Day 48 - Is it Tuesday yet?

I feel like I've been working out hard and pushing myself in the last few days, but I feel great. I'm back to being sore everyday and feeling each workout - kind of like I was at the beginning. But, wow, am I ready for a break this week. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's jumps-only day.

Something happened during yesterday's jumps where I started shifting my weight from foot to foot without picking up each leg which is what I was doing before. Anyway, suddenly jumping became much easier and 2 minutes no longer felt like 19 minutes! It's the little things that are getting me through the valley.

I'm still sick... so stuffed up... when my head hits the pillow at night it becomes harder to breathe and I had a couple of interrupted sleeps this weekend, though last night was a bit better. I usually heal much quicker than this - is this PCP-related I wonder? I'm sick of being sick, that's for sure.

Last night I had a (quite unusual) hankering for something sweet. So instead of eating my evening apple, I baked it with a few dried cranberries and some cinnamon. It was SUPER sweet - actually a bit too sweet though Simon with the Sweet Tooth was not complaining. But it was nice for a change and felt like "dessert".

I've been thinking a lot about food lately - my relationship with it, my next indulgence, and what my post-PCP diet will look like. I am going to work on a post about this. And I will put up some new pictures this week.

Love 8MA!

Day 43 - I love week 7!!

First, let me say that I can't tell you all how much "as much as you want" means to me. Now, twice a day, I can just pile the veggies on and not have to measure something. I can make soup again! I haven't really known how to weigh soup given that it's partly water so I've been avoiding it. Seriously. This is a big deal for me. I can make PCP pilaf with rice and couscous and not have to do the veggies separate from the carbs. Exciting times, people.

Also, as you know, I hate lunges, but today, after not doing them for a while, I realized how much easier they are. All those leg lifts and bicycles (that pain the front of all our legs?) have given me this hip flexor/psoas strength I didn't previously have. It was a totally new lunge experience for me!

And finally, how great is it to just set a timer to jump? I only made in through one of my two-minute sets (the 6th) trip-free, but it was great fun to no longer count. I was mixing it up at the end... 10 jumps on one leg, 10 jumps on the other. I will definitely add music to my workouts now that I don't have to focus on counting.

Love the changes this week. And, wow, those planks. Fifty second is a long fucking time.

JFD

Day 42 - On a positive note...

In light of my recent negativity, I thought I would try to identify some of the positive experiences I'm having because of the PCP. So here we go, in no particular order:

1. I can see lines in my abs where I used to see rolls in my abs.
2. The exercise has proven to be an incredibly useful outlet for my stress surrounding our adoption woes. In fact the whole thing - even being pissed off at my diet from time to time - is just a good general distraction from stress.
3. I stretch everyday.
4. I am pretty sure my posture is better.
5. I signed up for the Ottawa half marathon (which is next May) ALREADY. This will be my third one in 5 years and the first one I will run in the "over 40" age group. I will also (confidently) say that it will be my fastest. I usually wait until the last possible moment to sign up. This time I kind of feel like "bring it on."
6. I like my coffee with skim milk now, and probably won't go back to cream.
7. I bought new jeans on Monday and they were a size smaller than usual.

OK. That's all I got. Thanks for all your kind comments yesterday. It seems that the middle part is hard, isn't it? But doesn't it kind of feel like we just started yesterday? So on day 85 we'll be saying wow, day 42 felt like yesterday! Right?

Day 41

I don't know if it's because I'm sick but I'm just feeling like everything's a struggle right now. I'm starting to resent the amount of food I have to prepare and eat everyday. I wish that part was easier for sure. I couldn't make it through my lunch carbs today, I just started feeling sick.

I've also been hating the jump ropes lately - I lost two days to general sickness and yesterday it almost felt like starting from scratch. Not sure I'm seeing any new differences physically. I guess I'm getting stronger - I can do more - but I'd like to start loving this again. Can I do this for 50 more days? Is this just some kind of mid-way slump?

I'm not going to quit because I resolved at the beginning to not to do JUST THAT. But I wish I could just eat a toasted tomato sandwich without having to put so much thought into it.

Maybe tomorrow I will write a post that sounds a little more positive.

Day 39 - Weekend fail

I’m sick and I’m grumpy. I finally got the PCP cold/sinus infection/general malaise that seems to have already hit much of the group. Friday I had to choose between sleep and exercise – I was awake for several hours in the middle of the night and at 4am I was starting to get stressed that I had to get up at 5:45 to get my workout in before leaving for Toronto. Anyway, I chose sleep. The day got away from me and I never got a chance to work out again before we had to get ready to go to a wedding.

And then Friday night (after leaving the wedding early because I was getting sicker and sicker) I took cold medicine at 10pm and had I guess what can only be called a bad reaction to that which I attempted to offset with a sleeping pill (BIG FAIL). I fell asleep just before 7 this morning and managed 2 hours before I had to get up.

I came home early so I could at least be at home instead of hanging out in a hotel while Simon was at a conference. I’m happy to be home but am achy and feeling not well.

Blah, blah... I’m going to have an early night and get back on track tomorrow.

Day 37 - Learning from those who've gone before us

The blogs of those who have completed the PCP and those who are in the cohort that started before us have been such a great resource for me. There are some PCPers whose blogs I have read over many times, like Sarah R's and Corry's. Sometimes I like to jump to the day in someone's blog that coincides with our current day and see what was going on for them and how it compares with what's going on for me.

For example, yesterday I found this post from Sarah on her day 37 and it exactly echoed how I felt during Tuesday's jumps-only day. I jump in sets of 100. It pained me because I was thinking, I've been doing this for 35 days—how can I not just do sets of 400 and get it over with? But by 80 jumps my legs and shoulders are burning and when I hit 100 I have to stop for 20 or 30 second to regroup and start over.

So I really appreciated find this post and reading Sarah's take on her situation and all the follow-up comments. I am going to work harder at pushing it and doing the things I need to do to increase my jumps per set, like switching feet, slowing down, speeding up... whatever helps break the monotony. There's no reason I can't at least try. The most jumps I've done at once is 261 (I tripped or I would have at least tried to make it to 275). So I CAN jump more than 100 times but it's like my mind put up this road block of 100 being manageable or easy to count to or something.

Anyway, I will continue to look back at those who've gone before us. There are some gems of advice in those posts!

Day 35 - Lithe to Lumpy

Well, it's been 35 days. I haven't missed a workout or screwed up a meal. And like I whined to Patrick the other day... I feel fat.

I feel like I was getting somewhere. I was feeling lithe and lean around the middle. Now I just feel lumpy and lethargic. I want a peice of toast with peanut butter. And not because I'm craving it... I'm still not craving food. I am craving the simplicity of that meal, though. The ease of preparing toast and peanut butter is so appealing to me right now. I just want a quick meal without thinking and weighing. I hope this passes.

Patrick's wise words to me were that it's not really possible to gain fat on this diet and that I should not stress. He also said that I needed all the food to create the new muscle, otherwise the muscle just takes from existing muscle to make more. This all makes sense to me. Yet, I just feel thick around the middle and the rolls of fat are coming back. At least I think they are. Maybe it is my mind playing tricks on me.

Anyway, I'm eager for new and harder exercises this week. (I will regret saying this, I bet.) And I'm wondering if my diet will change. I want to feel like I'm going to succeed at this but I'm 1/3 in and I thought after a promising start that I would see more differences by this point.  Maybe this is just the visceral fat... whatever it is it feels like there's more of it and it's getting me down.