Day 15

Feeling proud... This morning I had a breakfast meeting with a client at one of the more popular and delicious cafes in mid-town Manhattan. When the meeting was first scheduled, I quickly worried about how I was supposed to stick with my Peak diet and not look like a weirdo, who sat there and watched everyone else eat. I right away went to the cafe's website to see what the menu was like. I noticed that they had a fresh fruit plate. I decided that I would eat my normal breakfast at home before hand and then use up my morning fruit at the restaurant. It worked perfectly! I was eyeing my co-workers bacon, but since I was full from my breakfast at home, it wasn't as tempting as it normally would be. It was nice to see that with just a little planning before hand I can easily adapt my life to the Peak.

Feeling sore...I'm not going to hide it. I HATE JUMPING ROPE!! Well let me correct that. My shins and my calves hate jumping rope. I even have special running sneakers that are designed to protect me from shin splints but I don't think it's making a difference. I can do about 100-150 at a time and then I need to take 20 secs or so to stretch out my calves. I'm hoping that eventually my body will adjust and I won't have to dread the rope anymore. As it stands right now though; I am not a fan. But, I do find these guys quite inspiring, so there is still hope.

Feeling hungry...Patrick changed our alloted veggie, carb and protein intakes today. Even though I'm still eating a substantial amount of food, I felt hungry for the first time in a week. I think my belly has to get used to these new portion sizes.

Day 12

Ooouch!!!! Oouch and more ouch!!

I might be the biggest dumb-ass on the planet right now. I just finished eating my perfectly portioned PCP dinner and decided to make some tea.

Ah, tea.

After my water boiled, I noticed just how gross my stove has gotten over the past 2 days. SO... being the OCD person that I am, I HAD to clean it right away. AND... because I am such a genius, I start to pick up all the burners off the stove with my bare hands.

UM... and you guessed it.

I just burned the sh*t out of my thumb, pointer and middle finger. It actually hurts so bad that I am typing with only one hand. Thank you baby Jesus, that it was my left and not my right. But, damn it hurts just the same.

Yup, genius. I know.

Day 10

I think I'm starting to get dish pan hands. I feel like the past 2 days all I have been doing is cooking, washing dishes, eating, washing dishes, PCP work out, cooking, eating, washing dishes, Capoeira, cooking, washing dishes, eating, washing more dishes, um eating some more, washing some more. I think you get the picture.

Seriously, I feel like I have been eating like a mad woman. This is what I had for breakfast and lunch.

And I ate it ALL. Once again, I am not complaining. At first I was worried that with all this food I might gain some weight, but to tell you the truth, I've lost 2lbs since day 1. Not that I'm doing this to loose weight. I just don't want to end up bigger then when I started.

I am sore as hell though. Between Capoeira and the Peak work outs, my body is not happy with me. My shins and calves were KILLING me during my jumps today. I am prone to shin splints so I've been stretching my calves constantly but, I feel those suckers coming on. On the other hand, my back is finally feeling better.

I got a pedicure and a 35 min back massage today. Ahhhhh...I wish I had my own miniature masseuse that lived in my closet. I would take good care of it. Feed it, say encouraging things to it, I would even let it play in the yard with Chewie.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day. It's the first day of school. I probably won't get home from work and teaching until about 10 pm. I'm going to TRY REAL HARD to get up early and do my PCP work out because I know for damn sure I won't want to do it when I get home. Well I better start settling in for the night. If I have to get 8 hrs of sleep like Patrick says, I better have my ass in bed by 10.

Good night all.

Day Ate!!

That's right I said ate. I've been reading other Peaker's blogs and it seems as though everyone is wondering why we are eating so much. I'll tell you right now, I AM NOT COMPLAINING. I actually feel like my prescribed diet is perfect. I definitely felt a little too full at lunch but I think that was because I had my snack only 2 hours before.

I seriously need to stock my fridge tomorrow. I think I'll head to the farmers market by the park. I'm already kind of sick of broccoli. I never thought I'd say that because I always really liked the little tree-like veggies but you know what they say about "too much of a good thing."

I had a bit of a freak out today when I thought I wouldn't be able to chew gum. I have a tendency to chew like 4 pieces in a row after lunch. I thought we wouldn't be able to have any since it is made in a factory but Patrick said it was OK as long as it is sugarless. YAY!! The only other thing I've been craving is pop corn. I could care less about butter, it's the salty goodness that I miss.

I have always had a huge love affair with salt. As a kid I would actually eat the salt right out of the shaker. My parents always knew where to find it if it wasn't in the kitchen. I would keep it right by my bed side. Gross, I know. I broke that habit many many moons ago but it just goes to show you how close me and ye ol sodium are, ahem, were.

My back is still a little sore so I didn't go to Capoeira today but I was able to complete the PCP workout without a hitch. The push up bars really make a difference and the pull up bar was definitely harder than I thought it would be. I don't own any chairs so I had to get all Macgyver. I took my broom and laid it across my arm chair and my coffee table. It actually worked out just fine.

Day 7

WTF!?! How did a full week go by already? At first I thought this past week would take forever but now looking back I have no idea where it went.

I was very grumpy at work today. I don't know if it was because I haven't felt full once in the past week or what. But, I want to apologize to Jenn, aka Looney Bun, for any snappiness I might have thrown her way.

I can't even tell you how happy I am to be off the half diet. My normal diet is pretty good so when I actually had to cut it in half I was starving.

Patrick gave us our new food plans for week 2. I was so excited and curious to see how different it would be from what I normally eat so I prepared tomorrow's dinner as my final "half " meal. I was glad to see that I wasn't too far off in my regular diet. I did notice that I usually put A LOT more carbs on my plate than I do veggies. I was also extremely happy to find out that the portions are quite larger than I expected them to be.

I'd like to announce that my back is feeling a bit better today. Both my mestre Foca and Patrick gave me some exercises and stretches to do that should help elevate the soreness. Thanks guys!!

I want to wish my fellow PCPers good luck in week 2. Only 83 more days to go!!

Day 6

Holy freaking back ache batman!! My lower back is absolutely killing me.

Today I woke up early and completed my PCP workout. Then after work I trained Capoeira for 1 1/2 hours. For the past couple months my lower back has been bothering me every time I train. I believe it's not necessarily my back, but the muscle or tendons that run from my back to my hamstrings. Usually it's only the right side that hurts, but now it's BOTH sides. I do several stretches in the morning, after class and before bed. I ice it during the day at work and before I go to bed. I'm plain out of ideas. When I took the month of December off, it was definitely better but as soon as I started training again it came back. I certainly am not going to be taking it easy any time soon. So, I looked up some new stretches online and Foca, my mestre, suggested some. I'm hoping they will help. Patrick do you have any suggestions?

Other than that, I'm hanging in there and looking forward to starting our next nutritional phase. I'm curious to see what we will be eating.

Day 5

Just a little video to keep me inspired.

Day 4

Like some of the rest of you, I found it a little more difficult to run through my PCP workout today. My legs felt really heavy while I was jumping rope. I think it's because up until today I was jumping bare foot. I read Patrick's post on someone else's blog and he said that it's better to wear sneakers, so from now on I'm strapping those suckers on.

I went to the lower level 6:30 Capoeira class today thinking I would be taking it easy. I felt pretty strong throughout. However, I'm wondering how training and PCP are going to work together. For instance there were 12 of us in class and each one had to lead a set of 20 crunches and 10 push ups. Yeah that's right people, that's a total of 240 crunches and 120 push ups. Add the 32 push ups from this morning and the 30 leg lifts and thats just a ridiculous amount of arm and ab work. Nothing like, "Keep it light, keep it consistent, and you'll see results."

See now I know why I am starving all the time with this half portion thing. I think the only one happy with it is my dog Chewie. Tonight I am craving some serious protein, so I'm making steak for dinner. She will be getting my other half. Oh happy dog, happy, happy dog.

Day 3

My arch nemesis, Saturday night, strikes again. (Argh...I shake my fist at you) I went to a small party last night. I was able to stay away from the cheese doodles and pizza. However, I did have a fair share of wine. I believe it was about 3 glasses. (definitely half the norm but I still feel a little bit guilty) I can't believe how quickly the alcohol hit me though. Even if I tried to drink what I normally would I don't think I would have been able to since I'm only eating half of my normal diet there just wasn't enough to absorb the drink. Anymore and I probably would have fallen on my face. Well, no, not really but you get the idea.

I'm off to a very slow start today, but that's no different than any other Sunday. I've had a slight headache since about 5pm yesterday. I've been drinking a ton of water and took some Tylenol but it's still there. I know it's because I'm simply not eating enough and am always FREAKING HUNGRY. I am used to eating every 3 hours. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and small snacks in between each. I'm still on that schedule, but this half crap is killing me. I know it will all pay off in the end so I just need to stay strong.

Well I really should get my ass up and do something. I need to de-furify my apartment, my dog is a shedding machine, and I have to get my PCP work out done. I'm sure I'll be feeling much better once I work out.

Hang in there my fellow Peakers together we can get through this!! Here's a little video to keep us inspired.

Day 2

It's Day 2 people and I'm hanging in there.

I was able to stick with it and eat only a half a cup of cereal this morning and then cranked through my PCP work out in about 10 mins. I would however, NOT recommend jumping rope straight after eating cereal. Ugh...I think I could actually hear it swishing around in my belly.

Then it was off to Capoeira class for an hour and a half. I definitely lost steam half way through class. Professor Nagi had us alternate between training 2 on 2 and doing a crap load of push ups. I'm hoping that the combination of Capoeira training and the Peak won't be the death of me.

I was STARVING after class so I made my standard Saturday brunch.

1 Egg 3 egg white omelet with steamed arugula, mushrooms and a tiny bit of parmesan cheese

Morning star sausage

Multi-grain light english muffin

Side salad with arugula, mushrooms, red wine vinegar and pepper.

This is what half of my normal portion looks like. Not too bad.

I'm still kind of hungry though, but I'm definitely feeling better. I don't feel like biting anyone's head off at the moment. :)

Also, here are my day 1 pics. I absolutely HATE them. I can't find my digital camera so I had to take them with my phone. The quality is terrible and they look a bit shady, like I'm sexting some wack job who is into girls who work out. Unclean, unclean. Haha. Oh well I had to get 'em done. I'm going to borrow a friend's real camera next time.

Day 1

Hello people of the internets,

The day I have been excited for and kind of dreading is finally here. It's day one of my 90, that's right I said 90, day Peak Condition Project. For the next 90 days I will be following a diet and exercise regime that is designed to help me become a TOTAL ASS KICKIN HOTTIE.

I am also required to record my progress via blog posts and weekly photos. Stay tuned for my day 1 photo. I'll add that tonight.

My first week's challenge is to eat only half of what I normally eat. Hmm...does that mean I can eat half a bacon cheeseburger or half a large fry. Ooh... maybe 1 slice of pizza instead of 2. Already, trying to cheat the system. No, really though, I never eat that stuff. I will try to stick to my normal routine of oatmeal or an egg white omelet for breakfast, salad or soup for lunch and chicken or fish for dinner with some sort of veggies on the side.

I have a feeling I will be STARVING!!! I don't do hungry well. In fact I don't get hungry I get HANGRY. It's an angry hunger that forces me to bite the heads off the people around me. Oh wait, but if I stick to the script then I can only bite off half a head at a time. Interesting.

Any way, I'm sure over the next 90 days I will be constantly asking myself, "Why the hell did I sign up for this?"

Currently my answers are:

• To see if I can actually do it
• To push myself out of my comfort zone
• To feel healthier from the inside out
• To shed a couple useless pounds (obviously)
• And the biggest reason simply is, TO KICK SOME ASS!

Let's get this party started bitches!

ps. I want to give a big shout out to Emily, aka Pingo, for inspiring me to do this. She's a totally toughie now. Check out her results here.