Fun Fact

It is possible to do leg raises while a baby is hanging off your boob.

Now that is multitasking!!

Day 16 - Sick baby = tired Mummy

Max has a little cold so he is being very clingy and fussy at night. He won't sleep unless he is clamped onto a boob. It is really getting tedious as I am tired and cranky from my own cold and lack of sleep.

On a positive note, my weekly weigh in was great.  69.7kg so firmly in the 60's now. Everything trending in the right direction. BMI down, body age down to 54, %fat down to 40.1%. Not losing weight as fast as PCP1 but that is to be expected given my off piste meals, non-weighing and diminishing returns. I am not that concerned at the moment as I still have something to show for my efforts.

Skipping not done yet and plan to do both skipping and workout after I get home and before bubs dinner. That is if he will let me. Yesterday I managed the workout with Max clamped to my legs for most of the arm work. It is possible to do albeit a tad distracting.

Food not too bad. Last night made crab patties with crab (duh), leftover mash potato, dill, oats then dipped in egg and panko and lightly pan fried. Served with a yoghurt, garlic and cucumber sauce (thanks for the idea Kim) and a green crunchy salad. Leftovers being eaten as I type this in my lunchbreak.

Tomorrow will be a challenge as we have a wedding to go to from 10am! Who has a wedding starting at 10am I ask you? So I will have to get up around 6am for skipping, maybe workout, breakfast, hair and slap etc. I will force Hubbilicious up early to help out with Max.  Then in the evening we have the Australia Society BBQ at the embassy. Food will be awesome (meat, fish, lots of salads) and all freshly made by a PCP grad, chef and good friend, Tony. I will have to just be careful on portions and dessert. I have heard there will be pavlova and lamingtons..  YUM and natsukashii..

Day 14-15 - Not so bad

Been skipping like a champ. I can now do nearly 500 in a session. I only seem to stop now when I get tired and it is deliberate. I trip occasionally but not so much. I can zip through my 1500 skips in around 12 minutes. I am panting and puffing and sweating by the end of it so feel like I have worked out.

Yesterday was just a skip day and I was going to do an extra workout to make up for the one I missed on Tuesday. But it was late and I was tired and I have a cold...  blah blah. Excuses excuses. Same excuses for 8MA that were not done.

Today, I have already done my skipping before breakfast and the Day 15 workout looks really fun and a bit of a challenge so I will do that after work and before dinner.

Food - not too bad. I was thinking about it on my walk to the office today and I was originally feeling a bit like I had been a total failure lately. For example, last night I had pork for dinner and I haven't been weighing out as much as I should be. But really, while I may not be 100% PCP portion size, I am still doing really well with mostly veg, salt free, low oil, low carb and home cooked food. So while I have felt a bit guilty on the PCP front, on the health front, I am a total winner. I am totally aware of everything that is going into my gob these days and I am keeping everything in moderation.

I will weigh in tomorrow so I guess the sins of the week will be apparent then.

Day 12-13 - Out of Town

Went down to Shimoda yesterday morning and back this evening. A lovely mini-break with the family.

Workout and skipping was done yesterday.  Only skipping done today.  I will try to do an extra workout tomorrow as it is just a skipping day but then if I don't get it done, then not to worry.

Food has been not so great but not too horrendous. Fails are as follows:
Lunch yesterday - lobster tempura on rice. Not enough veg and too much oil
Dinner yesterday - BBQ meat and veg. Portion size.
Late last night - chocolate. 'nuff said
Lunch today - sushi. Too much protein, not enough veg, sugar/salt in rice.

Otherwise, all good. Grilled Saba and steamed veg for dinner and so back on track. Tomorrow is office and daycare day so will be easy to stay the course for the rest of the week.  Unless Hubbilicious cooks up anything too naughty tomorrow. He is off this week as he starts his new job later in the week. It is good to have him around more.

Day 11 - Bingo Wings be gone

Decided that the scheduled Day 11 was a bit easy and I wanted to work on my triceps so did the maintenance Tricep workout.

In a word - OUCH.

But I am trying to train my brain to enjoy the pain and to make a good association with it. NLP baby.

Skipping done before breakfast and a good 1500 skips in 14 minutes and that includes a 2 minute interruption by a phone call.

Two hardcore days in a row and I am feeling good.  Food has been good too.  Am off to Shimoda tomorrow morning so plan to get up early and do a fast skipping and workout. Will do some down there too I think as we have the place to ourselves.  YAY.

Now I am just waiting for Max to wake up from his nap before we head to the park for the afternoon.

Day 10 - burn baby burn.

A good day today so far.

Skipping done easily after breakfast. Then workout after that. Hubbilicious kept his promise about waking up early and taking care of Max's entertainment while I focussed on a workout.

Workout - I did the maintenance "Chest" workout and had lots of burn and failure. I really enjoyed working hard and released lots of endorphins.

Food will be PCP all the way today. Off to a birthday party at Gymboree this afternoon but there will be no food just jumping around with small children. Fun!!

Day 9 - Good, Bad and Somewhat Ugly

Good

• Jumped on the scales this morning, just out of curiosity, and they read 69.8kg. WTF?  Down 1kg in 24 hours? Who know why but I will take it as good.
• Skipping knocked over easily. 1,600 skips in 12 minutes or so.
• Walked for about 3 hours today around the zoo and Ueno park pushing the stroller. 
• Breakfast, lunch and snacks all PCP compliant. 

Bad

• Needed to abandon workout about half way through due to time issues. I am putting the blame squarely on Hubbilicious who decided to sleep in and not help me take care of Max. He has vowed to get up early tomorrow to make amends.
• Am not going to do 8MA tonight as am knackered and need to get some sleep.

Somewhat Ugly

• Dinner out. Was super yum. Had bruscetta with scampi, porcini and marscapone for entree, wild boar pasta and pheasant with porcini pasta tasting plate for main, pistachio gelato for dessert. Plus a little wine. I didn't eat until I was stuffed, but none of it was PCP except perhaps the salad. This is mainly because of the oil and salt that is in restaurant food. Otherwise it was all fresh ingredients and freshly made. Or am I just trying to "spin" it to myself?  

In other news, the maintenance pack arrived last night. So I will choose a workout at random to do tomorrow as they look a bit more challenging. Then I think I will do maintenance workouts 3 times a week on days that I am feeling genki and have the time and the other days I will do the easier daily program based on the PCP day I am on. Will listen to my body and do what feels right. 

The main thing will be that I am doing something everyday for 6 days and skipping only 1 day a week.  Am taking more control over my workouts on this time around.  I feel confident enough to do this.    

Day 8 - Weigh-in

Actually the title of this post should be Wake-up call. Weight this morning was 70.9kg which is more than last week!! I was so smug earlier this week with seeing 69.9kg. I guess I let lots of chocolate into my mouth as well as some larger portions. But from today I am being super strict and committed to my goals.

I weighed out my breakfast veg and it looked quite small compared to the veg I have been serving myself with AMAYW which was quite a shock. oops!!

Lunch is veg and the last of the PCP-esque lasagna. Recently I have been skipping my snacks so portions for meals have crept upwards. But today I have had my morning fruit snack and I have afternoon snack all ready to go. Dinner will be salad I made last night and grilled fish. I am dropping the night carbs whenever I can even though this weeks diet allows 60g of carbs at night.

I do need to get some more sleep though. I went to bed late and then slept through my alarm this morning so only managed 1000 skips before I had to get organised for breakfast, daycare and work etc.

Workout set for after work and it should be fine.  It is lots of exercises which I am itching to get into. I can't believe I am missing the muscle work.  I might try to add some extra cardio if Max will let me.  8MA were done last night and planning on more tonight.  But the main goal is to get to bed before 1am.

Tomorrow is a public holiday so I have Max all day but I will be able to get in a good workout during nap times.

Day 7 - On the seventh day...

... I have skipped. 1600 in 18 minutes.  All before breakfast. A few trips but not too bad.

I notice that when I am fitter, I sweat more. When I was fatter, I didn't sweat as much.

Today was my darling Max's first birthday. I can't believe he is one. He is such a funny and sweet little kid. He sings and laughs to himself and also blows raspberries as he is playing on the floor. When I look at him, I feel like I may burst sometimes.

We had a little birthday cake this morning - healthy apple cake made with Olive oil rather than butter. He looked rather bewildered at the cake, candle and presents but he was certainly cute in the silly hat I made him wear.

Nothing really to report PCP wise. Weigh in tomorrow but given my food fails this week, I am not expecting anything fabulous.  It starts for real tomorrow.

Day 6 - Food fails

Yesterday we went to a baby shower and I probably ate a bit too much and that included some cake and cookies and a glass of bubbles. Well it was Verve...  can you blame me?  Granted that all the food was home prepared - raw spring rolls, sushi, chicken, salad, prosciutto - but still I probably had a bit much. Then when we got home, I had some left over pizza for dinner (just two small squares) but redeemed myself with a big bowl of veg.  But then I had a snickers bar before bed.

So pretty much a fail day food wise.

Today has been a bit better but not much. Breakfast meeting with a boiled egg, toast and salad but lunch was a small green Thai curry. Dinner is in the oven now and I have made a lasagna using cottage cheese instead of Bechamel sauce.  I will take the left overs for lunch over the next few days. Office days are easier to stay PCP compliant.

Workout done later this afternoon as I had to dash out the door this morning for the meeting.

• Skipping - few trips but not as bad as yesterday. 1500 skips in 14 minutes.
• Lunges - again substituted 4 x 20 floor jumps. Last set had me on my butt again.
• Push-ups - 5 x 10. First two sets on my toes and the rest on my knees. Good burn by the end.
• Leg-ups - 4 x 20. Really felt in my abs by the end.
• 8MA - not done last night but will definitely do them tonight.  

Still feeling a bit sick but I am off to the doctor tomorrow.

OK - now I have to make a cake. It is my darling Max's first birthday tomorrow. I can't believe he is one already. The year has just flown by.

Day 5 - Trips ahoy

After yesterday's smug post about my new found skipping skillz, this morning's skipping session was full of trips. A few good runs but overall not great. But JFD!  Patricks Day 5 email basically just it wasn't important to do huge sessions irregularly, but just to do a normal session every day in order to tell your body to keep burning fat. So I kept that in mind as I tripped through the reps.

Workout:

• Squats - 5 sets of 20 squats. Was going to do some creeps as well but the knee is giving me grief today after a marathon walk yesterday.
• Push-ups - 5 sets of 10. Mostly on my knees but good form and good burn by the end. 
• Sit ups - 6 sets of 25 with legs in the air. Am best when legs are in the air. (wink, wink) Good burn by the end. 
• 8MA - not done as too busy watching movies with Hubbilicious

Food - had pizza last night so not great.  But we only ever have thin crust and only rarely. Only had about 3/4 of what I would normally eat but I think this is my new normal. Had a big bowl of veg though and that made me feel better.

But we had brunch out yesterday (me a breakfast burrito) and was a bit more than I would normally eat but fresh ingredients.

So overall yesterday was a bit of a fail on the food side. Perhaps explains why I was so sluggish with the skips this morning.

Off to a baby shower later today so will try to stick to the veg sticks.

Day 4 - Sick Sunday

Am really suffering in the mornings with this cold thing. It is weird. I have a horrid bark that is a little bit productive but not much. Sinus headaches but not really a runny nose. Generally tired but that is due to Max being quite clingy at night recently. Otherwise am feeling fine. After I fully wake up I feel better but the sinus headache stays in the background which is more annoying than painful.

Summary

• Skipping- 1800 skips done in 14 minutes
• Lunges - substituted for 4 sets of 15 floor jumps. Last set had me on my butt.
• Push-ups - 5 sets of 8 - half the set on my toes the rest on my knees. Good burn.
• Leg-ups - 4 sets of 20. These work a different part of the abs than 8MA I think and also are really where I need it as it hits the C-section muscles that still need strength. So I really concentrated on straight legs and not taking them all the way to the floor.
• 8MA - done last night

All exercises done with the time between sets strictly managed.

Food will be a bit weird today as I just had some fruit for breakfast as we are walking to Eggs n' things for brunch.  But still first week so I am ramping up slowly so as not to shock the system. (That is my excuse and I will stick to it.)

I have been reading the new blogs and there are just so many of them, it is hard to know how to go about it.

That's it for today.

oh - p.s.  Jumped on the scales this morning and they read 69.9kg!!  w00t!!  But this is not an official weigh in. That will happen in a few days but it was super motivating to see that number 6 at the start of the reading.

Day 3 - Getting my groove on

A lovely family lie in until 9:30 am. Max was happy to doze with us. What a treat. I am still fighting a cold so I am needing the extra rest.

Playing with my fancy pants scales I am now just teetering on 70.0kg. As soon as I break through into the 60's that will be a huge achievement as I haven't weighed under 70kg since the end of a 7 day SPA detox in Thailand that involved fasting and twice daily colonic cleansing. That was in July 2008.

Another successful skipping sesh this morning. 1,800 in 14 minutes or so with only a few trips. It is really like a switch has been flicked allowing me to just skip and skip and skip. I am making sure I am not raising my heart rate too high and perhaps I should get one of those monitors with an alarm. Nah - I am starting to overthink it all again.

Workout

• Squats - did 20 reps per set rather than the suggested 10-15 and did four sets rather than three. Still a bit easy so I might have to add some creeps in there next time.
• Push-ups - did 4 sets of 10 reps rather than the 3 sets of 5-8. I was on my toes for the first 2.5 sets and then down on my knees for the rest. Good burn by the end. 
• Sit-ups - did 4 sets of 25 rather than 3 sets of 15. All with my legs in the air. Still not much burn. 
• 8MA - last night before bed - check.  

Am being very good on timings and the whole lot including the skipping took around 35 minutes. Taking Max out into the stroller for a long walk into Shinjuku for some shopping later this afternoon so more cardio there.

Food - normal breakfast and a homemade pasta lunch. All PCP food but I think lunch was a bit big and I am feeling a bit stuffed. Must start weighing again.

I have noticed all the blogs go up. What a huge group in this round with new fancy blogs and photo galleries. Patrick has invested some time and energy into some custom IT solutions. Given the size of the group, I am sure the business can afford it. I hope Patrick makes a million out of this as he has helped me and so many people in such a positive way.

Day 2 - Stats

Got the fancy pants Omron scale up and running last night. Am glad I got the English version as there is no way I would have managed to work it out in Japanese.

So here they are as of first thing this morning:
Weight - 70.5kg
BMI - 28.8
Fat - 41.3%
Muscle - 25.7%
RM - 1381 kCal
Body age - 55
Visceral fat - 8

41% fat - ouch. I am glad I didn't do this when I was 13 kg heavier. I would have crawled into a little ball, eaten a cookie and given up before I started. Not sure how much of this is related to my added lactating boobage as the visceral fat at 8 is in the normal range albeit on the higher side.  But the trends over the next 89 days is what we are looking at so I won't get too hung up on these numbers at this early stage.

The body age of 55 is a tad sad as I am only 41.

Note - I first tried this out on carpet and the results were really different (eg weight was 67.7kg which was wrong) so I moved the scales to the bathroom and got a more comparable reading to my other digital scales.

Exercises:

• Skipping - managed 1750 in 12 minutes. I decided to do the 1500 plus the 250 for the day one program as I was in the zone.
• Lunges - no way!! Did 3 sets of 15 floor jumps. 
• Push-ups - first two sets on my toes and last set on my knees. Really pushed hard on form.
• Leg-lifts - did sets of 25 rather than 10 and didn't take my feet all the way to the floor for added difficulty.  
• 8MA - did them last night all except for the last 45 seconds as Max woke up and needed feeding.
• Extra cardio - lots and lots of walking with the stroller. Sweating buckets in this Tokyo Summer heat that just won't quit.

Food - lots of veg and only a small amount of chocolate last night. I need to have more yoghurt and reduce portion sizes.

Day 1 - It begins

Weigh in:
70.4kg
Down another kg since the end of PCP1. Probably more muscle loss than fat loss but I will take it.

It bodes well that my fancy pants Omron scales arrived from America this morning. No time to set it up or anything but I will get onto that tonight and get baseline stats for all salient points. Will have to learn how to use it and when is the best time to take readings etc as I am sure that blood sugar and hydration levels would really affect results.

Before breakfast did my 1500 skips. It is like a light has switched on in my brain as I can now skip without any trips. I stop myself after about 250 to make sure my heart rate isn't getting too high and for a quick sip of water. I can knock over 1500 in around 12 minutes or so. Mentally this is awesome as it means there is no excuse for procrastination. I know I can just get in and get them done and dusted for the day. This is really important for me as I am not a morning person but I am learning to be and it is suiting me so far.

Workout was so easy it was ridiculous. But I am really focusing on form and not wasting any time between sets or exercises so I can get maximum benefit and put me in a good place for when things ramp up. I am planning on extra maintenance workouts about 3 times a week during these early weeks.

• Squats - easy peasy but I did start to feel a burn at the end. 
• Push-ups - I started off on my toes for the first two sets and finished off the last set on my knees but really pushed down low to the ground each time. Feeling the burn as I really haven't done much in the workout area since the end of PCP. It felt good to use the muscles again.
• Sit-ups - way too easy so the whole lot I did with my legs in the air. Plus rather than 15 reps for each set, I did 25 and added an extra set. Not much burn at all but I am doing 8MA most nights.

I really enjoy having knocked over the exercises early so I then can go through the day without them looming over me. So start as you mean to go forward as they say.

Depending on how today goes, I may end up doing an extra skipping session tonight before dinner.

Lots of walking to day care and then to the office. Will be headed back there shortly at lunch to feed Max.

Didn't take any new photos so here are my day 90 photos again.

Day 1 Front

Day 1 Side

Day 1 Back

That's is probably enough for today.

Day -1 - Goal setting and planning

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. 

OK, enough Shakespeare FFS. I kick off again tomorrow so I thought I had best outline my goals and plans.

Weight Loss
Minimum: 5kg
Wishful: 10kg
Pie in Sky: 15 kg

Last PCP I made it to 12.5kg lost. I do realise that the law of diminishing returns will come into play so I need to be realistic about my goals and also what I am prepared to put into it. I know I am not nearly as enthusiastic about it this time, it is more a case of JFD as it needs to be done. So why not now while I still have some fitness, some muscle tone and fairly good habits. They are not etched into my soul just yet so I reckon another 90 days will just about do it.

There will be some differences:
Food 
I will not be doing half portions of food this week but I will be strict in using my last week's plan. The chocolate that has crept into my diet over the last few weeks will be eliminated.

If I go to dinner or a party, I will not be so anal about PCP. I will just chalk it up to indulgence but I will not go nuts. Given that around 95% of my food I prepare myself and eat mostly at home, I think that is fine. If it was a few years ago before babies etc when I was out most nights at work functions, then this would have been a problem. The difference this time around is that I know what is coming up and I know I can deal with it. I quite like the discipline of weighing everything out.

Exercise
I have vowed and declared never to do another lunge in my life. So, floor jumps it will be. The first few weeks of exercise look a bit easy so I plan to do 1500 skips in addition to the daily plan and also a maintenance workout 3 times a week. That is if the maintenance pack ever arrives.

I guess at around day 45 or so, I will just need to stick to the plans as they are written. Considering that is when the diet is the most strict that is probably a good idea. Again, I will not be so anal if I happen to miss a day here and there. I didn't miss a days workout on PCP1 but I think there were days that doing exercises at 10:30pm was just silly and a little counter productive.

8MA as often as I can before bed. It is getting really easy though but I am now concentrating on keeping my head off the floor and focusing on the muscle group that is being worked on.

Still planning on lots of walking every day as I need to get to and from day care with a growing baby (soon to be a toddler) in the stroller or sling. I am still looking around at bikes but I haven't found anything suitable just yet.

I have given up on a pull-up bar. I can't find one that suits any of the doors in the house and I am reluctant to bring in anything that might damage the walls. The deposit was huge and I would like to get some of it back. I am still looking around for a suitable substitute in my area.

Weight/stats 
I have ordered a new fancy pants scale from the US. It should arrive soon. I looked around the ones here in Tokyo and just didn't feel confident enough to make the right decision. My Japanese is OK but I really wanted something that I could operate correctly from the get go so I ordered an English model. I will post the progress of stats from time to time. I am sure the %age fat will be quite a scary number still despite 12.5kg of weight loss. I don' think I want to know what I was. The photos are bad enough.

For tomorrow I will weigh in using my normal scales again to get a start point.

OK - enough rambling now.

Testing Mobile blogging

Turned off moblogging to original blog. 

My official PCP blog will remain untouched from the Day 90 complete post. I don't want to confuse people or muddy the waters for Patrick. Hence this new blog just for me.

Setting up for Round 2

Just a few more tweaks and I will be ready to go in a few days. I am planning to (quietly) follow along the next intake of PCP'ers and do the program again.

Start date is 15 Sept 2011 to be complete around mid December.

This blog is just for my own motivation and discipline. To keep me on the straight and narrow for the next 90 days.