Day 16 - a bad day

I’m such a private person. I could probably blog here every day for the next 65 days and none of you would really know anything about me (the one with the wheat berries, you’d say). Well, it’s been a really bad day here and I’m going to blog it out because that’s how we’re supposed to do this, right?

My husband and I are trying to adopt a baby. I’ve been trying to be a mom for 10 years. This morning at 9:30 we got a call that a baby was born yesterday and the birth mom was making an adoption plan. He would be ready to leave the hospital tomorrow. We agreed to put ourselves forward for this case and 6 couples were profiled. We found out at 1:30 that we were not selected. For the 4 hours in between I fantasized that that baby would be ours to raise and love. I am absolutely devastated.

I know that another great couple will become a family and I don’t begrudge them that joy. I know that there will be another baby – a baby we are meant to parent. Knowing those things isn’t making me feel one bit better.  I really thought this was it.  

And so how on earth is this related to PCP? How is it not? Right now I want a big glass of wine (I actually want half a bottle of wine) (or more) and I want to eat the foods that give me comfort and I want to crawl into a hole and cry until I have nothing left. And then I want to sleep for 3 days.

Day 15 rained out

I worked out later than usual today because I was supposed to play tennis at 8:30 and thought I would get up early to do my workout but it was so DARK and WET and GLOOMY. I stayed in bed an extra hour... tennis courts were too wet to play so we went for coffee instead and then I did my workout between lunch and breakfast. And I have a post-workout snack now - I love that! I hard boiled some eggs so that I can grab an egg white right after my workout as I walk the dog and not be too famished for breakfast. Yay for snacks!

Did a bunch of veggies this morning and am simmering a pot of ratatouille to have on some brown rice for my supper (with chicken. blech).

I saw that Brian said carbs were his least favorite part of the diet. Mine is definitely the protein. I want the muscle though so chicken and I are going to have to find a way to get along.

Have a great day - I hope it's sunny in your parts of the world!

PS: Am having canned tuna again today with much better results.

Day 14 - protein fail

I totally screwed up my lunch today or at least the canned tuna gods did. I chewed down and there was something hard in there, it looked like glass. I have no idea. I spat everything out and I was completely put off. I had eaten my carbs already and have chopped a few veggies to compensate but I can't open another can of tuna and try again. I kind of feel sick so I'll wait for supper. Am thawing some shrimp.

I was glad for just jumping today. I managed 856. Tomorrow will be better.

EDIT: I just found this question and answer posted on the Bumble Bee website (the brand I ate):

I found something that looks like glass in my canned seafood, what is it?

Don't be alarmed by glass-like crystals that you may find in your canned seafood. They are simply Struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate), a naturally occurring mineral, that develops in the can during storage. They are sometimes present as small crystals that impart a grittiness to the product or they may occur as crystals 5-8 mm long. Struvite is not harmful and will readily dissolve in the digestive juices of the stomach.

How can struvite be distinguished from glass? Place crystals in a few drops of hot vinegar and they will gradually dissolve, while glass will not.

Struvite is extremely rare. For example, the incidence of struvite in our sockeye salmon is 2.4 in 1,000,000 cans.

If you have any concerns or questions about struvite, please don't hesitate to contact us. We are more than happy to answer your questions and always make it a priority to ensure that our customers are satisfied.

2.4 in 1,000,000 cans? Perhaps today is the day I should buy a lottery ticket!!

And yes, I feel better...

Day 13 - I have arms of steel

At least that's what I told myself when my jumprope broke this morning. The rope snapped off right at the handle. WOW! I am so strong that I am making mincemeat of this jumprope!!

Nah...

It just happens that the life expectancy of a $3 jumprope is approximately 13 days (or 6200 jumps).

6200 jumps - look at us go!

(and look at me go shopping this afternoon...)

Day 12 - finally not too sore

Maybe my body is getting a bit used to the exercise, but I'm not nearly as sore as I have been. I'm definitely feeling my workouts though. And those 20 second rests between ab sets? Best 20 seconds of the day! I am doing allright on the food front. I don't find this part of it too challenging and I figure this is because:

a) I work from home and eat all my meals at home
b) I work part-time from home so have more time to cook
c) I don't have children so my free time is "free"
d) I cook a lot anyway and the cooking I'm doing for my PCP diet is very alligned with how I usually cook (altough there's WAY more protein in my diet now)


(my point is that I admire and commend all of you with extremely busy lives. this is quite a pursuit and a test of time management, and I know it can be done!)


The part I find hard (and hope I don't struggle too much with in upcoming weeks) is the exercise. So far it's been good. And I love getting it over with first thing in the morning. But every time I do the incline pull ups I wonder if I'll EVER be able to do a proper overhead pull up. I can do all my reps. And in the first set I can even get myself all the way up to the bar, but by set 3 I'm barely there at all. I wonder when I will feel stronger. Also I look in the mirror a lot to see if I can notice any difference... anyone else doing that?

That said, I did play tennis today, and I felt quicker on my feet and better able to get to the ball. I guess that's strength.

Anyway, good tips yesterday, Patrick about the veggies. I do the same for everything. I never just make one meal's worth of anything (and this is where I don't differ from pre-PCP). I eat lunch at home and Simon, my husband, takes his lunch to work everyday... so when I cook rice, I cook a LOT of rice and it's great for a few meals. I recommend this to people too. You end up eating the same thing for a few meals in a row but it saves time in the end and takes a lot of thinking out of it come supper time.

Oh, and wheat berries are my new favorite food. If you haven't tried these yet I really recommend them. I had them this morning with my milk, better than any boxed cereal I've ever had and more hearty than oatmeal. They take a long time to cook however (I did them last night) but totally worth it!

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend.

Team Blue!! (Anybody ready to change that name yet?) Team Don't Get Blue? Team Blue Skies are Coming? Team ROCK HARD ABS?

Day 10 - Supper for breakfast

When I was a kid my mom sometimes made pancakes for supper and I thought it was the best thing ever. Breakfast for supper! Well, now it seems it's supper for breakfast, which suits me just fine; I like savory food so I'm happy to eat veggies for breakfast. Today instead of trying to find a way to make them "breakfasty" I just reheated the leftovers from last night's supper and substituted the salmon for an egg. It was brown rice, veggies (zucchini, eggplant, peppers and tomatoes that I'd baked with herbs) and a poached egg. It was the best breakfast I'd had in a long time and I took a picture of it for y'all:

I found a park around the corner with a perfect bar for incline pull-ups. So I jumped (which was TOTALLY hard today) and headed over there to do the pull-ups while I was warmed up and then came home to do the rest of the workout. It's not ideal as breaks the momentum and takes longer. I could leave them until the end of the workout  and do them when I walk the dog, but if order of exercises is important, that might not work either.

Patrick, thanks for addressing the bean and nut issue in yesterday's email. I was wondering about that.

Peanut butter, I shall miss you!!

Day 9

My body aches all over and I love it. I had a massage this morning and I could really tell that I've engaged a lot of my muscles in the last week.

Despite the load of food yesterday, I was FAMISHED when I woke up this morning. Today I don't feel like it's been too much food at all. Clearly my body is using the fuel somehow. I bought some wheat berries today as well as some buckwheat groat. I'm going to take this opportunity to experiment with all kinds of different whole grains! I'll post any recipes I find or things I make that work really well... I hope everybody else does the same. The shared tips are really helpful

Day 8 - a near fail and a 180

I started earlier with an entire “woe is me” post (the rain! incline pull-ups? a leak in the house! a workout interrupted! my bands haven’t arrived yet!). Blah, blah… I felt doomed and the quitter inside me taunted me a little. But, the day turned around. So I had to push back my workout… I got it in before lunch. After 200 highly unsuccessful jumps on the carpet inside (at 7:00 am at which point the interruption occurred) the sky cleared and I did the other 400 outside. The house leak is drying. I used the hacked up bits of old bands we have (with no handles) and it all worked out just fine. And I will find a place to do incline pull ups (I had found more of a chin-up bar at the local school but was ill-prepared for the INCLINE).

Anyway, the day’s almost over, and I did it. I even managed an unexpected lunch guest and explained why my homemade vegetable soup had no salt and why my toasted tomato sandwich had no mayo. And then I ate ANOTHER sandwich. Tuna this time. I rinsed the tuna first (water-packed tuna still has sodium!) and then gave it some lemon juice and pepper and smushed it between two pieces of bread. Do you know why they really put mayo in the tuna sandwich? Its’ like glue, you see. Without it, your sandwich looks like this:

Anyway, I hope everybody else made out ok today. I have to find some protein for my supper. This requires a shopping excursion for fish and shrimp (the two things I didn’t buy yesterday). And I will enjoy my fish with my leftover pasta and tomato sauce from last night.

On another note:

Patrick, I’m so happy that the PCP philosophy is the Michael Pollan way! I’ve read this article many times (and yes I read it again!) and this has been my food philosophy for years. We reviewed his book “In Defense of Food” in my book club last year. It’s a great, eye-opening read. Also, I happened to watch the documentary “Food, Inc.” last night, on the eve of the PCP diet change. It’s a great film and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to eat more consciously.

Day 7 - 1 week down!

I can totally relate with Sara's post this morning - I'm so ready to start the "real" PCP! I'm definitely looking forward to having a restricted and prescribed diet. It will take a lot of the guessing work out about what's the "best thing to eat" so we can just focus on the fitness!

I loved that today was jumps only. I was really ready for a break from the push ups. I did 5 sets of 100 and managed the first two sets with NO TRIPS! I was amazed! Wow, legs were BURNING though!!

Halve a great last day everyone!!

(Get it? HALVE.... insert grooooaaaannn here.....)

Day 6 - a realization

I have suffered from heartburn very regularly for probably over 20 years.

Last night when I went to bed, it dawned on me that since halving my meals I haven't had heartburn once!

Day 5 - breaking habits

I am reading a lot of comments that people's feet are sore, and I'm so glad mine are not. My chest on the other hand? How is it that the push up bars make such a difference? Ouch! The weekend was a success. I took Patrick's advice about keeping my mouth and hands busy and picked at half a salt-free brown rice cake for over an hour today... it wasn't necessarily satisfying (though I wasn't exactly hungry) but I did pick each tiny piece of rice off and then kind of let each one melt in my mouth... it occupied my time anyway.

Lesson of the weekend - Friday night I had allotted myself half a whole wheat bun to go along with my salad for supper. But then I forgot about it. When I remembered I muttered something out loud like "oh, I was going to have this with supper, I'm not really hungry for it now but I'm just going to have a bit of peanut butter on it..." My husband just looked at me and said "if you're not hungry don't eat it".

Duh. Old habits, I guess!

Day 3

I feel good. Really sore all over but I feel tighter if that makes sense. Today’s workout felt good too, but still a little trippy on the jumps. It’s definitely because it’s harder to pick up my feet but I think my jump rope is also kind of sucky. Does anybody have one they’d recommend? Push-ups were the hardest. My chest is SORE!

Last night I talked myself into having half a beer. I’m not even sure I wanted it, but the thought of not being able to have it in a few days (I assume I won’t be able to) made me want to indulge. I took a sip and realized I didn’t really want it (but yes, I finished it). Then I sat down and read Patrick’s email about his effort to find substitutes for things like beer (coffee of all things, Patrick?). I guess in the next 87 days I will be finding a lot of substitutes for food cravings (and more importantly eating habits). That’s not to say that I won’t enjoy my half-drink tonight… I just think it will be some red wine instead.

Food-wise, I realize that I don’t eat very much. My half portions are small. I’m hungry a lot. I continue to follow my regular “snacking” pattern, but half of that as well and usually apple or yogurt. I can go DAAAAYYYYS without sweets, but I’d be a little afraid if someone put a basket of fries in front of me right now. That’s what I’d choose over cake any day. Last night (along with the half of a beer) I ate 1.5 pieces of pizza. It wasn’t like an ooey-gooey greasy restaurant pizza, it was a fresh, purchased (but more of a homemade) cook yourself type with not too much cheese and just veggies. But I felt full and bloated afterward and I immediately regretted eating it. So if my half portion was too much, my usual 3 pieces is obviously just overboard. It’s possible that I always feel that way when I eat it but I’m definitely more mindful about my whole eating experience at the moment.

And so it seems, that these last three days have been very similar to the ones before them, but I feel better and more in touch with my body and how it’s talking to me. And when it comes down to it, the thing I'm doing differently is making choices I haven't made before. Choosing to get up early (in the cold! and the dark!) to exercise, to stick to a routine, to eat something (or not eat something). I feel really happy to be doing this right now. I’m looking forward to day 4 and beyond!

Day 2

I was so hungry when I went to bed last night I thought I'd have a terrible sleep, but I had one of the best sleeps of my LIFE! I have a bit of an insomnia problem so when I can make it through the whole night and wake up feeling rested it just feels amazing!

The hunger was gone by the time I woke up and I was able to do my workout on an empty stomach. A bit more trippy on the jumps today and, yikes, those pushups! (Oh, I am weak...)

Also, I am jumping rope outside (I assume everybody is, right?). But it's chilly in the mornings! Should be interesting in another month!!

Day 1

Ok, I’m not going to be the jackass who says “I thought this was going to be harder” but I will say that I was SO happy to not fall on my face this morning while jumping rope because I really thought getting the rope around my BODY would be harder. I’m not graceful by any means, but I survived it and in one of my five sets, actually did the WHOLE 50 jumps without tripping. As pain creeps from my feet up to my legs I’m sure it will become increasingly difficult to even lift my feet off the ground (not to mention what might happen with my arms), but for now I feel accomplished!

The rest of the workout was good… I wasn’t sure if in the sit-up we should be going all the way up… Patrick, it looks in the photo like you’re kind of lifting your chest off the floor and leaving your low back down. Is that right? And my dog was a little confused but the whole process… usually we enjoy a leisurely early-morning cuddle while my husband rides his recumbent bike, but today Wiley stood in the driveway staring at me while I jumped and then sat almost on top of me pawing at my armpit while I did sit ups. He will adjust.

I’ve decided that whenever possible I’ll do my workouts first thing in the morning. I noted that more than a few PCP bloggers said when they waited until the afternoon it just got harder. So mornings it is, which is new for me. I am a morning person but not a morning exerciser. It actually makes me feel sick to my stomach, but I know that it won’t take long before a habit forms and I’ll get used to it.

And finally the food. It’s too soon to tell how hungry I’ll be after a week of eating half my usual portions. We aren’t big portion people anyway in this house, and we have what we call “the 10-minute rule”. We can always go for second helpings, but better to wait 10 minutes first. It’s amazing how often you’re actually NOT hungry anymore 10 minutes after eating. So I will continue to follow the rule this week, but the first serving will be half-size and the second (if there is one) will be half of what it regularly would have been.

So far today it’s been 1 egg, 1 toast and half a tomato for breakfast, followed a little later by half a yogurt for a snack. Then I played tennis for 90 minutes and had half an apple right after. Then for lunch I had half a bowl of homemade beany-veggie soup, 1 piece of cheese, half a salt-free brown rice cake, and the other half of my yogurt. Because I work at home, I eat almost all my meals at home, which makes not wasting food easier... but because I served myself only half portions to start with I didn’t have the psychological effect of leaving half my food on my plate and walking away. Which I think I’d be ok with. But like I said, maybe in four days when I’m “HUNGRY” I’ll feel differently.

Hope everybody else’s Day 1 was great!  

Day 0

I am excited:

• to get strong
• to be held accountable
• to connect
• to touch my toes
• to push myself

I am nervous:

• about feeling pressure to conform in social situations
• about how upcoming travel might interfere with my PCP goals
• about the hard work I know this will be

BUT, 90 days is a drop in the bucket of my life. I can do anything for 90 days, right?



We ALL can!