Done, done and done (is it really done??)

I think I've been in a bit of denial that day 90 has come and gone.  Was it really only 3ish months ago that I was thinking of starting this thing??  Wow.  Still haven't gotten my head around what I want to say, but I'm a born procrastinator, so I guess I'd just better JFD this thing!  Unedited mind-dump to follow...

This post is a tribute to all of the inanimate objects that helped me get through the PCP.  Here's the list - although I'm sure I'm forgetting something (but since they're inanimate objects, none will be offended - love how that works)...  Future PCPers - consider this an addendum to "must have" list Patrick sent out on Day 2.

1. Jelly roll pans - I have these for baking, but used 2 or 3 almost every day to roast any/all veggies of every shape and size (also helpful - a giant roll of aluminum foil)

2. My BlackBerry - for both its timer/stopwatch function and the Pandora app. (Apologies to my neighbors who may have heard crappy 80s music blaring from it at 7 in the morning)

3. Balsamic vinegar - I went through a giant bottle of it in 2 months.  And I still love it - go figure

4. Avocado saver - this was a gift from the fabulous Sarah, and got lots and lots of use  

5. My blender

6. The best jump rope in the whole wide world - only took me 1 month of tripping over a crappy one to figure this out.  New PCPers, save yourself some time and get this one from the beginning!!!

7. Glasslock food storage containers - I have two sets of these and they were in constant rotation with veggies, protein, etc.  Highly recommend.

8. COFFEE!!!!  I couldn't have done this without you.  Really. 

9. Bananas - you were my go-to fruit for 90% of this. I know variety is key, but nothing beats a banana, milk and cinnamon smoothie! 

Check out the photo my husband posted on his facebook page last week.  I didn't really want the attention (and I probably would have chosen a more flattering jump rope photo), but how often does your husband warn others that you can kick their ass???

The before and after...

Day 1                                                             Day 36                                                         Day 90ish

Day 1                                                         Day 36                                                          Day 90(ish)

I think I'm going to have to burn that bathing suit now..

Here's me and my "skills" - funny how I felt like I was jumping MUCH faster than I actually am.  If I knew how to edit, I make this much shorter....

Thanks to Patrick for your guru-like fabulousness.  Nice to know that you're always there, many time zones away, to provide support, advice and some "get your act together-ness" when we/me needed it.
Chen - thanks for all the behind the scenes things you do - and for giving me AMAYW veggies very early in the program:)
All the teams before us, especially Sarah - thanks for laying it all out there - giving the nitty gritty of all things PCP and providing the inspiration for me to do, and finish, this!!!
Team Orange Crush - you guys made AMAZING transformations and it's been fun going on this ride with you.
My swonderful husband - thanks for giving me all of your support and space and time I needed to do this, and do it well.  It wouldn't have been possible without you (and yes, I forgive you for finishing my leftover protein and vegetables on more than one occasion)
And finally, Team Cookie Monster/Team JFD - you guys were great.  I love what a diverse group we were, and really appreciate all of your support, blog posts, photos, etc. etc...  let's meet up sometime and have a giant jump rope fest, shall we??

JFD, guys, JFD.

Holy shit - that's me??  Neato!

Final post is coming!!!

Still getting my head around what I want to say/do for my final post, but just read this article in the NY Times and wanted to share.  Another study has shown the benefits to exercising first thing in the AM.  Patrick, your finger is on the pulse, my friend!
Phys Ed: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast

Day 90 - I am DONE

I had a homemade chocolate chip cookie for breakfast.  more to come.....

Everyone's working out now

Even my 4 year old.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Day 89 - plans, part deux

So I never made it gym hopping, my post-Hanukkah returns to various stores and grocery shopping ate up most of my morning/early afternoon.  But there was a rain-free window around 4 this afternoon and I got to jump outside.  Bliss.  It's really warm here today (50ish degrees F) so I tried to make the most out of it.  Photos and videos of all my fancy jumping moves to come.

Just finished the last superset and wow - I almost didn't make it!  I do like them, I like the speediness/intensity of them - my basement looked a little like an obstacle course for the first half of them:) Music was blasting through the second half of the sets and I'd like to thank Pandora's Greatest Hits of the 80s for helping me to get through them (Come On Eileen, Need You Tonight, Sunglasses at Night) total cheese, I know, but it worked!!!  That, and doing the final reps with my eyes closed - not sure why but that made a huge difference.

Yeehaw.

Day 89 - Plans

My favorite saying has always been, "Want to hear God laugh? Tell him your plans."  My plan today, on my last "real" day of the PCP, was to get up, jump rope outside in front of my house as usual, bang out my workout and get on with my day.

Woke up in a cozy bed around 8am (after being peed on by my 4 yr old - don't ask) and seeing pouring rain outside.  Jumping rope first thing? Out.

Have a ton of errands today and will start on those, including a trip to the local gym.  My new "plan" is to gym hop to a number of local places to find a place that will let me work out for free today.  I don't really have interest in doing the supersets outside of the comfort of my basement, but I would like a place to jump rope that doesn't involve moving tons of furniture.

Wish me luck.  And jfd!

Day 87 - wow

I didn't think I was going to make it through the Davinci's and shoulder raises today.  Really - thought after set 1 I was DONE.  Couldn't move for a while when I was done today.  I guess that's the point, right?

Cold jumping

this morning it was 18 degrees F when I went outside to jump. I'm now the queen of layers - wearing a t-shirt, sweater, 2 fleece jackets and a vest.

It's now warmed up to a balmy 21 degrees.

Winter jumping is going to suck!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Supersets begin NOW!

And I have to say I'm scared.  Have been hearing about them for at least 4 months and I hope I'm ready!  Giving myself 2 hours (while kid #2 is at school) to get today's done.

Good luck, everyone!!!

UPDATE: Superset #1 complete!  Totally spent.  The v-sits and planks to failure were the worst - mostly because of mindgames I was playing with myself.  Happy it's over - time to go consumer 15 egg whites...

Indulgence #3

I don't know why I am having such a mental block on blogging about my third, final and fabulous indulgence.  I guess because it's so photo heavy and downloading photos I've already posted to Flickr is a minor pain in the ass.

Here goes.  My husband and I went to a great restaurant in our teeny town.  I was happy eat like a grown up in public again, he was happy to have his non-gram counting wife back for a couple of hours.

Me and my first glass of wine (or any type of alcohol) in 80 days.  A yummy Pinot Noir from Oregon.

 

Doug and I shared two appetizers (do you think I could decide on just one? Ha.)  This was creamy polenta (read: tons of butter and cream), topped with a poached egg (score one for the PCP) and prosciutto di parma

Finished in no time flat - I think Doug got maybe a couple of nibbles.  

Next up was a salad topped with smoked figs (I normally would avoid any type of dried fruit, but these were unflippin' believeable) and chunks of gorgonzola.  As my mother would say, it was to die for...

.

 My entree - hangar steak with braised escarole and potatoes so fried they tasted slightly like a potato doughnut.  By this point I was a little overwhelmed in the food department, so only ate a couple of bites of potatoes and greens, and brought home 1/2 of the steak. 

 Dessert! Warm chocolate polenta topped with pretzels, fleur de sel and caramel.  I'm convinced this recipe didn't come from someone's Italian grandmother, but rather was the invention of a very stoned chef in the kitchen.  Sweet/salty is one of my favorite combinations and this thing was right up my alley.

All and all, YUM.  I didn't completely stuff myself (ok, I guess I stuffed myself a little), but I definitely couldn't eat like that all the time (ok, I could drink wine like that and eat dessert like that on a daily basis, but the total meal would do me in!)

Didn't really feel any ill effects from it, other than a grumbling belly for a couple of hours.  I never blogged about Indulgence #2, and now, compared to #3, it seemed so little and minor.  Doug made some homemade pesto and one night I ate a meal my family was having - pesto with noodles and lots of parmesan cheese (and salt!), followed by 2 pieces of Halloween candy (my only candy consumption while on PCP) and multiple handfuls of peanut butter filled pretzels.  That night if felt good to eat whatever I wanted, but I'm really glad I decided to make #3 a real event.  And it was.  YUM.

Ok - off to tackle workout #85 while the house is still quiet.

:)

On the 7th night of Hanukkah my true love gave to me....

A jar of Nanami Togarashi - chili pepper, orange peel, black sesame see, white sesame seed, japanese pepper, ginger and seaweed.  A PCP-doing girl couldn't ask for any more, really...

Excited to try it tomorrow on my egg.  Has anyone tried this?

Push ups

I still owe my indulgence post, which was unbelievably fabulous, but right now I'm sitting watching my son's gymnastics class and typing this on my phone.

Was just thinking how cool it is that I can actually DO push ups - real, live, not-on-my knees push ups. That's a major accomplishment for me.

Next time someone says to me, "Drop and give me 20!" I'll be ready. (Not that anyone's ever said this to me before or ever will, but that's besides the point:)
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

3 hours until Indulgence #3....

and i'm STARVING!  I'm a little out of whack because I'd normally eat dinner around 6pm, but we have dinner reservations tonight at 8pm, post Hanukkah candle lighting and putting the kids to bed.

Lunch was a bit makeshift, I was at a baby shower luncheon for a good friend today, and I basically ate salad and some beets (ok, and the onion tart, but to my credit, I didn't eat one bite of tart crust!).  When I got home an hour later I ate cold chicken from the fridge and some crackers and avocado to finish up lunch.  And then I was still starving, so I went right into my yogurt and egg white afternoon snack.  Then it was 5 hours until dinner!!!

Oh well - only 1 hour until Doug gets home and I can get my workout in, and then we can leave.  We're headed to one of my favorite local restaurants, and I realized today this is the same place where I ate my anniversary dinner with Doug at the very beginning of this project (we were still on halfsies at the time).  Can't wait to bust out tonight, might even have a glass of wine - my first in 80ish days!!!  Hopefully my belly will go along with the plan, that remains to be seen.

In denial a bit about this ending so soon.  It means my chances of racking up a whole bunch more "perfect PCP" days are dwindling.  I think my grand total is around 10.  I'm sure in a month from now I'll think, "shit - why didn't I work HARDER at the PCP?  Why didn't I choose the max number of reps per set instead of always going with the min number??"  Lots to think about......

lots to blog about, but no time....

Kid #2's 4th birthday is today and the party is tomorrow.  I've just spent the last hour putting brownie goodie bags together.  Oy.

Anyway - lots to say, but no time to do it.

Did want to say that like probably a lot of PCPers, I'm thinking 3 things.  1: Why didn't indulgence #3 come a couple of days sooner (ie - thanksgiving day??) and 2: Since I went slightly off the PCP wagon on Thanksgiving (not horribly, just a little bit), I'm feeling slightly guilty about turning around and having a big blow out meal a couple of days later....

and finally - trying to figure out if turkey gravy is a veg, a protein or a carb.  Answer - none of the above, unfortunately!

JFD, team Cookie Monster, JFD!

I fell off the horse, but got back on...

I thought the weekend was going to start out ok, until it wasn't.

Was crazed all Friday and knew by 3pm that day that I wasn't going to get to my workout that day.  Fine, but then I went to dinner that night at a friend's house.  She was concerned about PCP and wanted to make sure I had food to eat that fit the program.  That was great, but then I couldn't help myself and had to eat some of the apple/pear crisp I made and brought for dessert.  Ugh.  Got home, ended up staying up until 3am to work on a cake that I needed to have ready for Saturday morning.

Got 4 hours of sleep, and finished the cake.  Meals were off since I was sleeping weird (delivered the cake, slept from 12:30 to 3pm) and then had to work on another cake for that night (a bday party for a friend). Got home that night around 10:30 and then did my work out, but I was so annoyed with myself that I did a really crappy job at it.

Sunday was filled with nothing at all, but still I never got a chance to do my workout.  Planned on doing it after the boys went to bed, but 30 mins after all was quiet, kid #2 started crying!  I laid down in bed with him and that was it - I slept last night from 9:30pm until 7:30am this morning.

I missed my regular early AM jumping session (I actually had neighbors ask where I was!) but the good news is I jumped while #2 was taking a nap and finished my whole workout before #1 came home from school.  So nice to finish it before the nighttime!

Anyway - I realized two things.  Making cakes and PCP don't really mix.  It's less the temptation of eating things I make, and more that my weekends get completely sucked up by cake making and in the previous 3 weeks it's thrown my eating/sleeping/workout schedule all out of whack.  The good news?  No more cakes (except for my son's bday cake next week) until Dec. 18 - AFTER PCP is over.

Other thing - I've gotten better picking up and moving on.  Tomorrow is a new day and just because I fuck up today doesn't mean it's the end of me.

Thinking about all my teammates today - hope all are hanging in there.

Just need to fucking do it for 21 more days!

Saturday night's cake 

Saturday morning's cake

it's the very little things...

today I put pumpkin pie spice in my smoothie instead of cinnamon.  Quadruple yum.  Highly recommend...

(the depth of my blog posts sometimes astounds even me!)

Day 64 - FOOD!

My food consumption seems like it's doubled this week.  Not that I'm complaining, but Patrick, if you realized you made a mistake and gave me Alex C's food instead, I'd figured I'd let you know now before I start getting used to eating carbs at every meal, and 3 egg whites a day!!!

:)

Missing my PCP peeps

It's a gloomy day here and I am very happy just to have jumps today (already did them this am).  The last couple of days I've been doing the strength training part later at night and it SUCKS, but that's really the only time when I can get an hour+ to myself, no kids, no car pool, etc.

Happy that it's now my second week in a row that I managed to get all the workouts done on their assigned day.  I originally thought the idea of a "perfect PCP day" was silly - how could each day NOT be perfect.  Realizing as we get further and further into this that perfection is very difficult to obtain.  But I keep getting back on the horse.  My slip ups are never major (too much applesauce at snack, stealing bites of my kids' noodles at dinner, adding honey to my yogurt on a regular basis, eating morning snack at 1pm, followed by lunch at 4pm), but they're slip ups just the same - another day that goes by w/o perfection.  It's a good goal to have, but I can probably count on one hand the number of days I've been PCP perfect.

Anyway - thinking about all my other team Cookie Monster/JFD team mates.

Jack - your progress is AMAZING.  Photos look great and you still manage to blog regularly, in addition to all of your school work.  A+!!! :)

Susan and Ian - hope jet lag has been gentle on the whole family and you're getting back into the swing of being a family of 3 again:)

Erin - I think of you and little Vincent all the time.  I have done the newborn thing twice and know where you're at (but in my case, I had 9 months to prepare, sounds like you had a couple of days, which is even harder!)  Anything you're able to do PCP-wise is just gravy - the good stuff is in that little bundle who's going to call you Mommy very soon:)

Alex - bad elbow and hospital?  Blech.  Hope each recovery is quick and easy and that you get back up on the PCP horse very soon.

Nicole - hope PCP is treating you well - and when are we ever going to see some photos of your fabulous PCP self??

Fish - so impressed that on top of the PCP you're getting out to volleyball games every weekend (or more!)  I can barely get my exercises done, so the idea of doing things on top of that has me bowing at your feet:)

Brian - Every time I go to the grocery store and see Greek Yogurt on the shelf, I think of you.  Love your photos, love the beard.  Perfect winter attire:)

Ok, lovefest over.  Want to rant about one thing.  It's been said that pregnancy/breastfeeding wreaks havoc on one's boobs, but in my case, PCP has been my #1 boob wrecker.  Don't get my wrong, I've never had huge boobs, but now?  Holy crap - where the fuck did my boobs go?  Ugh.  

Kick ass blog post, not my own

Great blog post today, from one of my favorite websites, Jezebel.com about women, strength, body image, etc. etc.

A favorite line:

"Your body was made for so much more than being looked at, deprived of food, and enjoyed by others. Your body was made for kicking some ass."

Highly recommend.

59.5 - ok, i take that back

Tonight's work out was started at 11:14pm and I just finished, at 12:02 (jumped in the am).  I guess some things (like 150 lunges) take longer than others (7 sets of incline pullups).

Off to do 8MA to celebrate (I could get used to this)....

Day 59: everyone done in under an hour? Uh-oh....

I agree with Jim - last night I worked my butt off and had a very intense work out, but it still took at least 1 hour 20 minutes.  Wasn't able to jump in the am, so did jumps immediately followed by my workout.  Started around 8:45, finished at 10:15.  Didn't take a lot of breaks, timed the seconds in between sets to a T, etc. etc.

Anyone else???

The best thing....

is when you struggle through all the shoulder exercises, thinking three more bicep exercises are to follow,  only to discover just abs are left!

it's the little things at this point...

to celebrate, I'm going to do 8MA.

Eat Twinkies, lose 27 pounds

Man eats junk food for 2 months, loses 27 pounds.  Thoughts?

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2010/11/09/2010-11-09_lose_weight_eating_junk_food_nutrition_professor_drops_27_pounds_on_twinkie_diet.html

Music, music, music

I have tried a couple of times to listen to music while jumping or doing my workout, but headphones annoy me and I didn't have a lot of luck putting together a good work out mix on my ipod.

New favorite thing: Pandora on my blackberry.  Specifically the "80s pop radio" station.  Michael Jackson, Prince, all of my high school favorites.  Slightly cheesy, but it works:)

Today I'm starving!!

Not sure why, but I can't seem to get enough food today.  Finished dinner (apple, yogurt, egg white) and immediately wanted to eat my evening snack.  Waited an hour, and literally just inhaled it (sweet potato chips - the PCP friendly version).  Still antsy/hungry.  Still have yogurt to go, but it's only 8:30, so I need to slow down:)

Looking forward to starting the new diet tomorrow - and eating protein/AMAYW veggies again at dinner. But also thinking, does this mean we're as lean and mean (weight wise) as we're going to get?  The next month is more and more food?  Bah - I'm not doing something right, because I feel like my body hasn't changed all that much in the last 2-3 weeks - feeling flabbier than ever!

Sleep or eat??

Got home late-ish tonight and didn't have a veggie snack prepared.  So now I'm staying up late so I can roast some sweet potatoes.  But I'm tired!  Should I have gone to bed instead???

Snap, Crackle, Pop - what is that??

Now more than ever my knees are talking to me - either when doing my leg exercises, or even going up stairs, I hear a yucky crackily sound.  It's not painful, just weird.

Have had these noises before starting the PCP, but they've definitely gotten more noticeable as I'm paying more attention to my legs.

Hoping it's a good thing (!) and that I'm not doing damage.

Thoughts?

Day 48ish

workout done - wasn't as cold as I thought.

Lunges go by a lot faster if you've got the room.  I warned the neighbors and lunged up and down the street.  Beats going back and forth 17 times in my back yard.

Decided after this shitty week that tequila of some sort will definitely be part of my indulgence.

My roasted asparagus is almost done. Time to go eat and sleep.  New pictures are up!

Day 48 (or 47)

It's 10pm at night and I'm procrastinating.  I'm a day behind in the workouts (again, for the second week in a row - weekend cake baking is my downfall) so I'm doing yesterday's workout today with no break on Tuesday.

But it's 38 degrees out (3 celsius)!  I don't want to go out.  Haven't had time all day and I've just got to do it.  I think I'll warn the neighbors that I'm going to be doing my lunges out in front of the house tonight - that way I won't have to do as many back and forths (can get about 10 steps in my back patio).  They already think I'm crazy for jumping, so this shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

Was thinking of blowing my indulgence on a meal completely made up of Halloween candy (I'm surrounded by it, and have yet to have one piece - I can't believe it!), but probably a nice restaurant is a much better idea.

Ok - time to freeze. JFD.

Team Fantastic Carrot - I'm gonna miss you!!!

Day 89?  Holy crap.  What are we going to do without you to look up to?  There isn't even another group bringing up the rear that we can feel somewhat superior to (we are the rear....)

Nathaly and Ramiro - first of all, you live the town of my alma mater and one of the coolest places in the world, how could I NOT envy you?  Love reading about all of your outside-PCP activities and I really appreciate all of good, bad and the ugly insights you bring to your blog posts.

Stu - when ever I hesitate to swear a lot in a blog post, I think, "would Stu say this?"  Thanks for being my "it's ok to swear, a lot" role model!  You've turned stream-of-consciousness blog posts into an art form.  Keep on rockin out - and never, ever shave your chest hair:)

Kim - I love all of your amazing hiking shots as well as how well you write about food (most of the time you're writing about food you can't have, but soon you WILL be able to indulge in beer, fish balls and chili crab - have some for me!)  Your husband also sounds like the best support system any PCPer could have.  You rock - those LAGs don't have anything on you.

Thanks for showing us this CAN be done, and that we WILL get there some day.  Don't be strangers!!!

Day 42 - Thoughts while checking out this week's diet/exercises

The first couple weeks of the PCP I didn't skip ahead and only opened each PDF on its assigned day.  Now I have to know what's going on throughout the week and open all of them at once!

First of all - was kind of hoping the lovely apple/milk dinner would be a thing of the past, but as Patrick said, this is the PCP valley so I guess I'll have to wait a bit longer to eat "real" protein at dinner again!

Jumping - could it be true? Could counting while jumping be a thing of the past???  Be still my heart.  Very much looking forward to setting the timer for 2 mins and just jumping w/o thinking as much about it.  Maybe I'll start listening to music while I jump - just need to find some headphones that don't pop out with all the jumping - any recommendations? 

60 second planks?  Good god.

And lunges are back? I thought they'd gone the way of the dinosaurs...

JFD, Sara, JFD....

Pistol Squats!

Clearly, I have a LONG way to go.....  this guy makes it look so easy.  I am in awe...

Wonder if this qualifies as 1 egg....

How do ostrich eggs fit into the PCP?? :)
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sweet potato chips

I just love the fact that a giant sweet potato only weighs 50 grams after slicing thinly and baking in the oven.  Yum yum yum....

Incline pull ups

I think there are two camps in PCP - those who CAN do a pull up, and those who can't.  Hopefully all of us will move into the CAN by the time this is over, but for now, the incline pull up and I have become friends.

At the beginning, I was clueless about where exactly I was going to do these exercises.  My dining table is rickety, no other indoor options were working - and then I remembered the unused sawhorse in my basement.

Now it's my new best friend.  My brother in law took this photo the other night.  Notice my hand pads - they're oven mitts.  I'm nothing if not a classy PCPer!

Note to self..

When in doubt, reread Andy's post.  This should be daily reading for all PCPers.

Phew!

Thoughts about today's workout...

I read Patrick's email first and the phrase "if it's not tough you're doing something wrong" stuck in my head the whole time.  The pistol squats WERE very hard, I kept my heels on the ground, but didn't feel like I was getting very close to the ground.  I guess practice makes perfect - something tells me we'll have many more opportunities to perfect this:)

The shoulder presses kicked my butt tonight - I was moaning and groaning throughout the last set.  Wanted to cry when it was over.

The bicycles?  Just like the leg lifts, I felt them SO much more in my legs.  My thighs were burning like crazy, and that pain far outweighed the pain in my abs.  Am I doing these wrong?  Should I be sitting upright in the chair, or should I be reclining more?

Happy to get through another day.

JFD.

Best reason ever to avoid frozen vegetables...

A man found a frog in a bag of frozen veggies.  Full true story here.

Then again - is frog considered a lean protein?? :)

WOW!

Two fantabulous PCP related things happened tonight.

First - I went to a pot luck dinner tonight as part of a non-profit I work with at my older son's school.  Everyone (about 10 people) signed up to bring a dish, and I signed up to bring a veggie dish (they're my speciality now - prior to PCP I was the dessert girl).  Remembered this morning that dinner now consists of an egg white, banana and apple, so flipped things around a bit (just this once, Patrick, I swear).  Had my egg white, banana and apple for lunch, and my lunch for dinner.  I had a pretty PCP-friendly dinner of a big green salad (was already dressed, but not too bad), quinoa salad, and swiss chard and roasted carrots (my offering).  The best part was dessert.  I helped cut the cakes (chocolate with chocolate frosting, and pumpkin cheesecake) and didn't have ONE BITE!  Had no desire really at all.  Earlier in the dinner I thought, "no one here knows I'm on this program, so if I have some bites of dessert, no one will know that I'm not supposed to be eating it."  Instead, I realized that I didn't even WANT to eat the dessert, wasn't in the mood for it, and told everyone why I wasn't eating sugar for the next 70ish days.

Second - I left jumping until I got home tonight.  We've been fortunate to have a string of beautiful days/nights lately and my new thing is to jump at night, under the street lamp, right in the middle of my street.  Tonight I totally found my rhythm and jumped multiple sets of 300 without tripping.  I was completely in the jumping zone and it felt great!  Yee fucking haw!  Hopefully it lasts.  I used to love the privacy of jumping on my back patio, but realized that the uneven bricks were probably the main reason I was tripping every 10 jumps.  Now I'm a jumping bandit, out in the open.  Just waiting for neighbors to start calling the cops:)

JFDD is my other new motto - Just Fucking DON'T Do it.  Don't eat dessert, don't stress about jumping, don't care if the neighbors can watch you jumping, etc. etc.

Day 34 - Leg lifts, how much do I hate you?

I dislike leg lifts so much that I did 8 min abs tonight instead of leg lifts.  And I enjoyed it!  (can't believe I just wrote this)

Even felt stronger during the planks - maybe because of the 8min ab warm up??

AMAYW? I want A LOT!!!

I was very excited to see AMAYW on my diet last week and even happier that it's still there this week.  Some days I don't have the energy/time/available food to fully take advantage of it, but today I'm going to change that:)

On my lunch menu:
Cauliflower soup (onions and cauliflower simmered in homemade salt-free chicken stock, then pureed)
Roasted cauliflower
Roasted broccoli
Swiss chard
Mixed green salad with chicken, beets, balsamic/onion dressing and homemade croutons (toasted old wheat bread)

Eating makes me happy.  Eating AMAYW makes me happier.

Day 30!  We're a 1/3rd done.  Go us!

JFD Cookie Monsters, JFD

Two things..

First - banana/milk/cinnamon/crushed ice smoothies are DELICIOUS.

Second - what do you do when you settle down for your apple dinner (the only apple left in the house, mind you) and your 7yr old asks you to share? I didn't want to be mean mommy, but it was my DINNER! I gave him 1/2 a chunk and then offered him a pear.

These are a few of my favorite things....

First of all, just want to say how much I can't stand jump roping right now.  I suck at it.  I still can't jump more than 25 w/o tripping.  I've tried a shorter rope, a longer rope, holding my hands close, holding them far away, jumping fast, jumping slow, counting, not counting, etc. etc.  Still, I'm a complete jumping fuck up.

But rather then focus on my shitty jump rope skills (really, I suck and it pisses me off, can you tell??) I wanted to share some things I've been loving lately.

Food:
1 - Roasted veggies - I've been roasting almost every veggie I can get my hands on.  It's really, really easy and makes things a little more interesting then just steaming them.  Preheat oven to about 350F (approx 176C), place veggies on a cookie sheet or roasting pan - the more uniform the pieces the better.  I use foil so I don't have to deal with clean up.  Don't crowd the pieces or they'll steam instead of roast.  If I'm feeling adventurous, I'll use about a 1/2t. of olive oil and toss everything together with my hands.  Check on them often, using tongs to toss them around as they're cooking.  Yum yum yum.  Favorite options are broccoli, cauliflower, yams, potatoes (a bit boring), asparagus, green beans, carrots.  I make a couple of trays at a time and mix them together for later.

2 - Sugar Dumpling and Delicata squash - I'm not usually a big squash fan, unless it's covered in butter and brown sugar, but these two varieties are so delicious and sweet on their own (sugar dumpling has a bit of an edge on sweetness, so I'll buy it over delicata if I've got the choice).  For all squash, cut in half, scoop out the seeds, place cut side down on a cookie sheet/baking pan with a little bit of water.  Roast in a 400F (204C) until soft - usually by the times the skin starts getting a little brown it's ready.  Scoop out of the skin and enjoy.  I think I've eaten approx 15 sugar dumplings since PCP started!

left: delicata  right: sugar dumpling

3: Kale chips!  Sarah posted about these a couple of months ago.  I can't get enough.  I'm guessing lots of the nutritional value goes out the window when you make them this way, but they're like a 1000% better for you than potato chips and just as addictive.  I use maybe 1/2 teaspoon of oil, if that, on them but they're just as good with just a little cider vinegar.  Again, don't crowd them on the pan or they'll get gooey.

4: Paprika - I swear, it's smoky flavor makes things taste like bacon:)  Which made me very happy while eating my over easy egg this morning!  This is the brand I like, you can get it mild or hot.

Lots more favorites to come, including non-food PCP things (sexy items, like roasting pans and an avocado keeper) - would love to know more about what others are eating.

BTW - the cake I made for Sunday turned out better then I expected.  I'm thinking the boost I got from the friday night indulgence gave me the inspiration I needed. It's definitely not my style of cake, but the client was happy, so that's good enough for me!

FINALLY - I'm with Ian - what's up with the double katana?  My arms literally wouldn't budge, especially when I was trying to keep my elbows from moving.  The jumps are fun (in a weird way) and but I don't know about the creeps.  Am I supposed to be in the same position the whole time? Walking around like a duck?

JFD
JFD
JFD

Reunited and it feels so good....

Reunited with buttercream, chocolate ganache and chocolate cake scraps, that is...

That's right, mere hours after Patrick gave us the indulgence #1 go ahead, I indulged.  I didn't really even plan for it to happen, and thought I'd take days and days trying to figure out how exactly I wanted to bust out, but it's done and it was YUMMY.

I'm making a big cake for someone on Sunday and wanted to get all the basic work (cake baking, frosting, etc) out of the way tonight so I could concentrate on decorating it tomorrow.  I made a delicious chocolate ganache filling (bittersweet chocolate, heavy cream, vanilla, coffee extract and good old butter), along with devil's food cake and vanilla buttercream frosting (all homemade, all ingredients my grandmother would recognize... Michael Pollan would be proud:).  Lots of scraps left over and I initially just tasted a couple of times to make sure everything was on the up and up -- it was.

I fed Doug and my dad scraps so I could live vicariously through them, and then Doug suggested THIS be my indulgence.  It made sense - I knew I'd like it, I knew what was in it and it was sitting on the table in front of me!  So I indulged - and it was SO worth it.  Semi frozen pieces of cake top, with a couple of blobs of ganache and buttercream, chased with a glass of icy cold skim milk.

I can already feel a yucky sugar headache coming on, and the queasiness will follow soon, but for the moment, it was worth it!

Hope you all enjoyed your indulgence as much as I did.

YUM YUM YUM

Damnit!

I think I'm getting sick. Patrick - I think your "you will get sick during this project" email is what did me in.  Ugh. I never get sick.  I'm hoping it's just allergies, but it's 8:34 pm and all I want to do is go to sleep.

To make matters worse, I have a big cake due on Sunday.  Normally I'd be spending the next three nights working from 9pm - 3am to get it done, but right now I just don't have the energy.  

tomorrow will be better, right?  good night.

another food score....

I've been doing a ton of cooking in the last couple of days -which has been really nice.  It's gotten much chillier here but I don't want to cave into turning on the heat yet and with the oven going, our kitchen is a nice toasty place to hang out!

Discovered yesterday what could be my new favorite PCP treat.  Our PCP forefathers (and mothers) have written about making smoothies, but I never really have dairy and fruit around the same time on my diet.  Yesterday ate late and had to get kid #2 to school so I didn't get to having my milk.  I was famished around my fruit snack time, and made an amazingly delicious milk/banana/green tea smoothie.  It was completely PCP friendly and HUGE!  Used 200 ml skim milk, 1 130g banana (riper the better), a couple of tablespoons of unsweetened green tea powder and a bunch of crushed ice.  So good!

I've made something similar in the past, but always added some agave or honey - but with the banana, I didn't need to do that, it was sweet enough.

I know I'll regret saying this, but excited to see new leg exercises this week.  The squats bore the hell out of me.  I thought I hated the lunges more, but once I started doing walking lunges (I can do 10 across my patio), I don't mind them as much.

Sun is finally out and I'm happy:)

Yummy

It's a crappy weather day here in New York, but my lunch is about to make me very happy. Sauteed beet greens, roasted broccoli, chicken breast and 1/2 a multi-grain bagel. Delish.

More food and exercise thoughts to come. Have to go eat this before it gets cold!
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Alternate team name???

Warning - NSFW language ahead.. avert your eyes if you wish...


Just finished my workout and would hereby would respectfully like to submit an alternative team name - Team JFD.  It's the family friendly version of the phrase that's been running through my head all morning: JUST FUCKING DO IT.

Yes, yes, I know that technically it should be JFDI, but that doesn't have the same ring to it, does it???

I spent lots of time yesterday and again this morning stressing over the fact that I keep tripping after 20 jumps (is my rope too long, too short, too heavy? will this jumping session be as annoying as the last?) and how much I was dreading the lunges...  In the middle of jumping I thought, "just fucking jump, who cares if you trip, just keep jumping and keep counting..."  Same thing for the lunges - "so what if you hate them, just fucking do them.."

Now work out is over and I'm happy.  I Just Fucking Did it.....

Taste, don't eat....

Tonight I made a cupcakes - first time I've had a baking order since I started PCP.  I lamented to Patrick earlier in the week about how I usually am tasting things as I bake and got some great advice - taste, don't eat.

That's exactly what I did.  Vanilla bean cupcake batter is one of my favorites and I thought just "tasting" would be a challenge - but surprisingly enough, it wasn't.  I tasted, it tasted great, but I wasn't as interested in eating copious amounts like I usually do.

You know what it made me really want instead?  Homemade applesauce - yum.  Now I'm enjoying all 150 grams of it....

This made my morning

Shitola work out this am - it was raining, I decided to do the exercises first so I wouldn't wake up the whole house with my jumping, and on lunge #4 I tweaked something in my hip (don't think I stretched enough before doing them).  Finished the exercises, totally sweaty and gross (much hotter indoors), then did my jumps while kids were staring at me, and I tripped approx. every 25 steps (in between yelling "STOP TALKING TO ME WHILE I'M JUMPING!!!" Blech.

Came back after dropping off Kid #2 at school to find this posted on a friend's facebook page.  Enjoy.  It made my day.  The sheer randomness of seeing Mike Tyson attempting to dance is too much...

Every Little Step with Mike Tyson & Wayne Brady from Mike Tyson

Rain, rain go away

I was reminded this morning about how yucky things are going to get when I'm not able to jump outside first thing in the am.  I got up today BEFORE my alarm, and came downstairs ready to jump by 6am.  It was raining, so I futzed around on my computer for a while and fortunately it let up a bit by 6:30.  I also tried to scope out places in my house where I could jump w/o waking up my whole family (jumping in the living room is out, unless I jump later when everyone else is out of the house.)

I also spent my jump time brainstorming ways of covering up part of our patio, so come rain, sleet, snow or hail, I'd be able to get my jumps done when I wanted to, and still be outside.  Something like this, minus the price and the zillion pieces to put together.

This pop up tent thing might be the way to go, provided it's high enough in the center to clear the rope.

At the end of my last set of 100 jumps I took Patrick's advice and kept jumping, just to see how much longer I could go.  I probably jumped another 15-20 seconds before tripping, but it was nice to just jump and not have to worry about counting each one!

Annoying thing about jumping outside after it's rained all night?  Mosquitos!  I'm covered in bites!  Off to find my camera so I can post some more shots from our fantastic weekend.

Mohonk Mountain House

This is the amazing place we stayed this weekend. More to come. I think I've figured out how to post things from my blackberry, which makes me very happy!
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Homemade applesauce - the perfect PCP comfort food

I've been eating this almost every chance I get.  Tastes even better when you heat it up!


Applesauce
12-15 apples (a mixture of varieties work best)
1 pear (my secret ingredient:)
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean (if you can't get one, add a splash of vanilla extract when sauce is finished)

Wash apples and cut into chunks (I cut in half, take out the seeds with a melon baller) and then cut apple into 8ths (size doesn't really matter, but all the pieces should be about the same size)

Do the same for the pear.

Put apples, pear, cinnamon stick and vanilla bean (cut lengthwise w/seeds scraped out), add enough water to cover the bottom, maybe 1/2 inch, and cover.  Simmer on low until everything's mushy.  Stir occasionally.

When the mixture cools a bit, put small batches through a food mill.  If you don't have a food mill, peel and core the apples before you cook them, and mash the mixture with the back of a large fork or potato masher.

Enjoy!  Let me know if you have questions.

Two quick things

Hi!  Lots to write about from this weekend, but I've got a sick kid at home and grocery shopping to do so that will come shortly.  Two quick favorite foods I wanted to share.

1) Rainy crappy days like this one were MADE for warm homemade apple sauce - the perfect mid-morning snack!  My top secret recipe coming soon.
2) Wheat germ - off to buy some right now.  It's delicious on plain yogurt.  yum yum yum.

And thanks to Erin - I've just added wheat berries to my shopping list.

More later....

Away for the weekend!

Doug and I are going away for the weekend - a belated 10th anniversary present from Doug's dad. We're staying at a beautiful inn/lodge/resort called Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, NY. Amazing 19th architecture, great hiking, awesome spa (we're in for massages on Sunday) and the best part (at least for Doug) UNLIMITED food. I'm psyched and slightly scared of so many choices and temptations. I'm set with my travel scale (thanks Sarah), my workout sheets and all of my equipment. I've also requested a fridge for our room so I can stash things for my snacks and afternoon tea.

No internet access, but I'm sending this from my phone, so hopefully will get some updates out while we're away.

Did I mention we're KID FREE??? No early wake ups for me for 2 WHOLE DAYS!!!

Day 9 - I second what everyone else is saying...

It IS a lot of food, the exercises are longer and more intense, and a lot of preplanning is necessary. Yesterday for lunch I realized the only veg I had sort of ready to go were frozen green beans, so I zapped them and put what I couldn't finish in a plastic bag and nibbled on them as I did mommy carpool.  Clearly, a little more effort on my part will yield much more interesting/tasty results!

Question - is it a big deal if I DON'T do the exercises in the order they're listed on the sheet?  I jump outside and then do whatever exercise I can do outside before going back in where the scenery isn't as pretty.  For example, this morning I jumped, then did the lunges, triceps dip and forward shoulder raise, then went inside to do the rowing, standing ovation and leg lifts.

I'm also wondering if I'm doing these correctly, or if I have the right length resistance bands.  For shoulder raises, I could barely get my hands above my belly button.  Probably could be that I'm a giant weakling and soon I will get my arms up like Patrick's, but wanted to check with everyone else.

Also - for rowing, is the band supposed to be anchored in the door at chest level?  And what about for standing ovation, which made me feel like I was part of a human sling shot?  

Am still in shock that I've exercised (and woken up before my kids) for 9 days in a row.  Can't imagine yet what 90 days in a row will feel (and look) like!

I wanna jump like this dude...

Check out his routine starting around 2:50

/object>

It was all fun and games.... until NOW

Yikes!  Please tell me that I'm not the only one scared slightly sh*tless after reading Patrick's email?  Breathe, Sara, breathe....

Good thing I did a ton of shopping today - I think I've got the food covered (thanks, Sarah!)  The exercises are freaking me out a little bit.  If one doesn't have a pull up bar yet, what's the best way to do the incline pull-up?

Excited to really begin, just need to get through day 1, or day 8:)

PS - My trusty baking scale is excited to get in on the action.  Will be a switch to use it for good (veggies, fruits, etc) instead of evil (sugar and butter)

Things I'm gonna miss.....

Have been thinking all week about the food I'm going to miss the next 83+ days - figured if I listed it here I won't miss it as much:)

Here goes!
1. Candy Corn - I can't remember a Halloween that's gone by where I HAVEN'T purchased at least 3 or 4 bags of this wonderful sugary yumminess.  Only the Brachs brand will do.
2. Halloween candy in general - I'm sure, like many people, I feel like if the candy is bite size, it doesn't count - that's why I don't feel guilty eating 5 mini frozen Snickers bars:)
3. Licking the bowl - As I mentioned in my intro email to you all, I have a side cake and cupcake business. I've managed not to weigh a zillion pounds because I don't really make goodies for myself - just make and decorate them and then hand them off to the customer.  But I do LOVE licking the bowl - cake batter, frosting, you name it.  I figure it's all part of Sara Bakes Cakes quality control.  This will DEFINITELY be my biggest challenge.
4. Factory seconds - I said I don't make goodies for myself, but again, as part of quality control, I've been known to have more than my fair share of cake scraps and buttercream breakfasts.
5. Orange juice - I drink it with crushed iced, 1/2 water, 1/2 juice.  Will have to stock up on oranges to make up for it!
6. Tequila - only good, 100% agave tequila - not the stuff in the worm at the bottom that caused many a lost night in high school.  Delicious, smoky, on the rocks with a couple of limes tequila.
7. Diet Coke - there are 4 more cans in my fridge right now - it's definitely my biggest food/drink vice.  I had a couple yesterday and will prob. have a couple today.  Will then need to get them out of my house so they don't tempt me!
8. Creamy cheeses - hell, ALL cheeses.  Hard ones, stinky ones, mushy ones, I'll miss them all!

Already planning an indulgence that incorporates all of these 8 things.  But I'm hoping that by the time that rolls around one or more of these guys won't seem all that appealing any more:)

Day 6

Without even really knowing what I'm in for, I can't wait for the "real" part of the PCP diet to get started.  This 1/2 thing is very hard for me.  I rarely sit down for a meal that begins with a full plate of food in front of me.  It's a little here, a little there.  A handful of noodles while I'm cooking for the kids, a couple of pretzels as I'm doling them out, etc. etc.   I understand why we're doing it, and it's definitely made me more aware of when and how I eat, but I think I'll be much better off knowing exactly what kinds of things I can eat, how much, and when.

My husband and I went out to dinner last night and I realized how much easier it is to eat halfsies at a restaurant.  I started with grilled scamorza cheese, tomato jam and baby lettuces (most likely NOT part of my PCP diet:) and the pasta special: beet tagliatelle with cabbage, provolone picante and some other delicious ingredients that I'm now forgetting.  The highlight, definitely, was dessert - a sticky pumpkin tortina (basically, a really gooey cake) with vanilla gelato and raspberries.  WOW!  So delicious.  I was very good at eating half and passing the rest on to Doug.  Great meal.  No photos, the place was really dark.

Tomorrow we're making marinated flank steak and probably something with cheese:)  I'll take photos...


I spent a lot of time this morning at the sporting goods store getting the additional things we'll need for this. WOW - it's now my 2nd time in the store and I can't believe how many different types of CRAP are for sale.  Thigh toners, wrist strengtheners, stop watches, balance balls, medicine balls, and of course, my all time favorite - the Shake Weight.  I don't know anything about anything, but would imagine that 90% of that stuff is crap and a completely waste of money.  Happy to get my resistance bands and push up bars and get out of there.....

Day 3 done - bring on the fasting

So I'm fasting for Yom Kippur starting now until about 7pm-ish tomorrow night.  My usual "tanking up" consists of stuffing my face until I'm about to burst and I can successfully say that I ate approximately 1/2 of that.  For the first time in a couple of days I'm feeling somewhat pleasantly full (sorry to rub it in Team Blue!), but I feel ok about it since it's going to have to last me for the next 24 hours.

night!

Day 2 - already sore!

I have a feeling that the sore I'm feeling now isn't even close to the sore I'll be feeling after day 15, 20, 40, 75 - is that the case, Teams Badass and Mango?  (Btw, Team Mango - where did the name come from?  Didn't see it on any of the blogs - maybe I missed it?)  

I've been getting up early (at least early for me) to do the exercises - hope I can make that continue - it's definitely a good thing to get it done and out of the way before kid chaos begins!  Jumping is going ok - I'm jumping on my back patio for now, but I read Patrick's note about not jumping on concrete or stone, and have been thinking about alternate places to jump.  Haven't tried the grass yet, but it seems that the rope would keep getting caught.  You wise grandparents (Badass) and parents (Mango), any thoughts?  

Have discovered a terrific but barbaric way of succeeding at the half diet.  First thing in the morning, take some boiling hot coffee, put in a thermos and then take a giant sip (and forget that said coffee is boiling hot) OUCH!  Bingo! Burn blisters on tongue make it much easier to resist food the rest of the day:( 

Here's a shot of the 1/2 banana/chocolate chip/almond muffin I planned on eating this am.  I think I ate and 1/8th or a 1/4 due to above coffee incident.

Tomorrow night (Friday) is when my husband and I usually have a huge meal to "tank up" in preparation for fasting on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement (Saturday until sundown).  That's followed by a giant break the fast meal on Saturday night.  Working out in my head how to half "tank up" and then how to "half" the break fast meal when fasting is over.  Will be interesting, that's for sure!  Any thoughts?  

Finally (I tend to ramble, can you tell?) - I don't think a day will go by this week without thinking of Eddie Murphy's "HALF" routine from Eddie Murphy Raw.  "I want HALF, Eddie. I want HALF!"  Please someone tell me you know what I'm talking about???

Day 1: Jumping lessons

Note to self.  Forget about getting jump rope lessons from a 3 yr old.

Day 1!!!!!

Jumping rope - much easier to do a trip-free set if you AREN'T huffing and puffing!  First set was great, next couple my count went... "one, two, three, TRIP, four, five, six, TRIP, etc etc."  By the last set I was doing better and only tripped once.

Flexibility is DEFINITELY my issue and I know it's totally based in having a very weak core.  Already the squats are getting to me.  After 3 sets my left lower back is feeling tweaked.  Twisting/stretching is helping, and I feel like the only thing that's really going to make it better is strengthening the area, right?

Day 0

The PCP website's countdown reads 21 hours until this thing gets off the ground, but thanks to my time zone I've still got at least another day to live it up!

Just took my Day 1 photos and man, did they make me realize how much I NEED this project!  Note to self: when hating life in 15 days from now, refer to Day 1 photos and stop whining:)

Looking forward to getting started!!