I'm Back

Hello Team Cookie Monster!  I apologize for the length between my last few posts, we traveled to my wife's family's place for Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, there was no internet at her Tia's house (tia is Spanish for aunt, so if you learn one thing from me, there is a new vocab word).  While the entire PCP project thus far has been a great learning experience, there was massive failure on this trip.  I guess failing  is also a great learning experience though.

The diet was almost non-existent during this time.  Part of it was my personality is very not forceful, and I work very hard to not inconvenience people, especially when I'm a guest.  And my wife's family is Mexican, so the cultural and language barrier just made it that much more difficult.  As a male, it's culturally important for the females to make sure the man is always taken care of (my wife was raised in the US, so we don't follow this at home, thank goodness).  Which means that food is constantly forced on me.  And since I was a guest, food was constantly forced on me.  And me saying no means food was constantly forced on me.  I don't mean to say some of it wasn't delicious, but actually most of it was way too salty or sugary or both.  I have never felt so unhealthy.  I know this isn't true, because I have been more unhealthy in my life before, but my body has been cleansed of so many bad things since this project started that the constant salt and sugar just made me feel absolutely terrible.  I felt bloated the whole time, my bowel movements were totally messed up, and I was constantly craving raw vegetables.  Also, so much salt and lack of fresh fruits and vegetables just left me feeling constantly dehydrated.  I could not drink enough water to feel sated.  I think it would have been much easier just to claim I was a vegetarian, as everyone just said I was too skinny to worry about the food.  And I was not allowed in the kitchen, as that would have been rude on my part and because that's just not the place for the man to be.  I felt really bad about myself when I got home late last night as I feel I let everyone down.  But it also just made me more committed to making the life choices that PCP is instilling a permanent part of who I am.

I don't want to make it sound like it was horrible, I had a lot of fun.  There was plenty of singing and dancing involved.  And it was really funny that my wife's mother and I both understand rudimentary English and Spanish, respectively, so she would ask me questions in Spanish and I would answer in English, and we both understood each other.  We just both lacked the confidence to make the jump into the other's language.  But I never want to eat like that again in my life, it would have been so much more enjoyable if my body would have felt better.

It was also nice to be away from work and to have time to think about what's really important.  It seems obvious, but health and family is so much more important than anything else you do in life.

Also, as I mentioned before, I had to chance to read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer while I was on break.  A really, really good read, and gave me the push I need to decide to become a vegan.  I am going to wait after PCP is over to make the change, but I think it's an important and necessary choice for me.  I went to buy some chicken today and just thinking about where it came from made me put it down in disgust.  So I guess I'm just lacto ovo pescatarian the next couple of weeks, which will give me time to research how to transition.

Well, long post, two more weeks team. JFD

Thanksgiving madness

Sorry I've been a really crappy teammate lately, but hanging out at my wife's family's place for Thanksgiving. No internet and no time. I'll blog all about it in a couple of days. I did just get to read Eating Animals though, highly recommended.

Day 70 - Super Bonus Workout

New pictures up, I definitely feel stronger.  We got over a foot of snow the past couple days, and the city hasn't gotten to the sidewalks I usually take to work, so I trudged through the foot high snow, uphill, for a mile.  It felt awesome, and it's absolutely gorgeous outside right now.

A few night ago, I made my evening snack into a smoothie.  It tasted pretty good, but I noticed I drank the whole thing way faster than if I would have eaten the pieces individually, and I felt kinda sick afterward.  I think there's something to be said for slowly chewing your food.

I've also been really curious about animal proteins.  I know we've evolved to eat them, and that our bodies can utilize them more efficiently than plant based proteins.  But is it still possible to achieve the strong, lean looks we've been getting without them?  I know it's probably not feasible in the 90 days of PCP, but I'm asking more long term.  Just been especially bothered by where my food comes from lately.

Day 68

I find it hard to believe we're so close to the end.  I actually find blogging really hard right now as I feel PCP has just become a routine part of my life and there's just not much to say about it.  I'm not much of a talker anyway, and one thing I've learned is that blogging is not my forte.

The exercises have been going extremely well this week, I don't know if it's the small dose of carbs right before, but it seems like I'm can push harder than before.  That pumped feeling after you go to failure is great.

Still waiting on my new Nike Speed Rope to arrive, this leather rope is just too light and I can't get used to it.  But that's minor, just enjoying the program, keeping my head down, and sweating through.

Day 66

I ordered a Nike Speed Rope, but got a leather one in the mean time.  The weight is so much different from what I'm used to, and it's a little bit longer than my other one, so it's like learning to jump rope all over again.  Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it is more difficult, making my jump roping workout a bit more intense.

Has anyone else been trying food combinations you wouldn't have thought of before?  I know most people eat fruit with their oatmeal in the morning, but I haven't had oatmeal yet cause it seems so blah.  But this morning I made steel cut oats with avocados and green onions...delicious.  I cannot believe how far we've come on so many fronts.  Nice work Team Cookie Monster, we're close to being done with the project, but I feel like we've made some lasting changes to our lifestyles.

Day 63 - Jump rope blues

Two days in a row without a full set of jumps...aarrrgggh. Yesterday I was about halfway finished when some two dogs ran my way and started barkin' up a storm. They weren't threatening, just annoying, so I just walked a ways up the street and continued jumping. Except they followed, and since it was six thirty in the morning and I didn't want to wake the whole apartment complex up, I let the dogs win. So I went for a run later in the day instead. And now that our carbs are so low, I can see the advantage of carbo loading. Never noticed before since my diet was so crappy, but my energy level was pretty low after about 20 minutes. Anywho, no dogs this morning, but three minutes into the first set, snap, broken jumprope. Seriously, this damn thing only lasted two weeks. I think it's because I'm getting better at jumping, as the first one I wore through was worn along a long stretch of the rope, but this was concentrated in one small area. So I think I'm gonna stock up this time. Also, has anyone tried the leather ropes? Think they're more resistant to wear than rubber ones?

Day 61

A quick question.  Has anyone ever heard that it's harder to lose that last little bit of weight when it's cold as opposed to the warmer months?  This adipose business seems extremely tenacious.  I can see it's shrinking a little bit each week, but damn, that stuff is stubborn.  Sounds like it's going relatively well for everyone.  I'm enjoying the morning jumps, it's kinda nice jumping when it's still in the 30s (Fahrenheit) outside, a good way to wake up in the morning.  Although I haven't been getting too many people commenting on the difference in appearance, most because hair covers my entire head and face and warm clothes hide the difference in physique.  And I still need new pants, now they just look kinda baggy and sloppy.