Final Post

We had a lovely dinner at D’epice yesterday evening. Thank you!Although Patrick was rather surprised with our “healthier” choice of venue it was a perfect ending and a new start – although I must confess I probably had a glass too many! (Thank you Jodi for taking the kiddos and of course your support throughout!)

It’s a funny thing – now that I am “free” to eat anything, I think I am actually more careful. It was so much easier following a prescribed diet (making special exceptions at times - as my son kindly pointed out to Patrick. He waited for his moment and blurted out “Well, mummy ate many things that she wasn’t supposed to…” Thanks, hun.) This change in eating habits must be one of the most valuable assets completing PCP.

Anyway, here are the final photos that were taken yesterday. This is the size 6 jeans that was rather a “tight” fit merely 90 days ago.  I’ll be putting this pair away for awhile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not doing the exercises yesterday was a relief but today it feels as if the day is not complete without skipping. I will definitely keep on skipping on a regular basis although I may not start tonight! I am also amazed how muscles do really “shape” the body. My arms and legs obviously feel thinner but they have curves that I’ve never had and I am thrilled about that.

Will try and update my new life post pcp but at the moment, I am happy to have completed the program. Thanks again Corry, Patrick and Chen! As my treat to myself – I’ve cut my hair (resisted by all the family members for years but it’s done now) and got my dream new camera – the new Canon 5D Mark II.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a few images I took of Patrick. Will post more in February or March – after the “official” photo session. Chen, congratulations on your new addition to the family. If you would like a complimentary newborn session, I am totally on for it! Give me an e-mail preferably before your little one is two weeks old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 90 – Officially finished

I just finished doing my exercises and skipping which means I have completed PCP! I went back to Day 9 exercises and completed them within 20 minutes. I did get a good workout but obviously didn’t feel the “burn” as much as recent days due to the lower number of reps. But that means, my muscles has toned right?

I am more than thrilled. Thank you all for your support and reading my rather dull blog! I would like to take this opportunity to especially thank Patrick, Chen and Corry for their guidance and the wonderful project. It has really changed my outlook towards eating healthily and keeping fit – something I thought I never would conquer!

Will come back to do my final post but just wanted to announce to the world that I am FINISHED!

Day 89

Finished skipping and exercises just before midnight. It was tough but I am happy that I finished them. My arms feel as though they are twice the size though! Starting from 0, who would have thought that I would be skipping over 2000 skips without having have to catch my breath? Me doing push ups and sit ups? It just seems like yesterday that I asked my husband to explain how to do them properly. He could not believe how pathetic my muscles were! Now I am doing over 75 push ups and 125 sit ups. Yes, I’ve come a long way and I feel good!

I have lost considerable amount of weight and the smaller clothes size proves it all but as I had a measure handy, I decided to see how much the numbers changed. I only took my measurements once and it was in the second week after starting PCP. Since then - (drrrrr…. drum roll….) waist –6cm, hip –4cm, thighs –2cm, arms –2cm and… an unfortunate –5cm for bust. I thought there would be more difference but I’m sure overall, the whole body is more toned.

Anyway, I am going to take an “early-ish” night to prepare myself for the final day. Woo hoo… one more day to go – actually, it all concludes today!

Two more days to go

Life is HECTIC at the moment. There are just too many things on the list and I feel as though I am going in circles without accomplishing anything! Anyway, I just finished my jumping and exercises. Wow, these few days have been a killer – and I am dreading tomorrow’s program already. It’s in such tiny print!!

I am grateful that I had Corry, Jane and Munisha to share the 90 days journey.  I really couldn’t have come this far without the support and encouragement from the ladies. I always looked forward to the Monday workouts – the chatting and sharing always made the time and exercises fly by and so much easier. We were (and still are) on different levels but by using different strength bands, I could mostly keep up (with a lot of whining, grunting and using the easiest band). That is the beauty of the exercises – anyone can do them (even me!) and doing them together was a joy!

After seeing my recent results, my husband has decided to do the program in March when he will have a bit more time (although I am not holding my breath and I will believe it when I see it).  If that happens, I plan to join him. I mentioned this to Patrick and he assured me that I would not have to go on such a strict diet regime as I wouldn’t have as much fat to shed and that my muscles will be easier to build as there is already a foundation. We’ve both have competitive streaks so I can see ourselves competing with the number of jumps or number of reps to failure… We’ll see. I bet it’s not going to be as peaceful as Emiko and Adrian.

Talking about muscles, it was interesting to see at the beginning, I couldn’t and didn’t feel the burn in the targeted areas. I was probably doing the exercises wrong or I just didn’t have enough muscles there to notice. It helped for me to carry on as Corry said “well, you must be doing something – even if it isn’t the right muscles!” As the program progressed, I became more and more aware of the targeted areas and now can feel the burn in the right places. (or so I think… I hope…) The back was the most difficult for me to work – rowing was never difficult and I loved watching Jane do her elegant rowing until one day it clicked. Abs – I didn’t feel a “burn” until about half way through. When I started feeling it – I lost so much tummy fat!

Dramatic changes in the diet has really changed what I buy and what I keep in the refrigerator. I’ve never had so much fruits and vegetables and did I mention eggs?? in the house. I always wondered who bought those Costco eggs –package of  20 eggs… I figured it was for bakeries and restaurants. Well, I was buying 2-3 of those at a time and using them up rapidly. Due to the limitation of salt, sugar and oil intake, meals prepared at home vastly increased. That is when I rediscovered the joy of cooking. This was not the direction I thought I would be headed for when I signed up for an exercise regime.  Carbohydrate was a luxury in the diet so I had to choose carefully what I wanted to eat – now I love to bake my own bread (and cake)! It is so satisfying and a stress buster too!

OK, I’m rambling… Lack of sleep is my biggest downfall during the program. I just could not get the time expected to rest for muscle repair. I really need to work on time organization – but again, this time of year is busy for me… Better grab some zzzz before tomorrow’s crazy workout. Bye for now.

ETA: Here is what I made today – not exactly PCP diet but it was fun. I had to have a bite for a taste but it was early in the morning.

Virus alert!

Beware… I got infected with a PC virus yesterday and I’ve spent the whole day reinstalling my computer. Not fun… Thankfully I had everything backed up (at least I learned something from the hard disk crash in the summer!) but still it was scary. I advise you strongly to backup your system.  Got to start my exercises now…

ETA: Don’t know why but I had a very good skipping session, a first in a long time (too long actually). I counted my second set and I jumped 1050 times – quite happy with myself now…

9 more days to go...

Count down time. It's amazing I've come this far and I've learned tons about fitness, health and also about myself. I've always been a procrastinator - I was the type at school that always waited until the night before to work on the 30 pages reports. I always swore to myself that when I am through with my second pregnancy, I would get back into shape. My daughter is almost two and a half . My husband always jokes that he will engrave my famous two words on my gravestone - those words bein "I will".  I'm glad I didn't bail out of PCP and postpone getting fit until goodness knows when.

Just before starting, I remember saying to Corry "I think the diet part would be a breeze for me because I'd done it before and lost tons before my wedding but I don't know if I can stick with the exercises because I hate anything related to moving my body." As it turned out, it was the exercises that wasn't that difficult as I got into the routin but the diet was difficult to maintain, especially with two little ones that needs to be fed and with a husband who likes to dine out (me too!). Eating habits, I found out, is such a mental thing. Although the body doesn't necessarily need it, the mind craves for it at times. It was the temptations that was sometimes difficult to overcome and I must admit I did cave in a few times.  However, I don't think I will ever go back to eating like I did before PCP. It's nice to feel lighter and energetic instead of feeling full and bloated!

Anyway, better get back to my exercises - see, I'm procrastinating again! Oh no!

P.S. I never thought I'd be whipped by my own hair while skipping. Let me tell you, it hurts! By the way, the pain few days ago is fading quickly so I must have overdone the exercises.

Oooh, in pain.

Thank you Patrick for a great workout yesterday. It was definitely a bonus to have each exercises checked over to see if I'm doing it correctly or for tips on how to improve. My skipping saw a massive improvement. Who would have thought my ropes were too short!

As for figures, my weight remained fairly consistant but I was excited to see my muscle mass percentage go up by a full percentage to over 29%. I am more than thrilled - I'm becoming like "Jane"!  My body fat percentage went down by a percent too!

Having said that I may have injured myself trying too hard. I woke up to muscle pain all over, which is a great sign. I can cope with that - but I have this sharp pain in my left hand side abs and it kills everytime I move (even if I don't move). It just got worse over the course of the day so I have decided that this was not just an ordinary muscle pain and to skip the workout due for today. I tried jumping but it was too painful. I feel bad but am hopeful that tomorrow I will feel a bit better.