A new day

So after my meltdown post a few days ago, things have been looking up. In practicality nothing has changed. It's still a lot of food, there are still a lot of unwashed dishes, and I still don't have time for much other than PCP. But once I had blogged about it and gotten those very very nice responses (thanks again guys!) everything became...ok. Like I could handle it again. And I think I've got enough food left from the last grocery trip to last me into the weekend, which is a bit of a relief in and of itself.

Side note--do sweet potatos count as veggies? Or are they so starchy that I ought to count them as carbs? I bought a couple I'm looking forward to eating, but I wanted to know how to count them first.

Wanted: Time Management

First the good. Last night I showed up for myself. Now, this isn't a momentous occasion in and of itself. I've been showing up every day for the last two weeks (which IS an accomplishment). What makes last night special is that I didn't want to. At all. I didn't want to work out. It was late, I was tired. Very tired. I was halfway through putting pajamas on when I changed my mind and grabbed a sports bra out of the dryer and did the work out. I have no idea what made me do that. I'm impressed with myself, even though I'm missing the sleep I would have gotten if I'd skipped.

Which brings me to my next point. I'm tired. Really tired. And getting frustrated fast. And not just a little frustrated, but I'm-tired-of-this-and-want-to-stop frustrated. I have no plans to stop since I am actually feeling the results of the workouts, and seeing a result on the scale in the morning. Even so, I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. I'm managing to keep up with the cooking, just barely, but between that and the dishes this much cooking creates, and the workouts on top of that.... I'm running out of time every night, and having to go to bed later, which means I can't wake up early enough to workout or do anything productive in the mornings.

Add to all that the fact that I'm trying to get to know people in a brand new city, plan a wedding, and train for my new job... I can't say I'm surprised I'm worn out, or that I wasn't expecting it. I just don't know how to get a handle on everything to get to the point where I can get back to having a side dish of life next to the PCP. Obvious solutions: wake up earlier, prep several meals in advance, clean up everything immediately, workout in the mornings. So much easier said than done when I've gotten behind.

Sorry for the whining. Thanks for listening.

Hello again

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been trying to catch up to the new diet--lots of groceries to buy, lots of dishes to clean. At least a lot more than I'm used to. Before this I was a one dish, microwave meal sort of girl when left on my own. Which is a little sad considering how much I'm loving the new diet. I mean, fruit breaks? Why would anyone ever need to put honey on that stuff? (Just kidding. I know a lot of people like their fruit sweeter than I do.)

Still feeling funky in the mornings, so I talked to Patrick and we decided I would go sans-eggs next week to see if they're really the culprit. If so, then it's a quick (though rather annoying) fix. If not, I'll have to keep really close tabs on everything I'm eating and see if I can ID something else that might be giving me problems.

I've also noticed that how much I can eat varies drastically depending on what I'm eating and how it's cooked. 160g of raw veggies (mostly spinach with some cucumbers and carrots thrown in)? Next to impossible. That same meal with cooked spinach? Easy. Same with Bread vs. Pasta. Bread is just so light that I need a lot more of it to make the gram count. So I've been looking for heavier foods--i.e. ones with a lot of water in them. It's definitely made eating all that food easier and more manageable. And tastier. I've discovered a love for raw carrots that I don't remember having before. And a love for cooked spinach I had completely forgotten about since I was 4.

In workout news, I find that the pushup bars make pushups a lot harder. Possibly because they improve my form, possibly because I've been doing them sort of wrong up till now? I don't know. Everything else has been going well. I love the standing ovations. Odd number days are my favorite so far. :)

There was one day last week where I straight up skipped the lunges though. I did one set with my right leg, and when I went to switch I couldn't do one without my left knee hurting a lot. So I skipped them. It seems to have been a good move, since the lunges yesterday were easy and pain-free (excepting the burning in my muscles. But that isn't pain, so my statement still stands. :) ) Easy is also a relative term there. I did the max in each set, but I was shaking by the end. All in all it was a great workout.

I feel bad about skipping an exercise entirely, but this whole thing is about health and wellness. It's pointless if I don't take the time to listen to my body when it's telling me no and end up hurting myself. So even though I feel like I cheated, which I suppose I did, I know it was the right move for that day.

And then there was food

I've read the completed blogs. I've read more than one from beginning to end. I knew week 2 brought harder workouts, a defined diet, and a lot of food. I was still completely unprepared for just how much food that was. I couldn't finish breakfast. 3 mini bagels (yay for whole wheat!), an egg, and a bowl of broccoli. I think I left half the broccoli--very sad, broccoli is my favorite veggie and I can usually eat much more than one bowl of it--plus one of the bagels. I tried, really. But there was no way to do it without making myself sick. Though I'm pretty sure my stomach will expand again and be able to accomodate the new plan inside of a week. It's a remarkable organ.

I'm also really really hoping that I'm tired today because I haven't gotten enough sleep lately, and I'm feeling nauseated because I a. ate too much despite not finishing breakfast, or b. am getting sick. Unfortunately I've got a nagging feeling that this is another food intolerance sneaking up on me. See, I don't eat fish anymore. I love fish, but every single time I give in to the temptation and eat some, I feel like I'd rather lose my insides altogether than deal with the pain they put me through within half an hour of indulging my palate. What I felt this morning? A milder, but very familiar, reaction.

I'm (what's stronger than hoping? I don't actually pray...) that it's NOT an intolerance coming out. Because there's only one possible culprit. The egg. Everything else that I've eaten for the past week are things that I've eaten a thousand times. I don't eat eggs though. Haven't since I was a kid. Don't like how they taste or how they smell. But I knew they were part of the project and have thus far clung to the belief that you can develop a taste for dirt if you eat enough of it. So we'll see how the rest of the week plays out. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do if this doesn't fix itself.

Some PCP observations, some non-PCP observations

I hate working out at night. Absolutely despise it. I also hate getting up at 5:30 just so I can get my workout in before I have to go to work. *sigh* I think that's probably the better option though. If I try to put it off until after work I end up wasting the entire evening putting it off, and then finally get to it right before bed, which ends up being far too late for my tastes.

In non-PCP news, I just mailed my wedding invitations. It's really exciting, but it's left me with a very strange feeling. Because despite all the money we've sunk into this thing already, there was always the option of backing out without a lot of explanation or embarassment. Now we're past the cliched point of no return. I'm not having any sort of regrets; I don't want you to think that. It's more......a realization that the simple act of placing those envelopes in the mailbox was effectively a life changing event. It seems like such a strange thing.

But now I'm going to go workout, and then off to bed. 7 is far too early to need to be at work.

Almost habits already?

First, let me talk about the surprise I got yesterday when I woke up (and then another, bigger one when I worked out).

I woke up, and DIDN'T HURT. Much. I was still a little sore, but after the massive failure that were Day 3's pushups, I wasn't expecting to be able to move my arms, much less be almost entirely pain free. It was like my body suddenly decided to rebuild itself in the night. And then I went to workout, and when I got to the pushups, I did the entire first set without even needing to pause--a first for me. I'm still doing them on my knees, but holy crap. I was seriously dreading the extra set, but I got through it fine, and probably could (and should) have done a couple more--I did 5 on the first 3 sets, then upped it to 8 on the last one.

And then there's how I'm feeling right now. I woke up late, so I didn't have time to work out this morning. I'm actually feeling what I can only call a craving for jumproping. I'm also feeling more sluggish than normal, and I forgot things this morning (not sure if it's a symptom of not exercising or if I've just been lucky the past week or so. I forget things a lot, but haven't since PCP started).

Crap. Forgot two things, one of which I just remembered now. Need to call the caterer....and left my cell at home. Fantastic. Perhaps I'll remember tomorrow.

Go Team Army Ants!!

The mind tricks have begun (but I'm winning)

The hunger was definitely easier to deal with today. Although I'll have to admit that having been at home all day has made determining "half" more difficult. I'm looking forward to having a more specific diet plan, egg whites and all.

I've got a feeling that soreness is going to be a constant companion for the next 87 days. I'd prepared myself for a lot of things involved in this challenge--difficult workouts, brand new (and fairly specific) diet, no sugar, no salt, lots of jumproping. But despite that, I somehow managed to not think I was going to be this sore this fast. I mean, it's not THAT bad. pain, rather than Pain, or even PAIN. But still. Maybe I ought to just start thinking of it as my new friend that I get to hang out with for 90 days.

The pushups this morning are still my nemesis. I just barely managed 8 in the first set, and then struggled to do even the minimum in the last two sets. Had to take a couple extra breaks to get them all done. And had a lovely conversation with myself before I even started where I lied and told myself that I could stop if I did 8 in the first set. I felt sort of crazy doing it, but it worked, so I'm not going to argue. Also could really feel the situps after those leg ups yesterday. Love them, and the squats too. Lunges are harder since I tend to lose my balance on those. Pretty sure that'll get easier in time though.

Oh mind tricks, how I love thee.

Day 2

Day 2 is better than Day 1. So far anyhow. I wasn't as hungry, and I didn't get a headache (yet, at least). I think getting 9 hours of sleep last night really helped. The night before I only got 6 or so, and I ought to know my body well enough to know that isn't a good idea.

Food aside, does anyone else have really sore calves? I'm thinking it was the squats, since I did 300 jumps a couple of days in a row a week or two before PCP without soreness. It's not terrible, most of the time, but it does get annoying every time I go up and down the stairs at work. Muscle failure again with the pushups, but I was expecting it this time.

And....that's about it, really. Not much exciting has happened today. I'll let you know if something does. :)

Day one so far

So it's day one, and as Patrick told us in his e-mail, it's both very easy and very hard.

The workout this morning was both. I picked up my jumprope about a week before we started and started practicing, so that part was a breeze. I think I even did one set without getting tangled.

Pushups were another story altogether. I've always been well aware that I have no upper body strength. So I went into the pushups with low expectations, but a good deal of determination. (I want Emily's arms damn it!) As low as my expectations were, however, I was not expecting muscle failure on the very first day. At rep 7 on the last set I went down, and just couldn't push myself back up. I'm definitely going to be feeling that tomorrow.

The diet hasn't been difficult as much as frustrating. My mini bagel for breakfast did a good job of keeping me satisfied, but I was still pretty hungry when lunch came around. Eating just half of THAT left me...unhappy. Sort of. I was full, eventually. But only for about half an hour. And now I'm getting a headache. It's the first for PCP, but it's definitely not the last. (I get them a lot, and have many triggers. Hunger is one of them. Lack of sleep is another).

But I will prevail, and tell my body to shut up and adjust.

Go Team Army Ants!

Hi there!

Hello everyone! I'm Kristen, a 23 year old recent college grad, and even more recent resident of Wisconsin. I've never been "fit" per se, though I've been less heavy, and more heavy, than I am now. I'm ready to change the way I look, the way I look at myself, and the way I relate to food.

I'm really excited to get this party started and to meet all you guys doing it with me.

And until someone suggests a better name, I dub the April group the Army Ants. Because they can lift 5 times their body weight. And because I like watching The Big Bang Theory.