Day 14 - 15

It was the last day at work before the GW so my team decided to throw meat dinner party which we used to do on 29th of each month. (29th day, 肉の日).  My team mates already knew that I've been on this program so they picked the place where I don't feel that stressed about not eating what they are eating..  LAMB restaurant!  I HATE LAMB. I can't stand with its gammy smell..   As soon as I entered into the restaurant, I almost threw up because of the smell..   I brought PCP dinner set in my tapper ware, sat as far away as possible from the lamb, chew away veggies, chicken breast fillet and whole grained bagels with bottle of water.  again I did not take any alcohol and I am so proud!
Hit Karaoke after the dinner.   I've never been to Karaoke sober so I was worried how well/bad I would sing but I think I did alright...  (I will let others to comment on this.)  I was in this embarrassing mood singing in front of crowd for entire time.  I missed one good effect of alcohol which is to take away fear from your system.
Came home after midight, did jump rope and went to bed.

Next day which was the first day of the GW.  Spend time with my daughter.  did shopping, play in the yard.  I had fulfill my duty as a father.  well done myself!  As I was reading book for her to make her a sleep, I fell a sleep before she did.  I woke up this morning and found my daughter put blanket over me.  She already grew old enough to take care of her father.  I am so proud :)

I've been making great progress on PCP.  I have lost 3.6kg in 2 weeks!  YEAH!!

Day 13

Went to supermarket near my house and found watermelon on the shelf (it is still in April..).  I LOVE watermelon so I bought it although it is still a bit expensive.  I actually skipped fruit in the morning and the afternoon so I will compensate what I missed by eating watermelon more than I should.  I feel I cheated (it is definitely a cheat..) but can't resist the temptation..  

Exercise

• 18km bike ride
• Day 13 exercise completed.

Day 12

I am exhausted..  I am barely able to go through all the exercise..
I am going to bed now..

Salad as usual but this time, I used lemon juice to dilute my thick Paste.  Very fresh taste to the chicken and salad.  New finding:  you get to enjoy eating these healthy food more if you make sandwich out of them.  I was eating carb, veggies and meat separately.. duh..

 

Exercise

• 8km jog
• 18km bicycle ride
• day 12 exercise

Day 11

Quiet day (LN and HK are off for the Easter holidays.)

Went to Docomo shop to replace my cell phone with smart phone but found out it doesn't support SUICA, so I have to wait until the summer.. bummer...   I wanted to replace mine with smart phone caz I will be having my annual event of visiting grandpa during GW to pluck some tea.  He lives deep inside the mountain in Kochi prefecture where there are more dead than lives.  The average age of the villager is somewhere in late 60 or early 70.  Obviously nobody has PC to connect to internet so I thought smart phone helps me to stay connected to the rest of world.  Now I think about this, why do I need to be connected?  I am going there to see my relatives, enjoy the nature, eat well (ahem.. healthy non pesticide veggies right off the back yard ), work hard (tea plucking is actually a hard labor..), sleep well and have a good time!  I might as well enjoy being disconnected with rest of the world!

Again foods are basically similar for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  (I mass steamed variety of veggies and chicken breast fillet in the morning. )

half tea spoon of paste with balsamic vinegar works well.  not salty but still has flavor to enjoy.  I bought ***t load of whole grained bread so I will be eating this stuff for next few days...  I am already getting bored with the taste on the first day :P

Exercise

• Day 11 exercise done.  I hate front shoulder raise...
• 18km bike ride

Day 10

1/9 is done.   Good job everyone!  only 8/9 to go.

I had several good suggestions for what I can do to make the no-salt dull food more tasty.  so I went ahead and made my special paste with ginger, garlic, red-chili, black pepper, dried oregano, dried basil and mustard.  It was easy to make as all I had to do is to throw all the ingredients into a mixer.   I pick two spoons of this paste and added to the balsamic vinegar to make the special dressing.   Now, the plain flavored chicken breast fillet salad was actually full of all different but sensational flavors!!  It worked but with three exceptions...
1. I put way too much red-chills.  Good god, this stuff is SPICY!  I like the spicy food so luckily it didn't bother me much.
2. same for Garlic.  I NOW GOT LETHAL GARLIC BREATH.   It doesn't go away after 20 mis of teeth brushing and mouse washing.  For those I will see in the office tomorrow, apology in advance!
3. I think I put mustard more than I should.  It now gives the salty taste and now I am very thirsty..

I will probably take only half the tea spoon of this paste and dilute it with vinegar or lemon juice so that the effect/experience will be much smoother.

The Paste

Food today.  basically same for breakfast, lunch and dinner with minor variation.  so I will only post one for dinner.  veggies with The Paste woth balsamic vinegar, chicken breast fillet, whole grain pasta and bread.

Exercise
Day 10 exercises all completed (max rep per set)

8km jog

Am I over working?  I need to do the training for half marathon that I signed up for mid June..  will post this question to the mail thread.

Day 9

I went to IKEA today and did shopping for shelves in our living rooms.  At the food market after the cashier, I found whole grain pasta and macaroni so I bought 4 bags each.  I am little excited about what and how I will cook for rest of this project as I enjoy cooking myself.  Tomorrow, I will go to Costco for more healthy food and ingredients.

breakfast: put tomato into a microwave for the deadly steaming by mistake.  It exploded like a bomb as expected.  luckily I had a rid on the steamer..  put raw onion to put extra punch to the taste.  brown rice.  soy milk which had expiry date of 2010 Oct which I found out after I drank'em all.... yikes  

Lunch: lettuce, mushroom, pumpkins,  chicken breast fillet, half egg and brown rice.  I can taste a tiny grain of salty flavor in chicken breast fillet.  my tong is getting very sensitive.

Dinner:  Green pepper, pumpkin, cabbage, chicken breast fillet. brown rice.

Exercise:

• Day 9's exercise all done (max number of rep for each set)

Day 8

I never thought much about how much the food weighs.  It was a little surprise to see 140g of breads..   It looked A LOT.  
Questions to everyone.

1.  I found food without salt VERY BORING.  is there any receipts to make the dish tasty but salt friendly at the same time?   I can't imagine myself munching 140g of elbows without any source or dressing..
2  Tofu.  is it in veggie category, protein category or since it is technically PROCESSED food, you avoid eating? 


Today's new finding
1. Low Fat milk is hard to get in Japan..  I hates milk and last time I drank it was almost 2 decades ago so it never occurs to me how difficult to get low fat milk in Japan.  I was expecting it is easily obtainable in convenience store around the office but couldn't find one.  same for low fat yogurt..  You imagine Japan where people eats healthy stuff, it will be easy to get the healthy daily products but seems it's not.  I will go to supermarket near my house tomorrow. (I had drink non-sugar soy milk today instead)
2. brown rice took ages to cook.  I had to wait 2 and a half hours to get 1 cup of brown rice...  I will incorporates this into the plan going forward..

Breakfast: 3 thick slices of bread (90g carbs), egg and 130g veggies

Lunch: No photo...
Dinner: brown rice which took age to cook with some veggie from Chige-hotpot. (I should not have eaten this as it was WAY TOO SALTY.)

 Chicken Breast Fillet with some more veggies.  200ml of soy milk (can't get milk in the morning.)

I will be more creative on the food.

Exercise

• day 8 exercise is all completed.  (tried highest number of rep for a set).  Enjoyed the variety now.
• 5.8km jog
• 18km bicycle ride

Day 7

I went to bed at around 2am last night so now I am really tired and sleepy.  I will take shower and crawl into bed...   500 jump ropes were pretty tough.  I was out of breath around 150 jumps..  had to take quick break to catch up on the breath.  Am I  out of shape??  I think so..   19 years of smoking must have done some serious damage to my lungs. (btw I quit smoking last August and it has been 7 months!!)

I am looking for the real PCP starting from tomorrow!!

Breakfast:  Lettuce, pumpkins, carrot, ham and potato.  spruuts with chicken breast fillet thread.  1 Onigiri, Okara, Egg, and noodle soup.

Lunch: 2 onigiris, Okara and Egg.  Salad with lots of Chicken breast fillets and sprouts.  BTW Okara was half bad.. Yuck...

Dinner: Last dinner before the real PCP!  Wife made a rice, mushroom, tofu casserole with tomato source.  Damn it was so GOOOOD!

Exercise:

• 500 jump ropes
• 18km bike ride

Day 6

One more day to achieve the first milestone.  Time flies!  I am calming down on the craving sensation.  I had a dinner with my colleagues from work and you know what?  I didn't have a sip of alcohol again (but drank couple bottles of non-alcohol beer instead.. you may call it a cheat. :P ).  Surprising thing is that I wasn't even tempted at all.  Along with this PCP, I will see how long I can last without drinking alcohol. 

Breakfast: Okara (residues after squeeze out the soy milk out of soy beans) with veggies.  Steam salad with tomato.  Onigiri and Egg.

Lunch: Chicken breast fillet salad with Okara and left over Oden.  two Onigiri (rice balls) and egg

Dinner: couple bottle of non-alcohol beers, chicken breast fillet, fried tofu, veggie sticks and salad.

Exercise

• Day 6 exercise all completed

• 5km jog

• 18km bike ride

Day 5

Today wasn't so bad compare to yesterday.  Drank coffee instead of water must have made some differences.  I didn't feel soreness in my leg this morning which made me worried that I didn't do lunge in correct form.  Soreness in the muscle is the proof that you are using right muscle to do the exercise.  oh well as Patrick's suggestion, I decide not to worry about it too much.  Important thing is to keep it up every day! 

Jump rope.  I thought my body figured out how to jump with continuous success but not last few days.  every 15 reps or so, the rope gets caught.  VERY STRESSFUL.  I was measuring my heart rate today while I jump and it peeked up to 160/min!  is it because the pace gets disrupted?   I will try with slower pace tomorrow to see if that makes difference.

Breakfast: Oden (Egg, Ganmo, Carrot, Radish) and Okara on green Salad,  Kiwi and Orange, Onigiri

 Lunch: Desk Lunch.  2 Onigiris, Oden (Ganmo, Egg, Radish, Carrot), Chicken and Okara on green salad

Dinner: Sprouts soup, Egg, Oden (Ganmo, Carrots, Radish) and Okara with lots of veggies.

Exercise:
Day 5 to do completed.  (4 sets of push up is really killing me!)
18km bike ride

Day 4

Geez..  I was so hungry through out the day..  Couldn't focus on anything today at work.  But, I wasn't in misery for the whole time but instead I found some positives to cheer me up.
1. Lost 1kg.  YEAH BABY
2. steaming food is actually so damn easy.  this rubber thing is awesome.  I use my hand to rip the veggies, toss them on this rubber thing and throw it in the microwave.  wait for 5 mins and they are all well cooked!  I never knew steamed veggies are so tasty.

breakfast: steam veggies, onigiri and banana

lunch: @ desk:  steam veggies, chicken and egg.  2 onigiris

 dinner: tofu onion soup, ganmo with veggies and left over (chicken and veggies in tomato soup.)

Exercise
Day 4 exercise all completed
5 km jogging
18 km bike ride to work

Day 3

Usually I spent most of the weekend's morning suffering from hang over but this weekend was just so fresh and I really feel good about this.  I actually woke up before my daughter who always wakes up early to watch Sat/Sun cartoon! 

Vacumed the floor, played with daughter and went to Yodobashi to get IPod Nano as my old one has died recently.  Very peaceful and productive weekend. 

I gradually start to feel the starve through out the day.  As with Patrick's suggestion I kept my hand and mouth busy by sipping through bottle of water.

Another challenge that I am facing right now is the training I have recently started for half marathon in Yamanashi in mid June.   Jog 5km with half the food I normally eat is really really tough!

Breakfast: whole toasted bread with ham, cheeze and sunny side up on top. salad with white asparagus, pumpkin, broccoli, green leaf and Okara.   Banana as a desert.

Lunch:  Soumen Salad with tomato, pumpkin, green onion, white asparagus. Okara and Kiwi, apple and orange.

Dinner: Chicken, celery, carrot, onion in tomato soup.  Egg, Okara and Kiwi.

Exercise
Jump Rope: 60 jumps x 5 sets
Squat: 15 reps x 3 sets
Push Ups: 8 reps x 3 sets
Sit Ups: 15 reps x 3 sets
Strech for 5 mins
Jogging: 5 km

Day 2

One of my colleague from work got tons of seafood shipped from his parent in Kyoto.  (more than 100 oysters, turban shells, flat fishes, squid etc etc..) 

In order to consume this insane amount of seafood, my team planned BBQ over the weekend inviting other teams from work.  It turned out to be the perfect weather for the BBQ so lots of people with their family showed up! 

Breakfast: Sunny side up on toast whole bread (ham and little bit of cheeze).  Salad.

Lunch:  BBQ.  I was very cautious of what I eat and how much I eat.  mainly veggies and seafood with only a few slices of meat.  drunk 2 cans of non alcohol Kirin and one glass of Hoppy.  No snack consumed.  It was fun being sober while the rest getting wasted!


Dinner: Kinpira gobo, Harusame salad, Konyaku noodle, Okara, bits of broccoli and pumpkin and Miso soup.

Exercise

• Jump Ropes: 50 jumps x 5 sets
• Lunges: 10 reps (each leg) x 3 sets
• Push Ups: 8 reps x 3 sets
• Leg Raises: 10 reps x 3 sets
• 10mins of streching

you know what?  My legs are already hurting from the squat exercise from yesterday...   and I found myself very hard doing Push Ups.  I was not on the knee but toes when I do the push up..  I am curious what will be the equivalent weight when I do dumbbell press.

Day 1

phew.. lived through my very first day on PCP without any problems!.  Just another 89 more days to go!

It has been more than 10 years since I did a jump rope exercise..  hand, foot coordination wasn't optimal at first few sets but my body figured it out by the time I finished the fifth set.  good stuff!

breakfast: ume onigiri and egg sandwich -> Bite only half and throw the rest away which makes me feel bad..  I will bring just enough amount for me to eat from next time.

lunch: Regular size salad from Saladice with balsamic vinegar.  I used to eat this stuff a lot couple years ago.  Yummy!

Saku: 4.5 bottles of non-alcohol lowenbrau.  Within the non-alcoholic beer category, I recon this is the best.  However I realize that non-alcoholic beer should not be consumed more than 3 bottles.  soon getting tired of the taste and you get frustrated caz you don't get this tipsy feeling at all!! 

Dinner: small ball of udon with lots of veggie and egg, kinpira gobo-, harusame salad and macaroni salad.  well balanced!

Exercise:
Jump Rope: 50 jumps x 5 sets
Squat: 15 reps x 3 set
Push Up:
 6 reps x 2 sets
 8 rep x 1 set
Sit ups: 15  reps x 3 set
Stretch for about 10mins

Feels good already!

wow I am officially in this...

will get through it!!