December 19, 2011 2:00 PM HKT

Day 96: Final post

Wrapping up this whole experience is tough; I've started several times, but at this point I've given up on writing anything particularly eloquent or profound. Looking at my before and after photos, I don't even think I'm that great a showcase for the PCP (partially because I suck at taking flattering photos, but still). That said, I'm glad to have spent my time on this project during the last 3 months. I think I can best sum up my feelings with a brief story.

On Friday (yes, less than 3 days after the end of the project... sorry!), I went for a run with some coworkers. The path was one that I used to run fairly often during college, and I had never run a sub-30-minute time before. Not only did I run it in 27 minutes without having to push myself too hard, but I felt good afterwards. I felt good enough to do sprints up the first big hill with another friend, and when the burn set in, it was like an old friend.

Since then, Megan and I have been to a couple holiday parties, had a party of our own, and have thoroughly abused our bodies, but we'll bounce back. Neither of us will be keeping to the PCP perfectly (after all, would that really be "peak condition"), but in general, I'm proud of the improvements I've made in my strength and cardio health and I intend to keep those gains for a long time to come.

Thanks to Patrick, Thomas, and everyone for all the support through these 90 days. I plan on taking a break for a bit, but I'll be trying to do a couple blog posts as I transition into maintenance mode. I'll be excited to hear from you all in the future!

-John

Photos

December 9, 2011 12:48 PM HKT

Day 86: Final stretch

Man, the last week is much harder than it should be! The post about senioritis really hit home, so I've been working extra-hard the last few days to "plow to the edge of the fence" as my high school principal always used to say. I had gotten a bit lazy about measuring food exactly while at work (though I have to say, I'm usually well within 10g of the correct amount when I eyeball it at this point...), but I'm putting everything on the scale again just to check. 

I've been working out in the morning (for the first time in the project), and it's a pretty different experience. It's definitely nice to feel like I've already got something done first thing in the morning. Regarding shin splints, those have mostly receded since I gave them some time to rest (by replacing skips with biking for a few days). I also got the chance to bike to work again, which was a fun 38 mile way to sub for skips!

Anyhow, I'm counting down the days at this point, though when I think about it, I don't intend to do much differently when it's all over. I'm going to keep doing the workouts from the last couple weeks for a bit (until I can at least complete all the prescribed amounts of exercises consistently), and I want to keep eating well. Megan and I are going to our favorite restaurant next Wednesday night, and my company's holiday party is that Friday night, but for the most part I'll keep eating well and exercising hard.

I'm wondering if our blogs will stay available through this site after the PCP is over... It could be interesting to revisit the experience in the months to come. At the very least, it'll be nice to keep the reference available.

-John

November 30, 2011 2:51 PM HKT

Day 76: Shin splints!

Ugh! With just two weeks left, I finally have to confront the arch-nemesis of my high school track days: shin splints! I'm jumping on a padded surface and stretching, but I guess skipping has finally caught up with my legs. I'm going to try and figure out the best steps to take to give my calfs the rest they need.

-John

November 28, 2011 2:18 PM HKT

Day 74: Thanksgiving weekend

Hi all!

Megan and I have just been chugging along. We had a nice, relaxing long Thanksgiving weekend, and though we didn't join our friends for a traditional dinner, we did put some effort into special PCP-compliant dinner (lemon-roasted chicken, japanese sweet potatoes, cherry tomatoes, and ciabatta).

The following night, we brought our bento-boxes along to dinner with friends. It was nice to hang out with friends again, and it was certainly interesting to field questions about the PCP. I was a bit disappointed in the number of pushups I could do (27), but hey, I'd already done my chest exercises to failure that day!

Regarding secret gym visits, I haven't yet had a chance, but I do have a lot of fun watching people in my company's gym doing P90-X. There are quite a few people doing that program, though many aren't following the diet for various reasons (and those reasons mostly come down to "it's too hard" or some misunderstanding of how important food is to fitness). 

-John

Photos

November 22, 2011 3:59 PM HKT

Day 68: failure mode

Patrick's post about going for failure struck me as kind of funny, because I'm definitely hitting failure just in the course of normal workouts. With the bar moving higher so quickly, just when I get the hang of something, bam! I'm back to muscle-failing good times. Today, I was proud of myself for quaking my way through the planks again, and I'm working my way back up to doing all normal push-ups again (I've been wearing myself out on the chest dips to the point that I can't do 5x10 pushups without dropping my knees). This isn't meant to be a tunnel-vision whine-fest, but a comment on where I am. The jumprope sets have nothing on me, and I'm throwing in lots of variety at this point to make it interesting (high knees on non-leg days, ski jumps side to side, double jumps, hopping twice on one leg then twice on the other, etc.). I'm

My trip last week did not go so well in terms of PCP. First, I didn't make it through my exercise because I got sick. Then, to top that off, I was trapped on site with no good food for most of the day on Thursday. At the end of the day, I couldn't tell to what extent I was feeling bad because of sickness, eating poorly, or skipping my skipping.

I'm so impressed looking at everyone's weekly photos. Everyone has come a long ways since day 1, and the changes are still coming in! I know that I'm getting really excited about skiing this winter and taking advantage of my hard-earned leg muscles. Does anyone have big sport/fitness plans post-PCP, or is everyone just looking forward to being more active and feeling good?

-John

November 16, 2011 2:01 PM HKT

Day 62: Japanese sweet potatoes...

So delicious!

(nothing else of significance to report. I felt kind of weak today, and I maxed out well before finishing sets for several of the exercises. Brief business trip starting tomorrow means another adventure with traveling and the PCP. I might have to try some airport jumprope...)

November 14, 2011 2:46 PM HKT

Day 60: another long gap

Megan and I finally got some speakers installed in our living room (where we do most of our workouts) this weekend. The following lyric reminded both of us of the PCP: "When I was a lad I ate four dozen eggs / Ev'ry morning to help me get large / And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs / So I'm roughly the size of a barge!" (From "Gaston" in Beauty and the Beast, for all you Disney lovers out there...). In general though, having music during shoulder exercises (my arch-nemesis!) was really helpful.

Anyhow, PCP has been good! Painful, but good. I'm coming out the the valley and getting back to high-energy days. Even more importantly, I'm feeling really comfortable in my body, which is the goal of this whole exercise. Last week was stressful, but I kept up the exercises and diet like an old hand (which I kind of am now that we're 2 months through).

AMAYW veggies has been an interesting experiment so far. "As much as I want" is often less than my previously-prescribed amounts, but if I don't eat up, then I tend to get hungry before my next meal. Ultimately, I've settled on using last week's amounts as a guide so I don't slide back into meals that are light on veg, (relatively) heavy on everything else. I know I'll get better, but that's where I'm at right now.

Strange as it sounds, what I've been missing most recently has been drinking. I'm not a huge drinker, but I do love curling up with a glass of scotch and a book, especially on cold nights like those we've been experiencing recently. I also miss catching up with friends over a beer, or making cocktails. This isn't really a craving, but I've just felt particularly nostalgic about that part of my life in the past week.

-John

November 7, 2011 4:22 PM HKT

Day 53: second indulgence, etc.

This week has flown by, fast enough that I didn't even realize I hadn't posted.

In general, it was uneventful. I've been exercising, I still can't do more than a set of real pull-ups, the diet gets easier with time, etc. So it goes. On Thursday, I did my jumproping but skipped the workout because I was feeling sick. On Friday, I was on the brink about doing the same, but I pushed through the workout and felt really good for it. This week's workouts are painful in the extreme.

Yesterday (Saturday) night, Megan and I had our second indulgence. We went out to a restaurant we both like called Luna Park, where each of us had a fairly accurate reconstruction of a pre-PCP dinner. We had a fondue to begin with, then meals (mine was a grilled salmon dish that I picked largely because it had plenty of veggies-- I felt like I would have missed them otherwise!), and we wrapped up with an apple-huckleberry crisp. I'm glad that there's no 'appropriate' reaction to indulgences, because I'm guessing my satisfaction with this meal wouldn't be appropriate. The cheese was not-so-satisfying, but that was more because I thought the cheese somewhat bland. The grilled salmon was great, and while the leeks, beans, mushrooms, and greens were somewhat oily and salty, they gave me no problems. The crisp was tart and sweet, topped by a single scoop of truly flavorful vanilla ice cream. 

This is the way I always like to operate, a small amount of high-quality indulgences. In this case, it had been a long while, so it was long-anticipated. I experienced a bit of a sugar low a while after the meal, but in general, I loved the meal and felt good afterwards.

I have a small stockpile of questions about the PCP that I've been meaning to ask, so I'm hoping to get those up on the forums or to Patrick soon. Also going to catch up on everyone else's blogs. Hope everyone else is doing well too!

-John

October 30, 2011 7:02 AM HKT

Day 45: Halfway!

I really liked Patrick's post today (technically the day 46 post, but PDT puts me a bit behind) about weening off of numbers. This is absolutely my goal, getting to a point where I'm healthy and have good intuition about how to stay healthy without bean-counting.

The last few days have been really tough for me, and I'm not sure if it's just that we're midway through the program or if I'm sick. Some kind of cold has been going around our office, but I'm not sure whether or not my mild lightheadedness is due to that or something else. Regardless, I've been struggling through workouts the last couple days.

I'm not sure I have any deep reflections to make now that we're halfway done. I'm definitely seeing changes to my body, and I'm feeling stronger. My sense of taste seems slightly more acute, and I'm learning how to cook (even more) healthily. I've learned to stop worrying and love the egg white. Etc. 

Right now, I'm just struggling to keep getting enough sleep. That aspect of the PCP has been a problem for me since the very beginning, and now that my body is really drawing on its reserves, I'm feeling it. I'm making a real effort to get enough sleep this coming week, and hopefully my mind will have pulled together enough to say something insightful soon.

-John

October 26, 2011 1:55 PM HKT

Day 41: The Long, Dark, PCP Valley

Patrick sure is right that it's gotten tough these last few days. My body is screaming and bargaining and everything else to avoid workouts, but I'm still putting it through the paces. I guess the exception would be yesterday, when I only did skips since I was feeling lightheaded and ill. Today, I was also feeling a bit lightheaded, but a bit better, so I pushed through.

Speaking of pushing through, I'm starting to notice some things it would be better not to just push through. For example, I've always had Barbie doll knees (the kind that crack whenever you bend them), and my knees during pistol squats are loud enough for Megan to hear across the room. I'm also trying to figure out what to do about my feet, which I just learned are fairly severely overpronated. 
</TMI>

For now, excited about biking some more this weekend and even more excited about rest day #6.

-John

October 23, 2011 2:07 PM HKT

Day 38: time flies

Hello world, it's been a while.

It's hard to believe we're almost halfway done with the PCP. The food part of the program still feels like I'm struggling to make time for it, but workouts are almost feeling like they've always been part of my routine.

What all is new...?

I have a new jumprope, and I'm making 200+ skips in a row now. Magic. 

My diet hasn't changed that much, but we're eating more salmon for protein. Egg whites seem like one of the few constants in life. The one exception was Thursday night, when my parents made me an offer I couldn't refuse. For dinner, they took us out to Masa's, a French restaurant known as one of the best restaurants in San Francisco. Despite this being an indulgence of the first degree, the news is mostly good. The portions were small and happened to be close to the PCP (though I wasn't worried about that at the time). I was also able to taste (and thus enjoy) the subtleties of the food so much more than usual, and I place a large part of the credit with the PCP diet. Also, this time, I did my exercises beforehand and didn't get off track.

I know it's early to be thinking of it, but I'm wondering what I'm going to do when the PCP is over. My experience this week confirmed that well-made food definitely still appeals to me, but in moderation. I guess that's the whole point of "peak condition" after all, enjoying life to its fullest rather than having that enjoyment hampered by poor health or poor tastebuds or poor whatever-else. Just something I've been thinking about as the days tick by.

With respect to exercise, it's still killer, but I'm still making it. Pull ups are still killing me after 2 sets, but I'm getting better every time. I'm also getting better at v-sits and other ab exercises. I'm really glad for all the videos both because of and in spite of the fact that they show me that I've been doing it all wrong!

On Friday, I rode my bike ~37mi (~60km) to work, which was a lot of fun. It gave me a chance to ride my new bike and I got to meet a bunch of people working at Google and other start ups in the Bay Area. By the time I made it to the showers at work, my legs were dead, but I was happy and pretty effectively woken-up! Needless to say, I counted this as a sub for skips that day... Anyhow, I feel like this is the kind of thing I couldn't have done a month ago, and it's the kind of thing that makes me really happy to be getting into better shape. I was still crushed by the more experienced cyclists, but I'm getting better, faster, and stronger, and it feels good.

-John

October 16, 2011 2:47 PM HKT

Day 31: miscellaneous observations

People at work seem to just now be noticing the scale at my desk, though I've been making no effort to hide that I'm weighing all my food.

Egg whites + mustard = delicious. I'm trying to cut back on the mustard and find other ways to deal with 5 egg whites a day, but so far, none of the others measure up.

I'm starting to watch everyone else in the grocery store and costco. The people in good shape (unsurprisingly) have very similar shopping carts. Also, it doesn't matter how healthy a grocery store you go to (and I go to the mothership of awesome hippie coop grocery stores), the majority of people still seem to gravitate towards the more-processed foods.

Every time I put on deodorant, I notice the ache in the lump of new back muscle right around there.

Every time I work out, I find a new way I'm doing exercises wrong. The good news is that I am noticing and getting stronger as a result. The bad news is that each workout is a new lesson in pain.

The 8 minute abs video is great, gang!

I still suck at skipping rope (even when I'm not drunk). I think I'm going to post a video of it and let the hive mind tear into it ;)

I'm buying new pants with a waist band 2 inches smaller.

My quads are going to be awesome for ski season.

Megan and I are planning to host a PCP dinner for some friends interested in joining the next round. We're hoping to slip it in before we get to apple+egg white dinners...

Contrary to Patrick's experience with cold weather + low body fat, I'm finding that I'm super warm all the time, presumably because of higher metabolism. I'm sure this will change as my body fat decreases though.

I'm missing my fruit for afternoon tea. 180g of veggies at 3 in the afternoon just isn't quite the same.

Veins everywhere!

October 13, 2011 11:07 AM HKT

Day 28: a mixed bag

The last few days have been eventful, hence no time to blog. I'm on a business trip right now, and I'm actually really proud of myself for making the food and exercise happen to the best of my ability, but I've also messed up a bit. All that, my indulgence, and more, after this break!

---

Wow, what a break! So the last week has actually involved missing 2 days of exercises due to similar issues. First, on day 22, Megan and I both fell asleep after dinner and didn't stir until 3 am, when it was both technically and effectively too late to do the day's exercises. That was Doh! number 1.

Since then though, I've been doing fine with the new exercises. I'm still a bit confused by the creeps, and v-sits are killer when you do them slowly (a.k.a. 'right'), but in general it's going well. I've mentioned this before, but I'm feeling like I'm moving backwards in some ways since with 10 pushups x 4 sets, I'm back to being unable to do pushups, but alas, this is how it goes.

On Sunday (PDT), I took a plane flight, but I was able to stick to the right food (plus a little extra fruit snack to account for the extra 3 hours in my day). After that, I got a personal fridge in my hotel room and went grocery shopping. During the conference the next day, I kept dashing up to my room to get food, but it worked out fine. I even got some compliments from people on managing to pass up the filet mignon and other goodies.

Later that night, my company had our after party, and I took my indulgence in the form of beer. Several of them. In fact, I learned a couple new drinking games, and for those of you with experience of/memory of drinking games, you'll know that learning them can be interesting. Seriously though, I had several beers (not as many as implied above), so I may have over-indulged a bit. Still, I had a really good time at the party and I enjoyed getting to toast a number of accomplishments along with everyone else.

The issues with that indulgence are in the after effects, however. First, when I got back to my room, I was too drunk to skip rope. This happened because I drank quite a bit but also because I have become a lightweight! I'm sure I could figure out which changes brought about by the PCP have decreased my alcohol tolerance, but for now suffice it to say that I think it's about half what it was. I didn't used to drink much, so I think it's more body composition and metabolism. Anyhow, that was my Doh! moment number 2. I didn't over-eat when I drank, but it did inhibit the PCP in more ways than I anticipated.

When it comes to introspection on my indulgence, I also need to take into account my hangover the following day. For me, this was weird since I never used to get hangovers, even when I drank to excess unlike last night. I don't know if I felt groggier that I used to feel on a regular basis or whether even a month ago I would have noticed this difference, but I definitely wasn't in top form today. This isn't to say that I have no desire to drink again post-PCP, but more to say that things are a-changin.

For today, I ate well, made up yesterday's exercises (since todays' were just the skips), and am about to sleep well. I feel like I've confessed my sins now, so I can go to sleep with a clean conscience and keep going strong for the next 62 days!

-John

October 7, 2011 3:33 PM HKT

Day 22: not much to report

Not much is new in my neck of the woods. I'm tripping on skips a whole lot for some reason, but no worry. Diet is finally going well. I turned down chocolate covered macadamia nuts my lead brought back from Hawaii, so I'm fairly proud of myself at the moment.

I'm trying to get prepared for a trip I'm taking next week. This will be the first time I've been away from home while doing the PCP, and I don't imagine it'll be easy. All good skills to develop, however.

Thats all for now
-John

Photos

October 4, 2011 2:27 PM HKT

Day 19: whelmed

Wow! Now that the forum is up, there are so many new ideas flying around. That part is overwhelming

Re: food, I'm still eating breakfast at work (since they provide everything I need), but all they have for morning veg is steamed spinach. Definitely underwhelming and rapidly getting tiring.

Another random tidbit, I got a massage today, and my shoulders didn't work at all during skips today. It was like waving a couple noodles around! I was tripping all over the place, which was disappointing since I was finally getting into the rhythm of jump roping. Oh well.

-John

October 3, 2011 1:56 PM HKT

Day 18: Your changing body...

Sorry, but who else thought Patrick's latest training post started off sounding like a school film about puberty :)

Maybe I'm just making that joke because I was planning to post something about some of the changes I've noticed, but he beat me to it since he has an uncanny sense of timing. In particular, I've definitely noticed the gross stuff (zits, etc.) as well as the more visible changes in tone and leanness. A couple of the changes that I haven't noticed: I've always had some pretty substantial veins, and the midday lulls are probably still around since coffee is still messing with my body's rhythm. 

Re: pull-ups, I discovered to my horror that I can't do the wide-stance pull-ups in any of the doorways of my house. Stupid, narrow San Francisco apartments... I'm looking for alternatives, but if it comes down to it, I'll just get a piece of pipe to hang under the deck out back.

-John

October 1, 2011 4:27 PM HKT

Day 16: Very tricky

So I just realized the trick to the push-ups: Patrick totally meant for us to be doing knees-down pushups the first two weeks! Today looks like it was meant to be the first day of full push-ups. No wonder I've been dying! I'm feeling pretty good about myself after finally completing all 3 sets with flying colors.

Today, Megan and I took a page from the latest Training note and went for a brisk walk to mix up our training. After that, lunges, rows, push-ups, etc. Nothing too exciting to report there, but I'm definitely feeling stronger. I'm also in the process of choosing a new bike and a pair of skis, which is separate from PCP but still exciting from a fitness perspective.

Regarding food, I'm definitely still drawing stares at work, mostly from how much I'm eating but also as a result of how quick I am to whip out the scale. My co-workers are kick-ass and are really supportive.

I'm sure I had something more to say, but I'll have to come back to that later. One of my friends stalking this blog asked whether there was a rule that everyone had to act really positive all the time, and I told her no, I'm actually feeling pretty great. Tired, but great.

That's all for now, folks. Have a great weekend everyone!

-John

September 29, 2011 2:44 PM HKT

Day 14: Friends are watching

Hi Friends,

I apparently have a few coworkers and a few friends reading my blog, so I'll try to increase the quality of the content... Seriously though, the idea of a balanced fitness program with the goal of long-term fitness -- not "strength" nor "weight-loss" though they come with the territory -- is appealing to a lot of people it seems. Maybe there'll even be a crop of Bay Area PCPers in the next group. For now, though, it's good motivation to know that this blog is being read.

1000 skips actually felt pretty nice today (I did extra because it was a nice night out).

-John

September 27, 2011 1:56 PM HKT

Day 12: the exercises are gaining on me

I know there was a slow ramp-up period, but I was still feeling pretty good at the beginning of the PCP. Exercises were going well (even if I never really killed it on push-ups), and life was good. Now, I'm dying to make the minimum of some of the exercises; push-ups, da-vinci's, and crunches are destroying me by the end of the last set. I know it'll get better, but it's a potent mixture of painful and embarassing.

Regarding food, I finally have a more accurate scale to take to work with me. Industrial postal scales, in case you were wondering, are not the most accurate things in the world. I'm now able to be perfectly PCP rather than just doing my honest best to round accurately.

Megan has probably covered this in more detail, but we're finally getting the hang of the PCP routine. We did some serious shopping on Saturday, and we've figured out a great way to spend more time cooking, exercising, and enjoying ourselves via CSA's. Tons of seasonal, local, fresh, delicious produce delivered bi-weekly. Given the start-up schedule that both of us are on and the significant commute I'm doing, it's a big help.

I've had the chance to tell most of my team at work about the PCP, and several are really excited about the idea. We have a couple bikers, a CrossFit master, and a yoga practitioner, so it's not like I'm preaching the gospel of "activity" to an unreceptive crowd. Still, the pile of steamed spinach on my plate at breakfast is a tough sell, some days more than others.

Off to eat my snack,
-John

September 24, 2011 1:21 PM HKT

Day 9: feeling much better now

Maybe it's the exercise, maybe it's something else, but I'm feeling much better now. Today's workout was a breeze for some reason (I think it was the absence of my arch-nemesis, push-ups), and I'm feeling good after dinner and some rest. I'm weighing in at 69.8 kg now.

-john

September 24, 2011 1:55 AM HKT

Day 9: The real PCP

Huh, so this is the real PCP now, the one I signed up for. It's tough, but I knew it would be. Day 8 exercises were definitely challenging, and I didn't make it all the way through the Da-Vinci's. I did, however, make it through all 4 sets of push ups, so I was proud of that. It's one of those small ways in which things are already changing.

Regarding food, I failed miserably on my first day. I was certain that we had a scale at work, but I couldn't find it. The best I could do was use a massive, 50lb capacity food prep scale with 2 oz increments... Doh! I got my evening and night rations perfect though, and I'm doing better today.

Finally, the critical component here seems to be time, and that's not something I had a lot of to begin with. As much as I realize that Patrick is right, and that the only way to get in shape and stay that way is to spend time on it, I think I'm rapidly approaching my first low-point. I'm tired, sore, and feeling restrained. Still, I have no intention of giving up; this is what I want, and I'll keep working to get there.

-John

September 22, 2011 3:11 PM HKT

Day 7: Goodbye week 1

I feel like everything I'm writing up here is pretty boring and impersonal, so I'll try to do a better job with that.

For now, I had a good time with 500 (actually 600 -- I'll take my chances to be proud where I can) skips. It was a really nice lull. I get the feeling that after PCP is done, I'll miss the skips if I don't get them in.

Re: food, I tried to half half of an indulgent day. Before sleep, we prepared tomorrow's protein and made some salt substitute. To finish things up, Megan and I split a beer as a last hurrah for week 1.

Cheers to everyone for the good job in the first week, and I look forward to toasting a job well done by everyone in 11 weeks!
-John

Photos

September 21, 2011 3:27 PM HKT

Day 6: Standing on the precipice

Howdy,

I've been getting pretty hungry by the time the next meal rolls around, and my arms are still incapable of lifting me on the very last pushup of the very last set, but I'm doing well!

So, here's a first-world-problem: I'm at a silicon valley company that provides 3 meals a day, and I'm dreading giving it up! I don't even eat all that much, but it's a classic case of loss aversion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_aversion). Loss aversion also helps explain why we finish our plates of food even when we're full; it's a perceived loss. Hmm...

Anyhow, I'm gearing up for lots of eggs and bread. Megan is compiling a PCP cookbook, which is pretty exciting in that it should keep some variety in our diet. Mostly, I'm just trying to figure out whether mustard is PCP-legit. (For the record, I'm talking about the water, vinegar, ground mustard, pinch of salt, herbs kind of mustard, not the HFC kind...)

Keep it up everyone!

-John

September 19, 2011 1:35 PM HKT

Day 4: pithy statement here

Just did my push-ups. My arms are burning, but I made it.

Went out today to get the spices for the salt substitute mentioned by Adrian. I'm looking forward to looking through past PCP blogs for more food tips and tricks. Besides that, gearing up for my first full work week of PCP.

September 18, 2011 3:52 PM HKT

Day 3: It's not day 2 anymore

Hello world,

Just finished Day 3 exercises (PDT time zone, so I guess it's day 4 for all you spread across the world). I'm starting to feel the burn a bit (especially push-ups), and I'm realizing how much strength I've lost over the last few years. I'm also getting excited to gain that strength back and then some. Skipping rope is also still hard; someone referred to the "skip to trip ratio" and mine is still depressingly low.

Regarding food, it hasn't been too bad cutting back on what I eat, which says more about how much I normally eat than about me! I've actually been keeping careful track of what I am eating as part of a side project, and it's quite a bit even after halving it. I've been coasting off a youthful metabolism for a while, but eating so much without exercising right was going to bite me before long.

I promised something more interesting two days ago and failed to post that. I think my goal here is going to be posting daily updates, but trying to write separate posts about interesting discoveries when time and inspiration permits. Preview of coming attractions: a point/counterpoint on the merits of standing desks, some notes about stretching, and (possibly) a PCP workout soundtrack.

For now, I'm catching up on sleep from a week in which I've started exercising, cut out half of my food, and stayed up late coding.

Peace,
-John

September 16, 2011 3:35 PM HKT

Day 1: A starting point

Woo! First post!

Ahem. I'm excited to get started with the PCP today! I've been meaning to start exercising (a familiar refrain) for a long time now, and Megan and I finally committed to the PCP because it's 1) aiming for a 'fit' body rather than extreme muscles or some other goal, 2) dedicated to lifelong fitness, and 3) notoriously difficult to give up on.

Eating half my normal meal size was a bit challenging, though I made it through OK. Thinking about 'half', I realized that if I halved the mass of food I was eating, I could just cut out a good chunk of meat and some carbs but eat about the same amount of veggies. In reality, I halved the volume of the components of each of my meals. I even got to explain the Peak Condition Project to a friend who questioned my sanity at leaving half of a kobe beef hamburger untouched.

The workout was mild, but it sounds like I'll soon be remembering this week fondly.

Right now, I'm excited and rambling, but I'll come back tomorrow with some more composed thoughts. For now, g'night.

-John