Guilty Pleasures

The easiest thing about PCP is diving into some of my guilty pleasures... of which I have so many. Like listening to music I usually would be embarrassed to have on my ipod, like the new Brittany Spears album, awesome beats for working out.

I don't watch much TV at all, in fact I limit myself to 1 night a week, every Thursday I go to my Mom's house (because I don't have cable) to watch my stories, the office, big love, flight of the conchords, and 30 rock. Some how weeks ago after 30 rock I was just flipping channels and came across America's Best Dance Crew on mtv, at first I thought it was a dance American idol (and I hate American Idol so much that I refuse to even be in the same room when someone is watching it). I was wrong, well kinda wrong, it is a similar set up, but the dancing was so cool that it actually got me out of my seat and now i'm hooked. I watched it almost every week this season. It was action packed and featured several all girl crews. My favorite was the Beatfreakz. They often talked about how hard the have to work out just so they can do the break dancing moves as well as the guys. Every week of this show I was inspired to get up and move with the music (and I can assure you that it looked seriously embarrassing) because of all the groups' energy. Here is the full compilation of the Beatfreakz dancing on the show, I couldn't find a shorter one but it's worth skimming through to see some of their stunts.


Last night was the season finale and they were in the top 2, but ended up losing to quest crew :(

Day 46

So we are just over half way, can you believe it!? I can't. Secretly by now I was hoping to love exercise, hate french fries and to have somehow achieved health enlightenment (it's a beautiful place where doughnuts look unappetizing and after a long day at work you just want to get home to your pull up bar).



Not there yet but we'll see, for now I still have little struggles in my mind about leaving the doughnuts in the case, and forcing myself to workout.



I know that it's just for now, and that retraining my body will make it so after the PCP I don't have to worry about it all that much, and that is easier to swallow. I don't want to just leave it all behind me after the 90 days though, but I can't see myself doing this type of intense workout alone if I didn't have to. I think I would like to start doing a sport like tennis maybe, because I do like breaking a sweat doing something fun and involved.



When I lived in Providence sometimes we would go to the Rhode Island rock gym. I've never seen a gym only dedicated to rock climbing since, but I'm sure they are out there. It would have been perfect to build upper body strength in a fun way.


We don't have one around here though, so maybe ill just have to take up something we do have here, like the fastest sport in the world...Jai Alai.

Trainer

I am just so boring lately with nothing interesting to write. I'm still tooling around with recipes and moving through the days but no revelations in the last week.

I thought I would take the time to credit my personal trainer Arrow.
He used to be a professional runner and he really keeps me on my toes. He makes sure I'm up early and watches me exercise almost every day. Jump ropes make him nervous, but he really encourages me to jog, and ladies he's available. He enjoys long walks and yoga, but he also likes to chill out on the couch and relax.

Upper Dorsimus

I can't really think of anything really interesting to blog about right now but I think that is sort of the point, the excitement has worn off with the "newness" and it has become routine. I eat pretty much similar things for breakfast and dinner and I try to make something more interesting for lunch. It reminds me of that scene in Anchorman:


"Oh, that's a deep burn! Oh, it's so deep.I can barely lift my right arm 'cause I did so many.I don't know if you heard me counting.I did over 1000 .You have your ubulus muscle, that connects to the upper ...dorsimus.
It's boring,but it's part of my life."

Sexy Gall Bladder

Patrick recommended 8 minute abs to us the other day and I must admit, I love it! I'm really concentrating on my ab muscles because my PCP dream is to have a super tight stomach in time for bikini season. (come to think of it, even though it is February here in Florida, most days are in the 70's which may constitute bikini season but I officially kick it off in April)


A tight tummy is a little superficial goal that keeps me motivated because I can't see how awesome and healthy my gall bladder looks.

AND NOW IT IS TIME FOR A FUN FRUCTOSE RANT:






This is just an infuriating little ditty about good ol' fashion High fructose corn syrup. Yup that's right, this is what's on American TV lately. Many versions exist but only one formula...a person commenting on the other person eating a HFCS laden food, something like

"I can't believe you're eating that thing with corn syrup."
"Why not?"
"Well you know, its uh like uh, people say.... uhhhhhhh."
"What, that its natural, and made from corn and is fine in moderation?"

Try to see them all if you haven't had the pleasure. (beware of many spoofs)

This commercial is playing off of the public lack of specific knowledge about corn syrup, just like the general public used to know little about the specific effects of nicotine. It is my opinion that high fructose corn syrup is one of the main reasons why America is dealing with an obesity epidemic. The truth is that corn syrup is much cheaper than other sweeteners, which is why these commercials have cropped up, sponsored by the caring folks over at the Corn Refiners Association. High fructose corn syrup is an inverted sugar and the molecular structure is such that your body is unfamiliar with it and so it never knows when it has had enough or too much. It is very difficult to eat in moderation if you aren't specifically avoiding it because it is in most packaged foods. Take a look at the label if you never have, it's in ketchup, almost all salad dressing, bread, canned fruits and veggies, it is even injected into meat products. Please check out the wealth of information on the subject that isn't sponsored by people making a living off HFCS.

:END RANT:

Day ???, Whats my name? Where am I?

I am not saying I wasn't warned, Patrick asked us all repeatedly before we started the project if we could dedicate a good chunk of everyday time to PCP. Of course when he asked I believed that because I had what added up to several hours a day of free time, that I could certainly work it in with ease.

ha ...HAHAHAHA.

Several new and time consuming responsibilities have come into my life and scheduling has become a nightmare. I thought I could force PCP into the cracks of time I had available but it gets insane when I leave the house at 7am and don't come back until 10 pm (not the norm but it happens). Exercising at night, trying to pack to-go fruit in my purse that just gets bruised and mushy, finding any time to read my PCP e-mails or write blogs, this week ran like an old rusty machine, with many mini wrenches jamming the cogs.

My new workout this week is to focus on my preparation and scheduling muscles.

Also I discovered kale this week. I'm not sure why I never paid any attention to this leafy green before but if you toss it in just a little olive oil and roast it at 375 for 10- 15 minutes its crispy and delicious. Kale is also packed with vitamins and minerals, yay!

Try not to think of Nirvana.

Happy Valentine's Day!



Today was a very busy day for me, up very early with only 5 hours of sleep rather than the PCP prescribed 8 hours. It has been go go go until right now at 8:30 when I'm writing this post and then off to dare my muscles to hold out for another work out.



We stared this project about a month ago and my thoughts were that it was a great time of year, with few distracting holidays to throw off the diet and routine. I have since realized that you can't escape the "special" occasion.

For me it has been Superbowl, gasparilla, family in town, birthday celebrations, now Valentine's day, followed by Marti Gras, Buzzard day (march 8th), st. Patrick's day and Easter.


Today I had a single piece of dark chocolate from my heart shaped box.


It was OK. I had 1 piece, but I once saw a TV show recently about a girl struggling to lose weight, and on Valentine's day she seriously binged, because it was a "special occasion". I admit I have owned this mentality, a little too much here and there because I got the job, because quit my job, because it's Arbor day. I could eat anything on a special occasions and if I thought hard enough any day was that special day.



Those days are over for me. I may not always do thousands of jump ropes a day or count my grams of food after PCP, but I could never approach my diet the same way again. I wasn't doing myself any favors wasting my everyday best health for my "special" occasion binges.

Treat

Today we were allowed to have a "cheat", a conservative 200 - 400 calorie break from our strict diet. I decided to try a few things just to see if my tastes have changed over the last few weeks.

I started off slow having sweet vanilla whole milk yogurt with my breakfast instead of plain fat free. It tasted so rich and delicious, I'm sure before I started PCP even the sweeter yogurt would have tasted sour, but now this yogurt tasted decadent and creamy.

For lunch I had a spinach salad like I usually do, only instead of avocados and tomatoes with balsamic vinegar, I had a salad topped with balsamic caramelized shallots, warm dried figs, and a little good quality crumbled blue cheese.-I've been dreaming about blue cheese since we began, my cravings for "junk food" is almost completely gone, I no longer want Cheetos or chocolate covered pretzels, my cravings have upgraded to better quality, but still PCP off limits food like expensive cheese and complex desserts.

In order to test this theory I tried a potato chip, the first crispy chip was great, the second also good but salty, the third was way too salty and I didn't want anymore after that.

To finish off my spree I had 2 organic ginger cookies. I could have probably eaten a sleeve of these wonderful Paul Newman cookies 6 weeks ago and still wanted more but I gave myself 2 and afterwards I felt like that was sufficient.

Very interesting experiment!

Long thin slimy ones, Short fat juicy ones...

The last 2 days I haven't felt completely like myself, as many women (hopefully some who have gone through the project) might relate to.

I've got the "nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I'm gonna eat some worms" feeling, and wishing that worms equaled chocolate cake. I let out all of my frustrations on my fellow PCPers and they couldn't have been more supportive, you guys are the greatest, and said exactly what I needed to hear to feel better and back on track. Which is especially helpful when someone is making brownies around you, (you know who you are ::death stare::) I'm so happy we're in this together, you all rock, THANK YOU!!!

This week in exercises we've moved on to pull-ups and other more challenging versions of our routine , I'm not quite there with the pull-ups but I'm happy to say that the sit-ups and squats are really building up my muscles, as is the resistance band training. Sometimes I think I'd like to cut up my jump rope, bury the pieces in my backyard and then dance on it's shallow grave, but other times I thank it for helping me turn my double chin into a single. So all is well.


AVOCADO UPDATE:
Choosing the best avocado: give it a gentle squeeze, it should not be soft enough that a gentle squeeze leaves an impression, if it stands this test give it a harder squeeze, if it still doesn't dent it's not ripe ,which may be ideal if you plan to use it in 3 days, but if you're like me you need your "avo" fix now, choose the one that gives way to medium pressure.

If you feel strange molesting the neighborhood produce another way to select avocados is the stem method, just flick off the nub of the stem at the top, if it's hard to pull off it's not ripe, if you flick it off and the "navel" underneath is brown or black it's too old, and over ripe, it should be easily removed and a green or light color underneath.

Holy guacamole!

Announcement

Patrick made a big announcement recently about The Peak Condition Community (dot blogspot dot com) and I too have something I'd like to put out into the world.

I'm in love with avocado.

I know its a mixed relationship (it's green and I'm human) but I don't care. It was meant to be. I could eat avocado every day for the rest of my life.

There I said it, I'm glad I got it off my chest.

P.s. we're registered at Bed Bath and Beyond

Just say NO!

So , Superbowl has come and gone, I went to a party and hung out by the crudite platter and fresh fruit bowl (because I like eating more then football.) Most of the dishes were meat based the dinner table so it wasn't too tempting, the dessert table was giving me a come hither look while whispering my name into the wind. I mingled around the party, talking to many people who don't know me very well. I started getting strange responses from those I told about PCP.

"You don't need to diet your already so skinny."
"That sounds too extreme."
"You should just have a little, you've got to let loose."
"Just have a brownie, and here, also have vodka and diet, it's diet."
"You only live once just relax and enjoy it."

I decided to tell people about the diet so that I would feel embarrassed if they saw me cheating, but my plan could not have backfired more because then I had about 5 people who every time they saw me were trying to convince me to eat a brownie or drink a margarita(or light beer, c'mon its light). Any attempt to defend the process or my participation was met with blank stares followed by "What about a just a little cheese ball thats ok, right?" ::blerg::

Who are these people, does Patrick plant spies? (that seems a bit elaborate)
What is the goal of these confectionery enablers?

I'll just keep taking cues from Nancy Reagan.

Daily Affirmations

Superbowl is here in Tampa Bay this year, and everywhere is packed with tens of thousands of tourists (on top of the usual flock of "snow birds") Many Superbowl parties are being thrown tomorrow and it is another reminder of committing to PCP. No spinach artichoke dip, or buffalo tofu nuggets for me, just sore muscles and protein powder. I joke, it doesn't bother me at all that I'm not going to eat what everyone else is eating, because I'm not everyone else, I want to be the best version of myself because...

Day 14

In my past life I loved mayonnaise. Homemade olive oil mayo with lime juice, white wine and tarragon could make any sandwich amazing.
I've been eating my fair share of dry egg sandwiches lately and I needed moisture, somehow it came to me that I would spread cold carrot soup on my toasty bread and the rest is history. I never thought I could actually prefer soup to mayonnaise on my sandwich, but I do, it gives me great flavor, less fat, and perfect moisture. The possibilities are endless, so many soups so little time...actually lots of time, time to try delicious soupy sandwiches.

lightbulb

I want to first say that today I feel really good.
Yesterday was another story...

Late afternoon yesterday I found myself with jar full of egg yolks I didn't want to waste, and I thought what anyone would think when they are faced with a stock of undestined yolks...FLAN! I'll make a flan and give it to someone (because flan is not PCP friendly). So that's exactly what happened, I made a flan, and then I had a delicious looking flan chillin' on my microwave. But it was a mean spirited flan, It made fun of me for not eating it and I started to feel frustrated.

Part of my love for food is enjoying the community it brings. I'm used to dates at restaurants, having a couple drinks with my friends, eating with family , and attending dinner parties. For the last week I've been eating alone and I was starting to feel it. Why would I want to do something that separated me from the things I love? I want to eat delicious fat and sugar filled foods, taste rich cheeses and drink salty margaritas like everybody else.

Actually I don't want those things, well, maybe occasionally but not regularly like I have been. What I really want is to be healthy, to consciously challenge myself to do something that I know is best for me. Yesterday 3 months never seemed so far away, but today is just today, not day 13 of 90, just a Tuesday that I am choosing to eat consciously and not impulsively. Today it clicked.

I did eat a bite of that jerk flan, but I'm coming clean about it and moving on, and the silver lining is my favorite new idea.... PCP dinner party!

Convo

This post is in response to Lene's post "Bad Habits Die Hard":

A little peek into my brain today.



Right shoulder: "hmm, i think we should eat some cheetos."
Left shoulder: "no, we're on a diet...duh"
R: "i know but they're the natural cheetos"
L: "but they're still from a factory and that's a no no"
R: "you could just count them as your carbs"
L: "no way, that would be letting myself down"
R: "but no one would ever know"
L: "yea i guess...WAIT, i mean no! I would know"
R: "whatever, square"
L: "*sobs* this is hard"

Don't feel alone dealing with the cravings. Just stick with good shoulder.

Let Us Rap.

Today I made this meal,

On the right: Romaine lettuce wraps filled with carrot, cauliflower, eggplant and mashed acorn squash seasoned with Thai curry spices. (I left it unwrapped for the picture so that you could see the contents)
On the left: no oil air baked yucca fries with garlic sauce

I felt really happy with my sneaky egg camouflage, this time my 100g egg whites are first cooked, then blended with garlic, pepper, lime juice, siracha, and a few pieces of steamed cauliflower, to create the sauce. It worked out well.

The wraps were OK but not great, they need a little retooling but it's headed in the right direction.

Day 9: Uphill

Patrick wants us to open up about our struggles and the man gets what he wants....

As my friends in Rhode Island might say: exercising is wicked hard (wiggid haahhd). I'm sorry to say I am not enjoying it (yet). I'm dreading doing it right now. I really hope I overcome this feeling but I'm also a little scared that I wont. Don't get me wrong I still do the exercises but the whole "it releases endorphins" and "feels invigorating" I have not been there yet.

The diet however is great I already thought way too much about eating, often excited about the possibilities of lunch/dinner while eating breakfast. so having to concentrate on this diet is just a more focused approach. Our current food intake is unbelievable, at the moment I'm working on a breakfast built for three.

Patrick has also let us know that we are expecting an announcement, maybe an addition of sorts.
I hope we're getting a puppy.

Not an Egg-head

It is said that it takes 1,000 attempts before one can make a perfect tortilla, so this is somewhere between 50 and 992 for me.

(also follows the pancake law that the first one is always weird looking)

This is the recipe I was playing with today:

Homemade garlic corn tortillas (made with unbleached mesa)

under diced onion and peppers seasoned with chipotle

puree and cumin powder, all topped with fresh tomatoes

and avocado with a squeeze of lime.

A part of the beauty of this dish is versatility. I added egg whites into my veg mix while cooking and it came out perfectly, but it could just as easily accommodate meat or fish.

I am a vegetarian, so in the PCP I am receiving my protein from eggs. Unfortunately for me eggs are among my top 3 least favorite foods (eggs, olives, spaghetti) so I will be spending a good deal of effort masking their taste and texture.

Day 8

This is the first day of the rest of my life.
Today we started the diet full out, weighing our food, and being strict about it.
Right now I'm working on a black coffee and some fruit salad for my mid morning snack.
I would never have thought to drink black coffee even a week ago, but at the moment I am actually enjoying how the bitter coffee makes my fruit taste extra sweet.

Day 5

Exercise is getting easier. Days 1 through 3 were pretty rough, culminating in a crazy sore 3rd night. After that it seems that even though I'm increasing my reps, I'm not nearly as sore and not so out of breath.
The improvement is motivating, but I know it's all uphill from here.

Inspiration

It was really difficult for me to choose an inspiration. I finally landed on the picture of Logan Tom shown in my banner. I don't actually know much about her other than she's a volleyball player, who has got a rockin' bod, and is shiny. I have many inspiration pictures around of different people, pictures that embody female strength, grace, and power.



I guess the binding factor in the pictures I admire is the sense that these women are truly owning their ground.I'm bit on the lanky side and quite clumsy, something I hope to improve upon with PCP, so I respect the "solid" feeling these women represent.

I've also found that it really inspires me to exercise when I think about running into some hot celebrity guy while wearing a swimsuit on the beach...

"Oh, hi Jake, I'm just working on my, uh, freckle distribution."

WAKE UP!!!

I was soo sore today! I guess that's a good sign. I feel like I'm trying to wake up my lazy muscles, and they're trying to hit the snooze button.

The diet is going well so far, cutting back isn't so bad if I can keep my mind off it and stay busy. Like Lene, I am also kicking a soda habit, and getting the Diet Coke DTs. I'm using canned seltzer water as my placebo. I've had about 5 black cherry waters today.

Avoiding the Pitfalls

Hunger messes with you, and it makes a peanut butter
and Cap'n Crunch sandwich sound like a fantastic idea.

I've been mentally developing recipes for this project for weeks. My goal is to create menu plans over the course of this project so that making PCP meals isn’t a guessing game. Hopefully I will be able to refine a food plan that includes shopping lists, recipes, advanced prep, cook times, and variations. I’m just beginning and I have ideas about what will work and what wont but I’d like to hear from some of the veterans about their food challenges.

What did you miss or crave?
What are your favorite types of foods and flavors?
What about the diet was most challenging for you?

Thank you everyone for your support!

Day 1

Just finished my day 1 exercises=
jump roping: cool
squats: manageable
sit ups: a struggle
push-ups: form of medieval torture.

Upper body strength; Here I come!

I just enjoyed my "last meal", a delicious dinner of Ethiopian food.

It is very scary for me to think about how radicaly my diet will be changing over the next few months. To me, food has not just been my sustenance but my passion. I am a vegetarian chef and I live to eat but I'm ready for change. I'll go into more detail later but for now...digestion.

Welcome

This is Carole's Blog! Yay!