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