Day 8: Today is the first day...

...of the rest of my life! I kid you not, that was my first thought upon waking this morning. How cheeeeesy is that? This, after tossing and turning all night with anxiety about the changes in diet and workout (holy crap!) waiting for me in the AM?!?

Well, as it turn out, my positive-in-spite-of-myself thoughts made for a breakthrough workout session today! But more on that later. We've had some wonderful guests staying with us for a few days, which is why I haven't posted. In the meantime, there's been lots of PCP activity around here, so let's go back to yesterday (Day 7) for the recap, shall we?

Day 7: The Last of the Halfsies

The day began with ye old 500 jumps. This took me a while. I wasn't rushing because I knew that was it for the day - no strength training. But what took me a while was trying to recover enough to finish a set of 100 whenever I tripped. I was so winded and wobbly after the first 2 sets! But I persevered and got it done.

Then, on our last day of the half-diet, I decided to take Patrick's advice and eat all my favorite foods, without worrying if it was PCP-worthy and healthy or not. Here is what I had for lunch:

Just look at that yumminess, cut so perfectly in half! Portobello, avocado, eggplant tempura, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella, and other various delights, with a side of house-made dijon. This is from my favorite coffee shop in all the land: Antoinette's.
Where's that other half?? In my bell-ay! The remainder is being eaten by my husband for lunch today :)

Dinner last night was half a farmer's market hamburger, a few pieces of grilled zucchini, and half a portion of my favorite arugula/quinoa/goat cheese/avo/blueberry salad:
I actually took a big portion of the salad, intending to eat it all, but found I was full after eating half! Also had half a Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA. Our guests, with some help from the kids, had made homemade chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches for dessert:
Alas, they weren't frozen enough to eat after dinner. So I just had half of one cookie. Nothin' wrong with homemade chocolate chip cookies!

Then, I read Patrick's lengthy Day 8 email, with all of the diet info and the week's monster workouts, hyperventilated for a few moments, and went to bed.

Which brings us to this morning! I got up extra early because I was worried about fitting in all the new exercises before getting the kids off to camp. Walked outside into air so thick and wet you could drink it through a straw - bah, humidity! Before I started my 600(!) jumps, I thought about slowing the jumping down a bit so I wasn't gasping for breath every time I stopped. Let me tell ya, that made a HUGE difference in my jumping today! HUGE! I felt like I was floating through the jumps, just breezing right along - even though I was tripping a LOT more. But the tripping didn't matter - I was able to start up right where I left off without having to catch my breath. So the 600 jumps went by much more quickly than the day before. It felt magical!

The rest of the exercises - new ones included - were fine. Honestly, my kids were up, our guests were getting ready to leave, it was kinda chaotic in the house while I was doing the last of the exercises. So it was a bit hard to focus on how they felt. The best part is that push-ups are getting much more do-able. The biggest hurdle is not having a bar for the incline pull-ups. I used our dining room table, which will do for now, but isn't ideal.

After everyone else had been fed, I was able to get out my little kitchen scale and figure out my own breakfast. I have to say, I'm psyched with the weighing. It's fun! Kinda like performing little science experiments before each meal. Without having gone shopping for lots of fresh foods, here's what I came up with for my very first, officially sanctioned, PCP Proper meal:
That's left-over quinoa, a scrambled egg, and avocado. Pretty good! Glad I had my bases covered with what I had in the house...though, what's the deal with avocados? I think of them as a vegetable, but since they have a pit, are they technically fruit?? Regardless, they are my favorite food and I eat them whenever possible. :)

Next, I went shopping:
It all looked so pretty when I was unpacking and putting stuff away, that I had to take a photo. Happy eating, everyone! Hope you all feel as good on Day 8 (or whatever day you're on) as I do!