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.