Day 74 - Back in from the Cold

Back in from the cold literally (although Scotland was actually amazingly warm this time of year, about 14c), and also on the blogging front. 15 days without being on the blog is unacceptably long, and apologies to all for not keeping up my end of the deal by being more regular in the interim.

In short, had to return to the UK at relatively short notice to take care of some personal business, and finding the time or impetus to get blogged up kind of took a back seat. Regardless, rope, bands, and even gym mat managed to get squeezed into the suit carrier, and within a few hours of landing, found myself on my brother porch outside his flat jumping rope while scottish locals pointed at the weird guy on their way past. I also do confess that i did my 'indulgence' for my brothers birthday, which also coincided with not one but two days skipped which i thoroughly regret. The first was courtesy of a serious hangover (amazing how a few drinks knocks you sideways when your constantly working out) and the second was just a looong day of meetings, and a momentary failure of enthusiasm on my part.

To this end, skipping fridays are now pencilled in for full gym days in the coming two weeks, and since arriving back in Singapore on Sunday night on double skipping sessions for my penance!

Amazing to think that there are only 16 days left, and like several others, we have all made superb strides over the last 74 days. Also do have that feeling though that by day 90 will not be 'quite where I want to be', but going to be a damn sight closer thats for sure, with the tools in the toolbox to keep moving forward for the next 90 days and beyond, which is a great feeling. Those days of going to the gym and chucking a few weights around, a bit of cross training, and then ordering extra chicken on a post gym salad 'cos protein is good, right?' are over.

Another observation.. dont miss days!! Wow, even couple days out, and the next couple of days thereafter burn like hell, and cant reach maximum sets either which is just really annoying. So glad to be back in Chads warm embrace on the 8 minute abs as well. Run em up Guys!


I leave you with my tee shot on the 13th at Gullane No1 Course in Scotland on a beautiful scottish spring day. Sadly it ended up in the greenside bunker, the tide turned, and my brother did me 3 and 2 with a 30ft monster putt on the 16th. Cant win em all!

Also had a good look through the teams recent updates/ photos. You are all so getting commented on tomorrow, haha.

Day 60 - Final Stretch

I guess as its day 60, time for the 30 day Stats check:

Weight -   (83.1kg) / (79.3kg) /  74.0kg /  - 5.3 (Total  - 9.1 kg)
BMI:  (26.5)  / (25) /  23.9  / - 1.1  (Total - 2.6)
Fat Percentage: (27.7%) (22.9%) 19.3%   - 3.6 (Total - 8.4%)
Fat Mass: (23kg) / (18.2 kg) / 14.3kg   - 3.9kg (Total - 8.7kg)
FFM  (60.1kg) (61.1kg) / 59.7kg - 1.4kg (Total -0.4kg)

Happy with that, down another 3.9kg of fat mass over the last 30 days, although a little perturbed at a loss of 1.4kg of muscle over the same period. I guess to be expected though, hoping as things ramp up over the final 30 days can get some of that back, or at least stabilise the slide.

Have definitely found the last 10 days or so have been a real grind. I have tried to ensure im not coasting, and giving it everything on the sets, but there have been some times where ive been lying on the gym mat pre session looking at the ceiling thinking 'god, i really can't be assed..' haha. FORTUNATELY every single time ive got off the floor and got skipping, and each time after a few hundred jumps, the adrenalin gets going and the rest is easy. great journeys, small steps etc.. just got to internalise that feeling of accomplishment when youve got yourself over the hump. Been reading a lot of others who have been through this, but now the positive energy flying around the final push, so this is great to read.

Have checked myself this morning, and trying to think of Day 60 as a mini-day one, in the sense that the first 60 days has got all of us so far, and now the last 30 days is to really finish off with a bang, tear it up, be all we can be, choose your analogy.... so right, it begins here, and going to beat the crap out of this thing.

Still haven't done the indulgence, have been saving it for my brothers birthday this saturday. Might allow myself a couple glasses of the strong stuff to see the big day in, but otherwise, on the letter so far.

Well done and thank you to Patrick for keeping things going in what must be some pretty taxing circumstances, and thoughts going out to all of you in Japan right now.

new photo i guess tonight.

Day 53 - Photo Up

That time of the week again, new photo up, and again happy that things moving in the right direction. Arms and neckline shaping up a bit more, midriff still needs more work, but really not going to complain considering shape I was in only 53 days ago. Really nice to see some positive changes in there, and gives fresh impetus to go again, 37 days to go.

Enjoying this weeks exercises, increasingly hitting the muscle groups with higher reps and varied sets.

Inspiration low today, although one observation is that when have a day at work that sucks, actually looking forward to getting home and working out through the sets. Who woulda thunk it back in the first week of January. Hell, not this guy!

One plus is, having lost my passport back in November, it has taken until this week that i was deemed to have all the new documentation for a new application, which means within 10 days can at least get off this rock for a couple of days.. I am sure that a bit of time away lends a bit of perspective from the grim enthusiasm of day to day, and will come back renewed for the final few weeks. tempted to literally get a cab to the airport and take a flight, wherever it may be!

anyhow, keep at it team. everyone really doing great, and all the posts around, loving the positivity. really inspiring first thing to read all the updates and new findings from the other peeps. keep it going.

Day 52 - Forgive me father..

for I have sinned. It has been a week since my last blog post. Fortunately, I have had a distinct lack of PCP related sinning in the interim, and for this i give thanks.

Ah, the grim perserverance indeed. Around the 50% mark, like many others,  I had a fairly strong case of CBAS (what is known in my circles as Can't Be Assed Syndrome), but frankly just to spite myself, I have been ensuring that everything gets done to the letter, including daily skip quota in the morning, and a few extras thrown in before the evening work out to keep the fat burning ticking over. Really starting to feel the changes and the benefit now.. Was sitting back on my sofa absentmindedly with my hand on what i thought was my chest bone, but realised it was actually my abs post workout, which was a good feeling.. its all getting stronger.

One thing that I did pick up this weekend was a television programme that was so horrendous that I could not actually change the channel for bout 20 minutes: Bridalplasty. OH. MY. GOD. If it was not real, it would not be nearly so upsetting... From what I could see, 12 women of varying sizes and weight (some of which were on the larger side, and some of which were frankly already in great shape) fight it out for the right to have themselves lipo'd, cut, sucked etc so that when their big wedding day comes, they can have been recreated into the perfect woman for their wedding day. The first challenge was for each of the women to do a timed puzzle test to put pieces on a board to form a picture of themselves in their wedding gown. Each of the first 10 contestants to do so were to pick up their prize (a syringe) and then run downstairs for their in house surgeon to insert botox into their faces, leaving the two unlucky brides-to-be sobbing uncontrollably at the thought that they would miss out. One particular girl in one of her intimate shot-to-camera moments said something along the lines of 'if i can just do these 17 procedures, then i will finally be beautiful enough to go down the aisle'. And the thing was, this woman WAS attractive. Yes, a little on the big side, but got me thinking that 90 days of something like the PCP would get her so close to where she wanted to be. But in this crazy fast food world, the only way she could see herself improving herself was the fast and lazy way of cutting herself to bits. Honestly. the joy on these girls faces at the mere mention of 'and tomorrows challenge brings the Lipo Doctor to the House' and the shrieks of delight that ensued thereafter...

ANYWAY, this type of tv is supposed to be provocative by nature.. but please, what is the world coming to?

Here is a nice little clip which depicts nicely this insanity:

Otherwise, digging the return of protein to the evening smorgasbord, and more intense targetting of the muscle groups. Things starting to ramp up again.. Bring it please.