Day90 Final Post

So here we are at Day-90.  Most of my friends and certainly even myself never thought I would have stuck it out 90 days. It definitely says something about the PCP program that I have lasted.  Patrick has this thing nailed.  Firstly the pics and stats.I have lost 11.3Kg and 7% body fat.  Despite the kids saying I have become skinny that is certainly not the appropriate word to use.  I am definitely feeling fitter, healthier and happier than I was 90 days ago.  It has been a fun ride.  

 I wouldn't say it has been an smooth ride, with plenty of ups and downs.  The first 2 months were pretty fascinating as we changed our diets increased the exercise.  Seeing how the body responds to these changes was interesting - from being starving in the first week, to complaining about not being able to eat all that was assigned the next.  It was uncanny how accurate the timing of Patrick's emails describing what we might be experiencing.  This helped a lot with my confidence that he knew what he was doing.  It was after all a leap of blind faith in the beginning to put 3 months of my life into his hands (the 3 best beer drinking months of the year to boot)  Also confidence building was the realisation that there were no smoke and mirrors, or magic bullet to a healthy lifestyle, merely common sense. So simple most people overlook it.  His rules were not hard and fast - simply that the more you bend the rules the further you move from your desired outcome. I was not perfect in my attempt and had some deviations on both the diet and exercise.  The good news is I have more confidence now that I know how to control my body and know what I should eat and what exercise I should do to achieve certain results, be it maintaining levels, or losing more body fat.
The real test begins now.  Just as most friends were sure I wouldn't complete the program, the same people have the firm opinion that even if I made it I would immediately rebound (so whats the point)  I don't feel like I am finished yet and will work on decreasing my body fat level.  I will whole heartedly recommend this program to anybody that is interested, but it will be a rather hollow recommendation if I am back over 92Kg when I give it.
Thanks to Patrick and Chen.  I would like to say this was a life changing 90 days, but I will reserve that for a year and see if I am still living the PCP. Thanks also to the bloggers. Without  reading the daily blogs of people slogging it out along side me I am sure my friends would have been proven right.
Thanks also to my supportive wife Tae and the kids Sena, Josh and Connor.  

Day 85

At the start of the PCP I had thoughts about what it would be like to make it to day-90.  As we approach the end the ideas I had at the beginning are completely different to what I am experiencing now.  I had envisioned a weeks worth of reservations at my favourite restaurants and a 24/7 eating and drinking binge.  It feels like I should be having celebratory dinner somewhere but at this point nothing springs to mind.  When I try to think about it I find myself only considering places I know have good salad and vege options.  VERY strange for me.  The truth is love the breakfast and lunches.  The simplicity of a vege based dinner and not going to bed with a full churning stomach are also compelling.  I guess I am probably at the extreme end of things for me at this stage of the PCP and post PCP I might drift back toward something more normal for me.  I do think I will continue to be far more conscious of salad and veges, and probably eat no where near the amount of fried food I used to eat.  I would hate to think I never found food or a new restaurant exciting again.  Its all about balance and maintenance from here... oh, after getting through the next few days of gruelling exercises that is.  

Scales

Now back in Tokyo after a couple of weeks out and raring to go for the last week of PCP.  I was quite anxious stepping on the home scales as vacations normally see at least a 3kg increase, but this time it was unchanged - very happy but confusing.  I am still struggling to free my mind of the numbers on the scales.  Recently I have noticed visual changes in my shoulders and waste, not as obvious as some of the changes I see in other PCPers, but pleasing to me.  Also today coming back to work I found my belt needing to be moved another notch in.  All good news, but the unchanged numbers on the scales still leave me slightly dissatisfied. Hoping to see some more changes at the end of this week of hard training.

its been a while..

It has been some time since my last post but I have been batteling on. Just at the end of a 2 week vacation to Perth and Phuket. The diet has been a little wonky from time to time but no where near as bad as expected. The workouts whilst here in Phuket have been fun with an extra evening run. I think the extra energy comes from getting some sun and eating a ton of veges for breakfast and lunch. Trying to go all out for these last few days. Feeling some extra muscle in my shoulders and back recently - perhaps a little muscle growth spurt occuring in these last few days. Back to normal in tokyo on Sunday.

Day 65

For some reason Monday/Tuesday this week seemed like the darkest PCP days so far for me... real motivation problems.  The previous week I had been feeling strong and noticing progress.  Everything seemed to go stale and flatten out, then the prospect of just grinding through the motions for the last 4 weeks started to play on my mind. Yesterday I seemed to snap out of it and followed the wise words of Chopper Reid - HTFU!!  Actually Tuesday night instead of skipping I went for a 30minute run.  It was refreshing to mix in a different cardio and nice to have a good run rather than the normal wheezing, coughing and wobbling my way around the course - progress.

Day 61

I knew it was going to be a rough weekend, and had this "exception" planned from the start of the PCP.  It was Fuji Rock weekend in Japan.  I only went for 1 day/night but that was plenty of time to do damage.  The diet was pretty much all liquid based and of the beer variety.  In the back of my mind I tried to partially justify it by telling myself the amount of walking and standing in mud was a good workout. Not too sure if it was because I didnt snack on a lot of bad food, but felt fine the next day and managed to get all of my exercises done for the weekend.  Another personal discovery was that following a boozey night I would normally crave foods in the Top-5 Thou-Shall-Never-Eat category.  This time though I felt kind of unclean, and craved fruit and raw Veges to somehow remedy the problem.  I would like to think this could continue in post PCP life.

Day 55

Despite grand plans I didn't do any of the PCP exercises on Saturday.  I was wakeboarding for the day and planned to do the exercises in the evening.  I am pretty sure my back, legs, shoulders and arms got a pretty good workout though.  Sunday was mostly spent on the sofa watching movies (and the workout in the evening)  This normally would mean going back and forth to the fridge and snacking all day, but I managed to keep the snacks to tomatoes and carrots.  I would like to think it was through great discipline, but the reality is there is nothing else in the fridge.