A PCP journey

First of all, thank you Patrick and Chen for taking me on this journey and guiding me through these 90 days.

I can confidently say that I finished my 90-days of PCP and have achieved what I never expected to achieve. Whilst I still don’t have a body like Christie Brinkley or Claudia Schiffer, I am much closer to it than I ever expected. I didn’t think that I would be able to do what I have. And I am proud of myself for doing it.

My PCP journey has been very arduous at times. The exercises were hard for me.  Especially the fact that you may have finished for the day, but the next day you had to start all over again. Today, my last day of exercises showed me, however, just how much I have attained over the last 90 days.  Not just in body but also in mind. I still don’t like the act of skipping, and am probably worse than I was at the beginning, but I see the results and therefore it is something I will continue to do as it is a lot more palatable than jogging or running for me.

If I had to sum up my PCP experience it would be what I feel I have achieved along the way (not in order of importance):

* Commitment

* A frame of mind of JFD. In the past I would have given up.

* A stricter eating regime, specifically eating enough. I now realize that I never ate enough. I also gained a better understanding of what I have been told for a long time about portion control. In terms of content, I’ve been working on that for a while, so that was just a continuation.

* Admiration for fellow PCPers.

* The knowledge that PCP is 90 days out of my life. PC is the rest of my life and something that will be there every single day. If I do something everyday I will do it. If I do it only a few times a week it is too easy to put off for another day. Also as Patrick says, exercises are not fun, but it is something that you have to do.

* I now know and believe that if I keep at it I can achieve my ultimate goal. I don’t think I actually believed that it was attainable.

* I am happier, more emotionally grounded, fitter, look a lot healthier and slimmer.

* I am shocked that I have actually inspired people around me with my PCP results. Much of this from recent comments from friends who haven't seen me for a while

* My husband and children are proud of me and that is what is most important to me. I am proud to say that I will be 50 next year and I feel that I have done what I can to make sure that I am healthy and strong to be there for my family in the years to come.

I would not have been able to carry on many days without the blogs. I set myself a goal at the beginning, to make sure that I blogged every day otherwise I would lose momentum. If I could sustain that commitment then I could also sustain the exercises and the skipping. The only days I did not blog were either due to travel or technical issues with getting onto my blog. But there were many days when I wasn’t sure I could keep going. I was very, very tired a lot of the time. Without the blogs and the support I may have given in. Apologies for so much whinging on my part. A huge thank you goes to my teammates, specifically Tracey, Kevin and Inés. I have no idea what our team name is. Also a huge thank you to Kim, Richard,  Bruce, Georgie, Pete, Amanda, Noel, and Mini for helping keeping me going. Tony and Peter thank you for inspiring Fraser to tell me about PCP.

My journey has not just been the last 90 days. I did not think I would achieve as much as I have so I didn’t bother to take measurements before I started. But I do have a reference point, which was exactly a year ago. Most of these gains in measurements are due to PCP. My journey continues, mainly in my stomach area (striving for those flat abs with muscle definition) as I am happy with most of the rest of my body. 

But I have achieved a lot to be proud of:

                                        1-Sept-2010                        1-Jun-2011            30-Aug-2011

Weight                                 75.6kg                                   72kg                        67.9kg

Chest                                   104cm                                                                    99cm

Under boobs                        86cm                                                                     84cm

Waist                                   99cm                                                                     79cm

Hips                                    104cm                                                                    94cm

Thighs                                 57cm                                                                     56cm

Arms                                   30cm                                                                     28cm

The pictures put it all in perspective

I have come from this on Day 1

To this on Day 90

And from here

To here

Although I have lost 4kg from the start of PCP I have lost a lot more in other ways:
* I used to wear XL, I can now fit into M.
* I have gone down 2 dress sizes.

I have a new mantra..... BELIEVE AND YOU WILL ACHIEVE

Day 90: Postponed

Did my skipping and also swimming yesterday but we were at the pool so I had to leave super set bonanza until I got home. Only problem was I got home close to 10pm, and was feeling dreadful. Knew that my knee couldn't stand floor jumps and could barely move my shoulder. Felt ill yada yada yada. So went to bed very upset at feeling ill and because I was going to go out on a whimper in my mind. Slept badly and woke up grumpy. So decided to postpone my last PCP day and do everything all over again today. Then Day 91 will be my Day 90 tomorrow.

Today All exercises done, skipping done, off for a swim later today. Feel SO much better. Will write my final blog after tomorrow.

Day 88: Yakult lady made my day

I am so glad that Patrick said get lots of sleep as I have been doing that almost every day in anticipation of the start of school for the kids when I get into action very early, go all day and get a lot less sleep than I have this summer. So, as it is Saturday I was lying in bed reading, putting off skipping as long as I could, but not before I fell over from hunger. Anticipation of my cup of coffee got me out of bed. So off down the road I go.......

About 3/4 of the way through, after having met and greeted no end of neighbours, who all seem to be outside, our local Yakult lady comes up behind me on her snazzy Yakult 3-wheeler scooter. Her first words were " Wow, you have lost a tonne of weight". She even said that whilst she was driving up she thought to herself "moshikashite......." ("is it?"). I checked through my blogs and the last time I had met the Yakult lady was on the 19th of June. Apparently my body shape has changed so much that she didn't recognise me. Since there are not that many blonde non-Japanese women wearing bright pink T-shirts skipping along the road in an area where there are not an overwhelming amount of foreigners, it wasn't a facetious "is it?". I am so very, very pleased. This lovely lady whom I see once in a while and always chat to (I told her I couldn't stop for long as I had to keep skipping), in just a few words managed to light a fire under me that had already been simmering. The ignition to the fire had been before I got on my skipping gear when I tried on my old jeans which I hadn't done since June. Another BIG surprise.

Am putting together some photo ideas. Only just realised that Day 90 is Monday not Tuesday as I had mentally been calculating. This means that the kids can take some photos on Day 90 as they only have a short orientation at school on Monday before the near academic year starts with a vengeance on Tuesday as does the next phase of my life post-PCP.

This is the kind of scooter my Yakult lady drives.....

Day 87: My teammate

I really like my teammates who blog. I do not like my teammate pain. I also don't like pain's little friends, one of whom resides in my previously dislocated shoulder and the other in my calf.

20 floor jumps seemed like a breeze today after 40 creeps. I never thought that I would say that. The shoulder exercises however felled me, due mainly to my teammates friend who now resides constantly in my left shoulder. My shoulder has been troubling me most of the day now for a while, and feels very weak strangely. I couldn't hold open a door in the supermarket today. I was unable to get even one full set out of any of the exercises for the shoulder today. It was accompanied by not only pain, but also nausea and dizziness as well as the total absence of any of the previous panache with which I might have done any of these exercises. Abs not great either. Abject failure was quick to the draw but that was also due to residing dizziness.

I will need to have a special bonding session with my friend pain. Wish I could have a nice chat over a glass of wine and hope that pain got so drunk it fell over and was past resuscitation. Chance would be a fine thing.

Day 86: Benny Hill-esque

Suffice it to say that my skipping remains supremely frustrating. But I amused myself immensely with the super sets. As Pete said, they whizzed by so by the end I felt like this........

Day 85: Aquatic fun

Skipping and exercises (minus abs) all done for the day. All before breakfast, so by the time I got to the abs got one set into V-sits and then I couldn't get my body to move for the 2nd set. Decided I would benefit more from doing abs together with 8MA later today

Off to Tokyo Summerland for some aquatic fun. Hope that I can find some obstacle courses to do my cardio. All before

School starts next Tuesday. None of us are ready to go back.

Day 84: Stuck between two hard chairs and a void

Failure defined today was doing elevated tricep dips, reaching failure and getting stuck on the two chairs, unable to move up or down, left or right, and absolutely no way of getting off the chairs. Only possible ways of getting out of this situation = falling off the chair or digging very deep and finding a muscle somewhere that was working to get me off the chairs. Found a muscle. A very small one. Was a particularly funny moment when I thought "that's it, I am stuck here" and no one else in the house was up yet. Silly woman.

Despite getting stuck on the chairs, all exercises done and dusted early. I had to do yesterday's exercises today as I didn't get home until too late and had left them for the afternoon. Serves me right.

Day 83: Daily fix

I've been thinking this for a few days at the back of my mind, but today it really came crashing home as we now only have 7 days left......... What am I going to do without Patrick's daily e-mail?????!!!!!! Every day some nugget of wisdom.

Also been thinking about my body. Feeling good, albeit exhausted. Arms and upper body looking good, but need to work on the old thighs and genetics don't favour a six pack, but will still attempt to get at least partway there as I aim to eliminate the soft doughy abs. I can actually feel some muscles in there which for me is a HUGE step forward. Just that there is also still a large layer of fat there. I know that I am not alone in this. The next 7 days currently seem longer than the 90 days when I started. But at the same time those 7 days will just whizz by. I realise that my journey has only just begun as now I have to embark on the next stage without my daily e-mail or blogs. I know it hasn't been the same for everyone, but the blogs have really, really helped me and without them I doubt that I would have made it this far.

Day 82: Feeling good

Feeling good, but very, very, very tired. Slept well last night, however woke up exhausted still. Skipping in the light rain and almost autumn like temperatures was nice. Strange how the weather has cooled off so suddenly. Is summer over? Exercises extremely difficult, but that is par for the course at the moment and likely to ramp up even more in the next 8 days I suspect.

Day 81: New awakenings with budding awareness

In a bid towards a new approach to skipping, I have dispensed with my iPod both yesterday and today. It is amazing how 21 minutes actually whizzes past when you are concentrating on the sounds of the cicadas, the traffic in the background and in the foreground the whizzing sound of the rope. Skipping skills were actually a notable improvement. Lots of trips still, but less, and increased rotations. Also an increased sense of peace. I do still catch myself "thinking" too much, but then shift focus to the middle distance and make myself think of "nothing".

One interruption in this semi state of mindlessness however was one of our cats who ran across the road with a  sparrow in her mouth whilst I was skipping. This was the second sparrow she had landed today. My youngest daughter managed to save said sparrow and lovingly took it inside to minister to its hurt wing and see if it was OK. I just happened to be near the house when this operation was occurring and was able to stop. Once the rescue had been achieved I went off around the block to complete the skip. As I was returning home daughter No. 2 comes storming out of the house in a complete tizz......... her sister had let the bird go and she wasn't ready to release it yet. Off she stomps into the neighbourhood (as I find out later, to find the bird). She's only 9, so when she didn't come back after I had set up all my equipment for exercising, I ran around the neighbourhood for quite a while looking for her. Voila, extra cardio. Finally found her and all well, except no bird. Probably some other cat's dinner.

Exercises went smoothly, or so I thought. Apparently I was making a lot of noise counting. Nothing untoward though and no distractions other than very quick failure on all shoulder exercises.

I do keep thinking that although rationally I know we are revving up the number of movements and the number of sets, emotionally I still find it difficult to accept that I cannot always do them all. Surely I should be getting better at them, not worse. And surely I shouldn't be waking up every morning exhausted, even with lots of sleep. I can however see that there has been a marked positive difference in the week since we returned from Bali. Losing a little bit of weight daily, but hoping that is not muscle and it is fat melting off my body.

Day 80: Definitely half the pain once it is shared

The details of our non-gym workout you can see on Tracey's blog. She has the most adorable little boy who despite having a fever was absolutely amazing and so very adorable. A mini-Tracey. I got quite a few cuddles and distracting him whilst doing the bicycles made it the most pleasant bicycles that I have ever done. Looking at a little baby climbing up the stairs waving a piece of cloth whilst you do your reps makes it all the more easy as you forget that you are doing reps--sort of. Tricep dips felled me long before Tracey. It was amazing to see Tracey in action. Very, very admiring fan you have here.

Thank you so much for a lovely lunch, a fabulous chat, wonderful company and a workout that really was a lot easier for being shared.

Because of the rain, our change in schedule and therefore no chance to use the outside pool, I am not sure that a marathon run through a home centre, IKEA and Costco suffices as extra cardio. It felt like it thugh. Only just completed my skips followed swiftly by 8MA. Could just as easily have not done the skipping but felt it crucial that I stick to my plan of really rocking for the rest of the programme. Am visualising sleek abs. Am beginning to believe that with time I can achieve this.

Do however need a lot more practice at emptying my mind whilst skipping had to keep correcting tendency to think about things, look at the ground, not look in the distance, wish I wasn't there etc., etc. However as I just realised, I feel SOOOOOO much better for having skipped, for having tripped just a little less, for increasing marginally my number of rotations. It does of course help that the temperature in Tokyo has dropped by between 10-15 degrees since yesterday. In fact it dropped 10 degrees between leaving home and meeting Tracey (and no, she does not live on a high mountain).

Day 79: Better

Thank you for all your support. It really, really helps a lot.

I went to bed very tired physically last night and woke up equally tired. I did have a bonanza sleep as the alarm didn't go off and my children are so well trained that they left me to sleep. So I feel a lot better for it. Not quite a goddess yet, but had my 10-year old take some more photos and they are much better. I think they may be better though because my mental state is better.

Skipping was very, very hard today. Hadn't read about Mu Shin before I skipped and realise that I stress about the actual skipping, and I look down. Definitely not an empty mind. I would be thrown out of Zen school. Will practice tomorrow. But today whole body still very tired and very leaden. The skipping was in a word "arduous". Having something to eat and then will embark upon exercises. Dog walking later tonight. If I do it after dark then the dog speed walks. In the heat and in the sun there might be some sitting down in the shade involved which is not conducive to cardio.

Breakfast this morning was definitely eat to live rather than live to eat. Only pre-cooked veggies I had were green beans so I had 140g of green beans. Whilst a bit boring it was offset by the coconut muffins that I made yesterday and had for my carbs.

Day 78: Bleah

Unfortunately I tend to be easily overwhelmed. I think I must have slipped into a mini depression sometime overnight again. Woke up knowing that I had to skip. Constraints are the heat and other things I needed to do, so there really was a sense of urgency that I just kept putting to the side. So, I ended up procrastinating for about 4 hours. Not good.

Yesterday had a high point. Was told that I looked like I had lost tonnes of weight by someone I hadn't seen in a while. And a low-ish point: managed to swim for 32 minutes. I used to be a good swimmer pre-PCP. But my arms/shoulders just ached. Ended up having to do walks in the park and lying on my back and kicking. I also watched the clock. About every 5 minutes I looked up and it felt like forever. So where did my swimming ability go?

And today...... during my procrastination I watched Patrick's video. That was good. I also read his new blog message about those super fit people in ads. Then made the mistake of trying to calculate my body fat percentage. Input weight, circumference of waist, hips, wrist and forearm. Not good at all. I have 32% body fat. So I am obese. I feel obese now but this morning I was thinking mmmm my ribs are starting to show through and there are some positive signs. When I went to download the photos we took yesterday for photo updates I had to dive below the desk. They were dreadful. When did I develop cottage cheese tummy? And to top it all off I weighed myself this morning (and yesterday) and am still only 3-4kg down from the start. I would like to say that I didn't have that much to lose, but that would indicate that I live in fairy la-la land. So after this extended session this morning of beating myself up mentally I went for my skip in the blazing sun 34 degree at 1pm. MAD. But I just wanted to finally get it over. Got angry at myself for tripping as it just made me hotter.

Decided that since all the things that I was supposed to do today have now gone by the wayside (clearing up things in the house), I might as well try to breathe deeply, ease up off the mental accelerator and go with the flow. I will do my exercises later this afternoon and then when it is less hot I will take my lazy doggy for a walk in the park (not the other one which is a rambunctious puppy who gets to go tomorrow) . Need to wait for the heat to abate or her poor paws will burn.

So breathe deeply, blow it all out. Let the rancour at myself blow over. Go to bed tonight and hope that a goddess emerges tomorrow when we take the revised photos.

Day 77: Rivers of sweat

Decided I needed maximum fat burn today so hopped out of bed with my very, very weary body and trot-skipped around the block multiple times. Have changed my venue to the block outside the back door instead of the front door for a change of scene. Very hot, lots more skips but then we have 3 minutes extra.... and absolutely rivers of sweat. Stings the eyes.

Off to the pool with the kids where I will swim laps. Have charged my iShuffle so that I can listen to tunes whilst I swim. Hope that my arms and legs don't fall off like they feel they are going to now.

Day 76: Trot, trot, trot

Trotted around the block a number of times. MUCH better. Only negative was that I seem to whack myself in the back of the head with the rope rather than trip over the rope. It hurts. But a higher number of rotations and significantly less frustration.

Was treating myself to a lazy morning so only skipped and did the workout just past 6pm. Whilst my body was warm and well fed it also failed more quickly than I would have liked on some of the exercises.... those that I was able to do better even the last time I did them, namely elevated tricep dips and incline pull-ups. I am hoping that is a good sign and the muscles are still shredded from last time. I certainly feel shredded.

I tried to use my staircase for a kung fu sit up again and ended up not even being able to hang on. At least the last time I could at least dangle myself. What is wrong with me?

Day 75: Jet-lag???!!!!!

I think I have to attribute this feeling of major jet-lag proportions to the last two action packed days with the kids in Bali and then an overnight flight with no sleep at all. Today has been a write-off. My husband must be really glad to see me! Not.

Three weeks in Bali with the kids to avoid the heat of Tokyo and sending them off to horse riding camp and Green Camp was absolutely fabulous, but not recommended if you are eating in restaurants every single night. Breakfast and lunch and fruit snacks all OK, but dinner was more difficult as I found it difficult to gauge protein quantities and think I may have been over generous. Plus extreme hunger made me reach for bread sticks some nights, and in the latter week wine was drunk (not in vast quantities, but not zero). So I have already had my small indulgence. My daughter had brought a mille feuille back to Tokyo with her and hadn't eaten it so I had that this afternoon. It is now 6.30pm and she has just asked where it is. She looked a little shocked when I said I had eaten it.

So my last indulgence?..... YUMMY! I felt guilty because I had snuck one in yesterday too pre-flight. So I have thoroughly had my indulgence and LOVED it. No feeling sick. But conscious of really enjoying it and knowing that from today to the end of PCP I will NOT be going out for dinner and will stick 1000% to the dietary requirements. I beat myself up sufficiently in Bali about not sticking 100% to the track and know that I have to be very strict with myself for a lot longer. But then I knew that anyway as the PCP diet is close to the metabolic type diet that I am supposed to be on for about 6-12 months. On PCP I have actually gone off that one as in order to add carbs I have eaten brown rice and grain bread which I am not strictly supposed to in order to get rid of a fungal infection. Wine doesn't help that either, but got so tired of only drinking water that I really enjoyed my daily Bali coffee and the few glasses of wine.

I will miss my gado gado. Steamed veggies (and lots of variety in the one portion) to order has been fabulous. Had it every single day, wherever I went.

I finally managed to watch Week 8 and Week 9 videos. It would have helped me a lot if I had been able to do so at the time. I SO HAVE TUNNEL VISION! Will work that one out.

Day 74: Done and dusted

Skipping and exercises all done and dusted for the day, ready to go to Turtle Island where I will see what I can do for extra cardio.

I have found skipping with 2 legs to be problematic, so solved it today by hopping from one leg to the other and actually found a rhythm (for a change!). No idea how many skips as I mistakenly pressed the clear button two thirds of the way through. Doesn't matter though, I was very tired and sweat buckets at the end so must have been doing the right thing (for me).

Pistol squats should never have been invented.

I was defeated with failure before the end of most sets in all the shoulder exercises, but then my shoulders have been particularly fatigued of late.

Even V-sits were hard, but they follow on from yesterday's replacement for Kung-Fu situps.

Other than that, have my morphine fix for the day! Whohoooo. When I read Patrick's e-mail this morning I thought "Yes, I have, I have been in a funk" but then realised it centered around not exercising, not a full blown out depression funk, just feeling low because I wasn't doing what I was supposed to.

When I get back to Tokyo I will finally get to listen to the videos for the past 2 weeks and also will go back through the e-mails.

Day 73: K-n-a-c-k-e-r-e-d

I was knackered when I woke up this morning and now even more knackered having finished my workout. I think the bicycle is going to kill me. Elevated tricep dips are hurting my previously dislocated shoulder which has been giving me a dull ache for weeks now.

Back to virtual skipping too. Didn't start working out (& skipping) until 5pm yesterday and the skipping was great, as Bruce said it would be. This morning, in extreme state of tiredness, I just couldn't get my feet over the rope, so old Rocky moves back in play. Very funny to watch mind you.

One of the reasons for the tiredness is lack of sleep. My husband is back in Tokyo and the open living in Bali makes me nervous as the kids are in one room and I didn't want to lock them in in case they needed the bathroom or had a nightmare in the middle of the night. So I startled at every single noise and hardly slept. The frogs jumping around the living room must have thought "who is this mad woman?" every time I opened my door to check a noise. I think I may sleep on the floor of their room tonight for my own sanity.

Off to the Bali Safari & Marine Park today. Will take my rope to see if I can actually do any jumps and maybe get in my extra 30 min of cardio whilst the kids frolic in the pool.

Day 72: Lazy day

Lazy day so far. Exhausted after a few hours in and on the river yesterday. Worst part was the 500 odd steps down to the river. Everyone else's legs were shaking at the end of that. Mine felt like jelly, but nowhere near the jelly from creeps or floor jumps. Others in our groups could not stop shaking. So that is the further evidence of improvement in my body from PCP. The 300 odd steps walk up was also surprisingly OK.

However, this morning was another matter. Has taken me all day to think about starting my skipping and exercises and not sure how I am going to manage an additional 30 min cardio on top of all that. Very, very weak. Very tired. Very bleah. Not helped by no real schedule today as that has enabled me to take my time. Taking the kids to the Safari park tomorrow so will need to make sure that I do another very early morning. Which just makes it even harder today to get my act together. But I will, because I have to.

Day 71: Birds singing at the crack of dawn and PCP blogs to start my day

Going white water rafting in Ubud today so set the alarm for 6am so that I could do my exercises calmly before leaving. Have been feeling rushed this past week, so allowing 3 hours before departure to do everything, which includes a leisurely breakfast with a pot of Bali coffee on the veranda. 6am came too quickly as I hadn't slept well worrying about my exercises. It was still quite dark but the birds were singing and the gardens around the villa complex are so very beautiful. But,  I was soooooooo sleepy and sore and stiff. We had been to a water park yesterday so was quite stiff from climbing all the stairs. So instead of getting into it immediately I sat for a while and read PCP blogs which did the trick and motivated me. Especially just hearing the birds sing and water trickling in the pond, a man and his daughter taking their offerings to the temple, waving gaily.

Skipping was dreadful. Truly atrocious. After I had stumbled at every single swing of the rope and only done 134 skips in 2 minutes I decided that enough was enough. So for the next 16 minutes I danced waving my arms either in the air or as if I was skipping. I did Sylvester Stallone type moves, I jigged, I punched, I LOVED it as I felt I was actually achieving something. When I am tired skipping is bad anyway. When I can barely move my feet it is even worse. So I decided for a change that giving up and crying about it just wasn't worth it, so find an alternative. When I get back to Tokyo I will be able to do my running skips again. For now, I may just have to dance. It was a phenomenal 16 minutes of dancing (minus the 30 seconds when it was going so well I thought I would try the rope again.... ooops, back to virtual rope and the dance moves).

Failure, failure, failure.

Failure today was Da Vinci's, shoulder fly, V-sits and side crunches. Maybe the V-sits because I did my Day 69 exercises yesterday and substituted Kung Fu sit ups with V-sits. Couldn't move an inch on the last few of the last set. Or it is because my whole body still feels shredded from yesterday. Da Vinci's..... couldn't even do the previously prescribed sets. Got to the third set and the wheels fell off. Or maybe it was because the word "FAILURE" was glaring up at me from the screen. Tomorrow is another day to see how it all goes.

So, hoping that white water rafting counts as my 30 minutes extra cardio. If the water doesn't require paddling I could still just paddle for 30 minutes although that might get me in trouble.

Bad news on the photo update front though. Dropped my camera on Friday and suspect a car ran over it as it is dead. So no pics until next week when I can get to my other camera at home. That means I can get those abs tattooed on in the meantime.

Day 70: Skipping on the beach

Had a fabulous session skipping up and down the beach near KuDeTa yesterday. Quite a revelation. The jogging whilst skipping method really does work better for me, but not feasible on the potholed roads near where we are staying. Waves a bit of a challenge, but still very good. First time I have skipped in bare feet. Not something to be done too often though as with shoes is a lot better. But it felt good.

Workout also OK (did the workout today as we ran out of time yesterday and I didn't bring my bands to the beach). Although I feel like my whole body is leaden and my muscles feel like shredded wheat. I think that is good. Doesn't feel good though!

Day 69: Celebrating

Celebrating 13 years of marriage today to a wonderful man. We've known each other for 17 years, had two children and gone through many periods of my lack of health/fitness. I am proud to say that today I stand proud of myself after 13 years of marriage and looking at becoming 50 next year.... a huge thank you to PCP for allowing me now to go to the beach this afternoon and feel good about myself. I am not where I want to be yet, but I know that I just have to stick with it and keep on track whilst at the same time living my life.  I also want to teach my children that you are healthy only if you eat, and eat the right foods. My 9 year old yesterday told me "I am never going to try beer or wine, because if I do I might like it and then I might drink it. If I don't drink it ever I won't know so I won't drink it." So, looking forward to the next 21 days, but know it won't end there. I have a lot more work to do.

Day 68: My concept of failure is being redefined

I have been beating myself up about feeling like I am failing PCP and wanting to give up because I feel like I am failing. OK, it always takes longer for the penny to drop with me, but what I have had to force myself to understand is that I am not failing, but that I am sometimes getting to the level of muscle failure that we are striving for. It is hard mentally not to feel like you aren't doing a good job when you can't move your leg or arm an inch, but in fact that is what you are supposed to be doing. Nobody ever said that this was going to be easy. From the grunting in my workout today (lots of failure there and LOTS of sweat, I was sliding around on the marble floors) I think I did a good job today. But it is the first day that I actually realised I did a good job. Slow learner.

So I agree wholeheartedly with Patrick's e-mail today saying we are changing our whole lives. I just have to be careful not to have a hissy fit when I can't do the exercises. Also need to get back to working out in the morning as too many other factors get involved later in the day.

Everything done and dusted for the day. Am off to the W Hotel for brunch with the kids... they get cooking lessons, arts, crafts, and magic shows. I get to sit in a nice setting with my cool water and will graze PCP style for the duration of the brunch.

Day 67: Discombobulated

Feeling like I am becoming a bit discombobulated. Out of touch as can't read blogs or watch Patrick's videos. Think I will just start from Day 60 again once I have gotten to Day 90.

Day 66: broadband challenged

We have been super busy going places with the kids and getting up incredibly early the past 2 days so I made a strategic error in deciding to try to do my exercises at night. But then everything has been running late so by the time we get back we are running straight back out the door to dinner. Staying with friends makes it a bit more challenging for me to take that hour out and keep everyone else waiting and at the end of the day I am too exhausted to do anything. So for the past 3 days I have been doing no exercises and also didn’t manage to skip yesterday. Thought about trying to catch up and then decided, draw a line….. to just get back on the bicycle and start afresh, on the correct day, Day 66, not Day 64 or Day 63 or Day 65… was checking to see if there were any exercises that were more palatable, but no, it all looks painful.

Maybe by day 90 I will have improved on my skipping. But I JFD it although the past few times I have wanted to give up. I also have to realize that we are supposed to get to muscle failure and that I have to separate that from feeling like a failure. Mental challenge here we come. Failure left right and centre today.

Am finding internet access very difficult here. Posting blogs and commenting on other people’s blogs is excruciating as the connection often disappears (very frustrating when you just written a comment that goes “poof” into oblivion). Watching Patrick’s videos is a total no-go area, so am 2 weeks behind there. Still not sure if the 4 x 12 V-sits that I have substituted for the kung fu sit-ups are correct as I have also seen reference to 4 x 16…. I suppose I should just go for the most to try to get this 6-pack. Very curious now also to find out what the tunnel vision is. But that will have to wait another week and a half until I get back to Tokyo so that I can download the clips.

Other than that the food is OK. Difficult to manage in the evenings but am trying my best to eat salad with a little bit of protein. Probably eating a bit too much protein. Have noticed the past 2 nights that I am so hungry by the time that I get to dinner that I have been stealing bread sticks from the bread basket. Will need to find a remedy for that. Am eating a lot later than I would chose to do, but again, cannot control that so just have to find a way to control myself. Maybe munch on some beans or corn (that’s what I have available in the fridge) before we head out so that at least there is something in my tummy.

Day 63: Mmmmmm strong? That would be a "no"

"Hope you're feeling healthy, strong, and ready for the last push here."


Unfortunately not feeling very healthy as body aches all over and legs and arms are tired, so as a result not feeling very strong at all. I know that we are continuing to push ourselves, but increasingly feeling like I am going backwards rather than forwards. During the incline pull-ups today I could barely even lift my body off the ground. But, I am going to have to take it a bit easier on myself.


Finished the exercises for the day and am going to listen to all the advice.... today I will be contemplating my navel. Luckily I can now actually see it. Some lazing in the sun, which I have still not yet managed to do since arrival in Bali. Hope the sun comes out. Maybe a foray into the pool, and then if I can I will practice skipping this afternoon to see if a new way of doing (which I have yet to devise) helps at all.


Over and out!

Day 62: Better

Mentally better, thanks totally to my support group who have been cheering me on. Thank you everyone, for being there.

No exercises or skipping today. On purpose. I just want to know why my entire body still hurts!