Day 30 - 5kgs down

Weighed in today and have lost 5kg.  In 30 days!!  Am really pleased.

I can see the difference on myself, my clothes and my photos.  Still a long way to go but am totally motivated to stick to the regime.

Am at home today with a sick baby so was able to get the full workout done during after noon nap time.

Skipping was quite fluid today and I had the mantra "JFD, JFD" going in my head. And I got it done.

Creeps are hard on the old knees but better than last time.

Chest dips - well if you were in the room you would have burst out laughing.  I was clinging on to the backs of two chairs and assumed the position in the photo but I just couldn't move downwards. My brain was willing my body to do it but it was just not going to happen. By the final set I guess I was moving a few millimetres but that was it.

V-sits - not sure if the arms are supposed to move over my head but again I got them done with a big burn.

If I ever start to lose enthusiasm, feel free to leave the comment on my blog of "JFD" to give me a swift kick up the butt.

Pull ups?

I was on the bus today and there was a bar above my head. I grabbed it with both hands and tried to do a pull-up.  FAIL.

But probably a good thing as I was ON A BUS, in public, with other people all around.

PCP is turning me into a nutter.

Day 29 - Stopping the search for my waist

I am wearing a belt today for the first time in I don't know how long. This is to show off my waist that after about 15 months has decided to come out of hibernation.

Skipping done this morning before breakfast and will do the rest of the workout tonight. I might start it off with about a 100 skip warmup though cos it warms me up pretty quickly. I am happy to be splitting them up as I can find the 20 minutes or so for the skips in the morning and then I can do the workout after the baby goes to bed at night. Trying to find a big block of time during the day was getting hard and I suspect that these exercises are going to need more time from now on.  

My skipping has kinda hit a plateau and I need to put some effort into it to break though this. I should try some other techniques but I am more focused on getting them done before the baby needs me so I am not having fun with them yet. But I want to.

Food fine. I am still really enjoying my morning breakfast burrito and like some of the others, I really look forward to my vegies at each meal.

Tonight I think I will make an egg white, banana smoothie and just eat the apple but I am now just trying to decide what to do with all these extra egg yolks that I will start to accumulate.  Then I will have a salad before bed. 160g of raw salad is actually quite a lot. (A phrase I never thought I would utter.)

Day 28 - the Postman (doesn't) always ring twice

I was just in the middle of my skips around the 500 mark and the doorbell rang. It was the postman wanting to know if Hubbilicious lived here. (It is his birthday tomorrow and so a parcel is not unexpected.)  I answered yes and clicked on the autolock to let him in. But I didn't hear the door open and he didn't ring again. After a very long pause, nothing, I looked out into the hallway, nothing...  meanwhile I was getting peeved that my skips were being interrupted.

Bewildered, I scooped up the baby and walked up to the front entrance of the building and there was nobody there. I went to the mailbox and there was a letter marked "Private and Confidential" not registered post or a parcel, just a normal windowed envelope.

Could that have been it?  A diligent postman?

I went back to my skips seething that I had lost my flow. I did an extra 100 skips but not the 500 odd that I had under my belt already.

I have stopped counting my skips in my head and just let the counter do it thang. I find it better to focus on something on the wall and zone out. Still tripping lots but not stopping. Just starting up again immediately. Have tried other skipping techniques but trip even more.

Really pleased that I have made it through my first four weeks. Looking forward to what adventures await us in week 5.

Day 27 - Wonder Woman?

Today has been a crazy crazy day and I have achieved a lot. All that extra energy from the last few weeks of PCP I think allowed me to power through.

Hubbilicious left for work at 9:30am and he won't get back until 1am so trying to get as much done as possible. I work from home 2 days a week and in the office 3 days a week.

Prepared 3 meals and 3 snacks for myself and my family
Washed dishes - twice
Washed clothes and towels
Did workout
Sorted the weekly grocery delivery
Unpacked and sorted a huge delivery of odds and sods from the baby shop
Erected a baby gate for the kitchen
Took care of baby - clothes, nappies, naps, food, bath, play
Walked to the office with the baby sleeping in the front pack for an internal meeting then walked home (30 minutes each way)
Answered work emails

It is now 10pm and I am just sitting down to blog with a cup of tea and my evening fruit snack.

But the house still is a bit of a tip with little pockets of clutter that I just can't seem to sort out. They just keep piling up.

Exercise went well despite not having proper workout shoes but walking sneakers (see yesterday's post).  Double Katanas - one word - OUCH.  Everything else good. Stomach muscles still sore from the other day so proper burn in upper and lower abs on V-sits.

So now to bed to do it all over again tomorrow.  I think we need a holiday.

Day 26 - Shoe blowout

My it was not fun trying to do skipping with a shoe like this.  

Went to the park to hula hoop today with my friends and they have all said how much my body has changed since starting PCP. Apparently around my face is the most noticeable. Hello cheekbones!! 

Exercises went well today except for the creep. Holy moly these are hard on the old knees. I looked like a duck waddling along very ungracefully. Couldn't get to 40 for any set. Something to work on for next time.  

The plank was hard on the tummy muscles today as I think they are sore from yesterday's V-sits.  

Friends over for pizza. I have my vegies and chicken in the fridge ready to go.

Indulgence - I had mine today.

I always ate all my easter eggs on Easter Sunday too.[0]. 

It was my brother's birthday so we all went round to his place for a BBQ with his family and Obaachan (his MIL).

So my indulgence was 3 small pork spare ribs that my brother had marinaded in his home-made BBQ sauce. These were each only the length of a finger so it wasn't a total blow out. They were heaven. 

The rest of the BBQ food was totally fine as it was vegies and samma (fish) grilled on the BBQ and a side of noodles. There was some lean beef strips too that I ate that was within my protein grams today.  

The rest of the day was all PCP all the time.  

How do I feel about my indulgence? It was great at the time but I am not tempted any more. This afternoon I was walking around a shopping area with lots of coffee shops, ice-cream shops, bakeries full of sticky cinnamon buns and convenience stores filled with chocolate, but I walked right on by them without missing a beat. I was on the hunt for a fruit salad but found a convenience store that had a banana.  

Notes:

[0] - Just another fun little fact about me.

Day 25 - "Tracey, have you lost some weight?"

"Why yes I have and thank you for asking." I replied to my sister-in-law at lunch today.

Hadn't seen her for about a month and she didn't know about PCP.  So needless to say, it was amazing validation from a totally neutral source.

So how have I been over the last day or so?  Well my feet have been pretty crappy with some really deep and big weals on the balls and arches of my feet causing me to hobble along. Took some antihistamine that has helped some and at the time of writing this, they are almost gone. For this flare up at least.

I left my workout until really late last night. I did the exercises first and then planned to do as many skips as possible as I didn't want to crash and burn on the skips and not do anything else. So got through the exercises and slowly but surely I got through all the skips. I took it really slow and they were basically in lots of 20 or so with no break between these.

Today was a bit crazy as I had my brother's birthday BBQ then to Akachan Honpo that eats me every time I go in there. So was out for most of the day and workout was late tonight after dinner and putting the baby to bed. New exercises are tough but I got through them. I was a quivering pile o' jelly on the floor after the jumps but I recovered quickly and got on with the rest of them.

Am not sure if with push-ups that the movement starts at the top lowering yourself down or start at the bottom and push up.  If I start at the top then I only get half way down with good form so I then push back up from there keeping straight to my toes. If I start at the bottom I can't push up without bending in the middle a bit. I will ask the question for the video.

V-sits remind me of my many many years in gymnastics when I was at school.  Great burn and I really enjoyed them as I felt like I knew what I was doing for a change.

So all good and I am about to hang out a load of washing, steam some vegies for my stash and do the dishes and then get to bed.

Lunch

Grilled prawns (shrimp) with garlic, chili and parsley (last nights left overs), avocado and raw veg salad on a pita bread is the lunch of champions.

Just saying!!

Made it last night and forgot it in the fridge this morning. I am glad I went back to retrieve it.

Day 24 - TGIF and TMI?

My body must be a slow learner as all the things that Patrick has suggested will happen seem to have happened to me after everybody else.

BM's - TMI I am sure so no real need to share details suffice to say things are "different".

Clothes looser - check. Also a significant improvement in muscle tone of upper abs. Seems that these muscles are actually holding in my internal organs better now and I don't look as pregnant as before.

Body changing shape - check.  I can really notice it on myself now.  Still a long way to go. Still have back fat and spare tire in lower abs that need to go.

Weight - have cracked the 80kg barrier!! YAY me. Was 79.8 kg on the scales today. I know Patrick said we shouldn't get hung up on the numbers but still this is a significant mental hurdle that I have crossed.

Libido - well as in the case for many women, lots of our libidinous inclinations are closely linked with body image and how we are feeling about ourselves. So check - I have a libido that is waking up again. Now just have to figure out a way to act upon it given stupid work schedules and a very small child that co-sleeps. Patrick... How much shagging is equivalent to 1000 skips?

Niggling injuries - check. Feet in a bad way last night and today as I have a chronic condition (Pressure Urticaria) that flared up. I did heaps of walking yesterday in heels - to and from day care and then running around doing errands pushing the stroller and not enough sleep so of course my feet developed deep hives on the soles. Not elephantitis-a-la-Inés™ fortunately but still uncomfortable, itchy and irritating. There are no real meds that help.

So no exercise for me this morning but they should have settled down enough by this evening to get into it. Of course more sleep will help this dramatically so TGIF.

Skipping and workout went really well last night. Max was playing happily by himself which let me get into it. It is a motivation to keep moving on skipping as I have no idea when he will start demanding attention. I got through all 1050 skips in under 20 minutes with less trips than the last few days. Then powered through rest of the workout and I only needed to move Max around during the last two exercises in between sets. Some days when he is being clingy I cannot even get through a set so I wait until he is taking a nap.

Food going well. Am making a lunchbox and planning the next day's menu before I go to bed at night. For tonight there is Shaona's Tandori Chicken so I am prepared by having the chook already in the fridge in all those wonderful spices just ready for me to chuck in the oven.

It would be great to have a central place for good recipes as there are so many of us in different groups it is hard to read all the blogs and comments to get the food ideas.

Crikey - I do ramble on.  Back to work.

Wrist action while skipping

Further to Paul's blog post yesterday about concentrating on his wrist action while skipping:

I have found the same thing with skipping too.

My problem is that I end up jumping on the rope which means I am not turning it fast enough or jumping high enough.  So I too have focused on my wrist action of late and it seems to be better. But I need to keep my mind on the job rather than zoning out listening to my workout music especially when I start getting tired.

After watching the video this week, I have just started jumping in shoes. I was getting a sore foot and I was worried I was giving myself a stress fracture. Wearing shoes has changed the dynamic, somewhat, so I will have to keep my mind on the job.

I need to improve my fitness a bit more though as I seem to run out of puff before I get to 100. I keep telling myself that the faster I get the skips done (or the less I trip), then the sooner I can get on with the rest of it. I do keep a glass of water beside me on the table as I do need to sip it after I have done a big "run" of 80 or so.

I do work-up quite a decent sweat during my skips so I guess I am doing something right.

I am thinking of adding some extra hula hooping drills to the skipping. These seem to be of the same intensity as the skipping but just round and round rather than up and down.  I do like my hula hooping.

Day 23 - breakfast burrito

Super yum way to start the day especially as I went to bed hungry last night.

This was just a burrito sized tortilla (60 g carbs) lightly toasted by holding it over the gas flame and then spread on the inside with some avocado (out of veg grams).  Using the rest of the veg grams from the veg stash I made a veg fritata (1 egg plus veg) and put that on top of the avocado.

Top it all with just a dash of hot sauce, roll up and eat.  

Crikey - Costco overordering

My Costco order just arrived and boy are those packages big!!

But got some pita bread, tortillas, frozen berries etc.

So am planning a breakfast egg and veg burrito with hot sauce and a grilled fish, avocado and salad pita for lunch.

But am thinking of a berry smoothie for morning tea would be awesome too.

Day 22 - At work

But procrastinating during my morning break (with fruit and water) while reading PCP blogs and looking at photos.

I am so inspired by the results that Conny's weekly photos are showing that I wish I brought my jump rope to the office. Conny, you are truly an inspiration and I am pleased to be in your group.  I am noticing results on myself but not as dramatic in the photos just yet. I am sure this will come soon enough.

I haven't done my workout yet today as it was another early morning with the baby (still no curtains), getting him ready for day care, PCP breakfast and then a huge poo-nami (him not me) as we were walking out the door.  He needed a complete change of clothes as well as a hose down. I always said I wouldn't be one of THOSE mothers who can only talk about poo, but seems I have become one anyway.  oops.

I plan to do the workout before dinner tonight but I really think I should be getting up earlier and doing it in the morning so I can do an extra run of skips at night if I am still energised. I already have a big salad made from last night so I have no prep tonight.  YAY.  Just going to pick up some sashimi from the supermarket and have salad. I am finding that weight for volume, the raw salad gives more satisfaction during these hot days.

The emails and videos from Patrick are so well timed to co-incide for potential pitfalls in our PCP journey.

OK - back to work.  Got heaps to do today.

Day 21 - Curtain Alterations

We are getting our bedroom curtains alters and at the moment we have none. So of course the baby wakes up at the crack of dawn which in Japan during is way way too early. He woke up early and cranky and so did I.

But after some breakfast and a nap I conquered the 1000 skips OK but lots of trip ups. But they were done and I feel better for it. The cranky mood of yesterday and this morning lifted and I was in much better spirits.

The rest of the day passed well with some lunch with other Mummy friends at a restaurant and I kept PCP compliant with scallops in lemon juice, followed by chicken and avocado wrap. I managed to request no salt or oil and they were great about it. Probably not enough veg but not overloaded on the rest.

Then I get home and a new email for this week has arrived. No nighttime carbs!! What is going to keep me warm at night now?

Day 20 - Cranky pants

Not sure what has been wrong with me today but I have been a total cranky bum and not good company.  Is it the heat?  Or sugar withdrawal?

Anyway, managed to get to my workout later in the day than I wanted to. The baby refused to take an afternoon nap and I wasted a few hours with him. But with poor form and lots of trips, I got through the skipping. Lunges were OK but still I am unsure if I am doing the right form. They seem to take me ages to do. Push ups - am doing one set on my toes and the rest on my knees but I am adding extra to make up for the easier type in order to get a good burn.

Everything else went OK and I finished the workout in a better mood. All those endorphins perhaps. But it was short lived and I am back to cranky pants.  

Food has been a bit dodgy but not too bad. After the circus we went out for thai and I stuck with raw spring rolls, vegies and a half serve of fish. I watched Hubbilcious plough through hot spicy soup, amazing crab and curry.

Lunch today was slightly dodgy too as we ended up in a gyoza (dumpling) restaurant. I only had the boiled version, a half serve of a small rice and some clear seaweed soup. So I stayed away from the fried version but they all had pork in them.

So am still cranky pants and to top it all off, I have those zits that Patrick was warning about.

Day 19 - Breathe baby breathe

The breathing tips that Patrick sent through really helped with my work out today.  Squats were lower and sit ups better form and much better burn.

Incline pull up getting there slowly slowly.  First set and a half I feel like I am moving my carcass off the floor in a plank motion but the rest of them are still pretty poor.  I am still a long way from my chin reaching the bar but I am getting closer to it.

Hubbilious' day off today so he was able to entertain Max while I kicked butt on the workout. He said that I had slimmed down on my face a bit and I am noticing some other improvements such as a firmer upper abdomen. Still a long way to go especially with the lower abs but feel like there is something to show for the last 19 days of effort.  Oh and another 1kg lighter on the scales.  YAY.  Still haven't cracked the 80kg mark but that will hopefully be next week.

Of to Cirque de Soleil today at Yoyogi and we will walk there through the park as it is not raining..  yet.

Oh sneaky Patrick

Now the push ups seem to be proper blokes ones from the toes rather than the knees.

I could do about 3 of them before I went back to the girly knee ones. I can do them on my hands but using the bars is much harder. Will work on them more next time.

My skipping seems to have reached a new skill level. I was happily doing them in batches of 100 or more today with very few trips. Getting myself properly winded and needing to have water before I started up again but not resting so as to not get cold. Sore in the achillies area but hubbilicious promised me a foot rub when he gets home from work. He is a restaurant manager so I am home alone with the baby most nights. (sniff).  

Hurry up all you late eaters, pay up and go home and let my foot rub begin.

Bubs had a super whingy night tonight and was positively possessed around witching hour when I was trying to cook my fab dry baked pumpkin pesto penne.

Day 18

Breakfast.  As it is a weekend I thought I would make brunch type food. Poached egg on wholemeal english muffin, sauted shitake mushrooms, wilted spinach with some bean sproats, nira and garlic and a grilled half tomato.  Ice water and decaf skinny latte finished it off nicely.  

Normally I make a veg fritata as it is super quick so this was a lovely change. Didn't feel like I was on any sort of program at all apart from not adding hollandaise.  

Plan on exercising later in the day but have a yummy baked pumpkin with chicken and pesto pasta planned for dinner tonight so will spend some time in the kitchen if the baby lets me.  

Day 17

All is well here on day 17.  Back at the office this morning and took in my snacks and lunch box.

Had a little cheat at morning snack - I ate a muffin.  One of my team had baked banana walnut muffins to welcome me back to work and I couldn't not eat it.  It was delicious.

But I did an extra 100 skips when I got home after picking up Max from day care.

But we are now out the door to meet a friend and I have another lunch box for dinner. I have all 10kgs of baby in the sling so that is more of a workout.  Plus we will walk the long way to the station.

So penance is done.

Looking forward to tomorrow as I have an interesting days food planned.

Incline pull-ups still eluding me.  I do them as best I can.

Dinner for family

Big one for hubbilcious, little one for bubs and the one on the scales for me. 

Brown rice, veg from the veg stash and chicken cooked in ginger, garlic and chinese 5 spice with a tiny dash of chilli oil to give a little kick.  I weighed out my veg and then my chicken and threw them back into the pan together to heat through and mix thoroughly just as if they were cooked together originally.  

I am really pleased how differently this tasted from last night which was pho noodles, veg and shrimp with coriander. Amazing what a little herbs and spices will do.  

So I feel confident now in having a big vegie stash in the fridge to draw from as the base of each meal and then just change up the carbs and protein and the spice.  I will alternate with a big salad stash for some variety.  Saves a heap of time too and that is great for organising dinner around bubs bedtime etc.  

I have a heap of pumpkin that I want to use this week so I will look at some options - perhaps some pumpkin sauce for gnocchi or some other pasta. Perhaps another pasta as gnocchi is so dense it will use up all the carb grams for only a few pieces.  

Day 16

The days are ticking along well now.

Feeling in a groove with counting grams and planning my day around food and workouts. I am sure I will lose and rediscover this groove a few times over the course of this adventure but for now I will ride the wave.

Felt a tad light headed before lunch but fine since eating. Got the workout done while bubs was napping again so it is done and dusted. Had serious jelly legs and arms afterwards I guess from push ups followed by tricep dips and all those lunges.

Max woke up shortly after the workout and the music was still on and I was feeling pumped and energetic so danced around the living room with the baby as my partner. He loved it and I haven't felt this much energy in a while. Thank you PCP!!  This is the main reason I wanted to do this program.

Food good - we are fortunate to have sashimi grade fish available everywhere here in Tokyo. So with the big stash of vegies in the fridge and the wholemeal english muffins I found today there was lunch sorted. The pre-prepared vegies in the fridge are a great suggestion as they make the base of most of my meals. Last night it was pho noodles and shrimp with vegies, lime and chilli. Tonight it will be grilled chicken, brown rice and vegies with some chinese 5 spice.  So with a few PCP friendly condiments I can change up the menu.

Earlier this week I had a big stash of salad so had baked salmon alfoil parcels, salad and pesto pasta for one meal, wraps for another etc. You get the idea. Hubby needs variety as he is a big foodie and bubs needs finger grippable solids too so I have alot to consider.

Day 15

1/6 the way through the program and am feeling good.

Watching what I am eating carefully as I need to ensure I get all my grams in to maintain my milk supply. I am eating for two after all. I have started feeding Max real food naturally so his dependance on breast milk has decreased but he still needs feeding 4-5 times a day. I am still hungry a lot but that is just a breastfeeding symptom and mostly phantom so I am not giving into this.

Max started daycare this morning so workout wasn't until after we got home at lunchtime. He was totally zonked and I managed to get all the entire workout during his nap. Awesome. He is still napping now. The schedule will be off for a while until we settle into the new routine. I may have to get up earlier to get the workouts done while he is still sleeping - crikey!!

Skipping was a bit woeful today though as I kept tripping after 20 skips or so. My longest "run" was around 90. I did about 50 extra to make up for the flubs.

The rest of the exercises are improving. Really watching my form and the first set of each type are pretty good. Even the incline press was looking like the pictures. Feeling a good burn. The encouragement and instructions from our "oh-so-wise-guru" Patrick have really helped keep the form in the front of my brain while I am doing the exercises rather than just trying to get through them.

Am deliberately not weighing myself daily as I think week to week is a better indication of progress as this will even out any daily fluctuations.

Call me crazy

But I am missing my exercises today as it is just a skipping day.

Completed my skipping early this morning but feel like I want to do more tonight.

Day 14

Big sore from doing my exercises late last night and having to back up this morning for the skipping.

But am back on track with a veg fritata for brekky and just some some kiwi fruit for my morning snack.

A fairly boring day ahead today but it will all change from tomorrow when the baby goes into day care for the first time and I head back to the office.

Day 13

Minor fail but not too dreadful.

Hubbilicious had a rare day off so we had a lie in until 11am!! The baby slept through with us too. What a treat.

But it meant that I missed breakfast and I just had time to have some watermelon before we headed out to lunch at a friends new french bistro in Kagurazaka. I spoke to the chef and he was really kind to serve all sauces on the side. But I had a few naughty things. A sliver of pate and a few slivers of jamon and a *cough* dessert tasting plate - 3 mouthfuls of heaven.

But the rest of the lunch went well - veg soup, crusty bread, lightly grilled fish with some steamed veg sticks and a small salad - all without sauces or dressings. Probably not enough veg and the soup may have had a touch of cream in it but looking at what the yummy French fare Hubbilicious was eating and drinking, I could have done much worse - PCP wise that is.

Then a long walk, shopping and home to a healthy dinner of steamed veg and fish.

Exercise had to wait until after dinner but it has been done and dusted.

Veg delivery arrived today and there is not enough room in the fridge for it all so I will be cranking up the music and chopping and steaming a big batch.  I will make a big batch of veg soup too and freeze some.

Any suggestions on what to do with cabbage? I find it a little bland. I guess I could grate it and have it raw in salads and sandwiches.

Three words = big dinner win

Three more words...  Raw, hand-rolled, springrolls.

Didn't last long enough to take a photo.

Rice paper rounds, lots of raw veggies cut up using the mandolin, steamed prawns (shrimp).

I made a dipping sauce of vinegar and dried chilies.  Plus some fresh lime.

YUM YUM YUM

Not sure if I have had enough carbs but I feel full. I weighed out my veg and shrimp and then just made as many rolls as I could.  The rice paper is light as air and I just soaked in some water and rolled them raw, Vietnamese style.

Hubbilious was able to make his own with some omelette, chicken and sweet chilli, peanut and sesame dipping sauces so we are all happy.

Day 12

Nothing new to report really.  All going well.  Eating my food allowance and doing my sets fine.  Still the incline pull-ups are not going anywhere but I am doing my best and hopefully one day I will just get it.

I put some more shocker photos up on flickr. Normally these photos would NEVER see the light of day but it is for my own incentive.

Green smoothies for lunch

Max and I eat much of the same food now.

Day 11

I *heart* my resistance bands.

I bought the pink ones naturally - I have no idea about the amount of resistance or if this is suitable for me but they were pink!!  I tell a bit of a lie, these were about the middle of the range of resistance available.

I have just completed my workout floating on air. I jumped on the scales this morning and I have lost..  wait for it...  2.5 kg!!  I nearly fell off the scales actually.  

I started at (ahem) 83.5kg and I am now 81kg. Given that I am only 157 cm tall this is alot of weight to be carrying. I hope to lose around 20 kg but I will be happy with 10kg as a start point. To be honest my start weight was a surprise to me as I was closer to 80 kg shortly after my baby was born so it means I had PUT ON WEIGHT since. I want to blame the overeating from being hungry from breastfeeding but really I need to take responsibility for my food choices and my portion sizes. Plus I eat too fast but I am trying to chew more.

But excuses excuses back to the matter at hand..  I have lost 2.5 kg!!  YAY me

All the exercises good today - but OMG triceps - hello my neglected old friends. You will be screaming at me tomorrow I am sure. But I have to work on those bingo wings so I was really careful with my form for these.

I have a sore bone in my foot - one of the little ones on top that I don't know the name for - carpal..  metacarpal or something. But it is not stopping me from anything but I might have to think about skipping in sports shoes rather than just socks which means skipping out in the open. Perhaps if this rain ever stops I might consider it.  

Food has been good. I made a big batch of my own ratatouille that was full of tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, capsicum and onion with a big clove of garlic and some chilli in there. So that has served as the side for my steamed fish last night and will be on my baguette this morning for bruschetta.  

I am playing around with some ideas for a vegetable lasagna using cottage cheese only but I will try it out first to see if it is PCP compliant and I will post it if it works. My goal is to make it and have it serve for a few meals as the veg + carb components. Then just need to steam some fish or chicken and boom there is dinner.  Plus it is something that Hubbilicious is likely to want to eat. He finds my steamed fish a bit bland but then he is used to rich food working in hospitality.  

OK - enough blathering from me.  The baby is whinging.

p.s.  did I mention I have lost 2.5 kg?

Day 10

Day 10 - we are in double figures.  w00t

675 skips.  Was supposed to do 650 today but I always add a few more skips at the end to make up for the times I stop.

I love the counter on my skip rope.  I can concentrate on doing as many skips before I invariably flub it by  hitting myself in the shins, on the toes or just wobbly form.  I do them in lots of 20 as it is easy to count to 20 and I try to do as many of these as possible in a row. Then I start my internal count from 1 again. My best "run" is 87 skips. Hard to explain as my brain works in weird ways.  But it works for me.  

Squats seem a bit too easy for me - maybe I am not doing them right or low enough.  

Incline press still eludes me as I can only lift myself a few inches off the floor.  Pretty pathetic really but something to work on.

I love the resistance band exercises - lots of fun.  Had to figure out how to hold my hands for the thumb up curls but I think I got it in the end.

Situps heaps of fun for my 8 month old who loves to try to pull himself up on my legs while I do my sets.  I don't let him near me for any of the other exercises in case I slip and hurt him.  

I worked up quite a sweat this morning as it is quite warm in Tokyo and I am trying to avoid the A/C as much as possible for power saving reasons.  Getting a breeze through the windows though.  

Food good - a few leftovers from my brown rice, chicken veg stir fry from the other night for lunch and breakfast is veg fritata on dry toast.  

But the main thing is that I can start to see some improvements already - mainly in my abs and energy levels. My clothes are fitting a little better. Not enough for anybody else to notice but I am happy.  

Day 9

Oh my was it hard to get up this morning and work out.
But I did it.

Skipping was all over the place and I kept flicking myself in the shins and toes.
But I did it.

Took me a while to figure out how to get the resistance bands into the door jam.
But I did it.

Breakfast was rushed as the baby was being demanding while I was trying to cook.
But I did it.

Yay me!!

Day 8 food

This is brown rice, chicken and vegetable stir fry.  I cooked the chicken separately from the vegetables and I already had the brown rice cooked.  I weighed out everything for a single portion and then did a final stir fry together at the end before serving.  

I did add some chinese 5 spice and it was cooked in a wee bit of shiso oil but the moisture was mainly from the vegetables.  Hubby will think it a tad bland but I thought it was great and filling.

Lunch was some sashimi with a veggie sandwich.

Day 8

Great start to the day.

Woke up super early and was able to get through my entire workout before breakfast and before bubs and hubs were out of bed.  Massive fail on the incline pull-ups but everything else went great.  Thank goodness for my skipping rope counter.

Breakfast was more food that I have eaten for a while with a soft boiled egg, dry wholemeal toast for dipping, my last homemade spinach muffin, the other half of last night's salad.  I was well impressed that I can have my morning decaf latte (skim milk) just without the sugar.

I love to bake so I will search the net for some suitable recipes for breakfast carbs and breakfast veg.

I have a banana packed for a snack and I am out the door.

Day 7

Skipping done before breakfast - I did 550. Thank goodness for the counting widget on the skip rope as I couldn't count that high. The extra 50 for the times that I flubbed it and stopped to take a sip of water.  I tried really hard to go as long as possible each time as the pain of the rope hitting my toes or shins was a good incentive to keep good form and speed.  

Was panting and winded by the end of it.

So today is the last day of food as I know it. From tomorrow it will be a whole new world albeit a mysterious one. Looks like I will have to wait for tomorrows email to learn more.

Dinner fail

Just got back from dinner and am feeling a bit guilty.  We ended up at Zats burgers in Yoyogi and I had one of their Sasebo burgers. Just the regular one not the jumbo.  I meant to just have half but they are just so good.  I had a few fries and onion rings too but just a few off Hubbilicious' plate.

I feel like I need to do penance.  How many Hail Mary's and skipping sets do I need to make amends?

Day 6

My press up handles arrived from Amazon and I used them today for the first time.  Much harder to do push ups with these and really felt it in my triceps so I could only do the minimum reps whereas I was doing the max just on the floor.  

We had a party at home last night but as I was in charge of the menu I made bagna calda with lots and lots of chopped vegies so I mainly snacked on those. I avoided the cheese plate and the cheese fondue but did have some of the yummy wholegrain bread. A friend made a lentil salad and another friend made a garden salad so lots of healthy stuff. Just one glass of wine (breastfeeding) and fruit for dessert so I think I did pretty well overall.  

Day 5

Lunch by halves at turkish restaurant. Hubbilicious happy to help out with the other half.

Day 4

My skipping rope, my friend.

Day 3

Woke up a bit sore this morning so felt pleased.  I normally avoid situations that make my muscles feel sore but at least I know I have been achieving something.

Day started off a bit rough with a mad dash out the door with the baby. He had breakfast but I skipped it but picked up a healthy wholemeal bread-roll on the way to playgroup. Then a steamed chicken and spinach pasta lunch with the other mums and I just had half.

Exercises done and about to go down for a nap put the baby down for a nap.  :-)

Question for Patrick or other PCP-ers - I haven't taken note of any stats other than weight/height.  Should I be measuring something?

Day 2

My gym buddy jumping with me in time with skipping.

Also testing blog posting from my cell phone.

Edit:  posting from mobile phones is really easy.  Let me know if you need help to set it up.  I work in mobile phone software so I know my way around most phones.

Day 1

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

-- Lao Tzu

Or in this case, sets of skipping.  

So I have begun. Not a bad start with cutting my food intake by half.
Breakfast
half bowl oatmeal topped with blueberries
half piece of fruit toast
half a banana

Lunch
grilled open sandwich (1 slice of bread) topped with a few tablespoons of homemade ratoutoille left over from last night and a little bit of cheese.

Afternoon snack
half bar of chocolate (baby steps)

Dinner
Tofu crustless quiche with bacon, spinach, capsicum, zucchini and mushrooms.  Not completely happy with how it turned out as it was still quite wet.  Will play some more with this recipe as it is quite yum and healthy.  Recipe from my friends food blog,

Exercise was done in the afternoon much to the amusement of my son.  Bonus as he gets to learn numbers while I work out.

Photo - I debated internally for a long time whether to post this or not.  It is just so gross.  But here goes nothing.

A million excuses as to how/why I am this size 8 months after having a baby, but they would all be excuses.

Now onto a better photo.  This was taken just after a workout.  I try to include baby raises in my daily routine. He is nine kilos so good for the arm issues.