The Peak Condition Community

Crazy Busy Week!

2009-04-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

I knew going in that this week would be crazy busy and it pretty much was. I got to work out in the gym Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but I did run on Monday and I walked home from work Friday. Even so I felt I let my PCP priorities slide because of some perfume-related commitments.

My eating I'd actually give an 9 out of 10 especially given how busy I was this week. And you have to remember that for me, when I get busy, I skip meals entirely so even planning, remembering and taking time to eat is a big achievement for me. I didn't really fall off the wagon and I'm ready to get right back to it tomorrow. This upcoming week will also be stressful but not nearly as bad as the past so in comparison it will seem like cake.

I was away from home from dawn til dusk yesterday and today and instead of relying on whatever food happened to be available I packed a nice healthy bag of protein power (hard boiled egg, string cheese), fruit, and veggies. Was sure cheaper than the $9.00 gyros at the tent behind me, too. I guess that's the big lesson for this week - packing lunches can make or break you, nutrition wise. Try to put a little more thought into them ahead of time and it is more than worthwhile.

The good news is all my other hard work this week paid off literally as well as metaphorically. In two days at craft shows I sold enough perfume to equal what I take home in a week of work!

Anyway, I'm super exhausted now and it's time to get some nice sleep so I can get back to moving those muscles tomorrow. I don't really have enough energy to even formulate any 'words of wisdom'. Goodnight!

A Fork in the Road

2009-04-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

I have reached a fork in the road.

Following the PCP regimen is important in my mind, but hasn't been as present in my actions. Every time after I eat something I know is bad for me, and each day of the week that I don't work out, I tell myself that from that point on, I am going to do better. But lately, I haven't been. My diet isn't all bad, but it's not completely balanced and I have been eating out more often. Where I feel that I am really lacking is daily exercise. I have not given myself the time to take a 20 minute break from my work to go outside and do my jump ropes. It's in the back of my mind, but somehow day-to-day it has not been on my top priorities.

So here's my dilemma. I really want to get back into shape, and, even more so, feel more healthy and energetic. There are two directions I could go from this point.

The first path is to admit to myself that, right now, running my home businesses is important and time-consuming, and a PCP regimen is just not going to happen at this point. That doesn't by any means mean that I would give up on good health, just simply stepping back from the PCC and relieving myself of the pressure to get into peak condition at this point in my life.

The second would be to step up to the plate and give the PCP and this community all the effort I can.

I have made the decision to take the first path, to back off from the PCC for now. This will be my last post for now. I have to be honest about where my priorities lie. I will of course keep reading the blog, and cheering everyone on. I think that a few other members of this community are at this same crossroads. I hope we can all support each other, whichever path we have chosen.

Good luck to everyone! I can't wait to read your future posts.

Emiko

Are You Trapped Behind These Bars?

2009-04-16T06:09:00.000-07:00

Today I'm taking on a trend that I once enthusiastically took part in. I used to have a book delivery job at my University, and on my delivery shifts I'd always take along an "energy bar."

Everyone is familiar with these things. Back then pretty much the only choice was Powerbar, which came in Chocolate or Peanut Butter (both which shared the flavor profile of "nasty"). But I'd look on the back of the foil package and see I was getting 300% of my daily thiamin, 130% of my folic acid, and so on, and I'd feel pretty good about myself. Plus, delivering all those heavy books with the school van was hard work, I needed the energy boost, right?

Well, 10 years later, and about 20 pounds lighter, I can see the folly of my youth. The energy bar is just another misappropriated health product that was never intended for a mass market.

Here's the history of two famous energy bar brands, the aforementioned PowerBar and its competitor Clif Bar, lifted from Wikipedia:

"Maxwell started the PowerBar company with his girlfriend, Jennifer Biddulph, a nutritionist who later became his wife. He came up with the idea of an energy bar after dropping out of a marathon at the 21-mile mark, at about the segment of the 26.2 mile event known among runners as "The Wall", where experts say the body ceases burning carbohydrates and begins burningmuscle tissue instead."

"While on a 175 mile bike ride founder and CEO Gary Erickson was eating energy bars and decided he could no longer take another bite due to the taste. He developed Clif Bar as an alternative to the many poor tasting energy bars on the market."

Did you notice something there? The PowerBar guy was running marathons. In fact he was on the Canadian Olympic Marathon team. And the Clif Bar dude was on a 175 mile bike ride when his little lightbulb went off. These guys were serious athletes performing near the extremes of human endurance. And they invented super compressed calorie dense foods that were portable and packed a serious punch for systems depleted and starting to fail.

And yet today these products have proven so lucrative that they are being pitched as a healthy "pick you up" as you whiz through your busy day of dropping off the kids, going to meetings, cranking out that report, and hitting up yoga on the way home from work. Clif Bar's female version, the ubiquitous Luna Bar, has little splash graphics on their homepage that change each time you go there. Try for yourself! I've seen so far graphics of stylized women lying on the couch, grocery shopping, hula hooping, doing yoga in the park, and hanging out with friends. I must have missed the Olympic marathoner and the 175 mile bike rider.

I don't care how mischievous your kids or or how hard your yoga session, you are not burning enough calories to warrant a 200-400 calorie midday "snack" to get you through to dinner. The recipe for these bars hasn't changed much over the years. A a blast of sugar followed by a bricks worth of carbs to get you over that 150 mile mark. Except now as they try to gain more market appeal with Chocolate Covered Raspberry Drizzle topping or what not there is even more saturated fats and processed junk going in than ever before.

The same thing happened with Gatorade and its ilk in the early 90s, a drink meant for athletes seriously pushing their bodies was moved over to a market or people who wanted to be like those athletes without all the hassle of actually exercising. Now these energy drinks are consumed in vast quantities as a "healthy" alternative to sugary colas. (Guess what suckers, a bottle of Powerade has as many calories as a can of Coca Cola). Hey, the number one tennis player in the world drinks it, why wouldn't it be appropriate for an active young guy like myself? Well, sorry dude, playing video games and surfing porn doesn't exactly warrant replenishing your electrolytes.

The funny thing is, the designers of these products know very well that the vast majority of people have no need for this kind of supplement, but they won't be caught dead breathing a word about that. So it's up to me.

If you are a regular person doing moderate and even strenuous exercise, you never need to eat an energy bar. It will just add on excess calories, making the gains you made during your training a wash. And if you are a desk worker or homemaker who eats these things as healthy snacks, you need to get off the crack. The only way these could be worked into a diet is if you had one instead of a meal, and that would be a terrible trade off. To give up the natural nutrition of fresh food for one of these sugary factory made carbo-bombs would be insane. They look healthy and natural but you might as well be eating a candy bar. In fact, why not a Snickers Marathon Bar! I wish I was making this up.

Stick with your vegetables and fruit and don't let companies, however hippie and granola they present themselves to be, do the work of providing nutrition and energy for your body. They don't really want you to be healthy and energized. They just want your money.

A Good Influence...

2009-04-12T17:34:00.000-07:00

I was reading Michael's latest PCP blog and he mentions a big factor in the PCP: your friends and family. If you have totally unhealthy, unfit friends and family then they may become a drag to your fitness/health goals, but on the other hand if you play your cards right you may become a help to getting them in a healthier lifestyle.

I spent some time this Easter weekend with my boyfriend's family, who have typical American eating habits for the most part and are really, really inactive. They love food (dad's TiVo is filled up with the Food Network) but don't like to cook. Watching the Food Network my eyes goggled out of my head at times, especially in the restaurant scenes because there is just so much hidden butter and salt to make all that restaurant food taste "yum-o". That Paula Deen should be taken off the air by the FDA.

His mom sometimes asks me about the PCP but I hesitate to talk about it because unlike some people, she's admittedly not willing to give up that restaurant food so it's pretty much a waste of my breath. It is killing everyone softly. And honestly, if you are obese you cannot really do a PCP-style workout but everyone has to eat and every single person has the ability to eat like a motherf*cking PCP champion. And if you do that for six months you will be in a much better place to talk about jumping rope, jogging, lifting weights, or whatever. One of the big things I learned during the PCP is that you and only you have the power to make yourself better, and you have to trust that you have the power. If you start blaming other people, making excuses, or whatever, you lose.

They, however, are a BAD INFLUENCE on my boyfriend and I, encouraging us to "just enjoy" whatever tempting treats are about, which is really upsetting and downright dangerous considering the bf is a type 1 diabetic. Food = happiness in that house for sure. They have tried to make a few adjustments and serve more fresh veggies for me and lower-carb items for him (have you tried whipped cauliflower in place of mashed potatoes? ). So maybe we are making some progress after all.

I am slowly coaching a lady in my office because she has actually made some progress on her own and is ready to step it up another notch. We eat lunch at about the same time and she asks a lot of questions as to what I eat and why, and what I do to stay fit. I'm learning a lot from her about what your 'average' American really knows about fitness and exercise, which is, sadly, not too much. We talk a lot about food because she's joined Weight Watchers, which I am learning is actually a pretty no-nonsense, no gimmicks, good information kind of thing. But I couldn't believe it that she had been going to WW for TWO MONTHS and she says they are just now telling folks to get some exercise every day.

Well, try to be a good influence on someone this week and try to tune out the many, many bad influences out there.

Perform Your Own Gastric Bypass!

2009-04-06T16:11:00.000-07:00

In the last few years, Gastric Bypass surgery has become all the rage. Magazines love to put stars who have lost weight on their covers, and this applies even to those who arrived there via stomach surgery. To see some stars who've undergone this operation check out this link. The surgery is actually pretty simple. The doctors open you up, snip your small intestine, and attach the intestine just BEFORE the tube that enters your main stomach organ. The stomach is bypassed completely, and your new stomach is just the little pouch where food normally gathers just before entering the digestive tract. This graphic illustrates it well. That little empty tube on the bottom left? Yeah, that's where your intestine USED to attach. Cool/gross factor here.

The average person loses 100-150 pounds after gastric bypass. This is not done through willpower or a special diet, it simply happens because, with a stomach the size of an egg, patients can't physically eat enough to keep putting on the pounds.

There is something to be learned here for the rest of us who are simply trying to maintain healthy weights:

When your stomach is full, food loses its power over you.

We all know this process. Go to an all you can eat Chinese buffet. The first trip up, the food looks and smells so wonderful. So you load up your plate and chow down. The second trip up, the exact same food starts to look a bit heavy, a bit sickly under the lights. But you go for it anyway. The third trip, what just 30 mins earlier looked delicious is starting to seem repulsive. I've been to a few Thanksgivings where I've been so full that I literally couldn't look at food anymore. Indeed, one of the universal signs of "I'm stuffed" is holding up the hand, closing the eyes, and looking away. That's how gastric bypass patients feel after a small serving. Cravings and willpower just aren't an issue anymore.

I got onto this line of thinking last week when I had a busy day where I didn't have a chance to eat lunch. That afternoon I had to go to the department store. In Japan the basements of department stores are where fine foods are sold and served. So I was passing all these counters filled with pastries, cakes, delicately fried dishes, and glistening juicy morsels at every turn. It was hard to ignore it all, and I soon broke down and bought my favorite sweet red bean pancake sandwich, Obanyaki. Yum! But a bunch of empty calories that won't make me any healthier. It wasn't the particular quality of the food that tempted me, it was the state of my stomach as I passed the food. A little lightbulb went off above my head.

1. Leverage the power of a full stomach. If you physically fill up your stomach, even a chocolate swirl cheesecake with whipped cream and blueberries won't have the slightest pull over you. You will be invincible. The trick is, of course, to fill up your stomach with good stuff. Fruit is your go to food here. Eating a whole apple will add negligible calories to your diet, but will leave you feeling full for a few hours. Also, as we've discussed at length, switching to a 6 small meals a day approach to eating will keep you topped up and craving free. You can also use water or tea to fill out your stomach if there's nothing else available.

2. Shrink your stomach organ. No surgeons required. Just as we can stretch out our stomach organ if we consistently overeat, we can allow it to shrink back to a more natural size. Most people eat far more than their caloric needs. If you can just start to cut the amount of food you eat, the stomach will protest a bit (i.e, will tell you it's hungry), but will eventually become smaller in response. Suddenly what a few weeks ago would have left you feeling unsatisfied now fills you up. Portion control!

Why spend energy fighting cravings, when we can largely bypass them entirely just by thinking a bit ahead and always keeping our smaller sized stomachs full of good stuff? Who's in?

Insatiable

2009-04-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

I've had a weird week where nothing sounds good, my cravings are low but anything I eat just doesn't give me a feeling of fullness or satiety. What's up with that?

Anyway, to keep myself busy and not snacking I've been doing a lot of chores around the house, cooking and baking bread again. It's interesting to bake bread and cook because you think that you'd never eat a cup of flour but if you ate 1/4 of the recipe of bread I just made (it makes two smallish loaves) then you just ate a cup of flour. Hmmm. Don't even get me started on cookies!

As for the rest of the cooking, healthy stuff, of course (we had a PCP friendly lunch of grilled shrimp, couscous and cauliflower)! I even made my own yogurt recently, which is fun, but kind of a pain so I think I'll just keep buying the all natural kind from the store.

The lettuce seedlings are really coming along now! I bet I'll have something edible in two weeks. And that should get us through until there's cabbage and cucumbers and then, tomatoes! That first tomato of the season is always so good.

Gotta get back to my bread! I forgot how labor intensive it is.

PCP Cavities

2009-04-03T23:33:00.001-07:00

I went to the dentist this week for a cleaning and to get my wisdom teeth checked up, and I found out that I had two cavities! TWO! I couldn't believe it. I haven't had very many cavities since I was a little kid, so I was surprised that two popped up after improving my diet so drastically.

My dentist asked me if I had been eating a lot of sticky foods or candy, but I have mostly given up sugar since last fall. She then asked if I had been snacking a lot. At first I was going to say no, just because I think of "snacking" as a negative thing... like stuffing your face with junky food all day long. But in reality, I do snack a lot. The PCP regimen has us eating small meals and snacks throughout the day. I asked her, even if it's healthy food, if snacking is bad for your teeth. The answer was Yes.

It turns out that eating many small meals throughout the day provides a lot of opportunities for food to get stuck in your teeth, for long periods, before we brush our teeth at night. And the longer the food sits between your teeth, the more likely you are to get cavities. YIKES! So I asked my dentist what the best solution was, and she said to drink water while you eat, and to brush your teeth some time in the middle of the day if possible. I guess I coulda anticipated that one, but it really makes sense. Too bad I had to figure that out after I already needed fillings.

Hope there won't be any next time... I hate novicane shots!

So drink that water all day long! It's good for you anyway.

Until next week!
Emiko

Cold Spring

2009-04-03T05:08:00.000-07:00

Why do I still have my floor heating on? The cherry blossoms are out....doesn't it mean spring is here? It's past March 21st....doesn't it mean it's supposed to warm up now?

I've been completely baffled by the weather this year, and am thinking of only one thing.....I'm not going to be able to wear my "spring clothes" and all of a sudden it's going to be a blistering hot summer in Japan. I really do like the seasons, but being from nothern California, I'm still not really used to them. For example, I don't put my sweaters away in the summer and I don't put my sandals away in the winter!

The good news about cold weather and cold rain is that I spend more time indoors which gives me more time to do "PCP type" exercises. The bad news is that I spend more time indoors which draws me to the pantry and all of it's evils.

SO....I'd be much happier out and about, wearing my spring clothes.....right now I'm wish this winter would actually turn into spring before it really becomes summer!

Stay warm!

Munisha

Parkour and the Wounds to Prove It

2009-03-31T18:52:00.000-07:00

So I finally went to my first official Parkour Workshop! I would say 3/28/09 marks the beginning of my official Parkour practice. I was super excited and Zach and Charles did a great job organizing the event. I had an awesome time and can;t wait to start going every saturday.

I have to say, if it is possible for you to go to some kind of Parkour workshop please do! Everyone was there from late 40's (maybe early 50's) to 4 years old. And everyone had a blast! Not to mention my quads never hurt so bad the day after a work-out. NOt even during the most intense PCP regimen! That could have something to do with not working out well for a couple months though! haha. I also got scraped up and bruised. Which was awesome because I needed a wake-up, I needed a little pain, I have become too comfortable and that was the most alive I have felt in months.

I learned a lot of great stuff about landings, rolling, jumps and precisions, and wall-runs and top-outs. I also learned a lot about my city, and the great places it has to offer for PK.

So please go out there and move! The fact that our relatively small city and the relatively small Rochester Parkour group had over 100 people show up proves that it's in all of us to want to MOVE! And to be efficient and confront our easy lives and feel a little challenge and even pain.

A lot of those 100+ people vaulted a bench or climbed over a wall or did a diving roll for the first times since they were kids or in their lives! It's not right. Everyone should do Parkour. Everyone should study how their body moves. We should all not be ashamed to walk around on all-fours and do handstands!

Go move! Here's to a summer of growth and progress. And here is to 5 weeks of training to get into some semblance of good shape before back-packing Europe!

So check out Zach's write up at ROCPK and the photos that go along with it!

My Theory of the Male Cycle : First Public Airing

2009-03-30T05:05:00.000-07:00

If you ask any male of the human species who happens to be in a long term relationship with a female of the species, he will be able to tell you that his mate goes through a regular and predictable series of body changes and mood swings depending on the time of month. For some women these swings are mild, for others, wild.

I have know women who, like clockwork, have an easy month followed by a manic one. I have known some who get a zit in the same place every single cycle. I've seen it all, elation, depression, swollen parts, dry patches, hot flashes, and cold stares. I've even helped a few ladies through menopause.

We have come to expect, and respect, the fact that a woman's body is an extremely fine tuned organic wave pattern. There's a consensus that a female is simply more physically and emotionally complicated than a man, which I mostly agree with.

But I wanted to write about how men actually operate in their own mysterious cycle. This is a fact that most couples overlook and which causes a lot of unnecessary strife in relationships.

Most of this is based on my own experience keeping track of subtle changes in my mind/body condition during the years of yoga and meditation. But once I lay out my theory to other guys they seem to recognize similar patterns in their own lives, once they know what to look for.

So, here's what I've figured out so far:

The male cycle lasts about 3 months. Whether this has anything to do with the seasons has yet to be determined but that would make sense.

It is characterized not so much by changes in mood, but by fluctuations in motivation and energy levels.

The cycle is defined by two polarities:

The high point, in which a guy is eager to work, has a creative boost, and feels more positive and in control about the direction of his life. A lot of things will finally get done in this 1-2 week period.
And the low point, the male becomes more introverted. It can be hard to muster excitement for even fun activities. At this time the male will question his choices and motivations. He will tend to stick to his dwelling or usual hangouts. There will also be a strong need for solitude or solo activities.

There is a similar arc in the sexuality of the male, although libido runs along a smaller series of cycles that are harmonious with this 3 month cycle. (I.e, the guy will feel keen sexual desire at both the highest and lowest points of this cycle. During the inbetween times the desire for sex will diminish.)

When the cycle is at odds with life events, the shadow-side of the high and low points will arise. In practice this means that motivation can become aggression, and quiet solitude depression.

So, how can we use this information to make our lives run more smoothly?

First, guys need to start paying attention and identify where they are in their own cycle. This can be established pretty easily once you're on the look out for it. Once you've got a handle on this, start doing what I call "surfing the wave".

If you've ever tried real surfing, you'll know that you can't catch every wave. Sometimes you're in the wrong spot, and no amount of paddling is going to get your board where it needs to be. So you just let the wave wash under you, and keep your eyes open for one that will be in the right place at the right time.

So, for example, you have a new project that you want to take on. Think about your timing and try to align the time that the project will require a big push with the 1-2 week high point of your cycle. Similarly, if there is a lot of grunt work to be done at some point, that is an ideal kind of activity for the trough of the wave, when it's hard to be creative and visionary.

And moms, friends, spouses, and sisters, you too need to tune in to the male wave pattern. Knowing that a guy is entering his low weeks, beware that it will be tough to get him to do much, but that it's not forever. In a few weeks he'll be back to his old self and in a few more weeks he'll be your ideal man again. Of course, that's only for a brief time too!

I've labeled this cycle with "high and low points", which isn't the best phrasing because it makes one sound desirable over the other. In fact, like any wave pattern, the peak wouldn't exist without the trough. The low point of the cycle is in fact when the seeds of creativity and problem solving are sown.

Naturally I've got a lot to say about this but I'll stop here for now. Try to investigate these things for yourselves and get back to me with correlating or contrary evidence!

And guys, don't sell yourselves short. In your own way, you have just as many deep unexplored aspects of yourselves as your female counterparts. Learn to work with these subtle forces rather than fight against them.

I'm beat!

2009-03-29T17:56:00.000-07:00

It rained a lot this week, it seems like. I walked home from work on Friday, and got in the door about five minutes before it started pouring! I got so much done today in the yard and garden, I feel so pumped. There's nothing like working with your body to grow vegetables that will in turn feed and nourish your body to better health. I worked for many hours today, planting squash seedlings and herb seeds and peas and so forth. The spinach, mixed greens, and cabbage that I planted a few weeks ago are sprouted and growing, and I bet this rain will make them go crazy. I'll post pictures as soon as there's something big enough to photograph!

I feel like I've really, finally come to a place of balance and equilibrium. I know I'm not going to let myself slip back to a lesser condition, and I can continue working constantly toward a peak condition without getting impatient. I listened to a podcast interview with Tom Venuto, and one thing he said really stuck out. Most people who decide they want to get fit have two major mental hangups that will ultimately derail their success:
1) they want something for nothing
2) they want instant results

I've definitely gotten over the "something for nothing" mentality. It's pretty easy for me to figure out just how much effort it's going to take to reach a given fitness goal. But I think I'm still just so impatient with myself. My consistency fails because I get impatient. Gardening is an exercise in patience, for sure. So, kids: be consistent, but be patient.

Judgement Day!

2009-03-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

Every time Friday rolls around, I feel like it is time to evaluate my week. Like it's my Judgement Day. I don't know if that's good or bad, but here goes!

I had a fairly good week. I really feel like my diet is on track. I am not saying that I am perfect all of the time, but I do feel like it's getting easier for me to follow the diet without it taking up too much mental space. I suppose I have become more ingrained to have a bowl of yogurt or an apple at the right time in the day without too much thought. I like that. It's nice to just eat what I'm supposed to without having to think too hard about it.

Speaking of judgment day...A theater close by had a midnight showing of Terminator 2: Judgement Day which Adrian and I went to lastnight. Here's the trailer to refresh your memory of its awesomeness:

I mention this because I definitely had a PCP-influenced thought during the movie. Sarah Connor, a main character in the original Terminator, changed her body considerably for this movie. In the first movie, she has a thin but otherwise average body. This time around, she has trained and changed both mentally and physically. She is BUFF and tough!

Before the PCP, I would have seen her and thought, "Whoa, Sarah Connor is hella buff!" and that would have been the end of it. But last night my thoughts were more like, "I wonder what kind of diet and exercise regimen she followed to make such a dramatic change in her body fat percentage and muscle mass, and how long it took her?" Right after that train of thought went through my mind, I realized my own changes and how much more aware of these things I am now.

Adrian said that she should have been my PCP hero, and I think I agree!

Loving the family in Japan!

2009-03-26T07:04:00.001-07:00

This week I'm talking about "the guest". Well, family is not really a guest, but when they come and stay at your home all the way in Japan, you want to show them a good time. Involved in that good time is not only sightseeing....but also eating and meals.

My mom(from California) visited early this month and now my brother and his wife (from Las Vegas) are here. I've been cooking a lot since my nanny is out of the country and I find it really hard to have dinners out with the baby. It's all been healthy, but I just feel like it's been hard to weigh/maintain my portions....also it's been hard to stay away from the carbs and usual "no-no's" just because I don't always want to explain myself. You know what I mean....how does it look to do all this cooking and then not eat your own cooked food....think about it......bad sign if the chef isn't eating the fried rice they just cooked up! So, the result is I've eaten more "naughty" stuff than I should have. I've done my best.....and definitely having a great (!!!!) time with my family here. Now I'm dreading that life will be back to "normal" really soon.

On the upside....we've been out and about all over Japan with the kids and so I've worked my body to death. Even my arms which I'm sure have gotten stronger because of lifting 30lbs of Jaiden, not including the stroller!, up and down stairs at the train station. My body hasn't seen a jumprope for a while....but it has been busy in other ways.

SO.....I've had a fun fun month with family....now I'm just waiting for cherry blossoms to appear.....and looking forward to what April will bring!

Eat well....exercise enough....and get good sleep....that's what I want.

See you!

Munisha

Mindful Additions

2009-03-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

So like in most cases I can't help but make my post be some sort of response to Patrick's last post. Patrick you really come up with some good stuff man I don't know how you do it but you always deliver some food for thought. So in response to your post I want to discuss mindful additions to our daily routine that makes non-beneficial activities contributive to our health.

I once read a list of 100 things Parkour to do at normal times during normal activities. Everything from sleeping on your back to promote ankle flexibility and posture, to walking around your house on all fours all the time, to guessing how many steps it will take you to reach something. I took away one thing from it all, mindfulness. Mindfulness is the key to EVERYTHING. Seriously. Without it you will never have good health, spirituality, happiness, a successful career, or reach the limits of your creativity.

Mindfulness is the catalyst for growth.

So what are some things you can use as mindful additions to your daily life to promote good and lasting health?

1. Posture - Patrick really hits this one a lot and it's so true, while sitting, standing, or mobile mentally check your posture and correct it.

2. Visualization - Try to visualize everything. Make some mindful checks of your surroundings throughout the day, notice changes, remember them and react. Visualize what hard task or goal you are going to work at next if you are in the middle of an easy task. All great athletes, artists, and businessmen alike visualize constantly.

3. Do it the hard way - When your brain is on autopilot all the time it means it's doing the easy way every time. You are forming ruts in your brain that will become the chasms that lead to a lack of mindfulness, inability to adapt or learn something new, and poor mental and physical health. Mix things up! Do them differently or do them the harder less direct way. That way you are getting better all the time, challenging yourself to make things more engaging, and when you have to rush you will be more proficient than ever at the easy way. Even if it's something small.

For example when I have to ring out customers at work I ask the same questions every time. "Picking up? Last name? First name? How many? Address? Any questions?" In that order. So it's a huge mindfulness check for me when I get so ingrained in that order that when someone gives me the data up front "I'm John Smith on 123 Peak Dr picking up 3 prescriptions" I find myself sometimes still saying after I go grab them "Address?" followed by "Oh, sorry you already said 123 Peak Dr."

So mix it up and break the habits that make you ineffective at adaptation.

4. Exercise 24/7 - Every simple, boring, or sedentary activity can be made into a fun, beneficial, exercising activity. While standing around, stand on one foot, improve your balance. While sitting stretch and improve your posture. While driving squeeze a grip with your free hand instead of that McMuffin. Eat standing up. Eat sitting on the floor, back-straight. Don't walk around your couch, go over it. Do yoga while watching TV, or better yet cut out the TV, do yoga (forward-bend) while writing your shopping list. Make everything engaging.

5. Breathing - This is killer. We all suffocate ourselves with shallow, short breaths. Checking your breathing and making sure you have controlled regular breathing all the time is amazing for your health. Teaching yourself to breath the right way takes time but once you create better breathing habits you will be a more relaxed, healthy and refreshed individual. Correct breathing is also something you can't do with incorrect posture.

Try it out! Tell me what you think.

You Might Want to (not) Sit Down For This

2009-03-23T02:36:00.000-07:00

I couldn't get much training in over the last two weeks as I traveled across the US. I calculated that I spent 36 hours in a seated position over the course of the trip, in various planes, cars, buses, and taxis. This was pretty dreadful for me.

The seated position, with the knees bent and the back resting on a support, is one of the most harmful postures for a human being. It's a double whammy, attacking our structural stability from top and bottom. Here's how the damage occurs.

Lower Body

If you're sitting right now, reach down and palpate the underside of your knee and thigh

. Unless you've shifted in some strange way to touch the area, you will feel that the knee ligaments and hamstrings are soft and relaxed. In itself this is fine, all day different muscle groups are contracting, relaxing, twisting, and stretching. The problem comes when a body spends prolonged time in this knees bent seated posture. Over time, because the hamstrings aren't being used, they actually shrink, so that their resting length resembles the length they have as you sit.

This means that when you stand up, your hamstrings will be shorter than the length required to stand properly. They will tug down on the pelvis where they connect. Your pelvis becomes tilted slightly back, which throws off the natural S curve of your spine, which then leads to forwards sloping shoulders and a neck that sticks out like a turtle. If you don't know what this looks like find an office worker who doesn't exercise and you'll be guaranteed to see it.

Upper Body

At the same time all that shortening is happening in the legs, your back is also being affected. When we sit in a chair, we aren't using our back muscles (specifically the spinae erectae) to support ourselves. We're using the structure of the chair.

Imagine I were to equip you with a robot support device that slipped over your arm and did 90% of the work your biceps and triceps usually do. Here's a device just like that developed by Ratheon.

You can imagine that after a few weeks like this your arms would shrink to little more than skin and flab, and you'd rely on the robot arm more an more.

This is exactly what happens to people living a Western lifestyle who begin sitting in chairs from early childhood. The supporting back muscles get both tighter and weaker from disuse. In those rare times people sit in a backless chair or on the floor they find that after a few minutes it's very uncomfortable and hard to sit still. This is because the back muscles are literally failing to do their intended work without the crutch of a chair back.

Weak back muscles will exaggerate the deformation of the S curve, compromise your posture, and lead to back pain and injury.

The Bottom Line

We need to think about sitting just as we're learning to think about rich, calorie laden foods. As a once-in-a-while treat. Had a long day and are totally exhausted? Sure, crash on the sofa for a half hour. But don't park there for hours on end. And most importantly, avoid getting yourself into work situations that require 40+ hours of sitting a week. If you have no choice, the best you can do is to create a standing desk, or even better, a treadmill desk.

If that isn't feasible, use a balance ball for a chair.

If that isn't possible, then try to keep your knees at 90 degrees so that the hamstrings are slightly flexed and don't use the back of your chair to support you. But know that those small changes aren't enough to offset the damage, and look for ways out of a job that is chipping away at your health and posture. You'll look and feel better for it.

Ups and Downs

2009-03-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

Well, from some standpoints I had a great week: I saved my department $1200 by replacing a $12 fan in our $12,000 large-format plotter), I got into a great craft show in Jersey City, and I got a ton of stuff done around the house that needed to be done. Things are humming right along with my perfume business, too. I had several great workouts and I'm feeling very strong and fit.

On the other hand, I found out I have to have surgery soon and get half my thyroid gland removed due to a (probably non-cancerous) growth on it. I've had it since at least 2007 but it's more than doubled in size since then, and it's even starting to make me a bit hoarse and cause problems when I try to swallow certain types of food.

I've read several studies that directly correlate recovery from invasive surgery to the patient's level of fitness pre-surgery. If that's not a great reason to keep working hard in the gym and in the kitchen, I don't know what is!

I also managed to mess up my ankle (had to walk home in boots that were NOT made for walking) and my knee (stabbed with a large thorn from a bush, and it's swollen up something crazy). Next week can only get better in that respect. I'm so clumsy.

It's Gonna Be Flabulous!

2009-03-20T23:28:00.000-07:00

I just had an old friend visit from out of town. Do you ever start to feel much more aware of yourself when you see someone that you haven't seen in awhile? I find that I start to become much more aware of myself, and my appearance. I think that comes from stopping and trying to figure out how I've changed since I last saw this person. Do I look better or worse? Is it noticeable? Thanks to the PCP, I know that I look better. But I still felt this big shift in my self-awareness, and to some extent, my self-criticism.

I really want to keep improving my health, my level of fitness, my energy. And I want others to see and notice that in me. But sometimes it is easy to get lost in my regular schedule, and those things may slip out of focus. When someone new comes into my life, or reenters my life, if even for a day, I snap out of it. Although I don't really want to become so self-conscious, it can be a timely reality check and help me to refocus my sense of motivation. I seem to have found more time this week to slip in 15 minutes of jumps, a workout, and even some 8-minutes abs. That makes me happy.

I had Adrian take a picture of me this morning in a new PCC pose, but the camera battery died before I could upload it. I will edit in the picture to this post once I can figure out where the heck we put the battery charger. I can't wait to get this picture pool started!

So if you can, snap a picture of yourself for your next post. Don't worry, I'm flabbier than I would like to admit, too. But that's what starting the picture pool is all about! Like Kazue (of PCPJapan) said, "I always tell people the worse your Day 1 photo is, the better. Nothing motivates more than being sick of how you look and seeing the changes happen in front of your eyes." Let's do this thang!

Until my flabulous edit-in,
Emiko

Stocked, not Stuffed

2009-03-18T21:57:00.000-07:00

I finally began to break my lazy eating habits yesterday by going to the grocery store and stocking up on good food. That is the key for me -- keeping the fridge stocked. I believe I mentioned this back on my PCP blog, but it's worth repeating. Keep your fridge stocked with healthy food!

This is yet another thing that I know but seem to neglect. When my fridge is empty I think, "I can just walk down the street and get something to eat quickly; and I don't have to prepare it! Woot!" But here's the dumb thing: it's not quicker in the end. For one, I don't have a car right now, so I have to walk or bus everywhere. It takes longer to get around, but it does feel good getting outside for a walk, so no complaints here. But when you count walking there, ordering, waiting, eating, and walking back compared to hitting the grocery store every week or two plus the convenience of walking to the fridge, it's really not faster! In my stupid head I know this. In my stomach I don't.

I also love how I don't feel stuffed after eating healthy food. I feel that I ate an adequate amount without feeling bloated. Gwen iterated this perfectly in a comment on Patrick's post on America. It's about feeling satiated, not stuffed.

It's sad that it's taken me long into the PCC to get serious about my eating habits again, but at least I'm taking a step forward. I refuse to admit failure unless I give up, and that's not happening. The encroaching warm weather is highly motivating in addition to looking good for the opposite sex. It's incredible how motivating that last one is.

-David

Rock-climbing

2009-03-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

So I have mentioned it in the past but I wanted to continue with posting about some activities that are available to most everyone that support and active lifestyle, are fairly affordable (unless you get hardcore than anything can be expensive) and a load of fun.

So here is rock-climbing!

I love it so much after going just a couple times indoors I went out and bought my own chalk bag and shoes etc. It's a blast and depending on what climbing you do you work a huge array of muscles from your legs and toes to your forearms and fingers, And many things in between, back, shoulders, and abs obliques and glutes as stabilizers.

It's great fun indoors and can be done lightly over a few hours for a nice toning workout or can be a way to really shred your muscles and have a killer workout. The best part? Everyone can work at their optimum. There is never a point where you can do every route, and even when you get to a difficult level it doesn't mean intermediate courses aren't still challenging, it's just that they don't require as much focus or dedication to conquest. And your peak one day maybe more or less than the last. It always changes and old routes revisited are always great.

Because of this you can go with someone who climbs a 5.6 (virtually a ladder) and someone who climbs a 5.12 (the hardest basically anyone but the pros can do haha) and all leave with a great sense of accomplishment from conquering your personal hardest.

Not to mention there is so much mental fitness required, planning strategy, and you have to understand how your body works. Rock-climbing is one of those things people see and think "it's all arms" then they try to do it that way and get blasted after a 5.7 then they realize "it's all legs" and can knock out a 5.9 outta no where.

Personally I am at a 5.9 level and have yet to attempt a 5.10. My goal is to get my first 5.11 by the fall.

Anyway here is a vid of the man Chris Sharma doing his thing on a 5.14. And for those of you that don't know rock-climbing ratings that basically means "Must be a gecko to climb"

America

2009-03-16T04:26:00.000-07:00

I'm planning on writing a three part blog piece on The United States on my personal blog Here Lies Patrick later this week, but I wanted to get my thoughts out there about the state of health and eating in my home country while it's still fresh in my mind.

I've seen a lot of people work their way through the PCP and have noticed that people based in America have a harder time than others shedding fat and getting over that last hump, the final body changes that make the difference between a "not bad!" physique and a "wow" physique.

I've thought about this for months, and wanted to use this trip to the States to confirm some of my theories. Here is what I've come up with.

1 . In the US, you are punished for small slip-ups.

Anyone working towards peak condition will be watching their diet closely. But we're all human, there will be times when you simply HAVE to have something sweet, or you're on a road trip and have to get a snack at a gas-station, or you go out to eat with friends. In Japan, for example, I love to have manju as a treat when I'm craving something sweet. Manju is a thinly breaded dumpling with sweet bean paste in the middle. They usually come individually wrapped so I'll have one or two and feel satisfied. Manju is nothing but sugar and flour and rice, and definitely not a good choice if you're trying to stick to a diet.

However, in the US, when someone slips-up and veers off-diet the choices are much more damaging. Because this country has perfected the art of squeezing the maximum amount of sugars and calories into a small amount of food, what seems like a small treat is actually adding 30% more fat to your diet that day. And the worst part is that because these treats are made up of artificial ingredients (HFCS and its ilk) your body doesn't recognize that it's been fed and tends to crave more. So, a Japan based PCPer will be able to get away with a few slip-ups without a problem, but US based PCPers will be punished for the smallest mistakes.

2. Cars and Distance

I was talking to my aunt about her troubles keeping weight off despite having an active life and good diet. I brought up the point that, like most Americans, she spends a lot of time driving around her sprawling town and between cities.

Driving is a tricky thing. Let's imagine that, as she did, you take a two hour drive to go see a family member in a "nearby" town. You get there, meet your nephew, have lunch, catch up on the latest, do some errands in town, and drive back home. You would say, "Whew, that was a pretty busy day," right?

However, from your body's perspective you sat completely still for 4-5 hours as you drove and ate lunch. Imagine sitting on your sofa for four hours in a single day. You'd feel like a lazy slob. And yet people do the equivalent in their cars week after week, year after year. The tough thing is that you feel tired, driving requires an enormous amount of mental exertion and unflagging attention, but physically, you've had zero exercise. This will really catch up to people.

3. The Nutrition Facts label has backfired

If you buy anything in North America you will be familiar with this chart.
It seems like a good idea, an easy way for consumers to get a rough idea of what percent of fat, carbs, and nutrients are in their food. However, people are misunderstanding the Nutrition Facts label in several serious ways.

a) Based on a 2000 calorie diet

2000 calories is actually quite a lot. It's an average based on an already overweight American population. It will apply to only the tallest of women. It's how much a muscular man of regular height would eat to maintain his weight. And yet people who are overweight and lacking muscle will think they've had a good day if they hit the 100% marks on the Nutrition Facts. This is sheer folly.

b) Serving Size

I've noticed that the serving size from which the percentages are derived are hardly ever what anyone eats. 1 tablespoon of salad dressing? When is the last time you put a tablespoon of salad dressing on a salad? The manufacturers are well aware of this, but they choose a serving size that keeps the percentages low so that at a quick glance it doesn't look so bad for you.

c) The Salt Percentage is whack

Often the salt content isn't even given a percentage, it will just say something like "Sodium, 150 mg", but when it is, still beware. The US RDA of salt is 2,400 mg. This is an insane number. The American Heart Association recommends 1000 mg a day. I think even that is too much. But here is the real insanity:

The average American consumes 3000-4000 mg of salt a day. Eating that much salt will give you the red, puffy look that almost all Americans have. It will wear down your heart and kill you before your time. It is the single most overeaten substance in the US diet.

So let's add this all up. I'm looking at a bag of Double Stuff Oreos, Cool Mint Creme © that my Grandfather had in his house. The Nutrition Facts says that these are 11% or my daily fat and 5% of my daily sodium. Doesn't sound too bad for a little treat right? But when I factor in that my daily calorie intake should actually be 1500 calories, my salt the 1000mg that the AHA recommends, and that I will actually have 4 cookies, not the serving size of two cookies, the picture looks different. My little indulgence will come out to around 30% of my daily fat, and a whopping 35% of my daily salt. And that's from FOUR OREO COOKIES. Is it any wonder that for every 4 Americans, 2 are overweight and 1 in 4 is obese?

I teach people healthy lifestyles for a living, and even I get tripped up in America. I've gained a good 2-3 pounds of fat in my two weeks here. What chance does a regular person dealing with a job and kids have? Things have to change.

These are just my first thoughts on this, I'll be sharing more later. My last word is that if you are in America and trying to be healthy, consider yourself behind enemy lines. You will have to work harder and have stronger willpower than anyone else. The whole culture is working against you. Good luck.

All's Quiet

2009-03-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

Not a lot to report here. The weather, which was beautiful and summery last week, was gray and rainy and cold! It has not stopped raining for three days!

So I don't feel like there is much to report here. This week I took a break from lifting heavy, and did my bodyweight exercises and the sports-cardio class (so rewarding) and jumped rope.

I guess the best news was uncovered by the sad state of my laundry pile. With no clean pants I chanced to try on a pair of jeans I bought on clearance at target in hopes that someday they would fit, and, voila! They are still a bit tight but at least they go on!

Tardy Observations

2009-03-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone! Sorry this post is so late... I was out of the house almost all of Friday and didn't come back home until afternoon today.

I have been trying to observe myself more closely this week. I feel the need to understand more fully how my brain works, to experience my ingrained habits rather than just be a slave to them. To see more clearly how I craft excuses and reasons that help me to convince myself that I do, in fact, need some chocolate (right now!). Especially with the idea in mind that I might be posing for my first PCC weekly photo on Friday, I thought it might be nice to find a way to feel proud every time I could say no to the chocolate, rather than always delighting in any chance of indulgence.

It wasn't a grand a scheme by any means, just a little thought that I kept in the back of my mind. When I would crave something or think to go out of my way to attain some food that was not healthy, I just took a slight pause to question it. It has been a while since I really paused to question my actions. I don't think I have actually done so - at least not with any consistency - since my PCP. It was kind of a relief. I really do feel like a slave to my habitual cravings and reasonings. It helped me to drop the thought much more easily, and just get on with eating well more of the time.

I am going to hold off until next week to start my PCC weekly photo. I never got the chance to take a picture on Friday or today, and I would rather have a regular schedule with a full week in between each picture. That way, I can really see the changes from one week to the next. But I am excited to get it started.

Maybe someone else could kick off their next post with a photo? No pressure, though! :)

Until next week,
Emiko

Happy Birthday to me!

2009-03-12T19:46:00.001-07:00

Yes! It's my birthday today....a great day to reflect on the past year....think of where I was then in life and where I have come today. The biggest change has been baby....last year he was only 8 months old, and I was still nursing and using him as an excuse for everything. Now he is 20 months old and our lives have settled down. I am losing the "baby fat" and paying more attention to my needs and wants. Also now I've been through the PCP and feel much more informed and ready to take care of my body....inside and out!

I always really consider my birthday as the true start of my year......Jan 1st just seems so arbitrary to me....too over rated and we make promises we just can't keep during that time of the year. So, since March 12th was the beginning of MY next year, I took total advantage of the week before and indulged.....all leading up to the TGIF cheese burger and ice cream sundae last. I'll tell you.....I don't feel awful about it at all, because now I can start my new year of health and exercise feeling totally satisfied!

And guess what the kids and hubby got me for my gift....Wii Fit! So I am excited to start up a new fun type of activity. I'm not quite sure what it's all about yet, but I do plan on using to it supplement my workouts and not replace them....or maybe use it on off days when I don't feel like picking up "the rope" or "the book". Will definitely keep you posted and let you know how good it is.

OH......I did forget to post last week.....my mom is in town and I think between Tokyo Disneyland and the Yokohama bay cruise, I totally blanked out! And unfortunately so did my diet and exercise:(...... but it's my birthday and I'm back!

Bye for now!

Munisha

Being Sick and Racquetball

2009-03-10T16:01:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. So It was kind of funny to have Patrick post that last post since it kind of applies to me right now. I am sick for the second time this year. Just a throat, head and sinus thing. It sucks. But I have to say that although I'm not as gung-ho about being really up on my work-outs right now having a healthy diet certainly does help in the prevention and in this case recovery of being sick.

Sorry for not being around last week, I had a crazy work schedule and before I remembered to post it was too late. Besides that I think I'll only be around through the end of this month and will have to take some time off. I leave for my back-packing trip in May and have a lot of things to do before I leave. And a lot of things to prep as well.

But for today I wanted to continue with some brief thoughts on my idea of staying active. As Patrick has pointed out to every PCPer is that the 90 is to get you to change your whole life for the better. To take a mere 3 months and be super strict and enthusiastic and not only will you get in the best shape of your life but you will develop new habits to keep your health going. Since our bodies want to be healthy and in shape.

So although after you complete the PCP and your activity levels or diets regulations become easier and less strict you still don't feel right if you just sit around. So I recommend taking up some activities that are good for you and not only enjoying how much better you can be at them now that you're in shape, but using them to maintain if not improve still.

Today I recommend racquetball. If you can, give it a try. It's a fast paced sport with a learning curve. But the greatest thing besides burning 600 calories an hour is if you are playing it right your heart level will be elevated but you will always be able to carry on a conversation and not be winded. The best cardio-level possible.

I also like sports that don't require to much money. Buy yourself a racquet (or an old one at a garage sale) and some goggles and you are good to go. Some places you have to be a gym member but there are places in some cities where you can rent a court. So if you get a chance try it out and here is a little vid.

Until next week.

Don't Waste Your Money...

2009-03-09T18:04:00.001-07:00

...on supplements and herbal remedies!

In my week in America I've overheard several people waxing poetic about the power of their vitamins and supplements. From fighting colds to building bone density, there seems to be something for any condition that comes in a scientific looking bottle and promises natural results.

I've been in stores that focus solely on these things, row after row of fish oils, vitamins A through Zinc, herbs, pollens, tinctures, balms, antioxidant teas, the list is endless.

These things are all a waste of your money and time, and you are being played for a sucker. If you eat a varied and wholesome diet you won't need any supplements because there won't be anything TO supplement. You'll already have reached maximum vitamin and mineral needs for your healthy body. There's no such thing as having 110% vitamin C in your system. After 100% you will just pee it out.

In our world of easily accessible fresh and frozen foods, a moderately healthy eater would be getting over the course of a few weeks all the vitamins he or she needed to have a normally functioning body. What's ironic is that the kind of people who spend hundred of dollars on supplements are already eating very well and are actually the people who need vitamins least.

The counterargument I hear the most is "But supplements can't hurt and there's a chance they could help." This is a pretty stupid way to go about things. Wearing tinfoil hats couldn't hurt either. But we have no evidence that they do anything besides make us look silly, and there's similar scanty evidence that vitamins do anything either for a normally eating person.

And what's worse is that the consumption of vitamins sends the message that alone we aren't equipped to give ourselves optimum health, we must rely on the wise men in white coats to manufacture substances that will sustain us. It's just a few years down the road that we won't think it's such a leap to take a pill for sleeping or to feel normal. This is all music to the ears of the drug and vitamin makers.

So don't give them any more money. Trust your body and not the psuedoscientific background noise of the "wellness products."

Hit up the vegetable and fruit section and give the pill-makers the finger.

Dialing in the Diet

2009-03-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

During last weekend's snowstorm, I spent a lot of time on the spreadsheet. This week, I did a lot of research on fat loss, listened to a bunch of podcasts (and found two that I like, Fitcast and Fat 2 Fit). So the spreadsheet, she grows! I tracked everything I ate at Fitday. I ate an average of 1558 calories and at the end of the week, I lost 1.2 lbs of fat (and .2 lbs of "lean mass" which was hopefully not muscle tissue but food or glycogen or something like that)! The fat loss equates to a 612 calorie a day deficit from my total calorie needs of 2278. (basal metabolic rate, or BMR and activity calories). It was really nice outside the last half of this week so I was able to walk home Friday. That 2 mile walk is basically all I need as far as an extra calorie expenditure if I keep the calories at 1600. Actually if I go to the gym and do weights and HIIT or jump rope I need almost 1700-1750 calories.

In tracking everything so closely I also found that my BMR and maintenance level of calories are very close to the calculators I used online to start this project (2088). What I learned was that on the days I wasn't exercising I should have been dialing back my PCP diet by about 300 calories. But I wasn't, I was just eating according to the meal plan everyday.

This morning I also found that I really need to refuel by about 200-300 more calories if I do more intense cardio. Yesterday was so nice outside, I did about an hour of yard work, jumped rope for 15 minutes, AND went on a nice jog with the dog. I woke up this morning and my tank was EMPTY. Letting it get like that is a surefire way for feeling like crap. I had heard a lot on the podcasts and online about calorie cycling and carb cycling, and it's all a bit much for me to focus on right now, but the take home lesson is that you have to eat more on the days you work out, and if you're going to eat carbs, right after your workout is the best time to have them. After my workout yesterday I had a lovely sesame-crusted ahi tuna steak. Delicious. But no carbs.

The big difference from my prescribed PCP diet was, as I mentioned before, many fewer carbs. My prescribed PCP diet has 48% of calories from carbs, 35% from protein and 17% from fat. The diet I ate this week was more like 40% carbs, 40% protein, 20% fat. But hey, it worked, right? And I felt like it's very sustainable (although, admittedly, I had at least one scoop of protein powder mixed in with my PCP shake, as well as a few protein shakes in between meals.

Where I failed, PCP wise, was the veggies. I had lots of carrots, and a can of V8 every day. I also had some cucumbers. This is a sad assortment of veggies. The good news is my veggie seedlings are coming along nicely and this summer should mean a bounty of veggies in my garden. Still, it's not terrible and I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I will continue to focus on fat loss and then when I'm at my goal, I'll have more time to focus on getting lots and lots of different veggies.

If any of you PCP'ers want me to work up the same spreadsheet for you, just give me a shout.

Shall We Kick It Up A Notch?

2009-03-06T22:08:00.000-08:00

This week has gone by really fast. Mostly I have had my butt glued to my dining room chair, working on designs to build up Adrian and my portfolio. I am happy to announce that we have finally gotten our illustration business off of the ground! But, in the meantime, I haven't really given myself the time to work out. I think about it every day, but before I know it it's 2am and I just have to hit the sack. It has been a crazy couple o' weeks, but I am happy with all the hard work we put in.

So today - after realizing that it was already Friday again - I decided to catch up on the last few days' posts and check in on everybody. But what happened? We are missing two of the last three posts! I guess I'm not the only one having a crazy week.

Anyways, I have been reflecting on how difficult it is trying to keep up with the PCP now, as opposed to my original 90-day project. It feels so different to me. Adrian and I have talked about this since the PCC started, and I think part of the what really motivated me to stick closer to the diet and squeeze in my workouts every day was the weekly Flickr photo. I really wanted to look better each week, and to see my positive progression over time. Also, because during the PCP we all were assigned the same exercises, we had a concrete thing that we shared. Many of our new posts show that our Community is having trouble following the diets and maintaining a regular work-out regimen, so I thought, Maybe we should try something new?

I am not saying that we all need to start posting weekly shots on Flickr again, necessarily. But maybe we could all brainstorm together and figure out a little extra incentive to stick to our plans and reach more goals. Even if the incentive is something small, perhaps simply sharing that one thing will help us follow each other's progress. We would be able to discuss it as a community, and kick our fitness up a notch, as well as encouragement and support for each other.

Any suggestions?

Can't wait to hear 'em!
Emiko

Back in One Piece

2009-03-04T19:49:00.001-08:00

I'm finally back after vacation, back home to a land flowing rich with Internet, unlike the barren land I was in.

Staying on the PCP is extremely hard when on the go, especially in the dietary area. When I was on the PCP the first time, I knew I would only be gone a couple days, so I packed all of my food in a cooler and stuck to that. This time I was gone for two and a half weeks. It's a bit tougher to pre-plan all of your food for two and a half weeks.

That said, I hardly stuck to the diet. Running around lead to lots of quick stops for food. I did gain a new appreciation for more elaborately cooked meals through participating in a team of people preparing food for a kitchen.

I've also been reminded how our bodies speak to us in a sense. When you exercise regularly and eat healthy, it's easy to hear these strong voices that tell you that you feel great. But when you are eating junk after junk, if you listen closely, you can also a hear a more subtle voice that tells you, "Enough." Sure, there's that point where you literally become sick from eating junk, but I'm referring to something that occurs before that.

I heard this today when I went out to grab something to eat. I haven't been home long and thus haven't had time to stock my fridge. Upon arriving at my destination I couldn't help but feel put-off at the thought of eating yet more fast food. I went ahead and bought the fast food anyways, but this experience caught my attention enough that I aim to see what else I can unlock.

I finished the book, "Blink" over the course of my trip and was fascinated by the power of the subconscious. We all know that our minds are a powerful thing, but it's interesting learning about how they work and what they are truly capable of. A friend of mine found a nearby meditation group for me, and I hope to continue to unlock further "voices" within.

Take care,

David

Curl Baby Curl!

2009-03-02T04:43:00.000-08:00

Last night I was talking to a friend of mine who's thinking about getting into better shape. He really wants to put on some muscle, but work takes up most of his time and he doesn't really know where to start. On top of that his wife is expecting their first baby in September.

The solution hit me like a lightning bolt. A way for him to solve all his problems in one fell stroke.

Once that baby arrives he needs to start curling it. A curl is the term for most any exercise where you hold the hands out and bring them towards you, working the biceps. In the PCP we have 5 different kinds of curls, (Curl, One-Arm Curl, Thumbs-Up Curl, Outside Curl, and The Show Off) but we don't have a Baby Curl.

The magic of the Baby Curl is that you will start off with a very low weight between 4-6 kilos and be steadily improving your strength as the newborn gets bigger. You will be able to learn really good form in the lighter months and be challenged as the kid tops 10, 20, then 30 kilos. By the time he's in junior high you're really going to have some serious burn! But if you've followed the plan and curled him 4 times a week for 10 years it won't be anything you can't handle.

I almost want to have a kid just to try this. If you're lucky enough to have a little tyke, don't waste anymore time, get off the couch and start curling that baby!

A breakthrough week!

2009-03-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

Ever since the PCP proper ended, I've been
1) really happy that I not only maintained my weight loss but continued to get stronger/fitter
2) really happy that the food plan has "stuck" and become a good habit
3) really sad/confused that my body fat percentage remains stubbornly high.

I had a great week with both diet AND exercise, and yet my weight and body fat remain the exact same!!! According to most figures, 30% body fat for a woman is on the high end of healthy. Another source says 20-28% percent is "optimal" and 16-19% is low. As you can also see, the body fat ranges for men are much, much lower (in the single digits for really fit guys is not uncommon-I'd love to know what Patrick's is or was when he finished his PCP).

On the one hand it's just a number. But it's a pretty useful number. Way, way more useful than just your weight (which fluctuates moment to moment). I've already broken through not freaking out about the number on the scale. But my scale also measures body fat percentage, and I'd guess it's fairly accurate.

I've even done a bit of a visualization exercise. I visualized I woke up and I had reached my goal body fat level. Even went a bit farther - say I woke up one morning and I looked like a fitness model/figure athlete. Would I be happy? Would I be sad if I couldn't sustain it? How much effort would I be willing to put to get there, and stay there? If even a 25% body fat is just not going to happen for me, how will I feel about that? etcetera. I really don't want to spend the rest of my life striving toward something and never getting there.

Another thing I think about a lot is when I quit biting my nails. I had been a nailbiter for 20+ years. And finally I just got tired of being the girl who bites her nails, and tired of not having decent looking hands. I think that fed-up feeling, not just the desire to change, is the most important component of any successful positive change. I've read stories about a lot of people's fed-up feeling for successful weight loss came from some really unattractive pictures of themself looking really, really fat.

So, WTF, body fat? I have been catching up on a bunch of fitness podcasts lately and one tidbit or idea I took is basically that you want to eat at the maintenance calories (BMR + activity level calories) of your goal weight. Now, since my goal weight is tied to body fat, I worked up another one of my patented spreadsheets to check some stuff out. (click on it if you need to enlarge, I can't get it to post in a readable format).

Now, on the eating plan that I was given when I started this thing, it works out to around 1600 calories a day. I even uploaded it to Fitday so you can see it. As you can see by the chart above,
even at 121 lbs, 13% body fat, I'd need 1900 calories. Pre-PCP I was eating like 1200-1400 calories and 20 lbs heavier than I am now. I'm not sure exactly if or how I'm going to add 300 calories, especially because I'm thinking about reducing my carbs since it was during the lower-carb phases of the PCP that I lost the most weight. That and the jump rope, which it's just too cold to do outside right now.

All this is kind of moot because I'm on phase 4 of 7 in the New Rules of Lifting for Women. I'd like to finish the program, at least, because I don't know if it's a good idea to really work at losing fat while trying to get stronger.

I've got a couple of ideas and it's always a good practice to only try one idea. I'm about 90% sure it's something I'm eating, or not eating. To start with, I'm just going to cut back on my carbs. The outcome of this will probably look something like only a half bagel w/breakfast, no banana in my smoothie. That's not such a huge change.

Any other suggestions? I'm working hard to be happy with what I have, but still wondering what it's going to take to reach my goals.

Taking a break.

2009-02-28T19:31:00.000-08:00

This will be my last post for now. I will be taking a break from blogging, because, as Emiko mentioned in her last post, we are trying to get a new business up off the ground. At the same time, we've both also been working 12 hours or more a day on our existing book selling business. In the past 4 days, I've probably had 20 hours of sleep. But even though I feel stretched a bit thin, I feel so incredibly excited and passionate about everything we're doing right now. It's been tough for me to really get back into the groove of things, and unfortunately, it feels right now that really paying attention to my diet and exercise is not a top priority for me. So after a month of giving half an effort, I'm going to not worry about it so much for now.

This week was exceptionally bad for me - PCP wise. I ordered pizza twice as many times as I did the workout. I'm going to follow along with the diet and exercise when I can. Nate's one rep plan sounds pretty good. I'll be cheerleading for Emiko now; she's working super-duper hard, and I'm really proud that she can still stick with the PCP and blogging, in the midst of all the craziness right now. I'll keep reading the blog and posting comments when I can. Good luck everyone!

Taking It One Rep At A Time

2009-02-27T22:51:00.000-08:00

Yet again, my priorities really shifted this week. A load of new stuff is on my plate right now (Adrian and I are working on starting an illustration business! woo woo), so hating on myself is just impractical. In fact, I don't feel too bad about it.

Neither my diet nor my workouts have been the best this week, I must admit that. Not terrible, but not great. I am actually happy despite all of this, because now I know that I have enough self-awareness to make the choice to adjust during tough times. I also know that this inflation of daily tasks is probably going to continue for awhile, so I am really taking Nate's last post to heart.

There are only small pockets of time for me to work out - and sometimes it feels like there's no time at all - so I am just going to tell myself "Just do 1 rep of each exercise...it'll take no time at all!" And in no time, I can rock those workouts - I know I can't just stop after one rep! So thanks for that post, Nate, I think it's really going to help me step up the amount of exercise I will do this coming week.

Anyways, gotta run.... this post has officially filled one of those few spare, small pockets of time I have! Time to get busy... but first:

...something Adrian made.... a little peak at the new business!!

Good luck this week, everyone! Take the time to start that "1 rep," and get in some great workouts!

<3 Emiko

Best under pressure!

2009-02-26T15:38:00.001-08:00

Yes, that's me.....I love pressure....well, not really, but it just seems to work for me. Life has gotten so busy these days. I'm doing some major juggling these days.....kids drum and guitar lessons, the boys soccer, the baby at 1 1/2 yrs old, the dog who is still a puppy, rental homes with problem tenants, overseas paperwork, keeping up on e-mails and facebook, shopping, lots of socializing, etc., etc., etc.! I do make it through my days, but sometimes I wonder how?!?!?!

So, it seems that on my busiest days is when I am most effective. I've always been like this....the more I have to do, the more I get done. And if I have nothing to do, I get ultra lazy and do nothing. Maybe this is why I have 3 kids, a dog, a hubby who is gone a lot and live in Japan....

I've had great exercising days this week....first good week in 2009. I know that I need these to get through the next day because the workouts are giving me back the energy I know I had lost while taking a "break" after PCP. It's a snowball effect.....the more I work out, the better I feel, the better I feel, the better I eat, ....the better I eat, the better I feel, the more I work out, the better I feel......and so on. Major theme: work out, eat well.....feel great!

Keep the pressure coming for now, I'm sure the time will come to slow down and relax, but for now I'm doing ok!

Gotta go....things to do:)

see you next week

Munisha

Writer's Block

2009-02-24T19:21:00.000-08:00

Stuck. Stuck. Stuck. Stuck.

Good memories. An english teacher I had in high school would make us write that during creative writing sessions when we didn't know what to write. But as long as the pen was moving the ideas would keep coming and you would spend a lot less time writing "stuck" then you would just staring at the paper. Even if you had to start by writing "stuck" at least you were writing. And that's what many great writers say, that you can only get good at writing by, you guessed it, writing! Even if it's writing 100 "stucks" to get somewhere. And even if you write nothing you keep or like you learned and you grew.

So what does this have to with the PCP Nate, you say?

You will obviously have the best results from a workout if you have a goal, and do a thorough thoughtful workout. However if you aren't doing anything or trying to get motivated to do a workout but can't get into it write your workout "stuck."

What do I mean by that?

If you feel lost or unmotivated, don't have the resistance bands or the running shoes or jump rope under the bed or in the closet. Try this instead. Don't think about doing a workout, don't intimidate yourself, if you're not feeling up to doing a full workout, just do this . . .

One bicep curl,

or one crunch,

or one push-up.

You get the idea.

If you do ONE thing and that is your only goal you have immediately entered into a win-win situation. How? By 1. fulfilling your goal of doing one of an exercise and 2. I guarantee 9 times out of 10 you will do more then the 1 rep. I actually guarantee you will at least 5 times out of 10 wind up doing some semblance of a good work-out. And don't just use this technique once. Write "stuck" WHENEVER you don't know where to go next. If you did 1 v-sit and it turned into 3 sets of 20. And you think "awesome that really worked but I think I'm done" say but I'm gonna do 1 pull-up first. And when you really are done, do that 1 rep and call it quits. You did more than you ever thought your would and you just met or far exceeded your goals.

You see being stuck can be a good thing!

Why Training is More Satisfying Than Street Fighter 4

2009-02-23T15:17:00.000-08:00

Last week after more than ten years of anticipation, Street Fighter 4 was released for consoles. This is a pretty big deal if you like fighting games. What's more, the people at Capcom have taken some incredible stylistic risks, and redone all the art in a rough 3D anime sort of style, and filled the whole thing with sumi-e type ink flourishes. Even if you don't give a damn about games, you should watch this just for the artistic value.

Stirs the blood eh?

I'm debating about whether to dive into SFIV. I spent most of my teen years becoming a Street Fighter player and even entered a competition once and came in third. These days with online play I can take on people from all over the world while wearing my pajamas. It's pretty tempting.

Today as I was working out I was thinking about how much more satisfying it is to play PCP than play Street Fighter. I'll never be one of those people who automatically assume that a video game is a poor use of your time. In my mind, Street Fighter is a perfectly good way to spend your time. Once you get good, it's kind of like high speed chess. You need strategy, creativity, and decisiveness to play Street Fighter, all of which can be carried into your regular life. So don't expect a "you kids need to get off the couch and get some fresh air and exercise" lecture from me.

Here's why SF doesn't satisfy like the PCP.

In Street Fighter, there's always someone better than you. Not only better, but much, much better, so much better that when you lose in 10 seconds you feel about 3 inches tall. It's not a pleasant sensation. You can put in hours and hours of playtime and still get crushed by an even more hardcore player. And with online leaderboards you can see that even though you're pretty good you only rank 19,000 in the world. 19,000! Uh... yay!?

In contrast, because it's physical, a workout routine like the PCP can only be done a certain amount of time in a day. After an intense hour of training it simply doesn't make any sense to keep going. You'll just wear your body out and have counterproductive results. On the other hand, I can put in three hours of Street Fighter and still not feel satiated.

Second, there will never be anyone "better" at training than you. You have your one body and what you do with it is up to you. Fatten it up, trim it down, add bulk or increase flexibility, it's all up to you. No one has any right to judge what you do with your only true possession, your physical presence.

And finally, the rewards of being a badass Street Fighter player are, in the big scheme of things, pretty miniscule. A very small group of people will give you some props, but the vast majority will think you're kind of a loser. And you kind of are. Because no matter how you look at it, it's only so cool to move little men around a screen and hit buttons. I wonder what percentage of top level Street Fighter players have girlfriends, or even have relationships with females at all.

But when you start to gain some control over your body, the rewards are immense. Whether it's deserved or not, people respect someone with good posture, broad shoulders, and a trim waist. Opportunities open up because without saying a word an in shape person is communicating that they have motivation, discipline, and patience. As I tell the PCPers, imagine two people with the same qualifications are interviewing for a job at your company. One of them is fit, and the other one is a pasty sunken eyed wimp(i.e. Street Fighter pro). Who are you likely to give the job to?

So, we have activity one, Street Fighter, in which you can put hour after hour of time and at best work your way up a few rungs on a ladder than no one else cares about, and STILL get your ass kicked regularly.

And activity two, a one hour a day commitment that will make you feel confident, look better, live longer and healthier, make a good impression on strangers and the opposite sex.

It's a no brainer really.

...but I still might buy Street Fighter 4.

You are the sum of your habits.

2009-02-22T10:21:00.000-08:00

It's funny that Adrien mentioned habits in his last post because that's what I've been thinking about this week. I had a pretty good week, in that I only spent three days in the office but didn't actually take any vacation. Maybe it's sad that things like that make me happy, but that's a whole other post.

Anyway, one of those days I spent at a regional meeting for people who do roughly the same job as me. It's ostensibly for us to learn what other people are doing with the software we all use, find out tips and tricks and what's new in the field. But really it's about networking (ie, jobs, which there are none of these days and may account for the very poor attendance), gossip, and of course, conference food.

I think anyone who's planned any event, especially a conference type event, realizes or instinctively knows that food (and drinks, especially coffee) makes people happy. Have some delicious pastries, fresh fruit, and good coffee on hand (and free, natch) and people will generally overlook the fact that the conference sessions are boring and not that useful/informative. But forget to provide powdered donuts, coffee (or provide crappy coffee, as was the case this week) and you are facing a salarymen's mutiny.

Anyway, at this conference/meeting there is always coffee, some sort of breakfast pastry, and some sort of other option, usually fruit like orange slices or strawberries. But since money is really tight, the food was definitely less plentiful than in years past. I had a non-PCP friendly breakfast of a granola bar and a bunch of grapes. The centerpiece was a giant tupperware dish of powdered donuts (the tiny ones).

It was a really fun social experiment to watch who took the granola bars, grapes, and donuts, and in what quantities. You could almost chart the donut intake on a graph with obesity and have it be a direct correlation.

My point is: We are all the sum of our habits. Probably there were a few people of normal weight who were like, "wow, donuts, I haven't had one of those in forever, what the heck". And conversely, some heavy folks were probably thinking "I'm going to make a healthy choice today and not have any donuts."

Donuts is probably a red herring and an easy target, but in this case it's just a stand-in for any habitual action that is keeping you from Peak Condition. How many times have you been somewhere and seen a heavy or fit person eating or working out in an unexpected way? It's really unusual for me to be at the gym and see a really unfit person busting ass and working hard. I can definitely say that if I do see an unfit person working to the best of their ability, guess what? After a few months that person no longer resembles an unfit person!!!

I'm all about numbers and statistics, and there's a statistical idea called regression to the mean that is a really good way to think about this. It doesn't exactly apply in that statistics is usually testing an unknown result whereas you have the ability to influence the result by choices and habits. But anyway, stick with me.

A person at or near Peak Condition won't fall down a well of obesity after one donut. And, sadly, the reverse is true. A heavy, unfit person isn't ready for the Olympics after one jog around the block. If you've had bad habits for a long time, it takes a long time for your new habits to displace the old ones as the statistical 'mean'. And once you reach that next level, it's time to re-evaluate again the habits that are holding you back (if, in fact you really want to reach Peak Condition: at some point the gains to your fitness aren't really going to be outweighed by the harmful effects of a habit).

I know we keep going on and on about it, but it really boils down to this: Do your best. Everyday.

I have 8 pack abs!

2009-02-21T20:19:00.000-08:00

Not really, but I wanted to get your attention.

In Amy's last post, she asked "What are you doing to plan for a more healthy and fit future?"

For awhile I had the idea of running a marathon. After the PCP ended, I kept a regular running routine. I ran 3 miles every other day, and I did a long run once a week. My goal was to add one mile to the long run each week, until I was doing about 30 miles a stretch. I got up to about 12 miles a week before I injured my achilles, and after that, I just didn't go any more than 10 miles on my long runs. Then, about a month ago, I stopped running altogether. I don't really know why. I loved running - I wasn't doing it just for the exercise. I even ran in the rain. During one long run, I ran during a hail storm. It was what Amy would call running in "White people weather". Since I stopped running, I haven't really had any similarly lofty fitness goals to speak of, other than to eat right and to exercise as often as possible.

I think I am similar to Patrick in that it's easier for me to do things that have a definite end. I'm a very goal oriented person, and that's why it was much easier for me to do the PCP the first time around . I kept my mind on day 90, when the project would be over. Also, like Patrick, I have a meditation practice. This can be a really goal oriented activity too, and when I am sitting in excruciating pain, I keep holding on because I know that after 30 minutes, it will be over.

I know I've missed the point with both the PCP and meditation, because ideally, it's not supposed to end. It's supposed to become a part of your everyday life. But that's just where I'm at right now. Still, even though I often feel like I suck at meditating(and sticking to healthy habits in general), and that I don't do it as well as I want to do it, I feel the need to keep trying every day. It's a habit.

Until next week!

Shifting Gears

2009-02-20T21:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday, everyone!

I am feeling really good about where I am right now. This whole time, I have been lacking the motivation to integrate the PCP back into my life 100%. But this week - especially after reading
Patrick's last post - I'm shifting into a different gear. I felt like I had made a lot of the excuses Patrick mentioned, and that I truly lacked the motivation to make fitness a priority. Well, something changed. That motivation is really here now.

I knew things were falling into place a few days ago when I woke up and wanted to grab the jump rope. I bundled up in some sweats and headed downstairs and jumped rope in the brisk morning air. After awhile I was feeling really good, and determined. During one of my sets, excited by my heightened willpower, I was reminded of one of David's old posts about being your own personal drill sergeant. I felt empowered by pushing myself, even to do something so simple. I was really energized the rest of the day, because I had gotten started so early - but also, I think, by that sense of determination. I hope things will keep going this way. I am definitely going to begin jump-roping as a morning ritual.

Can't wait till jump-rope makes me this giddy!

Until next Friday rolls around, have a good week everyone!

Emiko

Snack Attack...YIKES!!

2009-02-19T06:21:00.001-08:00

The bad news is that I failed on my diet the last couple of days. The good news is that I know exactly the reasons.

Reason number one: hubby is out of town for the second week in a row, so when the kids go to bed, I'm sitting all alone reading or on the computer, and I start snacking. Not good at all. Really looking forward to having him back home on Sunday night.

Reason number two: the kids love to snack and they are off school for a couple of days this week (sore subject...it's "ski break"....why would they need days off for that....I think they need to be in school and go skiing at XMAS!!!!)....so we've been having lots of fun playing games and eating yummy stuff...kids deserve it, I don't need it!!!

Reason number three: I went shopping at Negishi Base this week with a friend of mine. So the problem with this is the biggest because all the snacking the kids and I have been doing has been on good old American junk food. We are seriously better without it....but when an opportunity came to buy, I took it. Just should have left it for the kids this time, but it's so tempting. I am appalled at the way grocery stores are set up anyways (and this applies to Japanese grocery as well)......have you noticed that if you shop around edges of the store, you get all the fresh fruits, veggies, milk products, breads and meats...but then if you venture into any of the aisles, you get all the processed stuff???? And the endcaps are always stocked with stuff not good for us, which entice us to go down the aisles?

SO.....I am on major detox over the weekend to flush my system of the chips and candy I ate the last 2 days....granted it wasn't huge amounts....it just was more than it should have been. I am hoping to be back on track tomorrow.....it was a good lesson to learn because right now I feel like my body is asking to be healthy again.

Good night!

Munisha

On the Go

2009-02-18T07:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry for posting this so late. One of my favorite things about the PCP is how portable it is. I've been out of state for the past several days, and it's easy to just grab your jumprope and bands and take it with you.

As always, the hardest part is sticking with the diet. Fortunately, I'm in a place where there's been a lot of good home cooking, and grabbing fast food has been pretty rare. Another thing I've noticed is how much the weather affects your biochemistry. Like Nate, I find it much harder to work out when it's colder, but now that I'm in a warmer climate, I'm much more parched for water, obviously, and have a considerably stronger desire to work out.

Wish I could write more, but I gotta run. Catch you all soon.

David

Goals and Fitness

2009-02-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

So I want to start by saying that Patrick's post yesterday really struck a chord with me. I can totally agree and it helped me get some closure on things. Art being one of them. I don't do art nearly as much as I want to, but instead of feeling like I'm putting it aside or I should "make time" for it I feel better now that it's just not feasible to regularly do art with my schedule. I am OK with it not being a priority and I will do art when I REALLY want too and that's that. Fitness is the same way. I really don't ever want to be a body-builder or even as dedicated as Patrick, I do however really want a six-pack. So where do you find compromise?

I think a lot of people have major issues when it comes to fitness because the only goal they ever set is the end game. However I have always been very good at breaking things down into manageable goals that have gotten me through the PCP and where I am now.

For example, if you are thinking of doing the PCP but getting acquainted with all these blogs first, like I did, make some changes now. Too many people think of goals and the path to them as clear cut. You don't need to start your journey to fitness on day 1 of the PCP or some new diet. Make a small change now and you are laying the bricks for a strong foundation, otherwise if you actually make it through the 90 days it will all crumble because you have no idea what to do after you reached your goal.

So my advice is set smaller goals, and although you will have a bigger more ultimate goal like completing the PCP, come up with at least one goal afterwards to keep you going, then one after that and so forth. I neglected to do that, felt lost after the PCP, and here I am today trying to get things back on track. But, I would have had a harder time still if I didn't take advantage of setting pre-PCP goals for myself.

So set small goals. Pre and Post PCP.

Right now my goal is to work on stamina, posture, flexibility, and balance. This summer I plan on switching back into a more heavy muscle-toning and intensive cardio program similar to the PCP. But for now I want to work on things that will help my backpacking in europe and help me understand some things are worth dedicating time and energy to that have much smaller noticeable benefits. I already know I can build pecs really quick if I want but I want a stronger foundation of fitness. Things that will help me when I'm 80 and slowing down.

So bring on the yoga stretches, conscious posture throughout the day, and walking with my backpack for a few miles a week to start.

That's my goals for now. All part of the bigger goal of actively striving to be fitter than the day before.

What are yours?

Getting Comfortable with Your Priorities

2009-02-16T17:01:00.000-08:00

The most profound thing I've learned on my journey towards true fitness is how to be realistic about what a body can do within a given schedule.

Being lean and strong takes a time commitment. To get in Peak Condition the way we do it requires at least an hour a day of pure exercise. That doesn't sound like much but it comes out to more than 30 hours a month. And that's not counting the time it takes to prepare your own healthy meals. It all amounts to a pretty big time-sink.

This isn't meant to discourage anyone. In fact, the way I see it, this lets a lot of people off the hook. If you are working a full time job and have an active social/family life, you will not have the time to get into totally "ripped" territory. And that's ok.

What isn't ok is people thinking that they can work a full time job, take care of all their obligations, and still squeeze in enough time to work out and look like an underwear model. This just isn't feasible. Sooner or later something will slip. You'll be too busy to prepare your meals and end up eating out too much, killing your diet. Or you'll start to gradually skip days and then weeks of workouts. I've seen it and done it many times myself. The only reward you'll get from thinking you can do it all is increased stress and guilt.

So, here's the deal. If you aren't prepared to make some time for a daily workout (and by make time I mean cut something else in your busy schedule) then you are saying that being in awesome shape isn't really that important to you. If it was then it would be easy to cut one of your other lower-priority activities, right?

This means you can relax and understand that, as your life stands, it's just not in the cards for you to have a six-pack at this time. Stay active and healthy, but relax about not having the physique of people who put the hours in for it. Your investing your time in other stuff which hopefully is giving you rewards equal to or greater than what you'd get from a "killer bod".

If you get truly sick of not being in shape it will be natural to cut one of those things that seems more important now and get to working out. And if that day never comes then why are you feeling guilty about something you don't really want to do?

Of course for this technique to work you must be pretty comfortable with yourself and not fall for your mind's many tricks that are designed to derail your fitness plans.

Among the hits list of these tricks are:

"I'll start tomorrow"

"I deserve this"

"But I can't miss _____"

"I'm getting too old to worry about looks"

"I swear this is my last _____!"

"I don't have that body-type."

Falling for these old tricks will only prolong the guilt, not alleviate it.

Often my yoga students express frustration that they aren't as flexible as they want to be. I ask them if they are practicing at home between classes and they admit "no, I'm just too busy". I sometimes tell them, "then you don't REALLY want to be more flexible, do you? Why stress about something you don't really want to do?"

To make a comparison, I have no particular interest in visiting South America. I'm sure it's a nice place and maybe one day I'll make it there, but there are other places I want to see first. So I don't stress about how I'm not going to South America this summer, right? This is the same relaxed attitude I wish people would take about the guilt that piles on from not exercising and eating well enough.

When your ready you'll do it. Once you reach that point get in touch and we'll be happy to give you the tools you need. Till then, relax! It's the stress that kills, not the fat.

On the Road!

2009-02-15T19:16:00.000-08:00

Just like before, I have been taking the PCP on the road. This time, I took my mom for a little vacation down to the beach. I really like going to the beach, but I really don't like going to the beach when everyone else is at the beach. Thus, I have to go in September or February or some such.

Anyway, the hardest part about the PCP on the road (besides the jump rope) is avoiding salt. You can find some acceptable food in some restaurants but almost all restaurants have a lot of salt on their food. Several of the towns we stopped in on the way are known for their peanuts and cured hams (salt overload!!!). Fortunately I stopped on the way out of town to get some healthy take-along snacks, but after a fitful night of sleep I drank a sugar-free RedBull and since that moment have not been feeling very well, even with a healthy breakfast and lots and lots of water, fruit and veggies today.

I am really glad to be home and looking forward to some excellent cool-weather garden planning tomorrow. Almost anything worthwhile in life, be it fitness or finances, takes some thought in advance to work out for the best. Hopefully in a few months (April-ish) I will be harvesting some spinach, broccoli, cabbage, and other spring crops. My mom keeps trying to talk me into radishes and turnips but I just don't like them!

What are you doing to plan for a more healthy and fit future?

Hobbies

2009-02-14T22:00:00.000-08:00

I agree with Emiko that its difficult to make healthy life-style choices while stressed out. That's probably why stress and health-related complications go hand in hand. After a long day of work, I don't even want to think about resistance bands.

Its usually hard for me to find time to unwind, and running a business from home makes me feel like I'm working whenever I'm not sleeping. Video games aren't as appealing as they used to be, because I find that most of the time they stress me out even more. (Has anyone ever thrown a controller at their t.v. screen?) Recently, I got into photography as a hobby, and it's become a new obsession. My last roll couldn't be developed, and the roll before that came out blank. It was disappointing, but it was fun just to walk around and shoot without much of a goal.

I'm curious - what does everyone else out there like to do for fun? And don't say jump rope!

Am I Repeating Myself?

2009-02-13T21:15:00.001-08:00

The diet has, once again, slipped for me this week. Not completely - my food measurements and schedule still resemble my diet plan - but I've had some bad moments. I am still feeling remnants of guilt because of the potato chips I ate earlier. I have always been an eat-my-stress-away type, so staying in line is especially difficult for me lately. Things have been stressful lately, with many long work days and other sources of mental stress. The majority of my work hours are spent out and about...away from home, and my kitchen. Like others have mentioned, preparing food is key to staying on diet when you don't have constant access to healthy food, and I just haven't lived up to that.

This is mostly due to my bad time management, but there is also a lot of mental what-have-you going on. Like Amy said in her last post, "my brain just really, really, really does not want to do this." Most of the time I get down on myself for eating junk, but some times I don't even care. That makes me question myself more. I even find myself feeling bad because I don't feel guilty. Shouldn't I feel awful for messing up? Is it this slight lack of guilt that allows me to continue deviating from the diet?

It's just one of those times that I have to put my head down, and push through without criticizing myself too much or giving myself so much room to make excuses. I will try to keep what Patrick wrote about in mind, and just do the best I can with each day.

That's what I have to work with for now. Until next time, good luck this week everyone!

Emiko

Where did this week go????

2009-02-13T03:36:00.000-08:00

Where did this week go???? I'm in such a blur and can't believe it's already time for me to blog again...actually I missed yesterday totally by mistake....and I apologize to you all for a kink in the chain!

I had a great week with finding time to complete the exercising.....it's all because I'm deciding to do it as soon as everyone has left the house and the baby is still watching his favorite video. I've been feeling that great soreness again. The only problem I have is deciding which workout to complete. A few days I've just skimmed through a page, but not really done all of what it called for, and a couple of days I really only jumped with my own ad-lib of squats and v-sits......so with the help of Patrick, I'm waiting on a 5 day plan. I'm sure it will get me going better. Will let you know!

Eating better and controlled is also already making me feel better. It's that guilt associated with putting the wrong things in my mouth which makes me stay away from the evils. My only real downfall has been using nuts and dried fruit in place of the fresh fruit and milk for snacks. I know there is too much fat in the nuts and too much sugar in the dried fruit! It's just been such a busy week with classes, baby and kids that I fell into this. Hoping to be more organized next week so that I don't fall for easy stuff.

Well....I am exhausted from the week and looking forward to a weekend. A bit of sleeping in, a bit of indulging.

Have a fabulous week!

Munisha

Constantly Conscious

2009-02-12T00:04:00.001-08:00

What a week. Like Nate, I've had a rough week as well. I wrecked my motorcycle last week, but walked away with a bum knee due to road rash. This has set me back on the workouts, but my knee should be fine by the end of the week; thus I hope to fully resume the workouts then.

Unfortunately I've allowed myself to slip on the diets as well. It's amazing how the mind looks for any excuse it can to resort to its slothful state. I have to consciously and constantly remind myself to make better decisions. I was talking to a friend of mine who is being tutored by a wealthy individual in regards to saving money. He said that the primary concept it to be extremely tight with your money. It's a constant, conscious awareness and decision.

This relates to the PCP as last week I asked for advice on how to save money (much thanks to all of you for your advice and contributions, by the way). What I have noticed lately is how much more satisfying food is when you work for it -- when you take the time to prepare it and sit down to enjoy it. Fast food is convenient, but there's always something to regret about it whether it's due to cost or health.

My encouragement to you and myself is to take a moment this week to think about how you can be more conscious of something. Whether it's the food you eat, the way you spend your money, your posture, anything. The more aware of it you are, the more active you can be in pursuing change.

Take care, my friends.

A bad week makes the next seem better!

2009-02-10T13:48:00.000-08:00

I had a bad week.

I got sick. Some weird stomach flu thing that had me laid out for about 4 days. So again I have not fallen into the PCP rhythm as everyone else yet. I'm Glad everyone is getting on track though, it's moments like this that the PCC is really needed. Between taking care of my mom when she was sick to being violently ill myself over the course or two and still trying to make a living one can get pretty down about working out. I'm glad to see everyone doing well thought and to read their thoughts.

Today is the first day I feel back to 100%. It was 50+ degrees here in Rochester and that felt great. I could take that any day in the middle of winter. I realized a few things since about PCP related to sickness since this is the sickest I've gotten in about a year.

1. I craved meat. I haven't eaten meat in almost a year now. It was very strange but a day after the onslaught my body started craving meat. I had dreams about eating meat. Patrick mayhaps you have some strange logical reason for this but I can't think of one. Anyway as soon as I could start downing some solid food again (beyond toast and a soft-boiled egg) the cravings were gone and now have less desire for eating meat than before I got sick. Weird.

2. I was able to push myself pretty far even though I was sick. I stayed fairly busy throughout and surprisingly I recovered as quickly as I did. I really do feel 100% now and I am really happy.

3. It felt like more of a mental battle than ever before. The first night when my stomach attacked me it wasn't merely a physical attack. I had a really hard time keeping my thoughts in control and my mind was racing. I don't know why that happened, I don't think it's related to fitness at all but it was weird.

4. Having abs is awesome! So hours of puking didn't make my stomach sore! The PCP is great in the puke-preparedness department.

And the biggest thing was that getting sick like that for the first time since PCP gave me a low I didn't remember. The PCP gave me the best I have ever felt physically and feeling that sick brought me down to a point of reference. I could remember how much worse being sick was when my body was probably fighting all the stores of toxins I would have had in my body from months of poor diet before hand. And now that I'm bette I can really place how I feel. I'm more in tune with my physicality. I know I'm not where I was 2 months ago but I'm still really good and I have great energy compared to pre-PCP life.

So if you want to stay healthy and cope with sickness to the best of your ability focusing on physical well-being and fitness is the best thing you can do. Actually if I had kept up on the diet and exercise more I bet I never would have got sick to begin with. Cheers to the PCP keeping us all at the top of our game or getting us there quickly when we fall back!

Next time I want to talk a little about mind-body connection. Until then keep being active! Spring is coming!

Putting Frustration in Perspective

2009-02-09T14:40:00.000-08:00

I was listening to a zen talk from Gil Fronsdal over at Zencast a few years ago and something he said struck a chord with me. He was talking about students' occasional frustration with a "bad session" of meditation in which they were either too scattered or too drowsy to feel like much was getting done.

Of course Gil threw out the usual lines about how dealing with these things is actually the whole point of the practice, how we're not trying to get to any special mental state but just experiencing the mental state as it is, etc...

But after that he said something to this effect.

It's not that you compare this week's poor mediation to last week's strong session. You simply do the best you can for the state that you are in. So if you're really drowsy, just staying awake and trying to keep your seat through heavy lidded eyes will in a sense be a "good session". If you are agitated, not getting carried away and drowned in your excess thought will be a "good session".

Basically, you do your best every time you meditate. But we have to understand our best is a moving target, and be satisfied when it is not where it was last week or where we think it should be after "x" years of training. Holding up any one session against another is just more attachment, more investment in unhelpful mental patterns.

Of course this principle can be applied to how we move our bodies as well as our minds. I often get frustrated emails from PCPers who feel that they didn't have a good workout, that they had to skip a day because of a full schedule, that had to go out to eat because there wasn't any fresh food in the house and they were starving.

If you have a less than ideal workout, all that's important is that you did your best for what your best was that day. If you can say that with confidence then it's easy to let go of those frustrations.

This is a dangerous path however. The mind is sneaky and will often try to convince you that you are at your limit when in fact you have a lot more in you. It takes a strong will to really do your best, and it takes practice to know where that line is.

If you feel like your decision is based on a rationalization, "I really don't feel like working out, I have a lot to do, and I'll work extra hard tomorrow" then you haven't done your best.

If your decision is based on an honest assessment of your situation, "This presentation is the most important thing on my plate right now, I can jump-rope during my lunch break and eat well but that's all I can possibly do today," then you have done your best and can go to sleep satisfied that night.

It's heady and hard-work being honest with yourself, but it's one of the most essential tasks you have on this earth. Good luck!

Don't Stop Believing

2009-02-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

I spoke last week about high points and low points in the weekly cycle of PCP-world. Friday, for the first time in a LOOONG time, I had one of the worst workouts I have had in memory. I'm not really sure what caused it. I had a rough weekend sleep-wise too but managed to get back in the gym today and feel like I had a really productive weights workout. So much so that I was just exhausted to do cardio.

Although I think the PCP resistance work is great (and it taught me just how fit you can really get with body-weight only exercises), I started a program at the beginning of the year called The New Rules of Lifting for Women and I want to finish it and see how my results are.

Granted, this is because I have access to a good weight room and make time in my schedule to get there. Otherwise, the PCP workouts would be a much better option given that you can do them at home, in a hotel room, on the moon (wouldn't that be something!), and so forth.

Anyway, this phase consists of a weight routine FOLLOWED BY a bodyweight matrix that is just so, so hard to finish if you've really been lifting at a level that challenges your strength. So I guess I won't feel so bad that I can't do high-intensity cardio immediately following that.

And then there's food...I felt like I did better this week for the most part. But my brain just really, really, really does not want to do this. It's like the first time around I was at my wits end and I would try anything. But now my brain thinks it knows better and tells me to do all kinds of crazy things (skip this, eat that, do this, not that) and it gets old after a while. I've been doing some fun things to distract myself from all this annoying self-talk.

Like this weekend, I kept thinking I needed to go for a really long run or do something really 'mean' to my body because it is just not slimming down and it's frustrating. But it's my rest day and I really don't need to do those type of mean things! So during all this I built up a really cool bicycle from an old bike I had and two junk bikes a neighbor gave me. I can't wait until it's nice enough to ride outside.

At my low times I keep telling myself "when you want to quit the most is exactly when you should hang on!"

Hot Pockets!

2009-02-07T21:42:00.000-08:00

Like most of us in the PCC, I've had a hard time jumping right back into the food plan. Just looking at all the food on my diet sheet is enough to tire me out. Time management is really tough for me when it comes to food. For some reason, I never could get myself to spend much time on pre-preparing food. It felt like most of my day was spent preparing food, eating it and then washing dishes. Sticking to the diet plan was the hardest thing for me to do during the PCP. I guess that's why it was pretty easy for me to stop following it shortly after the program ended.

I shamefully gave into my most random junk food cravings. While waiting to get back a roll of film at Walgreens this week, I wandered over to the refrigerators, and I caught myself staring at a box of lean pockets. It was a low moment.

Yesterday was the first time I followed the meal plan, and like others have said, if you stick to it, there isn't much room left for extra food. I got stuffed with raw carrots instead of potato chips. It's pretty nice not feeling sick after eating a bunch of food. I don't think I've ever known the feeling of nourishment before the PCP. After eating 150 grams of vegetables and fruit, I get a burst of energy and I'm ready to go.

I'm going to start following other PCP vets advice to spend a day on just prepping food. Tomorrow I'm going to go the groceries and I'm going to buy 5 bags of carrots!

Getting Back

2009-02-06T20:13:00.000-08:00

Just as I was hoping for in last week's post, I am finally getting back into the rhythm of a PCP lifestyle. Although I am feeling pretty sore today (two words: V-SITS!), my body is responding really well to exercising regularly again.

While I was jump-roping behind my apartment building this afternoon, I thought of a similarity between jumping rope again and getting back into a PCP rhythm: it's only getting started that is difficult. My first set of jump-ropes was really a pain, and I didn't want to keep going. But the second set wasn't so bad, and eventually the repetitive movement was quite relaxing. Similarly, after already going through a 90-day Project, it only took a concerted effort to push me back on track. I just had to get through that initial difficulty and mental resistance.

Go Bruce!

I think that because I fell back into a lifestyle of much more regular indulgence post-PCP, I forgot how nice it is to eat well and exercise every day. As Adrian said to me yesterday while working out, "I forgot how this actually feels good." Hopefully as all seven of us push our way through this beginning stage, we will all get those feelings, and settle into a healthier way of living!

Almost on track.....

2009-02-05T14:22:00.000-08:00

Wow....getting back on track is harder than I thought. I was so set to get going on diet and exercise in a big way, but it's been a bit of a slow start.

Actually I have been doing great with the diet part of it.....except that it's back to way too much more food than I'm used to. I'm trying my best.....falling a bit short on carbs (which I'm assuming is fin) and falling short on the meat (which I'm not sure about). For some reason I have been off meat since the new year....I need to find other "proteins" that would substitute. Patrick....does tofu work in it's place? I did take advantage of the once a week indulgence and had dessert when I went out with Jane and Jodi for lunch yesterday at California Pizza Kitchen....it was a beautiful apple pie a la mode....I didn't finish the entire thing.....just the ice cream and the crust of the pie (I don't really like the sweetness of the apple filling). I also have my 11 year wedding anniversary (yikes!) coming up on Sunday and my hubby will be out of town....so this is my celebration!

Now, about the exercise.....I wanted to aim for 5 days since Thursday....but have only managed 3. I like to work out in the morning before the day really gets going....but with the cold weather I just don't feel like getting out of bed! I'm hoping for a better week ahead because I feel so much better all day after working out. Still can't do it at night, but I might have to just start so I can hit my goals.

Until next week......be healthy!!!......

Munisha

PCP on a Budget

2009-02-03T20:17:00.000-08:00

I must confess as well that I have not stuck as close to the project as I intend to. My personal aim is to exercise five times a week while making healthier eating decisions every day. While the goal for exercising can easily be accomplished by managing my time better, I have found it much harder to eat healthier with less money in my pocket this time around.

I have had some quality meals provided by my parents when visiting them, and I have plenty of rice I can eat, but for a couple weeks prior to starting the project last week, I had been eating junk like the American ramen packets, which are pretty high in sodium. It is also really hard to turn down free pizza when your roommate brings it home. Needless to say, these foods haven't been giving me the energy I've needed to get through my workouts.

I hope to begin cleansing my system by eating lots of vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli, and carrots. I'll probably have to skim on fruits and eat less protein than I did last time, but I'm also looking forward to the challenge of making healthy decisions while remaining more mindful of my finances.

If you have any suggestions for more affordable meals that I can prepare, please let me know!

Until next time...

Once you do PCP you are always different

2009-02-03T15:51:00.000-08:00

. . . Not the drug, the program

Hey guys!

First off I have to come clean I did not start the PCP diet and workout yet. I have had 2 crazy weeks at work and this weekend I had my hands full taking care of my mom who came down with a weird viral infection that affected her intestine and had to go to the hospital. But she is doing much better now and enjoying being pampered by my dad and her children. The one pay-off of having kids is eventually they take care of you.

So besides that I have still been making relatively healthy diet choices and active choices as well. In the would-be fitness-schlep words of Patrick I eat well, move well, and am well haha.

I did however have such a poorly prepared Macchiato today I almost got scared off of them.

What I wanted to mention today is something that I find quite hilarious and at times irritating. It's as soon as everyone you know, finds out about the PCP and what it entails, you will always be different. ALWAYS.

When mentioning food or talking about a new restaurant, months after the PCP is done, your friends will turn to you mid-conversation and say things like "Oh, i don't know if you can eat there," or "are you still on that weird diet?" Or if you organize a party people ask if they can bring desserts and like-items. It's hilarious because it seems they point this out constantly because if they make you feel different they can't feel guilty about how THEY eat.

On top of that the instant they witness you "indulge" it's the news of the century. "oh, you can eat THAT now? I thought your diet wouldn't let you."

And that's where it gets a little irritating to me. Almost every I know that knew about the PCP and it's details still calls it a diet. When I have time and time again told them no it's just how I choose to eat. Sure it's a "diet" if you eat McDonald's every day that's a "diet" too but not in the way they use the term. Because you see 99.9% of people in the world view "diets" as momentary journeys into restrictive unpleasant eating, and 90% of those people have never even successfully completed a "diet."

So be prepared to be different and be forced to constantly have that pointed out to you. And as long as you are in the minority (healthy eaters) you will always be on a "diet" and have "restrictions" even though it's your clean taste buds that don't like bacon cheese burgers and salty fries not what some magazine said you should and should not eat.

But be happy to be different. Be happy to be healthy. I am.

Even though I am slowly sliding away from being REALLY healthy. But I'm house-sitting my sisters dogs this coming week so if I don't get lured into playing the Wii all week I will walk/run the dogs in this bitter cold.

Until next week, I hope you enjoy everyone else's posts as much as I do.

"Eat well, feel well, roll eyes*

2009-02-02T05:13:00.000-08:00

I've been toying with the idea of signing off all my blog posts, lectures, and books with the phrase "eat well, move well, be well." It's a pretty compact statement of my beliefs regarding the only way to feel healthy and get the most out of your short time on the earth. It's not about fad diets and gimmicky exercise equipment, it's simple stuff like eating a ton of vegetables and working within your body's natural parameters.

I've dropped the idea of having a signing off statement like "eat well, move well, be well" because it's super cheesy and reeks of fitness guru schlock. I want you people to know I am down here in the trenches with you, I don't know anything you don't know and if it seems like I do it's only because I've made more ignorant mistakes along the way.

I'm glad I decided to kill the line because last week I walked into a Starbucks and was confronted with this framed advertisement on the wall. Sorry about the low quality, it was taken with my camera phone.

As you can see, it's a poster sized piece that features the phrase "eat well/feel well." That's all well and good, but the foodstuffs that they have chosen to represent this feel-good lifestyle are, clockwise from the left, a foamy (perhaps whipped cream?) coffee drink, a cupcake, a piece of marble poundcake, a lettuce, cheese and tomato sandwich, and a blueberry muffin.

What a pitiful example of "eating well." The cupcake, poundcake, and muffin are all essentially the same meal, enriched flour with egg, milk, and sugar in varying amounts. There is nothing nourishing about them. The sandwich appears to be rye bread which would at least be a decent source of complex carbohydrate, but the lettuce and tomato bring basically zero to the nutritional table. That leaves us with the frothy drink and the cheese, both of which are the very non-essential dairy group of foods. (But dairy is one of the four food groups you say? Not in the other half of the world where people never touch the stuff and live long and healthy lives.)

It seems that where Starbucks and I differ is the shading of the word "well." Their "well" seems to be that of momentary gratification. As in "eat well for tomorrow we die." Accordingly, their "feel well" seems to refer to the pleasure derived from the experience.

My view of the word well is "skillfully." As in "Well played old chap." In my scheme eating a big piece of poundcake would certainly be enjoyable, but wouldn't qualify as "eating well."

We seem to have a similar disconnect in the modern world. We so often confuse what tastes good, fills us up, and turns on our seratonin pleasure centers as a generally positive culinary experience. In fact, beyond the momentary pleasure on the tongue, that kind of diet will do anything but make us feel well. It will make us fat, clog our blood pipes, and give us diseases.

What I try to tell myself and anyone who will listen is that we need to recalibrate our sense of taste and what is a "good meal." A bowl of vegetables, lightly seasoned, simply will not compete in the taste arena with a Starbuck's mocha.

The truth of the matter is that the healthiest foods and meals are light, subtle dishes that accentuate the flavor of nature. Yet we have come to expect that every meal should contain something that really knocks it out of the taste stadium. Salty, cheesy, sweet, creamy, rich, savory, these should all be viewed as treats, not mandatory parts of a meal.

This Starbucks ad is just another voice in a choir of media that is based on the idea that to really eat well and feel well you must be experiencing amazing drinks and meals at every opportunity. Break out of the matrix and see that this expectation is ruining not only our palates but our health.

Steam some vegetables, eat an apple, and see what eat well feel well really means. In my world I'd say "eat skillfully, live gracefully."

Making it Stick!

2009-02-01T14:57:00.001-08:00

So now it's my turn...we're all back here in this together, but hopefully with a little more momentum and less confusion than last time. My first full week on the PCP diet has been pretty successful, I think. The first time it just felt like a ton of food, and this time by Tuesday I was ready to eat every bite of food. Like Lene, I just can't give up my Coke Zero (does that make me a coke addict?) but I'm working on it.
Making the Peak Condition Project more of a lifestyle than a short-term goal is at times relieving and depressing. It's pretty great to have some well-defined boundaries and know that if I just follow the plan, I'll feel great and be very healthy. On the other hand, cookies are good. Skittles are good! And chocolate is very, very good.
Every week of the PCP feels more or less like a wave pattern that goes something like this:

As you can see, it gets pretty rough around Wednesday evening but by Friday things are starting to pick back up again. And notice that the week ends at a slightly higher level than it started.

So tomorrow starts a new week and I am feeling a bit better today than I was this time last Sunday. So that's something.

Starting over.

2009-01-31T17:33:00.000-08:00

After the PCP ended, I quit the exercises cold turkey. I tried doing the maintenance exercises, but I couldn't make a habit of it. Since then, my main form of exercise has been running; three miles every other day. Running regularly has been a very satisfying exercise, much more so than jumping rope. It gets me out of the apartment.

I also stopped following the diet, although I stuck to a vaguely similar one, minus the hard boiled eggs. I have been eating out an average of twice a week. Surprisingly, I've been able to keep off most of the fat that I lost during the project, and I still have a bit of definition. I'm hoping that by being a part of this community, I will have more motivation to stick to my fitness goals.

Getting the Wheels Turning

2009-01-30T19:35:00.000-08:00

Wow, it seems like so long since I last made a PCP post. I am happy to be one of the lucky seven in this Peak Condition Community. Hello, everyone!

This week I have been taking it slow, easing back into a routine of working out and following a diet again. Adrian and I finally brought the kitchen scale out from the cabinet, but most of my meals were left unmeasured. To be honest, it has been tough to get my body and willpower going again.

Like my fellow PCCers, I have been taking it pretty easy since my 90-day Project ended a couple months ago. Aside from running, I have not done any formal exercise. And I definitely baked and ate a bunch of cookies over the holidays. Eating out has become a regular part of my life, and I am now struggling to cut that out and begin eating strictly from my own kitchen again.

I have been noticing the effects my diet has taken on my body and energy, and I know that once I get back into the rhythm of things I will start to feel good. So that is my challenge this week, to find my groove again.

Tomorrow's poster is none other than my lovely boyfriend and fellow PCP2-er, Adrian! Yay!

Until next Friday,
Emiko

Back in the game!

2009-01-29T07:00:00.000-08:00

SO....it's been exactly 54 days.....that's 54 days off of the PCP.....54 days of no consistent exercise and 54 days of no diet to follow.....54 days too much of not being careful and starting to feel it! Well, I think it took me about a month to really start feeling like I need to be back in the game....and here I am....

PCP was great....learned a lot about diet and exercise and the combination to feel and look fit. I also learned that with no"program" and a "program leader" AKA Patrick....I had no one watching me....and you know when no one is watching....it all falls apart. So I am looking forward to being part of the Peak Condition Community and getting back into a healthy lifestyle with prescribed diets and exercise....and lots of companions too!

My biggest indulgence while in "rest" mode was eating just about the entire batch of rice krispies treats a couple of weeks ago.....they were YUMMY...I know I should have jumped 2000 times just to burn them off, but didn't because no one was watching :)

My goal now is to get back on track and keep my indulgences under control and to just once a week.....while getting back on the diet and keeping off the sugar, fat and salt. I am also planning on exercising about 5 times a week.....will track my progress and let you know if I'm hitting my goals.....see you next Thursday!!

Why Do You Hurt So Good!?

2009-01-27T17:03:00.000-08:00

To say that I am honored to be a part of this conditioning project again is an understatement. I completed the first round of the PCP in mid-August. Since then I have taken it very very easy.

I haven't really done a workout since about a week after the project ended. This has actually been a good thing for me. Over the past five months (wow, time flies), I've really been able to reflect on how it feels to be in shape, and how it feels to be out of shape. I've felt my body slow down as I've ceased workouts, I've felt my taste palette become polluted once again, and at the same time, I've had opportunities to show pictures of my PCP body, and take pride in what I had attained.

How have these mostly negative things been good for me? Contrast. I was hoping that the PCP would be something I could look at and feel really good about. When I pull up my pics from time to time, I can't help but smile -- smile because I really pushed myself to do something that I had always wanted to do, but feared I would never be able to pull off. In my slothful state from the end of the PCP until now, I have felt something in me yearn to get back in to shape again. Alas the opportunity is here, and my perspective towards the PCP has changed yet again.

When I began the first PCP, I felt that I had something to prove. Now I feel that I have something to maintain. Granted I'm not near the condition I was in at the end, but I'm also not as out of shape as I was before I began the first PCP. I am a spontaneous person; I live and work in cycles. I've had a season of conditioning, a season of ease, and now, a season of conditioning is upon me once again. My excitement is less, "Yeah! let's do this!" and more, "It is time." The first is motivation -- something that doesn't last long for me. The second is a core, conscious decision to execute discipline.

Today I took it easy: just 2000 jump-ropes. My body wanted to quit at 1500, but I've learned to push on. I felt my body scream at me, "Thank you!" at the same time crying, "I hate you!" The hatred was fueled by my poor diet over the past several weeks. After I finished my routine, I felt sick as I could feel the junk moving through my body, but psychologically I felt good for working out. I fully expect to be back in my full routine within the next few days.

Now for some fun metadata:

Workout time: 15-20 min.

Routine: 2000 jump-ropes

Music: The Wallflowers

Until next week,

David

Community and an Active Lifestyle

2009-01-27T14:50:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys! I am back and proud to be a part of the new PCC (Peak-Condition Community) blog!

When Patrick first sent out the e-mail to us veterans I was really excited because this was something I was thinking needed to be present in the PCP program and couldn't wait to start blogging (once a week this time, yay!). I hadn't done any post-PCP blogs back on mine because every time I tried I felt like I was polluting the closure of the last post and I felt like I should only ever post on it for important announcements, maybe. But I am ecstatic to see what is to come hear from people who I followed and people I shared the PCP experience with.

So not only is this importance of healthy community vital to continuing the PC journey but something else I'm going to discuss today, active life choices, or active life-style. First a little update on me and my thoughts of post-PCP life.

I definitely took it easy. I haven't jumped rope much at all since the project (i miss it but it's hard when cold) and haven't done well-rounded intense work out routines. I really took it easy and I am surprised I haven't gotten more out of shape. I put a little more fat on my belly again (maybe a 1/2 inch) but only gained 3 pounds. I have been eating pretty healthy and have done probably weekly indulgences, mainly in the forms of canolis and caramel lattes. Besides that I have kept up good breakfast daily (something I have never done my whole life and it's a huge benefit!) and healthy eating. The only thing I have done wrong is not enough veggies and probably too many carbs for my activity level.

So now onto some discoveries and insight on how to maintain relative PC while taking it easy. I was extremely surprised that once in great shape it's actually harder to get out of shape than into shape. You have to push yourself into bad habits if you want them to form (Patrick and that nasty Reeses thing! Ugh! haha). You also have to be extremely inactive if you want to loose your muscle mass and stamina. Your body really does want to be in shape! And once you are used to the rigors of the PCP you want to stay active as much as you want to take it easy and that's what has helped me stay in shape, active life choices.

While the weather was still decent I actually spent a lot of time climbing trees at my house and local parks, expanding on my ideas for nature Parkour. I also have gotten into rock-climbing (indoors right now of course) and have been going 1 to 2 times a week. So because of this some of my muscles have gotten smaller (pecs, biceps, quads) but other muscles have gotten MUCH stronger (Back, shoulders, and forearms especially). Not to mention doing something fun and active that gives you a sense of accomplishment and evolution continues to spiral your desire for fitness upwards, I can't wait for good weather again!

So over the next few weeks/months I plan on increasing my activity again and using this opportunity to get into better shape than I was before, hopefully get to my true vision of PC by the mid-summer. And I think the PCC will help me stay motivated.

I have my 3 week trip to backpack Europe (Dublin-Rome) in May and I certainly wanna be in great shape for that, and I want a 6-pack for the summer (since it has faded lol)! So since I know the PCP is the fast-track to doing that I'm cracking back down and can't wait to release my pent up energy. This June I will also be doing my annual juice fast detox and will like to blog about that.

Until then stay active people!

I'm now passing the baton to David in this relay of PCP madness! Back from PCP1 or PCP Amber. I can't wait to see how he has been doing! Be back next week.

Peace

Welcome to the Peak Condition Community!

2009-01-26T02:32:00.001-08:00

Patrick

Hello and let me have the honor of breaking the digital bottle of champagne over the bow of this new project. But of course we always have to be a little different around here:

Ah... that was cathartic. Now on to business.

You are looking at the first post of the new Peak Condition Community blog. I and many of the other PCPers have found that one of their favorite things about doing the project is getting in the habit of keeping a weblog about the journey to better health. When you're feeling awesome it's so great to share that, and when you're feeling down it's crucial to connect with others who will pick you up, or at least commiserate.

I also just really missed all the good friends and interesting viewpoints that came from the PCP blogs.

So a few of us hatched up this idea to pool our efforts into a community blog. Basically it will work like a regular PCP blog, except that instead of just one writer there will be 7 graduates of the PCP at any one time, each writing one post a w

eek in a revolving authorship. That means this blog will be piping hot every day of the week!

Thus, with new post-PCP diets from Chen, we're all trying to get back on track after an indulgent winter holiday season This time around the focus will be on sustaining and maintaining the energy and good habits we learned during our projects. There won't be months spent learning how to jumprope and eat well, we'll all hit the ground running. It'll be cool to see what happens.

With that preamble, let me catch everyone up with my own condition. As I mentioned in my personal blog, I had been training in one way or another every day for 7 months. That was totally awesome, but I could feel my body getting worn down, so I decided to take it easy for December and January. I also thought it would be a good experiment to see how my body fared without the workouts and strict diet. Would I blimp out as I've experienced in the past?

In December I took a trip to the States to see Gwen, and she can attest that I was far from timid about my indulgences. Every night saw a parade of cheesecakes, beers, pizzas, onion rings, and so on. The culmination was the night before my return to Japan, drinking a large Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Mocha from a 7-11. It was so nasty but it was all in the name of research.

Since then I haven't done much beyond my usual activities. And here is a picture of me from today after completing my first serious workout for about 8 weeks.

I'm pretty impressed by how well everything stayed together despite the nutritional beating I put it through. If I had been at all sensible I for sure would still be in great shape now. But it was nice to know that even at my most wicked my metabolism and muscle did their part to sustain fairly good condition.

Now that I'm back on diet and training regimen again, the changes will happen incredibly fast. I even took a picture of myself holding today's newspaper to have some evidence when the doubters cry "no way". I've gotten used to the way my body responds to exercise and I know what it is capable of. So check back on Mondays when I'll be posting to see the changes.

I can't wait to read about everyone else's experiences post-PCP. Together I know we can come up with some good strategies to carry our projects into the rest of our lives!

Till next Monday, have a great week! I pass the ball now to a dapper young man named Nate Belle-Isle.