Taking a break.

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!

I have 8 pack abs!

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!

Hobbies

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!

Hot Pockets!

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!

Starting over.

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.