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.