jumping up and down. Will keep an eye on it (so to speak) but it felt as if it might have been dehydration, but that's odd since I've been drinking loads and loads of water with no booze.
Spent this afternoon teaching my daughter to cycle - she's there already so now we'll have to spend hours going round and round the park as she thinks it's great - which it is! Anyway, will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings in terms of the diet...does it change every week, every 2 weeks?? Who knows. Anyway, two weeks successfully completed, although I was a bit annoyed (and slightly concerned) by the really bad throbbing headache my skipping gave me this morning: it's like a hangover headache when you stand up and you get a throbbing head - but I was getting it from jumping up and down. Will keep an eye on it (so to speak) but it felt as if it might have been dehydration, but that's odd since I've been drinking loads and loads of water with no booze.
Tuesday 9 August 2011
Sorry
In the interests of full disclosure and motivation, I am going for weekly snaps without my shirt. At this stage I can only apologise....at least I have a bit of a tan which is more than can usually be said for a pasty and rotund Englishman. I will endevour to demonstrate improvement over the coming weeks.
Weirdness
Struck me today reading some of our email chains that we're all a bit weird. It's funny writing questions about when you can eat 100g of this or 50g of that. Still that's what's required to change a mindset I guess. Today's exercises were more fun - I like the change of weight training. Skipping still frustrates - but I'm getting there.
One thing I have already noticed - I can walk up a long flight of stairs much quicker (two at a time) without my thighs starting to burn - the squats and lunges really making a difference for me I think.
One thing I have already noticed - I can walk up a long flight of stairs much quicker (two at a time) without my thighs starting to burn - the squats and lunges really making a difference for me I think.
Monday 8 August 2011
First Diet Day
Found it properly weird eating brown rice and cabbage for breakfast. Truth was though that it filled me up a lot more than my usual bowl of all-bran. Couldn't stomach a glass of milk so went for yoghurt instead which was much more digestible. Exercises going ok although finding somewhere to do incline pull ups was a bit of a challenge!
I thought I'd comment on the weekend too. I calculated that this weekend was the first in roughly seven years that I had no alcohol to drink at all! When I realised that I was a bit shocked but what can I say? I LOVE wine! The thing is, I didn't really miss it (although if truth be told I could have murdered a glass of cold white on Friday after work) and the weekend seemed to have so many more hours. Woke up both Saturday and Sunday feeling great so that was quite a revelation. Yesterday I went for a long cycle and so slept like a baby - but getting up this morning was a real challenge although I think that was more to do with having to go to work rather than having to PCP!
The other thing I've been thinking about is institutionalisation. No bear with me....I went to boarding school when I was eight years old and so all food was prepared and stuck in front of you to eat...and for the most part it was eat it or don't eat anything....and sometimes it got pretty grim. Worst I reckon was a hot meal of one canned plum tomato, warmed up in a warming cupboard. Dreadful (although PCP eligible I'm sure!). Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh yes - my point is that I reckon I will be ok with the food thing. It's odd but Patrick tells us what to eat. OK we have to decide what 'protein' we need to eat or what veg we're going to cook - but we have a set of rules - and I find that strangely liberating!
Anyway, I'm starting to ramble (in fact I think this whole post pretty much fits into that category) so I'll leave you all be.
I thought I'd comment on the weekend too. I calculated that this weekend was the first in roughly seven years that I had no alcohol to drink at all! When I realised that I was a bit shocked but what can I say? I LOVE wine! The thing is, I didn't really miss it (although if truth be told I could have murdered a glass of cold white on Friday after work) and the weekend seemed to have so many more hours. Woke up both Saturday and Sunday feeling great so that was quite a revelation. Yesterday I went for a long cycle and so slept like a baby - but getting up this morning was a real challenge although I think that was more to do with having to go to work rather than having to PCP!
The other thing I've been thinking about is institutionalisation. No bear with me....I went to boarding school when I was eight years old and so all food was prepared and stuck in front of you to eat...and for the most part it was eat it or don't eat anything....and sometimes it got pretty grim. Worst I reckon was a hot meal of one canned plum tomato, warmed up in a warming cupboard. Dreadful (although PCP eligible I'm sure!). Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh yes - my point is that I reckon I will be ok with the food thing. It's odd but Patrick tells us what to eat. OK we have to decide what 'protein' we need to eat or what veg we're going to cook - but we have a set of rules - and I find that strangely liberating!
Anyway, I'm starting to ramble (in fact I think this whole post pretty much fits into that category) so I'll leave you all be.
Thursday 4 August 2011
Had to exercise in the evening today after a long day at work - that started in the office at 0645! Managed to get it done though and had a frugal dinner...I've got a new rope (Asics) which doesn't count for me, but then again I'm still so crap it would be wasted. Shouting a few choice words seems to help relieve the tension but as is my style I'm already starting to think of other options - running, cycling, staying in bed etc...
No! I'm going to stick with it and that's that. This first week so far, when all said and done, hasn't been too bad. The skipping annoys me intensely but there you go - something to work on. The lunges and squats just make my legs ache like hell and the press ups and sit ups are ok - for now. Slightly nervous about our diets next week. Eating not very much has been ok (made me feel and sleep a lot better), but it's going to take some adjustment I'm sure....I can't get the picture out of my head of another PCPer's blog with a picture of his dinner at a dinner party.....an egg - and bizarrely a banana on the same plate!
No! I'm going to stick with it and that's that. This first week so far, when all said and done, hasn't been too bad. The skipping annoys me intensely but there you go - something to work on. The lunges and squats just make my legs ache like hell and the press ups and sit ups are ok - for now. Slightly nervous about our diets next week. Eating not very much has been ok (made me feel and sleep a lot better), but it's going to take some adjustment I'm sure....I can't get the picture out of my head of another PCPer's blog with a picture of his dinner at a dinner party.....an egg - and bizarrely a banana on the same plate!
Wednesday 3 August 2011
What a day...
So this skipping thing is starting to annoy me properly. Blaming it on the tools obviously and I have decided to completely disregard Patrick's helpful comments about not spending money on equipment. Anyone know the most expensive rope on the market? Seriously though it's a good work out but frustrating.....
Get the food thing now too. Properly hungry today. Ren gave me an apple which was most welcome and stopped me piling into the desk which was looking pretty tasty. I'm also struggling to sit down now my thighs are so painful. I cycled over 100kms straight up a couple of weeks back and my thighs didn't even squeak. Now I look like I'm 85 hobbling about. Still - onwards and upwards...and I have a 7am meeting tomorrow which will mean exercise in the evening: I could do with the break!
Get the food thing now too. Properly hungry today. Ren gave me an apple which was most welcome and stopped me piling into the desk which was looking pretty tasty. I'm also struggling to sit down now my thighs are so painful. I cycled over 100kms straight up a couple of weeks back and my thighs didn't even squeak. Now I look like I'm 85 hobbling about. Still - onwards and upwards...and I have a 7am meeting tomorrow which will mean exercise in the evening: I could do with the break!
Monday 1 August 2011
Day 2...and skipping..! Feels like I'm in a cross between a junior school PE class and Rocky. Sadly Naz puts me to shame on the skill front, but I did manage 32 in a row before tripping over AGAIN. Other exercises all fine at the moment but I've read too many blog posts to think that anything other than total pain is coming down the line. Have to wait and see...
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