So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!

I remember telling a physician friend about PCP at the start of this program, and he predicted that I would probably see little change compared to other participants that might have more weight to lose, or poor diet habits that need correcting. While he was right in that the changes in my body have been subtle (and I wasn't looking for huge shifts either), the real evolution isn't something that you can capture in a photo.

Let's start with the physical changes:

Losses: .5" from my waist, hips and thighs

Gains: 1.5 lbs. (which I'm going to chalk up to muscle, given my loss of inches), .5" to my flexed upper arm, 1" to my flexed upper chest/back

On top of that, my core is rock solid! As in, I might be tempted to invite family members to punch me in the stomach over the Holidays just to show off a little.

What else did I gain? Let's see, there's the tons more energy now that I'm properly fueling my body. OH, and I finally learned that I really do need to eat breakfast -- a sizable one at that! In fact, my greatest take away on the diet front is that I haven't been eating enough all these many years. Not a bad thing to learn that I get to eat more food!

On the subject of food, the PCP has also brought me to the writing of Michael Pollan. If there's anything that I can pass along to you, mysterious readers on the internet, it would be to stop what you're doing right now and pick up one of his many books. America is slowly killing itself on the route to making "food" cheaper and more "nutritious". The ONLY way this tide will ever turn is if we the consumers begin to make smarter choices and vote with our ever dwindling dollars. Please do what you can! Buy organic, locally-farmed, whole foods. Know where your food comes from and what your food eats/is exposed to. If you eat meat, please support the small farmers who believe in raising free-range livestock. Join a farm share program or shop the farmer's markets. The greatest investment that you can make is in the health of yourself and your families. As Patrick has reminded us many times over the course of this program, good health is true wealth.

Lastly, I think the biggest gain is a newfound respect for the amazing, organic machine that is my body. While there are some creaky joints, and a few more wrinkles that weren't there 10 years ago, I feel so fortunate to have my new levels of strength and flexibility. When I started the PCP, I was only thin and now I'm LEAN -- there's a tremendous difference between those two adjectives. At six months shy of 41, I can honestly say that I'm the fittest I've ever been (and I did it in 3 months AT HOME)! Yeah!

So, I've not yet mastered my much desired yoga forearm balance pose (still can't get off the wall), but that just gives me something to shoot for next. Believe it or not, the real stumbling block is working with my new ab muscles -- I've got to learn to balance with these babies all over again! That's on my list of things to do in 2010, as well as find the right yoga teacher training program for me!

Big thanks to Patrick and Chen for the fabulous PCP! You made it sensible, challenging, even fun -- sure, it was grueling at times, but I couldn't be more pleased with my results.

Thanks to my group of ladies, Emily, Jonti, Denise, and Naomi -- it was a true joy to share this journey with you! Best wishes to you all, and I hope you have a smashing 2010!!

I'll leave you with my final photos... oh the joys of amateur photography. After much light adjustment...

and a giggle attack...

and more light adjustments... we finally got the closing shots.

Day 90 :: Yeeehaaaaw!

So I decided to go back to the workout from day 1. My, how things have changed!

It took me less than 20 mins., and was such a breeze that I couldn't stop myself from turning on Exercise TV for a longer ab workout. My newly minted, cast iron core deserves no less, and it was actually pretty challenging. Who knew there was good workout stuff to be had with my monthly cable package? Sweet!

We're busying ourselves with holiday house prep, so I'll be back later with my final post and photos. There's a killer yoga class on Tues., so I'm hoping to hit that and test out this new bod. Report to follow!

Everyone have a great rest of the weekend and have fun celebrating this amazing accomplishment!

Day 89 :: Day Before the Last Day!

Sorry my PCPeeps, I so wanted to keep up with the countdown and post yesterday, but my internet connection pooped out on me until late last night. Arrgh, technology!

Today's workout was a total killer, the toughest yet, and now that it's done, I gotta say... I'm feeling pretty amazing! Can't even begin to imagine having tackled that routine 3 months ago, but thanks to PCP, I've now got the strength and energy to power right through.

I was thinking this morning how I can't believe that the ride is almost up. But while our PCP is coming to an end, I am by no means finished. This program has started something in me that I can't quite articulate. It's the doors that have begun to open -- the ideas, people, and opportunities that are crossing my path. I can't wait to see what's in store, and I owe a big THANK YOU to Patrick and Chen for this new direction.

Day 89 is a gorgeous one here in Baltimore, MD, USA, and I'm going to make the most of it. I'm heading out for the afternoon and plan to glide on this post-workout endorphin high. Wishing a fabulous Saturday and a huge CONGRATS to Emily, Naomi, Jonti, and Denise!

WE DID IT, LADIES! ONE DAY TO GO!!

Day 87 :: Learning to Love Your Tormentor

Yesterday the unthinkable happened. At some point in my ab routine, I... can't believe I'm actually saying this... started to love the planks. Really.

Or, maybe it happened after the combined 10 abs sets to failure, when I caught my reflection in the kitchen window. My core was so pumped it looked like it was sculpted from modeling clay. Whoa!

As I'm still dividing my routine this week (jumps a.m., strength p.m.),

I threw in another few sets of planks after this morning's jumps. I even added a little intensity that I learned from an On Demand workout off of the cable system. Give it a try for even more abdominal power:

1. Assume the plank position being sure to keep your body rigid, hips level and abs tucked tight throughout the exercise.
2. Lift your right foot slightly and move it out about 6" to the right. Touch your toes on the floor.
3. Lift your right foot again, and return to starting position.
4. Now, do the same movement with your left foot. Lift, move out to the left, tap toes on floor, then return to the regular plank position.
5. Repeat in sets of 10 for each foot, try doing them slow and fast to mix it up. The wider you go with your legs, the harder it gets. You can also keep your right foot out and then move your left out, too. So the movement is right out, left out, right in, left in, repeat. Intense!

So I'm looking at the crazy shoulder set in store for me later today. Whooo! Me thinks I'm going to have some sore delts tomorrow. Gotta love it!

P.S. THREE DAYS TO GO!

Day 86 :: Motivation

One of the greatest aspects of the PCP is how the program is designed to motivate you to succeed. By blogging regularly, posting weekly body shots and staying honest with your group, you have to maintain a level of complete transparency. Those factors seem to magically combine to fuel your intentions to get your butt off the couch and feed your body right. Granted, you only have to leaf any of our blogs to know that it gets hard sometimes, but overall we seem to carry on with a "just gotta do it" attitude.

With my group in the last lap of our program, I've been wondering if my level of motivation will hold strong. This morning I thought I might start researching some motivational tips to see what I can find. I had to laugh when I clicked the image link on my Google search, and I've posted a few of the gems here. Maybe they'll help as we push through these last FOUR DAYS!!!

Day 85 :: Five Days and Counting

I think Emily explained it best in her latest post, and I'll second her on the attack of senioritus! Plus, everybody and their Mom seems to want to spend their EOY marketing dollars, leaving me feeling a might bit cooked on the work front as well.

In fact, my schedule is so jumbled that I'm having to split my workout (as Patrick has suggested all along) to jump in the morning and strength train in the afternoon/evenings. Since it's such a contrast to how I normally workout, I'm going to treat it like an experiment and finish out these last five days with the split routine. Let's see what happens.

Oh, and by the way, FIVE DAYS TO GO!!

Day 81 :: Eavesdropping at Whole Foods

At lunchtime today I'd run to my local Whole Foods to pick up, what else, eggs! OK, and a few other things. Anyway. While standing in checkout line I overheard this conversation...

Customer: (standing in front of the chilled drink display)

Excuse me, where's the Diet Coke?

Clerk: Well, we don't carry sodas like that. We do have unsweetened coffee, tea and there's water, of course.

Customer: No, I want something sweet but without sugar. I really want a Diet Coke, or OH! a Diet Snapple.

Clerk: I'm sorry, we don't carry anything with artificial sweeteners.

Customer: (getting a little irritated now) But, I'm diabetic and I can't have anything with sugar. This is supposed to be a health food store and you don't carry anything for diabetics?!

Clerk: (patiently) We do carry unsweetened coffee, tea and there's always water.

Customer: (walking away and grumbling to her companion)

This is ridiculous. I really want a Diet Coke!

--

People, I mean... just... WOW. I had this 3o second fantasy of being a healthy eating crusader (yes, there was a cape) and gently patting a nutritional citation stickie on the forehead of that customer. In reality, all I could do was shake my head.

Day 80 :: Curse of the Final Indulgence

For all of you considering joining the PCP, consider yourself warned. By the time you're allowed the third indulgence, you're not going to want it AT ALL and you'll most likely be a liiiiiittle sorry for it the next day!

Yesterday, I struggled with a phenomenal food hangover -- sluggish, grumpy, el bloato -- all over a pile of linguine with white clam sauce, crusty bread and two glasses of red wine.

This homemade meal was a favorite and on regular rotation in our household. If ever we wanted to be guaranteed full-blown yumminess, it's hard to beat this number of fresh clams, garlic, hot peppers... mmm. But when I look at it through my now thoroughly polished PCP lenses, the WAY that I ate it, usually two helpings of mostly pasta late at night, was not so good.

While the meal was tasty, I had to battle the impulse to also steam a pot of veggies. And, the crusty white farm bread for sopping up all them juices? Ugh, it's just a spongey hunk of sugary, nutritional nothingness. The wine was sensational, but when combined with enough carbs to fuel my current PCP breakfast and lunch, I paved the way for a groggy and very puffy self the next day. I was going to snap new photos tonight, but I think I need to give my bloated tummy one more day.

Going forward, I think I'll still indulge in this former favorite, but with some major portion alterations. Much less pasta, more clams, and a huge salad of chopped veggies. Wine, yes, but in moderation. That nasty white dinner bread is outta here, though!

So here's to day 80, my PCPeeps -- as of tomorrow,

only 9 days left to go!!

Day 78 :: My Plate Runneth Over

I'm having the hardest time coming up with blog subjects at the moment. I think I'm in the midst of a subtle freakout over the holidays, the end of PCP and, HOLY COW, the fast approaching New Year!

Otherwise, I'll leave with this thought. While the workouts will get harder, I'm not so worried about them. Muscle abuse I can handle, but I think the diet is going to be more challenging these next 12 DAYS.

It is just sooo much food!