The Peak Condition Project - Renfield

kung fu body!

2010-09-30T18:15:00.002+09:00

PCP may be over, but it never ends!
Check out my latest Kung Fu Body adventures.

post pcp

2010-08-04T10:59:00.000+09:00

Headed down to Patrick's House of Pain for a post- PCP visit. He should me some new ways to torture my muscles, like hand-stand-push-ups-into-80's-break-dancing-snake and YODO Abs.
Also got a taste of Kung-Fu Body, which is going to, pardon the pun, kick ass! Probably start that after our family vacation to SF later this month. Will be nice and fattened up and slothful after two weeks in the states!
Finally, I measured myself on the trusty PCP scale: 67.3 kilos,16.6% body fat.
Not bad at all, considering how much I binged this past weekend for my birthday.
Health check on Friday so I am running, jumping, sweating, and eating lots of fruit and veggies, practically zero carbs. Feelin' peaky!

BIG breakfast

2010-07-03T07:40:00.000+09:00

need lotsa energy for the tournament today!

lunch-dinner

2010-07-02T16:38:00.001+09:00

breakfast

2010-07-02T07:00:00.001+09:00

delicious desk dinner

2010-07-01T18:33:00.001+09:00

cous-cous lunch

2010-07-01T14:06:00.000+09:00

breakfast 1

2010-07-01T07:07:00.001+09:00

Day one and already breaking the menu: not enough fruit!

PCP 2: Electric Bugaloo

2010-06-30T23:19:00.000+09:00

My annual health check is Friday August 6. One of my motivations for doing PCP in the first place was to get all A's on my health check and be in better shape at 38 than I have ever been in my entire life.

Now, one month after PCP, I find myself doing well.

I eat when I am hungry, mostly steamed veggies. When I crave sweetness, I eat fruit, often with cinnamon, sometimes with honey.

On weekends with the family, I don't bother stressing out over food; I eat whatever we are eating: sushi, soba, etc.
I still wake up every weekday at 5am, jump for 15 minutes, and do some kind of workout for another 30. I still go to fighting a couple times a week, and now I even enjoy running 30 - 60 minutes several times a week, too.
Sometimes I snack on something "bad"; senbei, beef jerky, glass of chocolate soy milk. Whatever.

I have basically stabilized, I think around 76 kilos and about 15-16% body fat...not really sure.
Spent the first couple of weeks obsessing about tracking my daily caloric intake and exercise, scouring the web for cool blackberry and iPod touch and apps and iMode applis and websites to help me track and log and monitor all the data...then I remembered some of the graduating wisdom of PCP, and I stopped.

And now I find myself exactly 37 days before my health check, craving a bit more...discipline.

Once again I recalled Patrick's sage advice, and will be putting myself through a mini-PCP (aka PCP 2: Electric Bugaloo). For the next 37 days, I will stick to the PCP diet starting from week 2 through week 6. I was going to do the exercises as well, but when I reviewed them they were laughably easy, and one of the first things Patrick taught is that it's 80% diet, so I will stick with my current exercise and just do the mini-PCP diet regime for 5 weeks.
I chose to start at week 2 because from then through to week 6 I had some excellent weight and body-fat and muscle-mass changes the first time around, and the menu changes quite a bit week to week (being pre-All The Vegetables You Want) so it won't be boring. Plus I have done it before so I KNOW it's totally doable.
My goals for this PCP2:EB

Much lower (as in single-digit) body-fat percentage, aka serious six-packs a-showin' (doubt I can drop one percent a week consistently the whole time, but I find it motivating to have near impossible goals)
Healthy weight (don't care how much I weigh as long as I am energized and lean and strong)
Have fun

As you can see I have revived the blog and will continue to blog regularly. I will also go back and re-read Patrick's inspiring daily emails from the original PCP, just to keep me in the mood. And yes, I will indeed photograph every damn meal I eat, again. I find the full transparency keeps me honest and motivated. Plus you love it, you really do.

day 90: the end of the beginning

2010-05-30T10:15:00.000+09:00

Day 90 was a day of looking back and looking forward.

First, I looked back before PCP. I distinctly remember telling myself and others that there is no way I could lose 10 kilos without cutting off a leg. I remember thinking how much I love pasta and carbs in general. I remember thinking I was in pretty good shape, for a guy who sits at a desk all day at least.
How wrong I was.

Then I looked at the early days of PCP, when 700 jumps seemed like too many and took forever, none of the exercises were more than 3 sets, and none of the reps were over 25. And it still killed me. When the food requirements were exotic and strange, the prep a chore, shopping a mystery, recipes non-existent, and results often borderline inedible.

Next I looked at where I am: went to Bairan with Patrick and Kazue for lunch, a Chinese restaurant I used to go to often. Ordered my favoriate yakisoba, sweet-and-sour pork, and shrimp fried rice.
The first bites were utter heaven; an explosion of flavors setting off massive chemical releases in my brain.

And then I started to taste, to REALLY taste, the salt, the oil, the corn starch and artificial colors and sweeteners...and started feeling kinda nasty, and very, VERY full, so I stopped. Not exactly satisfied, no.

By now I was starting in on a nice food coma, the dull and lethargic feeling I used to have after ever over-eaten meal. So we walked down to Starbucks to get some dessert and check out the final photos.
Again I had an old pre-PCP favorite: soy chai latte, chocolate chunk scone. For kicks Patrick and I split a chocolate muffin and white chocolate macadamia nut cookie too.
Again, the first bite was utter heaven; sugar and endorphins dancing in eternal splender from my tongue to the base of my skull. I felt adrenaline rush into the tips of my toes and fingers it tasted so good.

And then I got a massive sugar rush; could not stop tapping my feet, felt like I was going to bounce off the walls, caffeine and sugar blowing out the cell walls in my brain. Massive buzz which quickly turned into a deep, throbbing headache behind my eyes.
Said good-bye to Patrick and Kazue and got on the train to go home. Was going to go shopping but did not feel up to it, so emailed wife and told her I was on my way come.
Caught up with her and the kids just outside the apartment, so we all went upstairs and made dinner.
It was a lovely feast at which I ate way, way too much. And as the blog a few posts below can attest, it was not a pleasant evening.
After getting some decent sleep and eating a proper, PCP breakfast after a proper if less-challenging workout, it was time for shopping!
Please note that I live in Tokyo, land of skinny Japanese boys and girls, so even at a place like The Gap, clothes are tight, low-rise, and small.
First stop was my tailor, at which I ordered a new double-breasted black suit and had my pants taken in. SIX CENTIMETERS. Which is an utterly ridiculous amount and borderline impossible -- another centimeter and I would have to simply order new pants!
Then we went to The Gap so I could get some weekend pants. I wear suits all week, so I only actually own one pair of jeans that I got about 20 years ago at The Gap. Needless to say they are huge.
I tried on a pair of 79 (30") regular straight leg jeans; waist was a bit loose but could not fit my legs into them, and they were so low-rise as to be scandalous.
Next a pair of 70 easy fit jeans; again the waist was big but at least the legs fit. However they were 12,000 yen! Figured for that much money I could have alot more fun than buy a pair of jeans I might were at most twice a week.
So gave up and went to the sale rack in the back. Found a decent pair of khakis and a pair of shorts, which were kind of baggy but had adjusters on the waist so I figured they'd be ok. Turns out the shorts were size S. Japanese S. JAPANESE SMALL.
Immediately anti-matter and matter reversed energy states and the universe as we know it collapsed in on itself when faced with the impossible reality of me wearing anything sized Japanese S.
So here we are, now (see a slideshow of all the results photos).
Triceps and shoulder:

Biceps and back:

The whole package:

The Dream Team:

And again just so there are no mistakes, the Before and After:

Also, lets look at some numbers. No, not weight and percentage of body fat, but numbers that matter: money.
Here is my household spending on groceries and eating out.
PCP started in March and though I spent more on groceries I spend much less on eating out, such that my total spend per month was down:

Finally, the look ahead: rather than get used to eating modern crap food in a box again, I much prefer to do some decent exercise on a fairly regular basis, eat lots and lots and lots of real, actual vegetables, snack heedlessly on fruit throughout the day, and spice it up with the occasional fried thing.
I like waking up hungry and having a big breakfast, not going into food coma after every meal, feeling light, strong, lean, and fit.

Thanks to Patrick and Chen for making it possible to start this, and thanks to my wife, daughter, son, and friends for making it possible to finish.
Now it is up to me to continue.

new clothes

2010-05-29T17:02:00.001+09:00

Khakis are 79cm (30") waist, shorts are S. Japanese S!

getting suit pants taken in

2010-05-29T13:48:00.001+09:00

six cm!

Before - After

2010-05-29T09:33:00.001+09:00

RenfieldBeforeAfter
Originally uploaded by Peak Condition Ren

I got me some Peak!

Final Results

2010-05-29T09:32:00.001+09:00

IMG_3985
Originally uploaded by Peak Condition Ren

it's all about lighting

2010-05-29T08:48:00.001+09:00

Another key lesson from PCP: harsh, direct overhead lighting makes strong under-shadows - perfect for making abs look good!

final breakfast

2010-05-29T08:15:00.001+09:00

TWO eggs with lettuce, zucchini, bell-pepper, garlic, bagel, banana and kiwi fruit and fig blend with soymilk.

consequences

2010-05-29T00:47:00.001+09:00

This will easily be my worst blog-post ever.
It is several hours after dinner, evening bath, and bed.
Awoke to an unfamiliar grumbling in my stomach. Headed to the toilet.
Now, in my pre-PCP days I used to have stomach problems all the time. But the past three months have been the most uneventful and regular in my life.
Until now.
With no exaggeration, I can honestly say I now understand why diarrhea is a leading cause of childhood mortality in developing countries.
Seriously.
I cannot exaggerate how utterly miserable this is: dry-mouth, cold sweats, light-headed, weak and shaky...only now twenty minutes later can I even focus and steady myself enough to type this.
Actually blogging is helping me deal with the physical pain and mental stress. In a strange way, analyzing what is happening, trying to break it down and describe it, is a pretty good mechanism for just dealing with the reality which I am in right now and from which I cannot possibly escape.
And it does not end. Surely I did not actually eat enough food to produce such a volume of gut-busting misery?
Again apologies for the graphic detail, but in the interest of full disclosure, to be consistent with my total honesty and transparency, and for posthumous/historical purposes, I must say: I am shitting a stream of filth and suffering for it.
Suffering and learning a valuable lesson, perhaps the most important lesson of the whole PCP: it is neither ideal nor impressive to eat unhealthful foods.
I ate today "normal" meals, the kind of salty, greasy, sugary, buttery junk I used to eat all the time, and I stuffed myself to gut-busting, over-eating just like I used to.
Only now, after 89 days of eating well, I have lost my completely unnatural ability to cope, both mentally and physically.

I think some will read this blog and conclude that the PCP is a failure: it has weakened me and my ability to cope with modern reality. I can't even enjoy a decent outing with friends, a meal of Chinese food and dessert at Starbucks, without ending up groaning in the toilet late into the night! PCP has turned me into a raw-vegetable eating, proselytizing foodie; a bore to be with and an impossible date!

Others, myself included, see this as an affirmation: there is nothing "normal" about what we call food in these modern times. The 293 calories in a chocolate chunk scone is not normal; it is a gross concentration of fats, carbohydrates, sugars, of butter and additives and preservatives chemically designed to stay fresh-looking on the shelf all day without refrigeration, to make my mouth water, to make my stomach grumble. But is is not food, at the very least not to be consumed in the concentrations and volumes with which modern society so easily provides.

Brian said PCP is great for people who love food. I agree: it has unlocked my taste-buds to a point that I cannot describe to anyone these days who eats "normally". I do not exaggerate when I say an onion is sweet, a carrot has a deep and rich tangy after-taste, the juxtaposition between the almost-sour bite of a ripe banana and a perfectly sweetened strawberry is perfectly accented with the addition of a hint of cinnamon. This is what food taste likes. Not oil, nor salt, butter, cream, sugar, not salad dressing nor ketchup, not soy sauce, not Tabasco...just food.

The exotic abdominal exercising routines, the cleverly measured rope-jumping, the scientific calculations of dips and pulls and raises and pushes...this is all well and good, but utterly and completely irrelevant without getting free from the vicious circle of modern eating.
If this blog serves any purpose, let it be for those who are considering PCP for themselves, or just those who wonder about healthful eating habits. Let this be both a warning and an invitation. Perhaps I am just a weak-stomached whiner who needs some familiarity with modern medicine to ease my so-called eating troubles. Or perhaps I am a closet vegan hippie proselytizing some good-intentioned but utterly impossible utopia of convenient and affordable healthful foods, locally and organically grown.
Most likely, though, I am just another guy whose eyes have been opened, through his stomach, to the reality: a food-culture based on chemical nutrition, dominated by convenience food, plagued by deadly and utterly avoidable obesity, diabetes, and cancers, controlled by huge processing entities focused on efficiency, regulated by a meek and subservient government aligned perfectly with said entities, and a silent, ignorant base of consumers who have been advertise brain-washed into thinking that cooking is hard and time-consuming, food comes in a box, chemicals can solve the problems that chemicals produce, and that all of this is perfectly, utterly, normal.
As a society, we suffer the consequences of our actions.
As an individual, I suffer the consequences of my actions.
I do not seek to foment revolution, and I do not think anyone reading this, or in fact my entire blog, will somehow be inspired to throw off the shackles of modern eating. I am only trying to help myself settle my own thoughts and feelings, as I sit here dealing with the very real consequences of my own actions; to trace the cause and effect, so that I can at least learn something and be a better person for it.

Recently I have been trying to "deepen" my zazen practice, and one of the ways I have been doing this is by reciting the Gokan-no-ge, a zen Buddhist chant called "Five Reflections".
This goes quite harmoniously with a PCP-enabled understanding of food and eating.
The English translation is something like:

We reflect on the effort that brought us this food and consider how it comes to us
We reflect on our virtue and practice and whether we are worthy of this offering
We regard greed as the obstacle to freedom of mind
We regard this meal as medicine to sustain our life
For the sake of attaining the Truth we now receive this food

(There are innumerable English and other translations of this on teh internets, but being as how I actually understand the Japanese in which I was originally taught this chant, and since I prefer the lyrical rhythm of the Japanese, I do not recite this in English.)

family dinner

2010-05-28T18:09:00.001+09:00

saikyo yaki grilled snapper, rice, steamed veggie, pork with cabbage, boiled dumplings, slimy potato and squid...

dessert

2010-05-28T15:26:00.001+09:00

chocolate chunk scone, chocolate macadamia cookie, fudge muffin

lunch part 2

2010-05-28T14:40:00.001+09:00

sweet sour pork and shrimp chahan.

LUNCH!

2010-05-28T14:31:00.001+09:00

bairan yakisoba!

open omelet

2010-05-28T07:48:00.001+09:00

Eggs with peapods, onion, tomato, spinach, grilled pumpkin.

inspired, experimented

2010-05-27T22:48:00.000+09:00

Inspired by Todd, I blended together my final fruit snack with my post-workout banana and cocoa protein powder: apple, fig, banana, protein powder, hard-boiled egg white, a dash of soy milk to make sure it blended, and three strawberries just for fun.
Was not bad, but not as thick and sweet as basic banana mush. Will need to work on various recipes; I think the soy milk and egg white killed off some of the fruity sweetness...

invited to a veggie party dinner

2010-05-27T18:11:00.001+09:00

Grilled eggplant and pumpkin, steamed carrots, onion, zucchini, bell-pepper, chikuwa.

thoughts on supersets

2010-05-27T17:30:00.001+09:00

Got up at 5am and for once no one else got up, so I did nearly my entire workout in the morning in blissful solitariness.
Which didn't mean it hurt any less.
Legs still sore from the previous leg workout AND the kick-style fighting class I went to on Tuesday.
Stomach hurts from when my resistance band tore lose and smacked me upside the upper abdominal area leaving a lovely red welted line straight across my midriff that isn't going away anytime soon.

Did my jumps watching boring NHK news, then did 8MA+ at half speed, which burned twice as much.

Powered through the supersets, going REALLY low on the chest dips and really feeling it burn like heartburn. Man when the pectoral muscles burn and fail, they really, really hurt!
Shoulders was shoulders: near constant burning but I am used to them.
Final triceps dips where just torture; my right elbow was quivering and I could not push my self up on the last rep; I just collapsed onto the carpet.

And then it was time for abs: v-sits and planks, superset, to failure.
HFSWTFSATANSATANSATAN.
+5 Sword of Hurting; 20d save role at -10...FAIL.

At this point my family was in the living room, on the couch, watched bemusedly and with detached grins as I berated myself attempting to achieve at least double-digit v-sits and 60+ seconds planks through all the requisite sets.
Which I somehow managed to do.
And then I lay on the carpet, sort of curled up fetal, whimpering a bit, for a good 3 minutes.
And then it was over.

final PCP lunch bento!

2010-05-27T14:18:00.001+09:00

Going out in style: scallop fried rice, grilled pumpkin and eggplant.

eggrything breakfast

2010-05-27T07:23:00.001+09:00

Snap peas, garlic, carrots, bell-pepper, onion, spinach, mushrooms, tomato, zucchini, bran with banana cinnamush and blueberries.

this dinner bento never gets old

2010-05-26T18:46:00.001+09:00

Scallops fried rice with grilled pumpkin, bell-peppers.

how to snack: by me

2010-05-26T12:59:00.000+09:00

I love the concept of quick, convenient, and home-cooked. But I do not think that a near-1000 calorie chocolate-cake-in-a-coffee-mug-in-five-minutes is a particularly good idea.

Luckily, when I have a sweet craving and only have five minutes, I have myriad choices:

banana cinnamush with blueberries
apple slices + chunks of yellow kiwi fruit = crazy delicious
grapes and strawberries

I have discovered that the key is to combine fruits; a fleshy/meaty fruit juxtaposed with a more acidic or tangy fruit. Thus apple + kiwi fruit has more kick than apple + grape.
Also, when bananas get over-ripe/brown and soggy they are already halfway to cinnamush goodness. If they are too ripe and tangy (i.e. not sweet enough), a wee dollop of honey does wonders.
Also brilliant spread on any carb (bagel, tortilla, whatever).

Other genius snacks in my arsenal:

steamed (or microwaved) corn on the cob
grilled (or microwaved) sweet potato / yam -- crunchy skin is the best part!
figs (not dried figs, or Fig Newton cookies, but the actual fruit itself; the whole damn thing, skin and all)

Other, slightly less PCP but nonetheless acceptable snacks:

peanut butter and celery (or apple, or cabbage, or banana)
soft-boiled egg (eat the slimy yoke! live LARGE!)
umeboshi onigiri
kimchee and/or namuru (get your spice on)

Then again, the occasional Starbucks chocolate scone won't kill you. Just depends on your definition of occasional.

i was compelled by forces beyond nature to make more fried rice!

2010-05-26T11:55:00.001+09:00

Scallops and mountain veggies fried rice, grilled pumpkin, bell-peppers, warm salad.

PAIN

2010-05-26T10:01:00.000+09:00

Good timing that Patrick's message today was about thinking about pain when working out.
I had plenty of that this morning!
Woke up at 5am like always, sat some zazen in the spare room, in front of the balcony window, as the morning ski turned lighter shades of gray, then discovered that wife was feeding/sleeping with son on the couch in the living room. So instead of doing the jumps, 8MA+, and workout in the living room, I gathered my stuff and headed down to the garage, aka The Prison Yard.
Did the jumps OK, then started Day #2 of Supersets.
Three comments:

Creeps AND Floor Jumps?! Satan.
Forward Shoulder Lifts and DaVincis as a superset: not. even. funny.
See the safety tip below: when doing shoulder flies, be sure the velcro strap is SECURELY fastened to the drain pipe, or else serious redness and welting will result.

I headed back upstairs to finish the flies in the spare room, and by then everyone was up so I started in on the abs. V-Sits to failure is really hard the first two sets, and really, really easy the last three.
Side crunches to failure was not happening, so I just did 100 on each side until I was on fire, and THEN did 8MA+. By then 7th minute I was utterly whimpering, so mission accomplished methinks.

And now my thighs and shoulders are just kind of smoldering all day, so I am walking slow and not making any big, sudden arm movements. Sore is good!

prison scramble breakfast

2010-05-26T07:17:00.001+09:00

Sweet potato, carrots, komatsu, scallops fried rice, eggs, garlic...banana cinnamush with blueberries.

safety tip

2010-05-26T06:20:00.001+09:00

Be sure the resistance band is SECURELY fastened, otherwise snap-back may result in painful injury!

last-of-the-fried-rice bento dinner

2010-05-25T18:16:00.001+09:00

The end of an era! Buried under carrots, pumpkin, and sweet potato.

hot rice, cold veggies lunch

2010-05-25T13:48:00.001+09:00

Shrimp and scallops brown fried rice, cucumber and bell-pepper.

supersets

2010-05-25T09:02:00.000+09:00

Honestly, I did not think it was that bad. I like doing different exercises in rapid succession, instead of a gazillion reps in a million sets of the same thing. Then again mixing up the different muscle groups certainly means it hurts more, in different places.
The final five sets of v-sits AND planks to failure was just. utterly. miserable.
I think my problem is I always think I can do just one more...and then I have four more sets to do. So by the last set I was utterly crushed and could barely sit up. I think I ended up doing over 100 v-sits total, and nearly 10 minutes of planks. And that was after I did 8MA+. Methinks it was a bit much...but only a few more days to go, so no time to complain now!

superset tuesday breakfast

2010-05-25T07:08:00.000+09:00

Eggs with cucumber, bell-pepper, garlic, komatsu, lettuce, bran cereal with blueberries and banana cinnamush.

week 12 results

2010-05-24T21:29:00.001+09:00

Rainy and humid - perfect weather for a sweaty PCP workout. Today was the last normal workout before the beginning of the end: Supersets. Did all the fun stuff today with Patrick: pistol squats and floor jumps, forward shoulder lifts and chicken wings and shoulder flies, v-sits from hell and some side crunches to top it off.
As Patrick predicted,spent the first few weeks tearing down, the next few weeks building up. The almost-normal menu from last week has got me stabilizing at a slightly higher weight and body fat, and the interesting thing is I look better and feel great.
Too many people telling me last week I looked emaciated, too skinny. Now I have some proper bulk, and a decent sheen of fat to accentuate whatever muscle definition I have.
Besides, the numbers are irrelevant: I feel great and ready to whine and suffer and ultimately prevail through this last killer week!
Patrick hooked me up with my very own PerfectPullup bar, too, so no more excuses.
GO TEAM GO!

dinner bento

2010-05-24T17:30:00.001+09:00

same as lunch.

last week, first lunch, familiar bento

2010-05-24T12:00:00.001+09:00

Brown fried rice with scallops, lettuce, onion, garlic, steamed pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots.

last week first breakfast

2010-05-24T06:48:00.001+09:00

Eggs with chingensai, bell-pepper, onion, garlic, cucumber, mushrooms, bran cereal with blueberries and banana cinnamush.

totally random dinner

2010-05-23T18:04:00.001+09:00

Salad with cucumber, apple, bell-pepper, balsamico, grilled leeks, kamaboko with egg-whites, toast with banana cinnamush.

what not to drink

2010-05-23T15:45:00.002+09:00

Comparison of sugary drinks and their junk food equivalent.
Now how about a lovely cup of tea?

final weekend

2010-05-23T13:17:00.000+09:00

This is it: my last PCP weekend. Tomorrow I head to YG to do a Week 12 Results check, and then it's just five days of Getting It Done.
Yesterday spent the day outside in the perfect weather with my wife and kids; veggie-filled brunch with friends, couple of trips to the park, and finished off with a delicious salad and sashimi dinner at the local fish joint.
Today complete opposite: rainy and crappy all day, so spending the day indoors, most of the time in the kitchen prepping for next week. Lots of steaming, sauteing, grilling, boiling, weighing, and bagging.
Them for next is: no salt.

Friday I am taking the day off from work. Will head to YG in the morning, do a two-hour yoga stretch class, then do my Final Workout with Patrick, take some last photos, and get some LUNCH!

Also been working on our latest homework: find some ab-work alternatives. I have already turned Eight Minutes Abs in 8MA+, by adding the twist "keep feet off ground the whole time" which really turns it into a different kind of torture.
And then I found "Six Minutes Abs: Couch"! An interesting version for those days when I don't have that extra two minutes.

thai delivery lunch

2010-05-23T12:10:00.001+09:00

Stir-fry veggies, shrimp spring rolls, veggie omelet, yellow veggie curry

rainy sunday breakfast

2010-05-23T08:42:00.001+09:00

Bagel with banana cinnamush, eggs with lettuce, garlic stems, tomato, brocolli.

salads at uokatsu fish place

2010-05-22T18:22:00.001+09:00

Little fishes and tomato, asparagus and crab.

lunch buffet @ r cafe

2010-05-22T11:46:00.000+09:00

Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, carrot, corn, grilled veggies...

messy omelet breakfast

2010-05-22T09:12:00.000+09:00

Eggs with garlic stems, mushrooms, spinach, bagel with banana cinnamush.

Yet another fried rice dinner

2010-05-21T18:47:00.001+09:00

I never get tired of scallop fried rice, onion, pumpkin.

same rice lunch

2010-05-21T13:38:00.001+09:00

Fried rice with brocolli and zucchini.

thoughts on the gym

2010-05-21T13:31:00.003+09:00

Our homework this week was to check out a gym. Now, given the convenient location and company membership, I have actually been a frequent user of the gym throughout PCP. The second month I worked out at the gym regularly at night,and once I switched consistently to working every morning before breakfast, I continue to use the gym during lunch and at night to supplement my workouts and do the occasional just-for-fun session.
The facility itself is quite typical for Tokyo: a large quantity of equipment and myriad services packed into a small space. The staff are friendly and helpful and are generally young and healthy.
I quite appreciate the two weight stations with pull-up bars, the selection of four different resistance bands, two padded stretch areas with mirrors, and an aerobics studio that I can often use for jumping.
It gets a bit crowded during lunch and evenings, but if I go early or late, I sometimes find myself the only patron.
So in all it is a convenient place to do my thing, shower, and get on with it.
Regarding the people working out there...perhaps it best just to describe a few typical users:
ForeverMan - this guy works out ALL the time. He is sweaty and working hard when I arrive and appears no closer to being done when I leave. He has music in his ears, watches the TVs for minutes at a time between sets, drinks chemical concoctions frequently, and utilizes every toy and training regimen available.
And in the three months I have been on PCP, he appears to be maintaining his slightly paunchy physique perfectly.
LeisureLady - Her workout apparel is perfectly coordinated, down to her jewelry.She is skinny in that emaciated-bulimic-model kind of way, and she never, ever sweats.
Spends most of her time on the stretch mats doing light Pilate's moves; she is incredibly limber. Alternatively she can found on the recumbent bike machine - sitting - watching TV and chatting or texting on her cell whilst leisurely moving the pedals.
One-On-One - Accompanied and guided by a personal trainer, bonus points if said trainer does not even work at the gym and extra-bonus points if said trainer speaks a different language, forcing communication to a series of demonstratory moves, random single shared words, and head-nodding or shaking. Always has a stopwatch and some other handheld equipment like rubber bands, colored tape, small towel, etc. Jackpot if includes a relaxing massage after rotating through every area of the gym.
Quantifier - This guy records EVERYTHING in a detailed workout log. Which he undoubtedly needs just to remember what to do, because his routine is complex. Speed push-ups for ten seconds followed by 20 weighted squats followed by wrist curls with a rubber band and a towel whilst observing tantric nasal breathing. Repeat a prime number of times as a function of the day of the week.
Record, repeat.
His calves and forearms look excellent, his gut is unchanging, his back is flexible though his legs are not, and he is sincerely doing his best to collect as many pieces of equipment as he can, scattering them about his general area of commandeered floor space.

There are others of course, even a few folks who seem to know what they are doing and are in fine health, but the majority...let me just say that I saw a cow-worker on the exercycle, utterly bathed in sweat, blue in the face and gasping for air.
I thought it amusing that the email I got from him this morning was titled "Breakfast is served" and stated: "100 krispy kreme donuts outside my office. Let's eat!"
Keep peddling, man, keep peddling...

breakfast of champions

2010-05-21T07:12:00.001+09:00

Bagel with banana and strawberry cinnamush, eggs with bell-peppers, zucchini, garlic, spinach.

no great wisdom

2010-05-20T20:41:00.000+09:00

So today was an appropriately rainy and miserable day. Wife and I headed out to Chiba, east of Tokyo, where we first met and lived when I came to Japan in 1994.
To attend the funeral of Master, the awesome guy who ran the local yakitori (chicken sticks) place that was the neighborhood since well before I ever arrived.
He was 51, survived by his wife, junior-high school aged daughter and high school aged son.
Pancreatic cancer.

So what deep and wise lessons did I learn from this experience? The second death this week, btw. My friend's father also died of cancer, though he was much older. And she is pregnant, so there is some consolation in knowing that the circle of life continues on there...

Anyway, no liberating enlightenment for me. Some fond memories of fun times now 10 years in the past, and the knowledge that I am doing the PCP not just to look good naked, but to try and be alive as long as I can to provide for my own wife, son, and daughter.

After the funeral, on the train back to Tokyo, my wife somberly eye-balled me and deadpanned: "Don't you DARE die on me: live long."

Abso-fucking-lutely right I will do my damnedest to ensure I live as long and well as possible.

After the funeral we headed to the lunch buffet at the French Kitchen in the Grand Hyatt; we deserved a little something to lift our spirits and spend some quality no-kids time together. And the vegetable buffet was amazing.

The whole day has renewed my vigor and confirmed my priorities. I may yet die of cancer, but at least I am not actively inviting it, or any of the other myriad avoidable/preventable diseases that are ensured by a life of sloth and gluttony.

And now I am heading to fighting, to burn off the remnants of this icky day and put me one step closer to peakfection.

minimal salt dinner

2010-05-20T19:29:00.001+09:00

Brown rice with shrimp, scallops, peas, carrots, corn, chingensai, garlic, onion.

for Abby

2010-05-20T14:40:00.001+09:00

Chocolate FOUNTAIN, with piles of marshmallows, banana, cookies, bread pudding, etc to dip into the chocolate!
This is so not-PCP.

post-funeral lunch buffet @ Grand Hyatt French Kitchen

2010-05-20T13:42:00.001+09:00

Grilled onion, cucumber, bell-peppers, asparagus, mini-tomato salad, carrot salad, veggie sticks, tuna tartar...

the standard breakfast

2010-05-20T07:32:00.001+09:00

Bran cereal with banana cinnamon,blueberries, eggs with bell-peppers, mushrooms, garlic, spinach, leek.

forewarned

2010-05-20T06:49:00.000+09:00

Raining all day today. Alarm went off three times before I finally noticed and woke up. So I was up 15 minutes late; not a good start.
Headed down to the underground garage to get my jumps on. Took a while to get into a rhythm, but I started counting sets of 500 and was done before I knew it.
Came back upstairs, knocked out 8MA+, doing the side crunches really slooooooowly and fully feeling it.
Then the workout: legs, shoulders, abs.
Patrick warned us that the last ten days are brutal. He wasn't kidding. I absolutely have not worked out this hard yet on PCP. Finishing every rep of every set is an absolute struggle of mind and muscle: it hurts. All the sets have a range of number of reps. Up until now I have been maxing out every set, sometimes going over.
Not today -- last few sets I had to go down in reps, until on a few exercises I was barely quivering and struggling through the last set, minimum reps.
Ah, the joyous burn of muscle failure. It is good though, because these last few weeks I have been bobbling around 36% muscle mass and if I can just push it a bit more I can build a tad more muscle and really lock in some great results.
So: I have been forewarned. To the burn!

more cheats

2010-05-19T23:39:00.000+09:00

Beautiful weather in the morning so I did jumps outside in front of my building. Being on a hill I find it a tad easier to jump facing downhill...maybe it's all psychosomatic?
Came back up to the apartment and cranked through 8MA+; yes it still hurts, and I was REALLY concentrating on the side crunches keeping burning tension the whole time. Don't have a pull-up bar so did the pull-ups under my dining room table, which was probably MORE of a workout than real pull-ups because I did full sets and was quivering with failure at the very last rep of each set.
Also did not do the Kung-Fu sits again because no pull-up bar, but I did the full bicycles, alternating forwards and backwards pedaling each set, and only used my hands a little to support my quivering-in-the-fringes-of-failure thighs.
Figured I would hit the gym at lunch or in the evening and use the pull-up bar, but it didn't happen; ended up working hard straight through until 7:30, heading down to a co-worker's leaving drinks (ice tea and veggies sticks, pass on the mayo dip thanks), then back to the office before coming home around 10pm to prep a bunch of food (Wednesday is the day groceries are delivered so lots to prep and chop and steam) -- cooked up a big batch of brown rice, mixed a bunch of veggies, grilled up some shrimp and scallops and garlic, steamed some veggies, weighed and packed some fruit...

So, various cheats of the day:

Used my hands a bit to help my legs on the bicycles
Did inclined pull-ups instead of proper
Jumped facing downhill
Skipped the Kung-Fu sits
Put blueberries in my organic whole bran sticks cereal (zero salt!)
Put too much soy milk in my organic whole bran sticks cereal
Mixed some strawberries into my protein powder bananamush this evening

Then again, none other than The Kazu himself said eating fruit is totally OK, so I am reasonably guiltless about the blueberries and strawberries.

And seriously I do have to say one of my absolute greatest discoveries on PCP is bananamush. Whenever I get the urge to have something sweet and thick and filling, instead of grabbing a bar of chocolate and nougat, or some other tasty chewy evil snack, instead I can mush up a banana with a teaspoon of cinnamon (maybe powdered carob or cocoa would work too?), toss in some berries, maybe the occasional nut or coconut slice or something, and indulge effectively.

Skipping the pull-ups and Kung-Fu sits sucks; doing inclined pull-ups and 8MA+ anyway is a feeble excuse.

I am weak. Day 80 behavior this is not. Must. Man. Up.

Bran sticks and soy milk I can fix -- just gotta use less bran sticks cereal, requiring less soy milk, to keep at the carbs allotment. Will probably consciously continue to add unnecessary fruit though, because it's damn good, and it is just fruit. So unless Patrick explicitly tells me to put that extra fruit onto the forbidden list (with the raisins and mayo), I will finish off all the blueberries and strawberries in the fridge.

And tomorrow I am attending a funeral in the AM. Actually two deaths this week: friend's elderly father passed away last night after a long and valiant struggle with cancer, and an old acquaintance from when I first came to Japan (16 years ago!) died this weekend at a relatively young age (early 40s) apparently from some seriously fast and lethal cancer.

More on that tomorrow, after I actually attend the funeral and the reality sinks in appropriately.

Needless to say it gives pause for thought: one the one hand, being generally healthy and eating wholesome, healthful foods will surely reduce the cancer risk...but on the other hand, nothing to be done about getting hit by a bus tomorrow.

Like I told my friend whose father passed: I could say something deep-sounding and zen about and living in the moment etc. etc. but that is just way too trite and feeble. The reality is, well, reality. Here we are, doing what we do. Net-net, I'd rather be eating well and feeling good. And if I STILL get cancer, or hit by a bus, there's nothing to be done about it but leave a fit-looking corpse and hope my life insurance policy makes things a bit easier for my family.

this-looks-familiar dinner

2010-05-19T18:34:00.001+09:00

Last of the fried rice with bell-peppers and broccoli, little bab-leaf salad with carrots, ito-konnyaku, and zenmai.

square lunch

2010-05-19T12:05:00.001+09:00

Fried rice with onion and eggplant, mountain veggies in spicy sauce.

eggsrything and bran breakfast

2010-05-19T07:35:00.001+09:00

Whole bran with soymilk, blueberries, banana and cinnamon, eggs with carrots, bell-peppers, garlic, mushrooms, onion, cucumber, tuna.

RESULTS!

2010-05-18T21:41:00.003+09:00

As Patrick is in the USA this week, he kindly arranged for the legendary Kazu to run me through the workout, take my photos, and record my stats. It has been two years since he finished his own PCP, and if I can look half as good at his age I will be a star.
He counted off all the reps and sets and paced me the whole workout, from the never-ending chest dips, through the inclined push-ups, ovations, and hundreds of curls before humbling me on the final 450 seconds of utterly brutal planks.
So the result: I have dropped a kilo in weight, and half a percent of visceral gut fat! Muscle mass went down slightly bit that is close enough to be a rounding error on the scale - basically stabilizing at around 36% which is a fine place to be. Body fat is consistently low teens, too.
Honestly on the one hand I am damn impressed with myself, but on the other hand I am not so impressed because I have been busting ass for nearly three months and if there is one thing I have learned it is: hard work on PCP gets results. It does not get much simpler.
I just have to keep pounding away for 11 more days to really lock in the results and then it gets REALLY interesting! Post-pcp I am looking forward to eating...pork. Sasauge, bacon, yakiniku, whatever. Healthy proteins like chicken and seafood are lovely, but sometimes a man needs his swine!

more of the same dinner

2010-05-18T18:15:00.000+09:00

Same great fried rice as lunch, topped with onion and eggplant.

chahan lunch

2010-05-18T13:43:00.001+09:00

Brown rice with shrimp, snap peas, corn, peas, carrots, enoki, steamed bell-peppers and broccoli stems.

throw-it-all-in-the-frypan breakfast

2010-05-18T06:51:00.001+09:00

wheat bread with banana cinnamush, eggs with cucumber, snap peas, bell-peppers, tomato, mushrooms, garlic.

last nutrition

2010-05-18T06:06:00.000+09:00

The final nutrition plan for the last two weeks: nothing dramatic, slightly more carbs and for dinner I get my choice of protein instead of the requisite 2 egg-whites. So I am at basically "normal" eating portions now, which for me means as many veggies as I want, a reasonable amount of carbs for breakfast and lunch, a bit more for dinner, and a good quantity of protein, plus three fruit and egg-white snacks a day to top it off.
Worked out at night last night and it was TOUGH: floor jumps killed me, v-sits made sure I stayed dead.
After that I went shopping and loaded up on some veggies, then cooked up a big batch of stir-fried brown rice so I have meals for the next couple days no problem.
In the morning yesterday I did a nice jump and run outside so this morning I thought I would do it again, but as I was sitting zazen after I woke up, both kids and wife got up way, way earlier than normal.
Ended up doing my jumps and 8MA+ in the living room, daughter on the couch watching NHK news with me. Could not jump for the life of me; I think I miss the cool outside air and warm sun or something.
And 8MA+ continues to hurt so I know I still got plenty to get out of that.

geometrically-balanced dinner bento

2010-05-17T18:37:00.001+09:00

Lettuce and tomato, eggplant, onion,leek, egg-whites with zenmai, carrots, and konnyaku noodles.

Last Two Weeks.

2010-05-17T13:31:00.000+09:00

Or: The End of the Beginning of the rest of my life.

With Patrick in the US I have not gotten my diet and workouts for this week yet (will get them in a couple hours; as soon as he wakes up!) so I have simply continued on with my previous plan.
This morning I just jumped for 20 minutes and did 8MA+ (really bloody hurt on the side crunches; left-over pain from an indulgent weekend perhaps?) and once I get the exercises I will do them tonight.

Last week I killed off my granola and this weekend I bought a small loaf of local freshly made whole wheat bread; no sugar, milk, or eggs, minimal salt.
Until the PCP is over: no tortillas, no raisins, no exotically large bentos. Keeping it simple: steamed veggies of different colors, brown rice, egg whites, fruit.
My small almost-cheat is that I mix a little cinnamon in with a banana, mush it all up, and have that on my carbs in the morning (either whole wheat bread or 7-grain bagel.) And at night when I take my two spoons of protein powder again I mix it up into a banana. That way I start and end the day with something sweet and savory and I am not tempted to stray from the path during the day.
I really, really need to push through these last two weeks and get some final results. Like Watson and others, I do not want to fixate on a number; don't care if my weight stays at 65 kilos, or if I can't get that last percentage of body fat off...I just wanna get peaked, feel strong, and look as good as I possibly can naked. ;)

nothing fancy bento lunch

2010-05-17T13:05:00.001+09:00

Burdoch root and fish kamaboko, brocolli, bell-peppers, brown rice.

day 78 breakfast

2010-05-17T06:41:00.000+09:00

Eggs with brocolli stems, ruccola, tomato, tuna, wheat bread with banana cinnamush.

dinner with family and friends

2010-05-16T18:31:00.001+09:00

Salad with lettuce, baby leaf, apple, mushrooms, sesame, red snapper with leek, chijimi...

lunch @ appi kids place

2010-05-16T12:46:00.001+09:00

Veggie sticks and various small salads - no dressing - from FamilyMart.

lesson learned

2010-05-16T10:34:00.000+09:00

So last night I had my final indulgence, which as Patrick recommended was basically the gluttonous meal I used to eat on a regular basis: Starbucks soy chai latte, followed by way too much sushi, and finished off with some sugary-sweet dessert.
About 30 minutes after the dessert, I found myself in a nearly forgotten but not unfamiliar place: sitting on the toilet, painfully relieving myself of the previous meal.
Looking back, I have always had a "weak stomach".
When I was in school I remember often finding myself in the bathroom of the nurse's office in a similar position.
After many years of suffering, I finally figured out, thanks to my mom, that I am massively lactose intolerant. And then it made sense: cereal with milk for breakfast? Problem. Bacon and eggs: fine. Bagel with cream cheese: problem. Bagel and turkey: fine. Milk with lunch: problem.
Pizza, pasta with cream sauce, all the usual suspects. So since I live in Japan, it has been easy to avoid dairy. Soy is plentiful and most things don't come covered in cheese anyway.
Once I switched off of dairy, my stomach got much better; I would only have issues a couple times a week instead of every day.
This condition is generally diagnosed as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). So I did what I could; carried tissues with me, kept in mind the location of available public toilets, and learned to live with it.
And then I started PCP, and a funny thing happened: as Patrick predicted, I started pooping like a rabbit. Small poops, generally after a meal. I have been eating food and nothing but food, i.e. all stuff my body can process and use. So the only thing left to poop out is the indigestible fiber in all the fruits and vegetables. These past 11 weeks (with the exception of last night) have been totally and complete uneventful in that regard.
So whilst I am sure IBS is a legit "sickness" for some people, at least for me it was just "eating lots of crap that my body could not digest." Last night was a perfect example: a sweet drink, way too much raw fish including shellfish, with lots of sweet-vinegary white rice carbs, and then a bunch of super-sweet carbs for dessert. Stomach just revolted and got it all out as quickly as possible, probably not even bothering to digest what little nutrients I managed to consume.
After the meal I felt bloated and lethargic, after the toilet I felt weak and light-headed.
So: lesson learned!

This morning I woke up, HUNGRY, at nearly 8am, after sleeping a massive 11 hours. Immediately changed, went outside, and jumped for 22 minutes in the fresh air and morning sun. Then I went for a 22 minute run around the neighborhood: up to Azabujyuban, through Roppongi Hills, past the Chinese Embassy and back home via Sendaizaka-ue.
Then I did 8MA, took a shower, and finally famished I cooked up a huge breakfast with leftover veggies, the last of the granola, eggs, and chicken sausage we bought at the Nagoya Food Fest yesterday.
Though the quantity was more than I had last night, it was all FOOD, and I feel great and ready to spend the day chasing my kids around the park.

prison brunch

2010-05-16T09:22:00.001+09:00

Onion, carrots, pumpkin, mushrooms, eggs, chicken sausage, granola with strawberries and banana cinnamush.

indulgence part the last

2010-05-15T19:35:00.001+09:00

Imo-kenpi from Nagoya food fest. Basically strings of sweet potato fried and covered in a sugary syrup coating.

indulgence part the second

2010-05-15T18:02:00.001+09:00

sushi @ pintokona

indulgence part the first

2010-05-15T17:24:00.001+09:00

short soy chai tea latte

lunch salad @ TGIFs

2010-05-15T12:34:00.001+09:00

No cheese, dressing on the side Cobb salad.

prison breakfast

2010-05-15T08:28:00.000+09:00

Scrambled eggs with cucumber, onion, carrots, granola with banana cinnamush.

what happened? are you ok?

2010-05-14T21:50:00.000+09:00

I have now had multiple people ask me what happened and if I have some horrible disease causing me to waste away. They seem relieved when I tell them I am purposefully eating well and exercising daily, and that, in fact, I feel great; energized and alive and HEALTHY, and no I do not have a sudden onset of bone cancer or something equally horrible.

Why is it that so many people think losing 10 kilos in 10 weeks must be caused by some debilitating disease? Is getting into a more healthy frame of mind and body really so rare in society these days that it is not anywhere near the first cause people come up with when presented with steady and consistent weight loss? Strange and sad reflection on these modern times, eh?

3rd and final indulgence

2010-05-14T21:44:00.001+09:00

Patrick has just given us the green light for our third and final indulgence, which we apparently need to do quickly and in SIZE, because starting next week, things is to be gettin' ugly.
I am thinking should go to dinner with the family this weekend and not care what I eat...maybe sushi? Really depends on the fish, but say there are approximately 50 calories per nigiri (that's the fish plus the rice), and two per plate, so 100 a plate, and I usually eat ten plates, which is right smack 1000...DAMN. I used to eat that maybe once a month! That's not a small, healthy meal eh?
Could also order a pizza and partake of that greasy delight. I can't eat cheese, so I usually go for a nice thin crust Marinara whilst the wife and kids prefer something more substantial. Maybe throw in some gnocchi and sausage?

Anyway we shall see what happens this weekend; really up to the wife and kids.

salad bag dinner II: Electric Bugaloo

2010-05-14T20:36:00.001+09:00

Baby leaf greens, mushrooms, cucumber, bell-peppers,carrots with tomato, carrot, lemon juice sauce, ryeflatbread, egg-whites.

proof

2010-05-14T20:28:00.002+09:00

Callouses at the base of each finger, another one in the middle of the hand, below the middle finger. Torn skin near the base of the thumb, between thumb and first finger...pull-ups on the pull-up bar. Kung-Fu sit-ups on the pull-up bar. WIDE grip on the pull-up bar. Keeping the thumbs over when gripping the pull-up bar.
Six sets of ten pull-ups on the pull-up bar. (Today a new record, FIVE pull-ups successful on the first set!) Six sets of nine Kung-Fu sits on the pull-up bar.
Feeling the burn on the pull-up bar.
Failing on the pull-up bar.
Leaving little bits of me on the pull-up bar.
Taking some of it with me from the pull-up bar.
Like Yoda says: "Try not. Do or do not, there is no try."

sports day picnic lunch

2010-05-14T11:18:00.001+09:00

Tortillas, chikuwa, steamed carrots, leek, pumpkin, bell-peppers, fruit...

tortilla-gate

2010-05-14T08:20:00.000+09:00

So Fish did a complete investigation into our beloved tortillas. Seems I have misled my PCP brethren. Them things got hell of salt in them.
But I am not terribly concerned because:

I don't eat them every day
I have so little salt besides those anyway (don't cook with it)
Regardless, my body fat % is down to 13%, I have dropped almost 10 kilos in weight, and I (barely) have a six-pack

But just to be safe, Patrick says that salt is what keeps me water-logged and bloated, and also means it's harder to see muscle definition. In order to have nice "thin skin", I need to cut the salt.

So for the next couple weeks I am really going to watch the salt as best I can, which means minding my carbs mostly. My carbs allocation has been slowly increasing as I near the end of PCP, so I will maybe just ignore the remaining rye flatbread and tortillas in the kitchen, and stick with brown rice rice as my carb for the last two weeks.

Will also cut the "low-salt" umeboshi, Korean namuru, garlic in spicy miso, and anything else that has even a hint of soy sauce until the end of PCP. Little tiny bits, but it is the point of the discipline that matters. NO. SLACKING!

prison scramble and granola breakfast

2010-05-14T07:09:00.002+09:00

Eggs with spinach, leek, mushrooms, granola with mushed cinnamon banana.

Before breakfast I went for a "run" again. Set the timer for 15 minutes and took off south/east. Got to Hiroo Station when the alarm rang, so I kept going up towards Nishi-Azabu crossing but turned right way early and ended up at the corner of Arisugawa Park, at Aiiku Hospital. Kept going to Sendaizaka-ue, then turned down the back streets to go home. Total was about 28 minutes, at my own slow but steady pace and my funky "namba" running style.
Felt it a little in the shins, but then again I feel the same when I jump. Wearing my super thin-sole shoes, too, for that near-barefoot feeling. I think it is much better than normal shoes. I am not one of these barefoot unshaven hippies, but I have done enough martial arts barefoot to know that the human foot is an incredible piece of engineering, and wearing shoes with heels and cushioning and padding to "protect" the feet just makes it harder for them to do their job. The foot is arched so that it can act as a shock absorber, and it does a brilliant job of it. When barefoot, steps tend to be more onto the ball of the foot, and shorter in distance, allowing the whole leg, including the knee and hip, to absorb the impact of walking or running. This also gives the sole a chance to feel the ground; the toes grip, individually finding purchase and making minute adjustments to balance the body as the weight transfers on, the arch compresses, distributing the shock, the knee bends, thigh and calf flex...wearing shoes just means the sole has no idea what is going on, and is not prepared for the impact of stepping. The heel tends to strike first when wearing shows, so the shock-absorbing properties of the foot arch are basically ignored.
Anyway, I have been wearing Terra Plana's Vivo Barefoot shoes for over a year now, all day at work and otherwise, and I love that I can really feel the ground, that my toes can spread and move about. I also think it's great for posture, as shoes with heels unnaturally put too much weight on the balls of the feet. Makes the legs look good, because they are constantly tensed, keeping a ballerina-like stance, but it is not terribly conducive to natural and balanced posture.
Anyway today is Sports Day at my kids' school -- taking the AM off to go hang at the park with the kids and parents, play games, and then have a big picnic lunch!

OOPS

2010-05-13T19:00:00.001+09:00

I played around with the templates on my blog...and totally frakked it all up.
Will take me some time to fix. Sorry!

Update: Blogger.com saves the day! All previous blown-away data wasn't, it was just hiding.
Blog is fixed! No more gettin' clever. Instead of playing on teh internets, I should be doing V-Sits or something!

keep it simple dinner

2010-05-13T18:58:00.000+09:00

Steamed mushrooms, carrots, cucumber, pumpkin, onion, namuru and egg-whites.

return of Salad Bag lunch

2010-05-13T14:17:00.001+09:00

Salad greens tossed with chikuwa, tomato, onion, grilled carrots and leek greens, granola with mashed cinnamon banana.

sloplet breakfast

2010-05-13T07:09:00.001+09:00

Paprika sloplet with tomato, spinach, garlic, chicken, whole wheat 7 grain fig bagel, cinnamon banana schmear.

round round bento dinner

2010-05-12T18:38:00.001+09:00

Salad with steamed mushrooms, carrots, cucumber, egg-whites and olives.

what feeling "good" means

2010-05-12T13:50:00.001+09:00

I am probably getting less sleep than pre-PCP; my typical routine is to come home between 10 and 11 pm and spend a focused, calm and soothing hour in the kitchen: I empty the dishwasher, load it with whatever isn't clean yet, hand wash whatever is left (certain hand-pottered items, my bento box that I will soon use again, etc.), chop vegetables, load the steamer, hard-boil and peel eggs.
Then I randomly figure out what's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the next day, and start loading up containers and baggies and bento boxes. Measure carbs and fruit snacks, try to get an even balance of vegetables, mix up the colors, make sure I have enough eggs, wonder what to do with all the damn yolks (I usually take a day's worth of yolks, i.e. 6, and mix in one full hard-boiled egg with mayo to give my wife a big jar of artery-hardening really rich and yellow egg-salad!), collate and stack and bag (I have had enough spillage accidents to be incredibly anal about getting everything drip and leak proof, and double-bagged just in case) and insert in refrigerator for-grab-and-go efficiency the next day.
Then I catch up on a few emails, order groceries from the co-op for next delivery, finish off whatever domestic tasks may be pending that can be completed in relative silence and darkness so as not to wake the family (hang and/or fold and/or wash a pending load of laundry, bag the trash to take out the next morning, etc.) and off to bed. If by some miracle it is before midnight, I will sit for a bit.
And then I get up at 5am, sit for 20 minutes, jump for 20 minutes watching the horrible NHK morning "news", 8MA+ (don't let feet touch ground!), daily workout.
By now it's 6:30ish, so the wife and baby son are probably up. Wife makes kids' bentos and I juggle between making my breakfast and taking a shower and entertaining my son to keep him from driving wife crazy as she does her thing. At some point daughter wakes up; either early enough to sit with me and eat breakfast together, or late enough to eat with mom and possibly brother. (Alternate version: she wakes up early, but then lies on the couch for half an hour; she is an absolute miserable bear when she first wakes up, so best to not provoke her and let her figure out the timing of breakfast.)
Recently son has been more manageable; capable of sitting in his high chair for nearly an entire meal, pawing handfuls of food into the general vicinity of his mouth. Recently he has been very into chicken fingers, and rice topped with shirasu (little white fishes), and kids yogurt in a packet (imagine a long package of individual servings of ketchup).
From them on it's clothes, brushing of teeth, packing of bentos and other work/school necessities into bags, finding of socks and arguments about which jacket to wear and possibly (though rare) brushing of hair before rushing out the door to school / work.
I take an old (15 years and counting!) EMI backpack stuffed to the seams and heavy: lunch and dinner plus three snacks, workout clothes plus jump rope. Tried to make do with a more "professional" looking shoulder bag, then switched to my awesomely cavernous Freitag messenger bag, but the weight was too much for one shoulder so I have switched to the extremely geeky-looking suit-and-backpack...can't be helped, because for every strange look and grumpy stare I get when I smack someone on the train with my massive pack, I get at least as many stares and comments when I am changing in the gym or dojo, usually followed by a "What happened to YOU?! Didn't you used to be kinda...fat?"
PCP happened to me, baby.
P.C.P!

circles and squares bento

2010-05-12T13:04:00.001+09:00

Baby leaf and onion and fig salad, steamed bell-peppers, pumpkin, mushrooms, onion, wheat tortillas, konyaku and chikuwa with ground ginger and soy-ish sauce.

tuna scramble breakfast

2010-05-12T07:19:00.001+09:00

Egg and tuna paprika scramble with mushrooms, pumpkin, half bagel tomato topping, rye flatbread.

i am humbled

2010-05-11T23:17:00.000+09:00

Here I am thinking I am the man, what with having completed more than 75% of my PCP and having dropped my body fat % nearly in half, and so I am telling Jason and Todd The Way Things Are.
Seems they are in fact schooling me!
I recommended to Jason the whole wheat tortillas at National Azabu supermarket, but Todd pointed out their potentially high salt content, so Jason has contacted the maker's customer service center to find out the exact salt content.
DAMN guys, I mean, I make the effort to only buy canned tuna-fish packed in water with no salt added...but figuring out the salt content in BREAD?
You guys are hardcore. Mad respect; I have much to learn!

dinner @ pizzakaya

2010-05-11T20:02:00.002+09:00

I must say, once again I exhibited mad black belt skillz. Had a couple of visitors from outta town, so took them to the traditional Japanese eatery Pizzakaya. They indulged in mad greasy deep-dish pizza, I had what turned out to be an EXCELLENT meal of grilled veggies (flavored olive oil on the side, ignored) and salad with tomato, avocado, and sesame seeds (light vinaigrette dressing.)
I dare say, when PCP is over, I planned on coming back here for a couple slices of pie...but after seeing and smelling the oily greasiness, I am wondering if I will even be able to stomach it!

salad bento lunch

2010-05-11T13:49:00.001+09:00

Baby leaf with mini-tomatoes and chikuwa, Danish flatbread, tricolor bell-peppers, banana.

bagel sandwich breakfast

2010-05-11T07:22:00.000+09:00

Whole wheat 7 grain bagel with turkey, tomato, egg salad, side of steamed onion.