Day 77

Today is the jump only day but along with my jumps I would also like to do the other half of my exercises from yesterday.  I was at my Mom's house all day yesterday with the family and I only had time to do my jumps and half of my exercises--I did one exercise from each section--so I have decided to do the rest today.  The good news is that I did many things to failure yesterday so I felt like I got a really good workout.  This is the first time I did not get to finish the entire workout once starting it and I am wondering if it is okay to do the other half today?

Also, I really enjoy the jump rope so I started doing 7x3 earlier this week.  At this point it is pretty easy so it is no problem.  I am averaging around 800 jumps per 7 minutes.  The number of jumps is not really critical although I find that counting helps make the time go by.

Br,

Day 76 - The real indulgence

This indulgence ended up being the same as my first.  Four slices of pizza with lots of cheese and pepperoni from my favorite pizza joint in the town where I grew up.  It was very tasty going down, but...

Within 15 minutes I had a headache and I felt lethargic.  Not something that I feel when eating the right type of foods.  I followed the pizza up with a pre-packaged ice-cream sundae from Friendly's. Long story short, I woke up this morning with heartburn and a very dry mouth.  

Fat = heartburn

Salt = dry mouth

Eat bad food, feel bad.  Eat healthy food, feel healthy.

Br,

Day 72 - Indulgence

Great dinner this evening.  Shared a salad with my wife then had Tuna two ways.  Tuna raw and Tuna lightly seared...yum!  A side of seaweed was a perfect compliment.  

After dinner, my wife and I decided to get some ice cream at a local place that has been making its own ice cream for 30+ years!  Yes, I ordered a single scoop in a waffle cone. It was really good, and it is made with all local and natural ingredients.  However, it was an indulgence so I have had mine for the month, even though Patrick has not told us we can have our last one yet.

BTW, I completed 2,080 jumps my eighteen minute session this morning so I am averaging just above 110 per minute. Also, my weight has somewhat stabilized around 160 pounds so I have lost around 18 pounds overall.  Not sure if it will go down any further at this point.    

 

Day 70

Up at 6am, did my jumps.  Had a great breakfast--egg sandwich with arugula, heirloom tomato, fresh raw peppers and whole wheat bread--and I am now getting ready to head to the airport for a trip  to Milwaukee on business.

I can net out the impact PCP has had on me in a few short words--I feel fantastic!

Patrick--

I am interested--and so is Scott Holmes--in hearing more about the other two programs you are offering.  I would like to ponder these to see when might be the best time to consider them.  I realize I will need to take a break after PCP, but I am anxious to hear about the other stuff you are offering.

Day 68 - New Pics

I posted new pics!  Here is one of them:

Good workout today.  Really felt the failure on the chest dips and the push-ups.  Weight is staying around 160 pounds give or take.  Really excited about how my abs are responding to the exercises.  They are feeling harder every day.  When I look in the mirror at my side view it is nice not to see my belly protruding out farther than my chest :)

Day 64

I had a appointment with my PT yesterday to assess my progress in the area of vestibular rehab.  I have experienced some damage due to my MS diagnosis that has affected stabilization and I have been working on exercised to help to improve this.

The interesting thing is that I have not been doing these exercises for very long (just started them about a month ago) and in fact I have been doing the PCP exercises longer.  During my appointment yesterday my assessment showed significant progress since my last evaluation in September.  I asked my PT is she felt that some of the PCP exercises could be helping and she said it is possible.  Many of our exercises--like the lunge for example--test the vestibular system and as such I could be benefiting from them.

Not 100% sure if this is in fact the case but I would like to think it is!

As a side note, my legs are very, very tired.  Tomorrow, I have decided to take a day off from jumping and I will focus on all my other exercises.  My legs are telling me to take a break.

Day 63

My physical went well.  My cholesterol is at 136 which is great!  My doctor did have a lot of questions regarding the diet and exercise and he seemed very supportive.  Overall, very good visit with the doctor.

As a side note, I read a lot of content related to living well with MS.  It makes me feel good to see that many of the things I read regarding the importance of diet and exercise align very well with what we are doing in PCP.

Gotta go--getting ready to go do my jumps!

Day 60

Feel really great today!  Finished my entire workout early this morning.  Heading out to see my daughter graduate from nursery school this morning.  This afternoon I have a physical--my first in quite a few years. Can't wait to tell my doctor what I have been up to over the past few months!

Tonight I leave for Atlanta on business.  Will be there until late Wednesday.  Next week I will be in Seattle and Milwaukee.  The past week and a half has been nice because I have been home working out of my home office.

Now, back on the road...

Day 58

Woke up, averaged 500 jumps per 4 minute set--great start to the day.  Ate my normal PCP breakfast and morning snack.  Went to the farmers market (first day open this season), and among the other locally grown items that are available at this time of year--various types of lettuce and fresh whole grain bread--I purchased a whole Chicken.  I am part of a CSA so I get a certain amount of local grass fed beef each month from a local farm. The farmer I get my CSA meat from has a booth at the market and this is the first time he has had fresh locally grown Chickens this year.  This is great because the grass fed beef I get from him monthly has been piling up in my freezer since I have been eating very little beef since starting PCP.  

I decided to change up my menu today because I wanted the whole Chicken for dinner.  For lunch, I had my allotted carbs via a few thick slices of the fresh whole grain bread I purchased at the farmers market.  I added a egg white to my afternoon snack to make up for the egg white I would not be eating at dinner. I then did the rest of my exercises and I can tell you that I know I am working hard now because I can feel the soreness in my gluts, legs, etc.

For dinner, I prepared the whole Chicken by inserting a whole lemon inside the cavity along with a few sprigs of rosemary and some fresh cracked black pepper.  I basted the chicken with the juice of two additional whole lemons over the 90 minute period it was cooking and it was amazingly moist.  Along with the Chicken I cooked Brussel Sprouts by cutting them in half and placing them in a very small amount of olive oil in a skillet and a bit of fresh cracked black pepper.  What a great compliment to the Chicken.  

If I had stopped at this point I would have been just fine.  However, my wife made a fresh Strawberry shortcake with fresh picked Strawberries from her families farm.  Yes, we have a family farm where her family grows Strawberries, Pumpkins, various types of Squash, and Christmas Trees.  All of these--except for the trees--are sold at local farmers markets and wholesale.  Long story short I caved and had some of the Strawberry shortcake...with fresh whipped cream which my wife also made from scratch.  It tasted fantastic but I was very, very full after the dinner and desert and I no longer appreciate this full.  In my mind I justified eating the Strawberry shortcake because I have lost 18 pounds and I have been working my ass off with the jumps and exercises.  In hind site however, I ate to much but I enjoyed all of it--at least while eating :)

Yes I slipped a bit but I do not feel bad about it.

Back to my regular menu tomorrow :)

Day 55 - New Pics

I posted new pics today!

Not much to blog other than I am looking forward to having a dinner that consists of more than a apple and a egg white.  When I am not traveling for business I sit down with my wife and kids for dinner and right now given my dinner allotment it feels a bit strange.  I have to assume that these rations at dinner will be over soon.  Someone has already posted a question asking for the reasoning behind this so I look forward to the answer.

You probably notice that I do not ask a lot of questions in the email question threads.  When I do ask something it is because someone else did not ask the same question already.

Make it a GREAT day!

Day 54 - Tired

I have lost much of the fat around my belly and I am just starting to see the lines from my stomach muscles.  In the process, I have gone from a 34 / 35 waist down to a 32.

For about the past week, I have been tiring a bit easier.  I am not sure if this is because of my travel schedule, or if my body is telling me I need to take a day off?  I have been very good about not missing any workouts.  I also deal with bouts of fatigue associated with the fact that I have MS although this is not constant...it comes and goes.  Since starting PCP, my fatigue has been significantly less so maybe this last round is a combination all off the things I list above.

I am home this week so I hope to have new pictures in the next few days.

Day 48 - Indulgence

I am traveling on business this week in Atlanta.  We went out for dinner this evening and I decided to exercise my indulgence this evening.  I had bread and bread sticks before dinner, salad and salmon with couscous.  The problem here is not so much the food I ate--other than the bread and bread sticks which were white flour based--it was the amount of food I ate.  I feel very full--like I did prior to PCP when I ate too much--and I really do not like it.  Looking forward to tomorrow, my jumps and not feeling like I do right now.

Not much else to say.