Commencement

I've always liked the word commencement. Most people think of it in terms of graduating from school, but it doesn't mean ending something. Commencement is the beginning of something. In this sense finishing PCP is very similar to finishing school. School is training. School is preparation. Life is what you're beginning. In school you take a class called physical education, but I've never heard of anyone being educated in that class. The class is about playing basketball or running laps. Maybe the occasional awkward lecture about health that the teacher reads from a script and the class ignores. I finished high school at 18 but it wasn't until I was 36 that I finally took a real physical education class and it was called PCP.

How does your body respond to food and exercise? How do you prepare food? What is food, for that matter, and how much of it should you eat? Beyond that when and why should you eat it? How do you exercise? What does a good workout feel like and how do you know when you've done it right? These are just a few of the things that I've learned over the course of this project and that nobody learns in school.

My journey began a bit before the rest of this PCP crew. I started back on September 17, 2010 when I tried to do PCP and Patrick told me I couldn't physically handle it and that I shouldn't do it. He was, as he is with so many things, right about that. I was ridiculously out of shape and working towards a heart attack or diabetes. Instead he created a new project, The Foundation, and I began my journey with that.

This was me on September 17, 2010...

Doesn't look that bad? Let's try it again with the shirt off...

It pains me to look at it.

3 months of Foundation from September to December then a month off, then 3 months of PCP. Numbers on this kind of stuff are less important to me than they used to be, but doesn't hurt to check every once in a while. Here are the stats from Foundation day 1 to PCP day 1 to PCP day 90...

Weight 120.2 kg (265 lbs) ->106.8 (235) -> 92.3 (203.5) total loss of 27.9 kg (61.5) or 24%
body fat 41.5% -> 31.6% -> 25.1% total loss of 16.4%
visceral fat 18.5% ->19% -> 13% total loss of 5.5%
subcutaneous fat 36.7% -> 21.3% -> 16.6% total loss of 20.1%
muscle mass 23.8% -> 29.6% -> 32.7% total gain of 8.9%

The numbers are all pretty awesome. More importantly I feel much better. I know how my body responds to food and exercise and have the knowledge to keep things under control. There is still plenty of work that needs to be done. The numbers are great, but with a BMI of 28.5 I'm still solidly in overweight territory. Yes, I know BMI is a lousy number but my gut also shows I still have a way to go. The important part is I know the path to follow to get there.

There is so much more I could say, but everyone else's blogs have summed things up so well there is no need to repeat most of it. I'm a different person than I was 7 short months ago. The road was long and and there were plenty of obstacles, but I don't regret a minute of it. The hardest part of the entire thing was sending the very first email and deciding to do it, the rest was just making it happen. While the idea of 3 months (much less 6!) was daunting, looking back now it was no time at all and the tough parts are already fading just like cooling down from a workout. Also like a workout the results will continue to show long after the burn is gone. Thank you Patrick for knowing the road to follow and choosing to share the knowledge with others.

And so, class of PCP April 2011, as you venture out into the world remember yourselves as you were today and think fondly of the time you spent preparing for the rest of your lives.

Sept 17, 2010

April 14, 2011

Sep 17, 2010 / Jan 15, 2011 / Apr 14, 2011

And last but not least... the nice new suit I bought for my new job in April 2010...

Day 89 - here it comes

Day 89 done and dusted. Supersets remain awesome and horrible. Wouldn't want to do them every day, but I dig them. Heading to Yokohama tomorrow after work to do the final workout with Patrick. Very pumped to wrap this up and figure out what comes next.

I was in the supermarket this afternoon and realized as I loaded up on milk and eggs that I was buying enough to get past the end of PCP. I had to pause for a minute and think it through. Do I need 20 eggs in my fridge post PCP? Do I need to buy milk 2 or 3 liters at a time? What do I eat when I don't get an email on Saturday telling me what to eat for the next week? I'm guessing I don't need half a dozen eggs a day if I'm not doing the level of training we've all been doing for the last week. Even assuming my diet stays fairly sane after this is all over I'll still be eating more fat than I am now, do I still need this much milk? It made me realize how much I don't know about how to carry on, but also made me realize how much I know and how differently I think about food now than I used to. I don't have all the answers yet, but I'm asking more intelligent questions and will come up with better answers.

Rock day 90 team - we've all come a long way.

Day 88 - a message to Day 90

Dear Day 90 workout,

Why are you hiding? Why didn't you come with the rest of this week's workouts? Are you trying to intimidate me? You think you're tough? You're going to kick my ass? In the immortal words of the poet, "we're coming for you, we're gonna find you". Day 88 thought it was tough. Ruined it. Demolished it. Day 89 tomorrow is going to crumble. Then I'm coming for you, Day 90. Oh yeah. You don't scare me. We're going to butt heads, and there will be failure (oh, there will be failure), but in the end you're going down. Just like the 89 before you. Awww yeah.
Rock on,

Brian

Day 87 - exhausted

Workouts are rough this week. I'm enjoying them, but am absolutely exhausted. At this rate by day 91 I wouldn't have a choice other than to take a break even if PCP weren't ending, but it is ending and I'm going to finish strong. Went to Yokohama yesterday to work out with Patrick. Numbers are still moving in the right direction, but at a glacial pace. I think the body wants a break too. New pictures are looking better though and progress is still being made so all good.

I like supersets. I like working muscles to failure. I wish failure didn't come quite so fast on some (especially DaVincis and Forward Shoulder Raises!), but I'm back to getting serious muscle burn. Chest still hurts in a good way from the workout yesterday. 3 more days team, let's rock them.

Day 85 - almost there

The end is in sight. This Thursday we shift into a new phase and I'm pretty excited about it. I've been a bit more flexible this week. Haven't been going off the rails, but have been out to dinner twice. Both times I went for yakitori and just ordered with no salt and loaded up on veggies. Nice to start transitioning towards normalcy.

Like most of the rest of the group I've been doing a lot of thinking about life after PCP, progress made and progress that still needs to be made. I've also been thinking a lot about Patrick's email about moving the goalposts and trying to figure out whether I'm guilty of doing it. I'm pretty sure I am, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of work left to do. Despite that, the progress is awesome and things are under control which is way more than I could say back in September.

The good news is I know how to deal with my body now. I suspect that after day 90 I take a break. I suspect I put a few kilos back on. I also suspect I keep doing some regular maintenance work that keeps me under control though and that in a few months I end up kicking back into training mode for a while and take the next step. Not stressing about it now though. The current plan is to power through to Thursday, see what Patrick has in store for us in terms of final advice on how to go forward then take a break and enjoy springtime in Tokyo.

Day 78 - food

This morning's thoughts revolve entirely around food. Had my indulgence last night, got our new diets this morning and just had breakfast from the new diet.

The indulgence was fantastic. Went to my favorite Indian place with George and a few other friends and didn't hold back. A bunch of grilled meats and fish, a bunch of curries, naan and a beer. Out afterwards to a bar and had another beer. It was phenomenal. A touch of a headache after dinner, a bit of a full feeling but nothing unpleasant. I did end up ordering a bit less than I would have a few months ago and left some food on the table, but not much. Overall an awesome, tasty meal and got to hang out with friends in a normal environment. None of the negative effects mentioned by some of the rest of the team, just a fun night out.

This morning, on the other hand, I feel borderline ill. Not from the food from last night, but because I just ate the breakfast from the new diets for this week. I think breakfast this morning was almost as much food as dinner last night. Looking at the numbers I realize it is only a little bigger than the diet back in week 2, but the stomach is moving in the totally opposite direction this time. One thing that is funny is that my dinners these days fit comfortably on to small plates, but this morning's breakfast I needed a dinner size plate for.

3 sandwiches for breakfast. 2 with avocado, tomato and egg, the other with salmon. Tall glass of milk. Not exactly what my breakfast used to consist of but all damn tasty. Just a lot of it.

Onward and upward to day 90.

Day 74 - unmotivated

Haven't blogged in a few days, haven't been motivated. I've been doing my jumps, I've been doing my exercise, I've been hitting my grams... just kinda bored. Workouts are tough, but I'm digging them. Changes in the body are great. Been doing a bunch of thinking about how things work after PCP and what kind of balance I'm going to strike, and my attitude changes daily.

Over the weekend I was thinking about how to extend things because I'm not quite "where I want to be", not that I know where that is. Yesterday I was thinking about what kind of balance will be realistic in terms of things like bringing lunch to work vs buying lunch. Today I just want it to be over. I'm not slipping, I'm not quitting, I just want to be able to grab dinner with friends. I want to be able to go out on the weekend and not have to plan my food ahead of time. I want my friends to ask me what I'm up to and if I want to hang out without immediately following it up with "oh, sorry, forgot you're still doing PCP".

Really, I'm not in a negative place right now despite the tone of the post. I'm thrilled with the progress I've made. I'm in an incredibly better place both mentally and physically. Just after doing this for nearly 6 of the last 7 months I'm ready for a change of pace.

Until tomorrow that is when I'll probably start thinking about how to keep pushing this forward again.

Day 69 - back in Tokyo

Got back to Tokyo last night. First thing I did was drop off my bag and head for the supermarket. Used to be first thing back from a trip would have been ordering a pizza, unpacking and watching tv. Maybe instead of ordering a pizza I might have cooked dinner, would have been plenty of food in packages in my place. Not anymore. Everything is perishable now. Uncooked grains were the only thing in my apartment I could eat. Eggs, veggies, fruit and protein all no problem. Milk and yogurt on the other hand were nowhere to be found. I bought some big bottles of drinkable yogurt because it was the closest thing they had, but even though I can't read the ingredient list I can tell it is full of sugar. Oh well, will keep on looking. Anyway, got home, started boiling eggs and making a mix of brown and long grain rice. Good stuff.

It was relaxing to be back in my kitchen and have control over my food. Breakfast of whole grain bread topped with avocado, tomatoes and sliced hard boiled egg? Done. Lunch of rice, peppers, tomatoes and chicken? Great. Dinner of... well not so much with the dinner. An apple is an apple.

One thing I figured out last week that might help other PCPers on the road was how to handle eggs while traveling. I was having real trouble for a few days until I figured out that almost all hotel rooms have an electric tea kettle in them. Turns out tea kettles boil water and boiled water makes for hard boiled eggs. Shocking I know. Was a bit skeptical at first but it worked like a charm every time and egg problem solved.

Off to do the day 69 workout, happy to have a pull-up bar and be able to actually get it done right. Not that I can actually do pull ups yet, but getting closer.

Day 65 - a tough week

Haven't blogged in a week, it has been a bit crazy. I'm still in HK, have been here for a week and now in my 4th hotel. Should have just booked something longer term when I got here, but wasn't planning on being here more than a few days. With the influx of folks from Tokyo and the HK 7s coming up next week hotels have gotten tougher to come by. Work has been crazy, this was a week of 12+ hour days every day and sleep has been far from consistent and certainly nowhere near 8 hours daily. Excuses, excuses. I'm pretty upset about it though. In the first 60 days I think I missed two workouts and the diet was spot on when at home and damn close the one week on the road. To drop the ball with so little time left is annoying although there are certainly extenuating circumstances. Maybe that's really the lesson I should take from this. Not every day can be perfect, life gets in the way, you do what you can, be honest with yourself, make your choices and move on with head held high.

Exercise has been rough... think I missed 3 days this week. Diet hasn't been awful, but hasn't been good. Nick was an absolute life saver doubling up on his lunch prep and bringing lunch to the office for me. The other meals were about 50%. Odd that a "bad" meal used to be one full of food that was bad for you, now I get upset with myself for missing a meal or not eating enough. I think they know me by name at CitySuper at this point. Would love it if you could buy hard boiled eggs in the stores here, but haven't been able to find them. My mind has definitely changed how it thinks about food. Resisting pizza dropped on my desk is no longer much of an issue, cravings are fairly rare. When faced with an imperfect set of choices for a meal or snack my mind automatically breaks the choices down into PCP categories and the decisions I make are much better informed. This is all proof of deep changes, so all good.

I'm off to buy clothes today. I've wanted to put if off until after PCP, but can't really justify another week in the office here in vacation clothes. Should be interesting and will be nice to be in clothes that aren't insanely baggy for the first time in months. After Foundation my clothes looked silly, now it is just ridiculous.

Less than a month left. Need to buckle down and get it done. HK or Tokyo, hotel or home, time to find a way to step it up and crank out those workouts, get the diet closer to perfect and rock the last month of PCP.

Sorry for the long stream-of-consciousness posting. Lots of thoughts to get out from the last week and didn't even talk about the indulgence among others. All good though.

Giddyup (that's what all the cool kids are saying)

Day 58 - have rope, will travel

Looks like I picked an even better week than I thought to go on vacation. I was on the beach in Phuket when the earthquake hit Tokyo. Was due to get home this morning, but decided to stay in HK instead and work from here for a few days. No suit, no shoes, no problem. I have my trusty jumprope and resistance band tucked away in my backpack so all good.

Thailand was fun. I stayed way up the beach away from the main town in Phuket and did not much of anything for a week. Not my normal kind of vacation at all, but it was just what I needed. I kept looking for something to have for my indulgence, but haven't had it yet. Where I was staying there was mostly just junk beach food and I had no real desire for it. If I'm only going to indulge occasionally I'm going to make damn sure it is something good, interesting and that I actually want and not something I'm having just because it is there. I'll probably grab a meal here in HK today or tomorrow with friends.

PCP on the road is very different from PCP at home, but learning that it is very doable, just a different experience than normal traveling. Clients really don't care that you're eating fish instead of steak. Restaurants are hit and miss in terms of just how close they can get, but everyone can handle "no salt, easy on the oil" and a side of steamed veggies is fairly easy to come by. Even bars don't worry me any more. Soda water is available everywhere. Not the same, not as much fun, but we're on a mission here. 90 days is nothing.

Day 53 - in Thailand

I have to say, PCP on vacation is a whole lot better than PCP in the office. Not that this should be a great surprise. Woke up around 8, cranked out the workout, had breakfast, hit the beach, had some papaya on the beach, you get the idea. When it cooled down this afternoon I came back to my room and was going to do 8 min abs, but decided to go with an extra round of jumprope instead. I figure ultimately it isn't the abs that are the problem, it is the fat that is the problem so might as well spend extra time there over building up ab muscles. While I was outside jumping it began to rain. Jumping in the rain makes you feel like a badass.

Digging the new workouts. All kinds of failing, but I really feel the burn all over. Now it is raining so I'm going to hang out, blog and read my book. Sounds like an awesome Tuesday night to me.

Day 50 - Day 50!

We're 50 days in already? When did that happen?

Today's workout was awesome and horrible. Still not jumping so went with the bike again, but decided with all the leg work today that I should do the floorjumps. Hurt a bit, but got through them all. Shoulders killed me as always. Then I got to the abs. V sits and side crunches? First thought was "cool, easy ab day". Amazing the change your brain can have in 50 days. I'm at the point now where anything that doesn't involve bicycles or planks I count as a good ab day.

During Foundation I kept putting off vacation because it didn't seem to make sense to go away while it was going on. Didn't get a chance to go away in the month after Foundation ended and then I jumped right into PCP. I was going to wait to go away until after PCP but changed my mind for two reasons. One is that I'm going slowly insane and need a break! Second is that the idea of a vacation while on PCP is no longer so daunting. The thought of a vacation without drinking or eating all kinds of crap still seems like it can be a good, relaxing vacation. So I'm off to Phuket on Monday. Figure it should be relatively easy to keep to the diet and will have plenty of time to do the workouts for a change. I also still have my indulgence in my pocket. There's a small chance I'll use it on Indian food tomorrow, but I'll probably wait to eat something fun on vacation.

Day 48 - on the bike

Well the good news is my foot is getting better, but not quite back yet. Skipped a day of jumping outright and have been spending some time on the bike for cardio. Had to look back at that early email about other cardio to see how much riding I needed to do (a LOT!), but the good news was I saw that swimming is also on the list. Since I'm going on vacation next week that might come in handy.

Workouts are going well, food is going well. One more day of work and I'm off for a week. Rock on.

Day 45 - milestones

OK, I know it was just 2 days ago I was talking about how less measuring was good, but on the flip side it is nice to track progress once in a while. Yesterday all sorts of good things happened. Weighed in at 96.7 kg after 3 weeks away from a scale. First time I've been below 100 since I have no idea when. That also means that since I started Foundation on Sept 15 last year I'm down over 50 lbs which feels pretty good. Most exciting though was that for the first time I managed to pull off crossovers while jumping. First time I've managed an actual trick, so pretty pumped about that.

Great workout in Yokohama yesterday with Patrick and George. Think I must have really shredded it because today my workout was ROUGH. Which I know is a good thing, so no worries. What I am a bit worried about is that two of my toes on my right foot hurt, must have jammed them or something. Jumping today was ugly and I didn't get through the whole 14 mins. Got through the rest of the workout though and will try to jump again tomorrow. Welcome to the second half of the project, tomorrow there'll be a new crew doing it with us.

Day 43 - less counting

Ahh, the joy of not counting. No more counting jumps, no more weighing veggies at lunch. Haven't been on a scale in 3 weeks. Less numbers and that is all awesome. That said, I'm heading to Yokohama tomorrow and will weigh in and am pretty interested to see what the numbers have to say. I'm far more interested in getting though the chest dips and trying to get pull-ups in though. Getting better every day!

Day 40 - AM jumping

After yesterday's email I decided to jump before breakfast this morning. I didn't think it was possible, but I am even less coordinated in the early morning than I am in the afternoon. I don't think my brain and feet are capable of communicating first thing in the morning. I'd love to get through the whole routine early, but just don't want to wake up any earlier. The nice thing was that when I came home I only had strength training to do so got through things much faster. Still had energy so did 8 minute abs. Somewhere down there through the fat there are muscles, amazing! See you in 24 hours!

Day 37 - back in Tokyo

Crazy week in the US but managed to stay more or less on the plan. I'm two days behind on workouts, but I'll do two today and find time to do an extra one this week and will be back on track. Meals on the road are tougher than at home, but stuck to fish pretty much all week and had lots of club soda in bars. Managed fruit dinner or lunch on 4 days so not too bad for being out with clients all week. I was almost relieved to be back in my kitchen and have a scale this morning. Psyched to be firmly back in the groove this week, the halfway mark is in sight!

Day 30 - Pizza!

Just ending a great weekend in NY hanging out with my old friends. I was planning on going to Grimaldi's for my indulgence, but decided to stay in Manhattan instead and went to John's on Bleeker Street. I was a bit worried my palate would have changed too much to really enjoy it, but nope. It is still awesome. Not too salty, not too oily, not too anything. Just awesome. I walked out of there feeling totally satiated. My friends went next door to Cones and got ice cream afterwards, I wasn't even remotely tempted, just happy with the pizza. Wandered around the city all afternoon enjoying a beautiful day and happy to be back home for a while. Stopped off for some fruit mid-afternoon. Got back to the hotel and I think I confused room service when I ordered two eggs, a glass of skim milk and a side of steamed veggies for dinner. I had picked up an apple and banana on the way back to the hotel so was set for dinner and my evening snack.

Most of the crowd here in NY didn't know about the project and I haven't been here since last July so I'm down almost 50 pounds since they saw me last. I might not be able to see that big of a change, but every single one of my friends made a comment as soon as they saw me. Also got some awesome reinforcement when I went to pick up a new belt and got one that was 8 inches shorter than the last time I bought a belt. I knew my waist was smaller, but it hits you differently when you actually buy something new and are in a totally different size range than you have been for the last 10+ years.

Great weekend... on to the week of visiting clients.

Day 29 - in NY

PCP on the road is a whole different world. Lousy timing to move to the apple dinners, I have 4 dinners and 4 lunches scheduled this week... oops. Will do the apple dinners where I can, swap them to lunch on days I can and where I'm out with clients for both I'll just retreat to fish and take it easy. Back in Tokyo next week will be easier.

Haven't had my indulgence yet. I decided since I'm in NY I might as well go with my favorite pizza, so I'm going to Grimaldi's with a few friends tomorrow. Should be awesome, I'll blog about it afterwards.

Day 25 - prepping for the States

I'm heading to the US for work next week. I'll be on the road for just over a week and will be heading all over the place. I'm getting my head together on how to best do PCP on the road. I'm sure it won't be "to the gram" the way I manage in Tokyo, but it should be close. The good news is I get to have my indulgence in NY. I'm thinking a slice or two of pizza, but not sure yet.

Did the workout on Sunday in Yokohama with Patrick again. Weighed in at 100.6 kg. Patrick suggested avoiding scales outright for the next few weeks while I'm traveling so I'll try to stay away and won't weigh in again until I next head to Yokohama in 3 weeks.

Day 22 - my pullup bar is broken

I shipped in one of those pull-up bars you can hang in a doorway and it arrived yesterday. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning as I opened it, unwrapped all the pieces and put it together. Hung it in the doorway, put a little weight on it to make sure it wasn't going to fall and hit me in the head, then prepared to do my first ever pull-up.

Nothing. Not even a budge. Hung there in the doorway groaning and did not move at all. What is up with this defective piece of garbage? Oh well, back to inclines.

Day 18 - settling in

Not much to report. Starting to settle in to the routine and I guess that's a good thing. The exercises are generating a nice burn, but nothing I can't handle. I'm doing a better job of prepping the food this time around, managing a bit more variety than I did on Foundation. Down around 4 kilos since PCP started, 100 is in sight and I don't know when the last time was that I was that low. Definitely not since college, maybe even high school. Feeling good, ready to keep it going.

Day 16 - food!

After a few weeks of running around this weekend was about laying low and relaxing. With this much time I actually got to make some interesting food for a change. Roasted a couple of chicken breasts. Seared some swordfish. Tried making bulgur wheat (it was easy and awesome) and also picked up some cous cous to round out the grains department. I ate lotus root (great), fresh steamed spinach, zucchini, tomatoes, red onion, mushrooms, garlic, peppers, cucumbers, carrots and avocado. On the fruit front I had pomegranite (good, but far more effort than it was worth), mango, cherries, banana, and apple. Mmm... good stuff.

Day 14 - time flies

Two weeks down already? Time flies when you're having fun. And yes, I'm actually having fun. The project is taking a lot of time, the food is boring, I'm being a bit anti-social - but it is all good. I'm feeling good, I know changes are going on for the better... awesome. In a month I suspect I'll be less excited about how things are going, but I'm not going to let that get me down now.

I worked out with George yesterday. Good stuff. Always more fun and better drive working out with someone else to push you a bit. Best of all, he cooked dinner and on PCP the best meal is any one that you don't need to cook/weigh yourself.

I picked up a leather jump rope when I was in HK, I know some people in the last crew were using them and liked them. Tried it out today for the 800 jumps. The rope itself is much lighter than the rubber one I usually use, whole different feel to it. I can't believe I actually have preferences about what kind of rope I jump with, me from 6 months ago wouldn't get this at all.

Day 11 - working out at home

The last two days I've actually managed to work out in my apartment! I'm at work around 7 each morning, so exercise before work is seriously tough. I end up working out at the gym in my apartment building after work and since I don't usually get home until 7ish that is ugly. It takes some real mental energy to get home, get changed and then go back out to workout. The last two days I finally managed to pull off the whole routine in my apartment and it was awesome.

Wall to wall carpet and regular apartment height ceilings always kept me from jumping at home, but I've made it work. New band has a door anchor, so got that sorted. Dips off the side of a recliner. Inclines under my desk. It isn't perfect, but it ain't bad. Still need a solution for pull ups, but we're not there yet.

Started to feel achey today. Part of it is a cold that I can feel coming on, but mostly it was in the muscles. Started feeling burn in the legs, biceps and shoulders. Awwww yeah. Love the burn. Hurts, but lets you know you're doing it right. Bring on day 12!

Day 9 - back in Tokyo

Flew back home today. Landed around 9, home at 10 (how much nicer is it to fly to Haneda than Narita??), drop off bags, head to grocery store, buy food, home, cook lunch for tomorrow, make tea, eat apple, prep breakfast. Now it is 11:30 and time to fall over.

HK was great. Last two days of diet were a bit more flexible than they should have been, but weren't too bad for being on the road. Didn't eat 6 times a day, but did manage to stick to dishes like steamed chicken and salmon. Had a bit of white rice but went with grains like quinoa and cous cous where I could. Not too bad and now that I'm home everything is prepped to the gram.

Workouts were good. Got to exercise with Aki on Saturday, she has mad jumprope skills - don't let her fool you. Couldn't find a place to do inclines at the hotel so did pulldowns instead. Other than that everything has been according to plan. I'm excited to get back to "normal" PCP routine here in Tokyo this week.

Day 8 - still in HK

PCP is a bit harder on the road. Good thing that this week's exercises didn't take too long, I managed to get them in every day even if I didn't manage to blog about it. Food was fine, in some ways even easier being on the road. At home when I'm making a meal I have to make the call on what I would have had and what half would be. On the road I have a much better grip on what I would order and I know I'd clear my plate so I just eat half of whatever a restaurant brings. Today and tomorrow will be harder. Last night I went to dinner with friends, got a steak, cut it in half. Tonight I'm out to dinner and will have to figure out how to compose a meal from the menu with approximately (no interest in carrying a scale!) the right amounts for the new diets and keeping as close as I can to the rest of the guidelines. Most restaurants wouldn't do too well with "can I have 120 grams post cooked weight of cod, 100g of brown rice and 180g of steamed veg all with no salt, butter or oil?" It won't be perfect, but I'll get close and while traveling I'm ok with that. Tomorrow night I'll be back in Tokyo and can hit the diet full on.

It was great to spend a few days in the HK office and get to spend some time with Nick. This afternoon Aki and I are meeting up to work out together. Working out on my own is fine, but doing it with someone else is fun and always makes me push a little bit harder.

Day 4 - off to HK

Cut out of work early because I'm catching a flight to HK this afternoon and working from there for the rest of the week. Had time to sneak in my workout before I head off to the airport and it was awesome. I usually work out pretty late, around 7 or 8 pm or later. Would love to work out before work, but I would need to wake up around 4:30 am to do that. Haven't found a good answer for working out during the lunch break so I usually do it after I get home at night.

Doing the exercise at 1:30pm was a whole different ballgame. Felt much more coordinated, better energy, better rhythm. I guess none of this should really come as a surprise, but it is. Next week when I get back I'm going to check out the places around the office and try to get lunchtime workouts in at least a couple times a week.

Day 3 - support

Support makes a huge difference. It is awesome to have members of Team Orange Crush It, Running Rats and Fantastic Carrot following the project. We got our new teams today, looking forward to getting rolling with the new crew but we're definitely going to need to come up with a better name than Group Zelus.

Day 2

Two days in and one thing is already clear, it is much easier to work out when someone else is telling you what to do. Over the last month when I did hit the gym if I didn't have a solid plan before I started then I would end up wasting a lot of time in the gym figuring out what to do and how much of it to do. Making a plan ahead of time meant doing the work ahead of time and figuring out what I needed to work on. Much easier to just open that day's PDF and follow the instructions.

Workouts are pretty smooth so far. 3 months ago when 250 jumps was a major undertaking that probably involved 100 trips seems like a lifetime ago. I'm still lousy at jumping, but it is a whole lot better than it was.

Day 1 - here we go

What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment.

I'm not talking about the fact that I finished 3 months of Foundation just a month ago, I'm talking about the 30 years before that of getting to the point where I needed this. The journey began last fall, psyched to kick it up a level and get into the best shape of my life!