Day 73 - Head Fat

My son put a fitted baseball cap on my head yesterday that I hadn't worn in several years because it was too tight and gave me a headache.  The cap now fits even if I tuck my ears in (which I would never do in public) - in spite of avoiding the barber shop since we began this project.  I always thought it was the hat's fault that it didn't fit....

Day 66 - 70 - A couple slips of the lip

Like blo and bill, the week brought its challenges, most of which had to do with the egregious amount of travel involved.  On last week's trip to Germany, I was generally on point with the diet thanks to my wonderful asst, who was kind enough to bring me two hard boiled eggs to work everyday.  As previously noted, the German business dinners had their challenges, but stayed on course - that is until I landed in tokyo at 8 am on Friday.  

After cooking a quick breakfast for myself, I went to the office for what I thought was a token appearance to briefly catch up on some admin, attend a brief transition meeting and then discretely exit stage left for the gym and a late lunch.  However I was blindsided in the professional sense (not quite LT/Theismann but it was definitely a snot shot inducing blow) and spent much of the afternoon trying to understand what happened to our left tackle and reassess the game plan.  Lost my opportunity to eat lunch in the chaos that followed, but managed to wolf down the afternoon snack and get to the gym at 530 for a full, and very therapeutic workout session.  Grabbed a quick, but good PCP dinner and then went to meet my boss and a colleague for a little post script discussion of the days events.  Started with mineral water, ended with a glass of pinot noir.  It felt like a good time to have one and in retrospect, it was - actually, I am not going to lie - I loved it.

Family was out of the country, so I actually got to sleep in on saturday and make up for the lack of sleep over the previous 36 hours, which felt amazing.  Great workout saturday and quick trip to the market for dinner.   Flash fried some shrimp with paprika and taiwan chili pepper after soaking them in lime juice for an hour - it was so good that I cooked some extras for my flight sunday morning to taiwan, as I am getting tired of NOT eating on airplanes.  Made it to taiwan sunday afternoon, and my in-laws were gracious enough to cook a completely compliant PCP meal for dinner - boiled pork ribs (had only one), steamed white fish (they only know the name in taiwanese, so I have no idea what it was), yams, sweet potatos, asparagus, green beans and rice.  I was duly impressed and very grateful for the gesture because salt and oil are two staples of most dishes there.

Got a great workout in yesterday (though I still suck at sit-ups) and my wife and I went to meet some old friends at Nonzero in taipei, which is an excellent organic food place if you are ever in the area - the bell peppers they have there must have alpha veggie complex because they dwarf the offerings here in tokyo and taste much better.  Went with the grilled market fish of the day and the grilled seasonal veggie platter - it was excellent.  Avoided both the beer and vino, and was proud of the accomplishment, even though it really isn't one.

However, after dinner, I had to have something taiwanese.  Given that this trip was most likely the last trip for more than a year, that I had avoided all the things I love - like breakfast buns, sweet soy milk, dumplings (fried and steamed), fried noodles, other dishes like zazhiang mien (spicy pork noodles), mapo tofu, on an on and on - I was dead set on indulging in a taste that I usually get only in Taiwan, and made the executive decision to have some xiao xian cao 燒仙草, which is basically a chinese plant that liquifies into a black soup at high temperatures - it is usually mixed with some mochi balls, softened peanuts and taro balls.  As the soup cools, it coagulates into a jelly - it is great.

This is one of the best places in Taipei to get this on Zhongxiao lane 216

The options - i usually go mochi and taro

finished product ready to eat at the hotel, my photo does it no justice so I also included a link to some better ones.

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=燒仙草&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=60vrTPqsOYSsugPu7OXzAQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=6&ved=0CE4QsAQwBQ&biw=1281&bih=611

It was awesome - no regrets.

On other PCP related notes - 

- I am having trouble getting all the daily snacks down due to aforementioned travel.  should be better now that i am home for a week or so

- I still have trouble with plank (my best is three sets of 60 secs), bicycle (my hip flexors give at 45 secs), and situps (hip flexors...)  I guess it means my abs really sucked prior to starting this...

- I am getting better at pull ups - did 8, 6, 6, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2 yesterday and banged out the shortfalls on the incline.  

- said I was going to hot the rope 2 times a day last week and have only done that once thus far. will get better. 

- still can't shake the visceral fat, and actually think I have gained some, so really need focus over the last three weeks.  

- have A LOT to get done given the movers arrive on Dec 14 and I have a business trip from Dec 6-10 - will be an eventful 20 days.  

Day 65 - Food....

Coma.  I got it last night.  Two business dinners and a business lunch in the past 2 days and it felt like I ate way too much food.  Must be the fact that we actually get more of it, but last night was the first time that I have felt stuffed in two months.  Had chiken tikka cubes at lunch with a tomato and onion salad and some basmati rice.  Followed it up at dinner with an avocado/crayfish salad, grilled dorade and some mixed veggies (which tasted like they had been basted in butter even though the waiter said they hadn't).  Took all my will power to pass on the tiramisu as my colleague happily wolfed it down in my face.  Anyway, I know I ate too much protein after the crayfish / partial dorade fillet and felt full, but not catatonic, for the rest of the evening, skipped the evening snack and went to bed.  Woke up today still tasting the garlic from the veggies and penalized myself with an extra 5 min on the rope. 

BTW - all of the eggs, milk, yogurt we are eating can be pretty toxic.

Off for the airport shortly - lot of noise lately regarding terrorism and Germany...

Day 60 - Time flies or so it goes...

While golfing today I began thinking today about the fact that 60 days have already elapsed and thought I would be more eager to get the final 30 behind me.  Instead, I started thinking about what more I could have done during the first 60 days and what more I can do these final 30 days to get the most out of the project.   Obvious starts would be to start on the 8 min abs, the daily stretching, but I was surprised by the change in mentality over the last week.  I attribute it to having back the dinners, which improved the sanity, and finally getting some decent sleep, which improved the energy levels.

Have had some great workouts this week.  Accidently did the squats on Wed so I did the lunges today and noticed that I actually have some Quad muscles.   The creeps still crushed me and my legs were shaking for the remainder of the workout, which hasn't happened in a few weeks.  Really want to lose this last bit of sticky ass visceral fat, which is fighting like hell to stay with me.   I know I need to post some new photos, but the wife is in taiwan for a week, so I will have to do it when (if) I actually figure out how to work the camera timer.

None of my suits fit - almost look like a depression era gangsta - which I guess is the point of this whole thing!  Flying to Germany tomorrow for a week, then to Taiwan to extract the family.

Day 53 - 55 Indulgence #2: It was good.

So after having a couple near melt downs last week diet wise, I was more than ready for Indulgence #2 and some form of life involving an evening meal and one outside the home at that.  My wife and I chose to cash in the indulgence ticket at Kissako, a little french/japanese bistro close to the gratto.  The place has a nice wine list and an interesting menu - most of which is in Japanese, so it is an adventure, but a nice one.  Started off with a glass of the house white - actually, they had several, but I went with the 2006 Nicholas Joly Savennieres, which was good but not quite as good as the 2005 vintage we had previously tried.  

We ordered one set between the two of us and shared most of it, so I am not sure where it clocked in calorie wise, but I more than made up in the calorie department with wonderful, god given libations.  The first course of the evening was a paprika les amuse which was heavenly - I think I could have eaten an entire tub of it, but half of this portion was great start, especially since it followed up with french rolls and pate of an unknown meat.

This was followed by some squid, duck breast and chesnut foie gras on what tasted like ginger bread.  I suck at descriptions of flavors and will therefore save myself the trouble.  All three were excellent. 

and then,  some assorted French mushrooms and a creamy artichoke soup.

My wife separately ordered some marinated squid and peppers, which was good - the picture doesn't do it much justice, but it was nice.

For the main, we went with grilled venison fillets.  Although, I love to hunt, I have never really taken a liking to venison as it usually just too tough and gamey.  However, this was money (probably because they failed to cook it).  I had to swap up the vino to a house red Bordeaux, which I fail to remember though it wasn't anything too fancy - yes I tasted all of these first, but tasting doesn't really count as consuming, does it?

We passed on dessert, and instead went for a nice grappa digestif - the Elisi.  Very nice grappa, and one I would highly recommend if there are any other grappa lovers among us.

The dinner alone would have been a very sensible and responsible use of the indulgence, but I am neither and decided to keep it going and meet up with Blo and crew out on his indulgence for a nightcap(s) at the taproom in harajuku, where I consumed three glorious pints of Baird's seasonal beers - taste so good on the llips!.

I guess I don't quite remember much after that but did feel good yesterday. 


On another, more general note.  I am still struggling with energy levels.  I seem to have none of it late in the days for almost 2 weeks now.  I haven't been sleeping great, but am getting a requisite 7-9 hours a night.  Still, by 5pm everyday, my energy level is sapped and it is a struggle to get through my home routine of feeding and bathing the boy.  My wife is beginning to get a little concerned, as well as annoyed at my increased levels of grumpiness.  Odd urges have also come up from time to time, as I utterly caught myself scraping my wife's discarded Ritter chocolate wrapper for any remaining flecks of chocolate.  I chalk it up to wanting some variety in evening flavors as the apple, egg combo has run its course.  Like so many others here, I need some real food.

Still getting through the workouts with some challenges, but no real complaints.  I seem to have stabilized weight wise at 81-82 kg as that is where I have been now for a week.  Checked my body fat the other day and it still says I am at 19% - I feel like it is much better than that, but I probably made a mistake the first time when it said I was at 18.9% back in  week 2.  

Days 46 - 50

Was told by the staff at the gym Monday morning that I could no longer jump rope in the stretching room upstairs.  When I asked why, i received an answer very common here - because it is "abunai" (dangerous).  I asked if someone had complained, which is definitely what happened, but got no response.  I love it, if I am in the way just tell me to stop or move!  Not a big deal but I still get a laugh at the inability to be direct.

My energy levels have been pretty low this week -  both during the workout and in general.  On the workout,  I am getting through 15 min of rope without rest, but my resistance training just sucked for a few days - didn't feel very strong until this morning, and hope that I am back on track.  BTW, I thought I would be happy to have more leg exercises today until I realized there was an extra set of jumps - that was really intense.  


A friend was in town from london last night and a crew all went out to some teppanyaki - a lot of feed, drink and revelry.  It was super hard to not cash in the indulgence, but I made it through ok.  Note for future reference however, drinking 10 perriers is not good on the gut - almost felt sick when I got home.   

Day 45 - Inflection Point

I have been doing a lot of thinking about the journey thus far through 'the valley' (as appropriately described) and the inflection point at which we have I arrived.  Although only a half way point, I can't help but reflect on the significance of the accomplishments - on both personal and collective levels - thus far. 

Diet - not an easy transition, but looking back, it has been easier than I imagined going into this. The thought of no salt, sugar, processed food, or booze was so frightening at the beginning that I almost talked myself out of signing up for the project.  How the hell could anyone pull this off with a demanding travel schedule, business obligations, family obligations, social obligations, etc - I didn't think I would make it past week 2.  In reality, it has been every bit the challenge I thought it would be, but personally gratifying to learn that it can be done and that I am capable of taking better care of what goes into my body.  Of course doing so is easier when you have someone telling you what to do, how to do it, and a community of empathizing co-conspirators. 

The workouts - I used to believe the only way to get physical results was to run off the calories and pound free weights.  Moreover, I applied the principle that results came from mostly from the output with little focus on the input - for years, I would just up the output to accommodate more input.   If I ate a cheeseburger or drank 10 beers, I ran more, if not, I could do less.  Conversely, if I exercised more, I could eat that cheeseburger.  I thought the system worked - and it seemed to until my mid 30s when the workouts became less frequent and the indulgences more frequent.  I would have never guessed that I could get such great results from merely eating properly, swinging a rope and doing body weight based exercises.  I am in freakin awe at how rapidly my body has responded to just this - how it has for everyone involved in the project - and it is motivating. 

The blogging - putting yourself on display seemed like such a strange concept and ridiculous method to get results, especially from a first time blogger.  Yet taking a photo of your body can be sobering (how did I get so damn fat?).  And the blogging is refreshingly honest. Strange how telling a few friends and a handful of people I didn't know imposes the discipline to stay focused and on course - if you don't share your goals with others, then there is no one that can call you on it when you start to waffle or stray from the path. 

The results - weighed in at 83.2 kg yesterday and am down nearly 10kg in 45 days, which is much more than I guess I had set out to accomplish.  It almost feels like I am playing with the house's money now, which I realize can be a trap.  I know these next 45 days are going to be as brutal on me both physically and mentally as the first 45 were.  Still, as opposed to viewing today as 'the valley,' I'd like to think we are at close to the apex and onto if not the downhill side of this project, then at least a flattening curve - armed with the knowledge of realizing the impact the 'bitter choices' can have on our health and fitness and now focusing making the right ones for 45 more days and beyond!