Day 61

Enjoyed exercises but struggled to do the last set of plank yet again!  Whole body shaking and started to arch back again so stopped short of the 60 secs.  Had minor procedure to remove a lump in my elbow just before we left the UK and today my elbow feels a bit sensitive for the first time since surgery so I'll have to be careful with all the arm curls.....

Looking forward to lunch and have a busy afternoon so should get by easier today.

Hope you're all well and keeping strong.  I'm finding this week really tough so I hope that with more food next week, I'll be energised for the last month.......think I'll have to wake up a bit earlier to get the new exercise regime done?....

Day 60

A beautiful sunny day here in Tokyo today, so it was lovely to wake up early to get exercises done.  Legs today - went well and enjoyed skipping.  On average, I can now manage 5-8  minutes without stopping unless, of course, I trip!  Feel great after exercise but am now feeling very hungry and it's mid-morning, so think I will have my snack now.

I, too, share the sentiment of some of the other PCP ladies in that whilst I'm looking forward to a bit more food in the coming weeks, I'd really like to burn off the last little bits of fat, if possible. I'm hoping that the fat burning will continue despite us having a little more to eat?  Otherwise, it'll be a shame to have made all the effort with PCP and not achieve all one's goals, but perhaps I'm focusing again on how much I weigh rather than looking at the broader context of having more muscle?!......

Day 59

Managed to get to bed earlier last night so feeling less tired helped with exercises this morning.  Ski jumper and pull down really got muscles working and kung fu sit ups impossible so tried with knees up as Patrick suggested and managed the reps and sets!  Hooray!

Was REALLY hungry yesterday and am finding the lack of food a struggle.  Trying to keep focused and busy, but it is really hard.......

Just booked medical examinations for Simon and I for Friday, 28th October.  We have had  annual medical examinations in the UK and we're both curious to see how PCP has changed our body fat percentages etc. Fingers crossed it's going to be a cause for celebration!  Have to just say a huge "WELL DONE" to Simon who has now lost 2 stone and is looking good! WOW - keep up the good work, sweetheart!

And, to all of you, keep strong and well.  BTW, if any of you find yourselves in Tokyo, please look us up.  We would love to meet you.

Day 58

Struggled to get out of bed this morning, but glad I made the effort in the end!  Good exercises - shoulders on fire - although I just couldn't manage to hold for the full 60 secs on the last plank.  Whole body was shaking and I started to arch my back so stopped but I'm going to keep on at it!  I WILL be able to do 4 sets of 60 sec plank!!!

Really hungry today.  Trying to revise before my japanese lesson, but it's hard to focus on an empty tummy, so just had my mid morning snack. Going to keep busy and that should help me get through today.....

Day 57

Had to be very disciplined when the alarm went off this morning as the rest of the household snored away, I crept off down to the exercise room.  Lunges and floor jumps - thighs on fire but enjoyed exercise.  Skipping was great!  Makes getting up so early worthwhile.

My diet hasn't changed much at all this week, so going to just plod on.  Have to finish the unpacking - just my study to sort out now - so that I can enjoy living in this lovely city.

Hope you all have a good week.

Day 56

The day of the triathlon, so it's a bit of a rush to check out of the hotel before the swimming part of the race began.  Beautiful sunny day and the race went well for Simon.  He managed to shave 10 mins off his previous time which was great!  Back to Tokyo on the Shinkansen after the race so no time to skip......Missed my yoghurts and fruit so glad to get back to diet and exercise tomorrow...

Day 55

In a lovely place called Murakami and weather is a bit cool but it is so lovely to be out by the sea.  Lovely Japanese hotel - Ryokan - and children enjoying the sea and sand.....

Traditional japanese breakfast so was able to have rice and fish and veg, so that was good and a delicious dinner of sashimi, no carbs, and fruit.  We had some delicious noodles last night as our treat as they were stir fried and amazingly, we could tell just how salty it was.

Glad I brought my exercise gear although only managed skipping along the beach whilst the sun went down. Spectacular!

Day 54

Shoulders sore this morning, so found the exercises difficult.  Couldn't quite manage to hold for 60 secs on the 3rd and 4th plank.  Skipping good but shoulders burning throughout which wasn't pleasant but one has to work through the pain barrier and keep pushing oneself, I think.........

We're off to Murakami for  Simon's triathlon, so, after the typhoon, it'll be good to head out of town for a bit.  This will be our very first trip on the Shinkansen and the children are wildly excited.  Packed skipping rope and resistance bands so that I can carry on with exercises and will try my best with regards to the food.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Day 53

Ok, so it's clear, blue skies and a lovely warm day here in Tokyo after the complete devastation of Typhoon Roke yesterday afternoon. The winds were frightening - even from the safe-ish haven of our apartment - and the rain torrential. Wow! It's clear up day today - fallen branches and leaves, broken umbrellas and cars.  It seems like everyone we know through school is safe but we think of those who didn't make it.  How can it be so different today - weather is truly an amazing phenomena!

Back to PCP - good workout this morning. Managed to get a really huge blister at the back of my achilles from wearing my wellies for a long walk to school yesterday to pick up our children, so Simon kindly popped them for me or else I wouldn't have been able to put my trainers on at all!  Loved getting the legs going today.  Shoulders killing me - really burning throughout the jumps.  Bicycle abs really tough and I had to grit my teeth to get through them all.

Simon's doing a triathlon this weekend so we're away from tomorrow afternoon - another public holiday here in Japan.  Going to pack my skipping rope and resistance bands so that I can do my workouts on Saturday and Sunday.  Looking forward to supporting him along the way and, hopefully weather will be good.  We're staying in a Japanese hotel so food should be PCP compliant!  And, if not, we can have our  indulgence treat which we've got stored in the bank.......

Day 52

Exercises went well - apart from kung-fu sit ups! Can't even manage one! My whole body has toned well through PCP and feels great, but just can't do these sit ups!  Hate feeling defeated by something but that's the truth of the matter for now.  I will keep trying but think I'll do leg ups or something else instead so at least I'm working that part of the abs?

Arms and shoulders on fire so looking forward to doing some leg work tomorrow - I know I'll regret saying that tomorrow morning when my thighs are on fire..... Struggled to get rhythm with my skipping - I think that my legs weren't as warmed up as they normally are when we do leg work as well? Very frustrating.

Children finished school early today due to the arrival of typhoon so just having my lunch and enjoying the unlimited veg!  Yum.  Keeping me going at the moment.

Day 51

BAck to 5:15am alarm and early start.  Lovely to have had a bank holiday yesterday - the sun was shining - and now it's raining with the arrival of this typhoon....

Exercises good - felt like the arms and shoulders were on fire but strong shoulders are what are needed for good skipping.  Missed not doing some legs today but I'm sure they will be killed and shaking tomorrow.  Good for them to have a break, really after yesterday......  Enjoyed leg ups but struggled with plank.  1 whole minute of holding, is a real killer.  Everything was shaking at the end of each set and I needed more than 15 secs rest.....

Looking forward to unlimited veg at lunch time!

Hope you all have a good day.

Day 50

Very hard exercised!  My legs were like jelly after half the floor jumps!  Found it very difficult to do all the leg exercises - they were burning - but managed to do all sets, eventually!

Great skipping!  And, as it was  a public holiday in Japan today, it was lovely to have the day with Simon whilst the children were at school! Did some furniture shopping and then Simon cooked a DELICIOUS lunch - stir fried all sorts of vegs - leeks, mushrooms, asparagus, peppers, bamboo shoots, pak choi, and we had it with prawns and scallops - YUM!!  Having as much veg as you want is great!  Really fills you up!  Cheered me up no end!

Day 49

Not sure what happened to my blog for yesterday as I did write one, but I must have mis-labelled it as Day 48 instead of Day 49!

Day 48

Oops, forgot to mention the hellish plank yesterday.  I had to stop in the middle of the third set as every bone in my body was shaking and I was beginning to arch my back.  Another 10 seconds added but it made all the difference to me.

Great skipping today after 10 hours sleep.  More sleep / rest is  the secret to good exercise, I think.  Appreciate it's hard to get with young children, but Simon and I made an effort to get to bed early and it definitely pays off.

Great to have an 'indulgence" this week.  For us it has come at a perfect time.  Bank holidays tomorrow and Friday in Japan, so Simon and I were going to go out for a lunch - Nobu here does a wonderful lunch box, apparently, but just found out that they aren't open for lunch tomorrow, so think that we're going to save our treat until after next Sunday as Simon is doing a triathlon then and it'll be good to have something to celebrate with given we've given up alcohol completely.

Anxious to see our diets for this week.  How much lower can my carbs go???!!! .....

Good luck everyone and hope you have a good week.

Day 48

Woke up in a thoroughly bad mood and with a headache - our son, William, was up at 5:30am for some strange reason!  He's usually exhausted on Friday evenings. Anyway, went straight down to do exercises and worked very hard.  Loved skipping and came back, headache gone and in a positively good mood - the smell of butter and honey on toast as I walked into our apartment was overwhelming!!(that's what William and Annabel have after a bowl of cereal).

Food at the weekends is really difficult.  The children want to go to this most amazingly fantastic, renowned (allegedly) hamburger place down the road for burgers and it's just torture going in there whilst on PCP.  I took them there the day our furniture arrived and we had no plates, cutlery etc and they had the MOST DELICIOUS smelling burgers ever.  All home made - husband and wife team - and no additives etc - even the tomato sauce is home made - so we've promised to get them burgers tomorrow - might have to do a take away, though.  Just too difficult to sit in there....

Anyway, we've done well and just need to persevere.... it's soooo hard, though.....

Day 47

Exercises hard this morning - couldn't even manage the kung-fu sit up at all!  Did some leg ups instead but will try again later on.... loved skipping!

Managing to cope on less food and it's Friday - yippee!  We've got a Newcomer to Tokyo lunch today so that should be interesting - back to egg whites & apple tonight!

Keep positive everyone and hope you have a good weekend.

Day 46

Managed to get to bed by 9:30pm last night so, after 8 hours of sleep, feel rested and more positive today.  Exercises hard but managed da vincis ok and the bicycle was a killer.  Really burns the abs!  Enjoyed skipping but amazing how many stops and starts once one nears the end....legs just start to give up, I guess!

Trying to keep positive and busy today so as not to think about how hungry I am.  Breakfast always lovely but barely touches the sides!  Have my Japanese lesson soon, so going to do my homework now and, by the time I've had my lesson, it'll be time for mid morning snack!  Found it very helpful to have more fruit and veg yesterday.  Don't like being a cranky mum - not fair on the children - so rather have more fruit and veg to eat.

One last thing. Simon and I have had break outs of spots on our faces!  Anyone else have the same?

Onwards and upwards.  Keep up the excellent work everyone.  Simon needs new suits soon!!

Day 45

Really, really struggling today.  Exercises good - working hard on floor jumps but they continue to get the thighs burning, which, I suppose is good?!

Feel hungry a lot of the time.  Trying to fill up on all sorts of fruit - pineapples, watermelon, grapes etc but perhaps I'm having too much fruit and sugar?

Weighed in today and no change in weight so I guess that's a good thing, although given all the effort I'm making, to be honest, I'm slightly disappointed with not losing any more weight. As Patrick says, it's not so much about weight loss but rather changing body composition. Good to remember!  We're so conditioned to what the scales tell us - they can dictate one's mood, but I'm going to try really hard to keep my chin up! Lunch soon....

Anyone else struggling?

Day 44

I really struggled yesterday afternoon and last night with being hungry.  I could have eaten the table!  Got very grumpy and irritable!  Woke up with sore butt due to lunges and dreaded exercises but they went well this morning.  Enjoyed skipping - just the lack of food which is an issue now.  Not going to give up but it's really hard.  It's very hot and sunny here in Tokyo so one shouldn't need much food but, with carbs and protein cut at lunch time, really struggle to get through the afternoon, so have decided to have my soya milk portion after school pick up around 4pm. Eating lots of fruit - only 1 banana a day, though, but just trying to fill up!

Apartment more settled and homely now so that's lovely.  Think we managed to find our lost sofa - it managed to stay in England - so that's going to make it's way over.... Start my japanese lessons today which I'm very excited about, so that will keep me busy hopefully, so I don't think too much about how hungry I am!!

Day 43

 Alarm now set for 5:20am - 5 minutes earlier, so that we can complete exercises before breakfast / school run.  Found floor jumps and lunges really tough today.  Quite a lethal combination!

Have been really hungry this morning - have had lots of errands to run, so had more fruit and trying to last as long as possible before lunch, but could eat the table at the moment, so going to prepare it soon.  Going to find the cuts hard but hooray for an extra egg white!!

Good luck everyone.  Keep strong!

Day 42

After yet another good night's sleep - managed 10 hours last night - YIPPEE!! - really enjoyed skipping and, as Simon was on breakfast duty with our 2 rascals, I managed 2000 skips.  Felt REALLY good!  What a lovely way to start the day.  Picture hanging task today, so apartment feels like home despite a few more boxes here and there....

So, looking forward to another week.  Interested to see what is going to be cut - less carbs, I reckon??!!  Simon and I really struggled not having a glass of wine last Friday.  We'd both had a tough week with removals and lost furniture etc and just fancied a nice Pinot Noir, but we both managed to encourage each other along and say "get thee behind us, satan!" - helps looking at photos we take every week.  Progress from week 1, for us, is amazing.

Chin up!

Day 41

Yippee!  Managed 9 hours sleep last night and feel like a new penny!  Exercises much better and skipping good except I need to find a new jump rope.  Any recommendations, please?  Apartment starting to feel like home now with pictures up and less boxes around the place.  Lovely to have  the feeling of being settled.

Thought less about food today - always the case when one is busy!  Nearly half way through the program now....

Day 40

Fed up of the unpacking now and tired to the bone so exercise this morning not great at all.  Quite depressing actually.  The effect of being tired is amazing.   Floor jumps and da vincis the worst for me and my skipping was just horrid!  Beginning to feel a bit run down now so have to rest this weekend to feel energised and positive once again.

Put on a dress which fitted quite snuggly last night and it looked MUCH better on me now, so I must be doing something right......

Day 39

Two days of unpacking with removal crew and it has been nothing but stressful! Furniture which was supposed to be stored in the UK has ended up here and they seem to have lost a sofa and coffee table and a few breakages.....I know that moving can be stressful especially across continents, but this has been a bit of a disaster from the removal company's point of view!
Managed to get exercises done but was very tired from unpacking etc so skipping didn't go well at all - it s amazing to note the effects of lack of sleep on one's exercise abilities....

Needed extra fruit so have had some and really hungry - guess the stress doesn't help at the moment.  Really hope I can get through the next couple of days and weekend.......going out tonight so, looking forward to meeting new people (ladies evening out) in our building.

Day 38

So, as I predicted yesterday, we both struggled to get out of bed this morning, having had a night's sleep in our own bed.  Still, got exercises done - floor jumps a killer and plank was especially hard today. Lovely to have new exercises - love a bit of variation - and skipping was good.  Dinner remains a tough one for me - just really hungry  but going to perservere. Got to give it 100%.

Day 37

Our sea freight has arrived from the UK, so the next few days are going to be chaotic with unpacking and FINALLY getting settled here in Tokyo.  Exercises good, skipping good but really hungry at night.....after months of sleeping on a hired bed, tonight will be the first night in our own bed so waking up for exercises tomorrow will be very hard, but, the best feeling ever is once exercises are done and all systems are up and running, so have to hang in there and keep soldiering on.........

Day 36

Up at 5:25am - much better as could do exercises as planned before getting children ready for school.  New squats feel weird to start off with - I think it's using a chair as a support - I ended up working my triceps as well - perhaps that's a good thing?! - but found floor jumps hard again.  Thighs on fire but just gritted teeth and got through the sets.  Bicycle abs good and extra plank set really hurt!

No banana at dinner time. Wow!  Used to dinners now - just enjoy lunch!  Found your email about fats yesterday very informative, Patrick, so sticking with you so that I can lose those stubborn bits of fat.  Hope it'll all be worth it in the end although I must remember that it's about building muscle and not so much weight loss for me.....

Day 35

Managed to get 10 hour sleep so feel top of the morning today.  Skipping went well but then did lose a bit of form towards the end.  1400 jumps!  Need to get up another 5 minutes early in the week, so as to fit exercise in before school run....

Can't wait to get new diet plans later on.  Wonder what it'll be like this week - suspense is killing me......

Day 34

Have had a very busy day today so didn't manage to get exercises done in the morning - our son started his cello lessons here with his new teacher, so we were dashing around the place.  Managed exercises around 4:30pm and they went really well - those floor / squat jumps are just evil.  Thighs on fire after second set, but managed to grit teeth and finish the sets.

Skipping went well.  Good rhythm and managed today to do 500 without a problem.  Weighed in today and down to 54.7kgs - 3 kgs lighter than when we started - which is lovely but want to try to get down to about 50kgs, but not sure if I'll manage.  Trying really hard to stick to exercises and diet, so going to have another concerted effort and push this week.......pleased with progress so far but don't want to stagnate......

Day 33

Chest dips very difficult and seem to manage the creep much better.  Skipping went well, too.  Much better waking up earlier to have enough time for exercises.

Getting used to dinner regime.  Thanks for the information on proteins at night, Patrick.  Very interesting.  Clothes are getting baggier now - will soon have to do some clothing shopping.  Yippee!!