Day XX - the end is in sight!

I have been bad, not blogging for almost an entire month as I had been away a couple of times, and when I am around, things at work just became a bit too busy.

Luckily, I have been staying on track (most days) with regards to the diet and exercises.

These past few months have flown by, and I have found myself really enjoying not only the skipping and some of the exercises, but funnily enough, also the diet!  Although there are days that I long for a piece of pork belly or foie gras, most days, I am very happy eating my no oil no salt grilled fish, roast chicken, fruits and AMAYW veggies.

My proudest day yet was jumping one of my three sets of 6 minutes non-stop (without tripping!!!)... but I haven't been able to repeat that since, and in any case, Patrick had raised the time of each set from 6 minutes to 7 minutes to 9 minutes today.  Anyway...

Only 7 more days to go, and I am looking forward to post-PCP life, with more of the same!

Day 54 - team Mighty Mouse unite

We had a group workout session this morning at Bowen Road, including Terri, Mini, Justin and Brent.

It was good to do the exercises together, and it was the first time I got through the 4 x 60 seconds planks without failing!  OK, I did fail miserably at the chest dips though!

Thanks for all the team support!  Look forward to the next Might Mouse gathering!

Day 53 - our second official indulgence

We took our indulgence over some curry and a bottle of beer.
Rogan josh tasted fantastic, as did the mixed vegetable white curry, the roti and the keema naan.
We thought everything was a bit on the salty side though.

It was good whilst it lasted, but the aftermath was that my stomach was complaining.  Probably not used to all the oil and salt.

I wonder what would happen when PCP ends.  Would I not eat normal again?!

Day 50 - eggs galore

Since my derailment on Day 40, I have been very vigilant on what I consume and am happy to report that I got back on track on the diet front immediately.

However, we have been eating egg whites for so long I am getting a bit tired of them (this is coming from someone whose favourite food is eggs!). Terri and I go though 6 eggs a day because of this diet.

So my wife and I started to do some egg tasting, buying everything from the cheapest market eggs that cost HK$1 each to these New Zealand organic free range eggs that are around HK$9. Which eggs taste the best? Well, the jury is still out on this one! There are subtle differences but it is hard to judge an egg without the taste of the yolk. Granted the more expensive eggs do have egg whites that have more complexity in taste.

On the exercise front, we have been gobsmacked by the pistol squats, kung fu sit-ups, 60 second planks x 4, and the "there is no way I can do more than 4, let alone 4 sets" pull-ups. We still try and plough through them daily.

Funnily enough, I am actually enjoying the 8MA these days. Doing them right before we go to bed.

Day 40/41 - Failed! Totally fell off the wagon!

Had a BBQ lunch yesterday, and failed my day 40 by drinking not 1, not 2, not 3 but 4 big glasses of wine.  I obviously ate more than I should have as well, but it was the drinks that put me out of action.

It was horrible!  And I am not even talking about the guilt I am totally feeling.  I thought if I was to fall off the wagon, I would have at least enjoyed the wines (they were very good bottles of wines as well), but I didn't.  I became such a lightweight, my tolerance level is way down, and I was totally drunk by my 4th glass.  I didn't feel any better afterwards, nor did I have a good sleep 9 hours after I had my lunch!

Even this morning, I still feel the hangover, and I feel so lethargic.


This kind of feeling normally only happens when I have had more than a couple of bottles, or a few too many shots. 









Alcohol and PCP certainly do not mix! 

Am still trying to motivate myself to do today's exercises. 

Overall, a bad experience I will try not to repeat!

Day 35 - 8MA

Day 2 of 8MA - it is hard work.  I fail after 15 reps... and my neck keeps feeling the "yank".  Did it today at the gym with my friend who PCPed 3 months before me, and he told me the trick is to go slow and controlled, so the neck and back don't get the strain.

Early dinner tonight at home as I am meeting some food writers later and will have to sit through that dinner with no food... torture!  Shaking things up a bit for my dinner as I am really bored eating apples and bananas all week - am putting them in as a milk shake now.

Day 32 & 33 - team Might Mouse united

Terri and I met up with Marcus, Meg and Justin on Saturday night over a couple of glasses of lemon soda.  It was not only great meeting the guys, but it also gave me a lot of new motivation to do my exercises today!  We also got a couple of tips on what we were doing wrong in our exercises - thanks Marcus!

It has been two days since I received the daunting 8MA youtube video from Patrick, but I still haven't had the guts (pardon the pun - couldn't help it!) to get started on this.  I just haven't found the energy to do this after all the exercises.

Will try to do them tomorrow lunch time!!

Day 27 - the unexpected indulgence

After work-out, I met up with some foodie friends (editors and bloggers) who organised a Hokkien-styled Chinese dinner in North Point.

I had planned to eat only the stewed fish and veggies and started off quite well despite the table full of delicious food.

Then came these innocent looking white buns. I sat whilst they all took a bite out of these buns and proclaimed it tasted heavenly. I could no longer resist, grabbed a bun and took my first bite. Inside was a beautiful piece of pork belly (read LARD!). On top of that, the fillings include a paste of peanuts and brown sugar (like a rudimentary peanut butter spread). It tasted out of this world, and I felt absolutely awful and guilty at the same time.

To wash down the fat, I also had a small glass of soju (the label read: Kobe Grappa Muscat!). See the blue bottle on the table.

I had planned on using my indulgence allowance on a heavy lunch or some wine and cheese, but blew it for the month on this mouthwatering meal, with the total per head coming to less than US$15 per person!

Day 27 - exhausted

Been pushing myself to the last juice of energy in all exercises in the past few days. E.g. if I still have a bit of energy after the 4 sets of squats, I do a few more until I collapse.

Today, I failed before I finished my 4 sets of sit-ups...

Really wanted some food after my workout... But will have to wait till dinner in an hour's time.

Day 26 - the new exercises

These past two days, I have been trying to figure out what is worse... creep or floorjump, v-sit or plank. Seriously, by the end of the floorjumps, I couldn't walk.  And by the 3rd set of planks, those last few seconds seem like forever. 

I know in my last blog I said I never feel hungry.  Well, that has changed.  These past few nights, with no carbs in my diet this week, I have been feeling rather hungry every night.  I am nibbling on some tomatoes now as I type.  I hope that feeling goes soon.

I am still thinking of what and when to cast my "indulgence" day on.  Food or wine... choices choices choices.  =)

Day 22 (cont)

This is not a picture of domestic violence...

Day 22 - it's been a while

It has been a while since I posted my last blog.  And a lot has happened this week.

First of all, I must say I have been enjoying the new diet.  One of Patrick's e-mails talked about noticing changes in the body.  So I will talk about that first.
1) I feel lighter, my trousers feel looser, but I haven't noticed any real physical change (e.g. I didn't lose 3 inches off my waist, I don't think).
2) My palette has become acutely more sensitive.  I have to eat out quite often for work, and on a couple of occasions, I couldn't or forgot to tell the chef I am on a no salt no oil diet, and as a result, I get some pretty nasty shocks.  For example, I ordered a steamed sea bream on Monday, which I thought would be perfectly PCP compliant, but forgot it had a tomato seafood sauce that came with it.  The sauce was so salty to my palette it tasted like sea water.  On the plus side, I am really noticing the flavours of the ingredients.  I have been eating organic chicken, fresh seafood, etc, and found the taste of these food really coming out.  Had sushi a couple of times, and instead of dunking it in soya sauce, I ate them plain, and I am discovering some new flavours to each of the fish I ordered.  This is really excellent!
3) No funny business of rashes or zits exploding, but bowel movement is definitely getting more active. (too much info?)
4) I never feel hungry!
5) It is summer and I know it is hot outside, but I feel like I am an oven all the time.  Sweating a lot more than before.
6) Seriously, I never feel hungry!  I am off carbs for dinner this week, but I am still rather full right now @ 11:15pm - oh, time for bed soon!

OK, just want to quickly cover the rest of my rather unfortunate "incidents" over the past week.
1) I had food poisoning.  Nothing major, but I was on anti-biotics and had some pains in the stomach a few nights when I was trying to sleep.  A pain-killer helped.
2) I sprained my neck - I think I was over-doing the sit-ups, and this was the day before I got that e-mail from Patrick saying we should never over-do the exercises!  =o
So I fell off the wagon and had two days of rest, and had two intensive acupuncture sessions plus a cupping session.  For those who don't know what cupping is... will post a "gross" photo of the aftermath from my iPhone in the next post.

Anyway... I am fully recovered now, and have been doing the past few days' exercises... I am a bit surprised that I can do over 1,000 skips now each day... I see we have more of that coming soon.  And has anyone else noticed today's exercises were a lot tougher?  Or is it because I stopped for two days when I was recovering?

Have caught up with a few people's blogs and will check out others' tomorrow.

Keep up the good work, guys!!

Good night.

Day 15 - spit spit

Program went well today. Had a good workout before breakfast, ate the right food for lunch etc.

Then came the biggest challenge after work when I attended a champagne tasting. Managed to taste 10+ varieties of champagne, and diligently spat out EVERYTHING! This was definitely a first for me! Waste? Maybe. But I still managed to get to taste the variety on offer, and felt good afterwards as well.

Home for dinner - roast chicken and a small portion of pasta with veggies.

Reading everyone's blogs really kept Terri and I motivated.  Keep up the good work, guys!!!

Day 14 - so stuffed

Woke up this morning to 5 pieces of toast (1 pictured here) plus an egg, an egg white, 300ml of milk, plus a good serving of celery and carrots. It took me 30 minutes to eat all that food, and I felt so stuffed the entire day!

Had a nice Japanese lunch with Terri (just 4 pieces of sushi plus a mini chirashi-don, all without soya sauce! A first for me). Surprisingly, the fish tasted really good without the soya. Also asked them for heaps of veggies and the manager gave us a funny look, but we got seconds for both the spinach AND the salad. Nice!

Dinner was fried cod.

I don't think I have felt so full all day. Trying to fit those 3 extra snacks were hard, but managed eventually.

Also was quite surprised I can now skip 800 just two weeks into the programme, when I was tripping up every other skip just two weeks ago!

Day 13 - We are home!

We are back!

It was only a week in Italy, but it felt like a long time being away from home, especially away from the kids. 

Terri and I had been pretty good at following the exercises, but as Patrick had said, it only consists of 20% of the programme.  It was much harder to achieve the other 80%, which is to watch what we eat, whilst being away from our kitchen, with no cooking utensils, and no scale to weigh the food, etc.  I also indulged in one too many glasses of wine (how can you not in Italy!).  I said to myself, this all ends when I get home.

So today, I am back and have been very strict on what I ate. 

Alas, one thing seemed to have offset the other; whilst I did well on the food intake part, I was so tired from the long plane ride this morning I couldn't complete the skipping!


Am going to get an early night now and will aim to be 100% PCP compliant by tomorrow!!

Skipping by Fiume Arno

Firenze @ 5am.

Day 5 and 6 - the trip with less tripping

Bongiorno Firenze!

Terri and I arrived in Florence yesterday after a 12 hour flight and 2 train rides. The first thing we did when we arrived was, of course, to do our jump rope and other exercises when we checked into our hotel.

We were happy to see that we were both improving in skipping, and could make the first 2 sets without much tripping.

Sadly this was cut short when we were into our 3rd set. The occupant in the hotel room below us called up and asked us to stop the noise for he was still sleeping (it was noon). :p

We did some sight seeing in the afternoon, but was caught in some heavy rain and hail. We dashed into a wine bar (ahem), where many were already taking shelter. Turns out many who were taking shelter were from a high school choir in Missouri - they were here on tour. We were treated to a wonderful impromptu concert in this bar!

After sharing a bottle and a plate of cold cuts, we decided to skip dinner and went to bed at 8pm as we were both jet lagged and very tired.

This morning, we both woke up at 4:30am - feeling refreshed, we decided to do our exercises! And to avoid getting another complaint, we went outside on the streets to jump rope. We are staying by the river and the air and scenery were perfect for our exercises.

Tomorrow, I plan to jump rope on the bridge Ponte Vecchio, and maybe by the fake statue of David in the square.

Maybe the staring at the statue of David whilst skipping will do me some good. At least something to work towards? :)

Ciao!

Day 4 - tripping

Just finished my day 4 exercises.  I am beginning to love skipping, though the rope keeps getting stuck between my toes and I keep tripping.
Read the e-mails afterwards and was advised to wear socks when skipping... great idea, will try that tomorrow.  Thanks Tracey!

Flying out tonight for a week.  Packing now!

Day 2 - sore and guilty

Got up this morning at 7am, and every muscle felt sore from skipping yesterday.  I still managed to get through my exercises before breakfast though.  Half portion went well for breakfast and lunch, but I think I ate a little too much at dinner time.  Not only do I feel guilty, I also feel a bit sick after not eating much in the last 2 days.  Will make sure I am more disciplined in the days to come!!!

Day 1 - excited to get started

I have been waiting for this day way before signing up for PCP with Patrick...

I had been very out of shape and gained a lot of pounds in the last few years, from simply eating and drinking too much, being very undisciplined in what I eat, and doing very little exercise (or actually, none at all)!  I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to get myself into shape, or at least, kick-start my exercise regime.  What got me involved in PCP was that a I saw a friend who completed the course a short while ago, and the results were truely impressive.

I am now close to 210 pounds (94kg), and 27% body fat.

My wife Terri decided to give me support and joined me in this course.

So, with that, I got very excited for the arrival of June 1st.

Got the first e-mail this morning detailing our exercises.  And the first thing I saw was the jump rope exercise - 50 x 5 sets!  I cannot skip.  I have never skipped more than 5 in a row.  So this was a bit of a challenge for me.

I did 5 in a row, and tripped.  And this kept on happening for the first couple of sets.  But by the 5th set, I managed to do around 30 in a row.  I hope I will keep getting better soon, as I took a sneak peak at the following few days' exercises, and I must say I am dreading the 500 skips on day 7...

For the food, I managed to cut my portions by about half, but I have been feeling very hungry all day.
Breakfast: 1/2 bowl of cereal + 1x apple
Lunch: 2 satay skewers, salmon tandoori with rice, and fried flat noodles (most of the food was actually not touched, and I brought it home with me)
Tea: banana

Looking forward to dinner soon.
=)

Good luck fellow PCPers!

Hi I am in!

Looking forward to the PCP experience!