Day 16

Today I took Patrick's advice in his last email to heart, and put more effort into paying attention to my form, and the way I use my muscles during exercise.

I also noticed the change in the push-up style today. It was much more difficult to do full pushups with all the other upper body exercises, and I almost(but not quite) worked my muscles to exhaustion. The forward shoulder lift was as difficult as ever, and I'm still taking 2-4 second breaks between reps on the last set, as when I get to that point I can barely pull the band, even with a 5lb band on one foot.

It's interesting having never paid so much attention to my body and it's form, and I'm continuing to notice the way it's developed, and the fact that my right seems to be underdeveloped compared to my left, but not in a manner as substantial as would be required to notice it before now. Keeping this in mind, I'm trying to focus on that side more.

Day 15

Ah, time for bed. Did my morning routine, then spent the whole day off playing video games and watching BSG Season 4, as the weather wasn't nice enough to hike til the afternoon. Felt good to have a day off.

My lunch and dinner basically are usually cucumber, tomato or carrot, with chicken and rice. I've still been learning how to cook the chicken to my liking, I've never had to cook so much to eat so often. Tonight I baked it with carrots and onions in a ceramic roasting pan. It was fantastic. I only wish I used enough veggies for the rest of the meals! Generally my lunch and dinner have been a lot more plain.

Time to lie down in bed with the Nintendo DS, and go to bed.

Day 14 - New Photo!

Again with the snow! Had to jump in the snowy sleet. Wasn't that bad, but the rope stiffens.

I was happy to just jump rope today, but was really hoping to get a hike in. I guess not. Terrible weather.

I've been waking every night dehydrated, regardless of the amount of water I drink. Apparently my body's using a lot of it.

I can see some change in my photos, but it might just be wishful thinking. We'll see after the next couple weeks!

Day 13

So I woke up this morning.... at 6. I went to bed at 10. Doing well there. Fell back asleep. Alarm went off at 6:20AM. Got up, saw it was slightly wet out, and jumped rope before it rained. Came back in, finished other workouts. Showered. Cooked breakfast. Looked out the window.... to find it's snowing. Sigh. Anyhow, I got up before it snowed at least.

I can't believe I managed to save myself enough time this morning to sit at the computer! It's sort of a trap though, the more I use it the more time I waste.

I'm finding some muscle groups are keeping up just fine, others are struggling to. The shoulders in particular, which haven't done much more than support me on my bike and let my arms hang from them at the computer, are really feeling it with the davinci and the forward shoulder raise. I can barely finish all the reps, and sometimes need to rest a couple seconds between reps. Otherwise, I've been finishing all the reps, and sometimes doing extra.

Day 12

I got 9 hours, still felt like 6. Today I cooked more chicken. Kind of getting a little tired of it, but it's the cheapest per pound. I'm getting pretty close to not buying organic, free range. But it really bothers me to do so. There's just so much needed!

Other than that, things are starting to become routine. I'm finding I'm able to focus on everyday things again, instead of just PCP. Who knows, I might even sit down and play video games again some day.

Boring post, I know. But I'm headed to bed!

Day 11

Highly relevant to Patrick's recent reminder on sleep, I'm beginning to feel more tired, despite my 8 hours of sleep. So tonight we'll be shooting for 9 hours. It was so incredibly rough getting out of bed this morning that I hardly had time for workouts, breakfast, and prepping food before I was sprinting for the bus.

Day 10

I'm now taking up about 2/5 of the fridge with food. I just went shopping again, and hope it'll last a couple days. This is getting to be pretty extreme, and I'm getting a lot of amusement from it. I'm feeling hungry in-between meals now, which I assume means my metabolism is ramping up from eating all of this and the exercise.

I won't be spending on anything but food for the next 3 months at this rate... I don't mind that, but it's not something I'm used to.

In other news, I've abandoned the chin-up bar in the doorway, as the kitchen table works better.

Well, off to cook lunch for tomorrow...

Day 9

Almost to the double-digits! YEAH!

I'm posting early today, with a couple things I've figured out/found helpful.

1. Cooking in advance. Last night I pulled out the cast-iron double burner grill and cooked enough chicken for 3 days worth of meals. I also have a large container of rice cooked, for the same meals. The only meal left out of the prep work is breakfast. All I have to do for these meals is measure out the proper amounts, and add fresh veggies. The best part about cooking it all in bulk is eliminating the guesswork in how much to cook to end up with the proper weight. I can't get enough storage containers.

2. The small measuring cup (250ml max) has become my new drinking glass. I see no need to dirty more dishes than necessary.

3. Door anchors. The location for the standing ovation wasn't prime. So I built my own door anchor out of a sling of old climbing webbing and a carabiner. This allows me to stand near the center of my room, rather than in the closet.

4. Anything on the floor really requires something like a yoga mat to be comfortable. I have a really basic mat, so it's not too cushy, but takes the sting off my back in exercises like the leg-up.

Finally, I'll share with you guys where I work out. I was given the largest bedroom in our new apartment, which was a burden at first with how little it retains heat, but I found a use for the floor space!

Day 8 - The Gorging

I really felt like I gorged myself this morning on breakfast. I made myself a fairly monstrous breakfast sandwich with bread, sliced tomato and cucumber, and two fried eggs... the leftover bread was eaten with the help of the milk. I'm dreading having to eat lunch!

Also, the davincis kicked my ass. It felt good to push myself though!

Update: Holy crap food. This... is a lot more than I was eating. On the other hand, no more hunger pains! For lunch I had most of an onion, with chicken(dark meat) and rice. Also, part of a cucumber.

Day 7

Last day of the easy week. I went for a splendid and long hike up Camel's Hump in Huntington, VT. I thoroughly enjoy hiking alone, as it is probably the longest I ever spend without communicating with other humans. It gives my mind time to relax and think freely. It also allows me to teach myself to motivate myself. Completely winded, with no real incentive of continuing, it can be tough to keep moving without a break.

Admittedly, I had a bit more fruit than usual today. I missed my normal lunch and was stuck volunteering for 5.5 hours and the only thing we had there I wanted to consume was fruit, and I was completely out of energy from the hike. I am feeling a bit better now though, after having some dinner.

At the Blood Drive one of the donors said "I think I'll just have some Cheez-it's" to me. The manner that he said it in immediately reminded me of the movie Idiocracy (worth a watch). I always feel a little ill when I think that it's exactly the direction society appears to be headed in, in which processed snacks are what you'd reach for over a fresh apple or pear after your blood is depleted.

I'll need to go buy food tonight... I'll be picking up meat (fish, only), and milk, two things I haven't been consuming for quite a while. I think I'll be needing more eggs as well. Maybe an eggplant too.

Day 6

Well, day 6. It's almost been a week! I'm proud to say I've not only stuck to the half diet well, but made healthy choices during this time.

Today at work I got a tip by way of 5 Ben & Jerry's free pint coupons. I've already given three away. I wonder if I'll want ice cream at all when this is over. It's too tempting carrying them around...

Tomorrow I'll be driving to a mountain to go hiking immediately after my workouts and breakfast, then volunteering again at an American Red Cross blood drive for 6 hours. At the very least I'll get to test out my new day pack! I'll also get to play with how far and fast I can hike on a light diet without the urge to consume a lot.

Day 5

Well, today I'm at the lowest weight I have been at since I was 18. I think it's largely due to paying attention to it so much. We have this postal scale at my job that we utilize for measuring the weight of e-waste (dead computers, etc). My entire time working there, It's never been able to take me. But it did today, with my clothes and such on. (I would hope so, being at work and all) So this made me ecstatic to finally seem to break free from the exact weight I've always measured at, even by a couple pounds.

My shoulders are definitely feeling the burn, I don't think I've done push-ups this many days in a row, ever. I love it.

I've been making sure my egg cooking skills are up to par, and that I'm not just scrambling them. I think it's coming along nicely.

This morning for breakfast I fried an egg and had half a diced tomato and 1/4 cucumber. I didn't put pepper on my egg this morning, to try to get more used to the taste. For lunch I had some rice, veggies and beans, and tofu. It was about 2 cups of food. I plan on eating something similar for dinner.

Local sustainability always excites me! I've been drinking a soy milk that's made in Vermont and certified organic by VOF (Vermont Organic Farmers), and today I just looked at the bottom before recycling the bottle and found the container is made just two towns from me! I like to find companies like this. Also, today I became a member at my local food cooperative. I realized in the coming weeks I'll be spending a lot of money there, and wanted to help support them better.

Day 4

Through a long and strenuous thought process, I had determined that I wasn't eating enough to feel healthy. After speaking to my housemate, we agreed that I should up my servings a bit, since I was already eating near-healthy portions before this started. So today I made more and better food.

I still feel hungry though.

Seabass also pushed me to eat a small chocolate/peanut butter treat and I finally obliged, unwillingly.

I've started cooking with tofu again and I had missed it. It's a good source of protein while I'm avoiding most meats. I should pick up some fish, but per pound the tofu is sooooo much cheaper! I honestly can't wait until the end of this week, as I'm feeling a little lost diet-wise and I look forward to a more instructed diet.

Today I spent a lot of time paying attention to customer's apparent physical fitness at work, and I've found it's very rare to find someone that appears to be in "peak" condition. This just makes me more interested in working toward it!

It's taken a bit to figure out exactly how to do the workouts, but my housemate's been a great help in the matter. Now to find a spot to mount that pull-up bar...

Day 3

I've been writing these pre-dinner, but my dinner has been very basic half sandwiches with a few veggies.

The hunger is definitely starting to get to me. It's not unmanageable though, and I'll get through it fine. The biggest thing I noticed was that unlike yesterday, today's lunch didn't satisfy in the same manner, despite being near identical in size.

This morning I started doing something Seabass had described, which was using a life counter die from Magic: The Gathering to count my jump rope sets, rather than keeping track of the sets in my head like I usually do. It definitely helped add a sense of precision to my workout.

Now I shall retreat to a video game for a bit, and have dinner.

Day 2

So... day 2 is near a close. It's odd being a half day behind everyone. Today I had an egg, 1/4 cucumber, half an apple, and a half cup of soy milk for breakfast. I made 3/4 of a cup of rice, and had half of that for lunch, with the other apple half. I also had only a couple of my trail-mix chunk snacks today. I'm learning to deal with the hunger better. Now to have a light dinner (which is usually sparse as it is).

The workouts are fun. While the jumps are easy, my abs are not so appreciative of the attention at the moment. I'm sure they'll learn better though. I find myself looking forward to tomorrow's exercises.

I've found two things that have really helped my eating less. One is to chew everything completely and slowly, and to eat slowly. The other is drinking a lot of water in-between meals. I don't drink coffee, and rarely tea, but I go heavy on the water. Video games are also great if you have a solid block of free time and are focusing on the hunger. Just get absorbed in it and you'll see the time fly by.

By Request...

Before:

After:

I probably wouldn't have noticed my head was misshapen if you hadn't asked for pictures! Crud.

Day 1

I completed Day 1's workouts. Seabass cleared up some confusion regarding the sit-ups actually being "crunches", in that you don't go all the way up. Apparently I make more work for myself than necessary.

I ate half my average breakfast, which amounted to one egg, half an apple, 1/4 of a cucumber, and a half cup of soy milk. We'll see how I get through the rest of the day.

I'm very scientifically minded, and as such, I also started a spreadsheet on Google Docs to track and graph my weight change over the next 90 days. I'm not overly concerned about weight, but want to be able to have a pretty graph at the end.

Update: Day 1 complete! I'm looking forward to the next 90 days!

The First Day

Well, here we are. Hello fellow PCP'ers! I've been waiting about 4 months for this. I'm incredibly excited. I would say the biggest reason I joined is to improve my will to be fit and healthy, and buck the current American eating and fitness trends. I hope I make what I learn here stay with me for the rest of my life.

My name's Mikhael (pronounced Mi-kye-ell), you can call me Mikhael or Mike. I'm turning 25 next month, and live in Burlington, Vermont. Supposedly the healthiest city in the USA. I guess we have the smallest percentage of overweight people. I work at Small Dog Electronics, in South Burlington, Vermont. We're an Apple Specialist (aka Apple computer reseller and service provider). I love my job, and it's probably the only retail job I'll ever want to work. I've been there over a year now, and it's how I found this program.

I've tried many different ways to get fit or stay "healthy" over the past couple years. The only two that are standard are jump roping and bicycling. Everything else comes and goes. I just moved downtown and am 2 blocks from a 6-mile bike path, I plan on using it liberally as the summer continues.

During PCP, I'll also be juggling my full time retail job, my weekly hikes, spelunking, volunteering at the Red Cross donor center, and I'll be doing my NAUI open-water dives for SCUBA certification in May or June.

Today I buzzed my hair to the scalp for the first time. I did it partially to destroy some normality, and partially to remind me for the first couple weeks to give it my all and pay attention. Now that it's short, I think I like it this way.