2 weeks post-project, Nathaly: Maintaining

Hey all!

I did a weigh-in this morning, about 2 weeks after the end of the program and am proud to report that I haven't gained back any weight despite definitely getting off the bandwagon in every way! (not proud about the latter half of that sentence.. lol)

Anyways, I've definitely been afraid that going back to my former ways would result in definite weight-gain, but frankly -- you do something for 3 months and shit starts to get internalized!  I'm having tea for snack and opting away from cheese (about half of the time, that is..) and consistently doing half portions of dessert-y type things.

I know it's just a little report, but I figured I'd share for folks considering joining the Jan 1 crew.

Best of luck to all who continue to be on this journey! :)

Hugs,

Nathaly

Day 95, Ramiro: We can rebuild him,We have the technology...

 Honestly, It feels like I'm just getting started. Thats a daunting statement after completing ,what was for me, three months worth of total lifestyle overhaul. Its a much improved starting point though and worth the money ten fold. Seriously, I have know clue how to sum this all up. Regular posts were really hard for me to pump out and this last one feels almost impossible to type down. I'm going to need more time to process, but in the mean time here are my before/ after pics                                           

              day 1                                                    

day 90

day 78

Looks like I'm simply preprogrammed to hover around 54kg. During the 90 days I think I was at my fittest around my day 78 picture. My body definitely put on the breaks during the last couple weeks. I feel my bones needing a break. I'm determined to continue the regimen though and am confident that with the basic level of fitness gained from the program I'll be able to surpass my previous limits. Blogging is painful for me, but I intend to continue posting the progress. I'll will be more detailed and sharing in the next post,Promise.One things for sure I haven't been this fit since maybe end of high school.

 I cant express how much it meant for my wife Naty to join me on this lil test. Thanks babe, your the best.

Its been a hell of a ride and I'd like to thank Kim and Stu for being such exemplary teammates. Obvious shout out to Guru Patrick, you have my gratitude sir. 

Day 95, Nathaly: Then & Now

So, it's been 5 days and I still don't exactly know what to say... I've kind of be avoiding this post because -- what can I share that is of any use of any of you out there??  This whole journey has been so personal and in-my-head that I struggle with crafting a "final" post.  I'm honestly still processing and feel I've probably learned just as much in this last week post-PCP or so as I did the first 5 days of the program. Sooooooo.....

Before and after pictures is what you're after, right? lol That's a simple measure of progress. This first set you'll likely be familiar with from our PCP Flickr stream:

Day 1 ...................................................................................................... & Day 90

In the 90 days of the Peak Condition Project, I:

• Lost 10 kilos (22 lbs)!!
• Lost 9 cms off my waistline, 8 cms off my thigh, and 2.5 cms off my bicep (I started measuring on Day 22, actually -- so these numbers only reflect 68 days of fat loss)
• Returned to a bra-line width of 34 inches
• Went down 2 full pant sizes (from a 12 to an 8 -- and maybe 3 if you consider that I really should've been rocking 14s but refused to accept it)

But these numbers are meaningless, really..  So much of the benefits I've derived from these last 90 days has been in terms of increased self-confidence, self-appreciation, and a slowly increasing sense of the value of self-care (still working on that last one!). In the 90 days of the Peak Condition project, I:

• Began to feel sexy again (enough to recently return a small collection of thongs Ramiro has probably completely forgotten about back to my undies dresser from a box at the bottom of the closet)
• Realized how little of me I dedicated to me in the past
• Learned I actually enjoy jumping rope -- I think I've been getting lots of those happy-chemicals to the brain b/c of it!
• Collected a small toolkit of easy-to-make, delicious, balanced and good-for-you meals (if you've got more, send them my way!)

And this next set of pictures, offers a slightly longer historical timeline. "Then" was October of 2009, when I decided I'd had enough of my chubbiness and decided to once again attempt to take control of my weight & body image issues..  I did this by eating smaller portions (of whatever I wanted), taking the dog on longer walks, and going to university fitness classes 1 or 2 times a week.  A couple months later, I realized this approach wasn't terribly productive and I decided to up the ante -- I started counting calories and publishing my weight on Facebook once a week as a status update. I learned that the community accountability piece was something I really benefited from and started to lose about .5 lbs per week on average, but did some definite yo-yo'ing and lots of stress eating (2nd year of grad school...) and was still feeling frustrated. 

By the time Ramiro mentioned this cool thing one of his co-worker's was doing (have you all met Mr. Will Awesome?), I was again ready to take another small step forward, but the hubster seemed to think I was better off taking a leap instead and urged me to consider doing the PCP. And, frankly, he was RIGHT.  (So nice to have that sort of vote of confidence from my better half). Doing it as a couple was by far my the biggest source of strength for getting through this all, and well -- here're the pics to prove it was a good move!

Then............................................... & Now
(I tried to re-create the shot as best I could, but I can't find that sweater anywhere.. )

There's so much more to say (about setting good priorities and truly living healthily), but I think I'll try to capture that in another post.. Maybe the words to express my heartfelt appreciation for Patrick and Team Fantastic-Carrots-who-eat-LAGs-for-breakfast will come to me sometime soon.  Keep posted, if you wish.  And thank you, thank you, thank you for believing in us!

Heart hugs,

Nathaly

Well, and just for fun -- a Halloween family shot!

A bumble bee, Marge Simpson & Bat-dog

Day 90, Together: It Is Finished

Hi all,

It's over!  And to make it an even better feeling of accomplishment -- today is Ramiro's birthday (and the Saturday of Halloween wknd) so we're living it up.

More to come, MUCH to process.

Mission Accomplished.

Day 87: I was a pretty lousy Scout.

I'm diggin the supersets. I like the speed and intensity. That being said, Good Lord. It takes a bunch of inner gumption just to get started. Like stu I collapse after every session, but its a good feeling. The finish line is in sight and its been a race well run. Lets knock these days out. 

GO TEAM !

Ramiro

Day 84, I'm bad at this talking thing

It's been awhile and I didn't want to go to sleep without posting. I've been pulling through, but barely. It's an everyday struggle to stay focussed on the tasks at hand. Mostly my body's telling me I need a brake, everyday I convince it that the brake is just a couple days away. The results of healthy living and exercise for three months are apparent to me in appearance and feeling. Think of where I'll be in a year! Thats what keeps me going. I'll write more tomorrow scouts honor.

Many eggs were viciously consumed to bring you this post.
Ramiro

Day 78, Nathaly: Indulgence 3, Free Clothes, Commitments

Hi folks,

More than Ramiro does, I really count on indulgences. So, before he read the email describing our 3rd and final indulgence, I knew it was coming and had decided I was gonna be the bigger person and declare that I didn't deserved it (given my recent slacking from the 350 Global Work Party stuff).  Surprisingly, Ramiro was also considering not taking an indulgence, that is until I read the email from Patrick and realized this was a full blowout meal and convinced him and myself against our prior thoughts.  So I figured -- fuck it!  Bring on the cheese & chocolate!! (which I've been missing big-time) and it didn't help that it was raining out, the fridge was empty of all protein sources and junk is never more than a phone call away soooo...

We ordered a pizza! There are no pictures of it b/c the snarfage was all-encompassing. I made the phone call around 8pm (after much debate weighing going to the store or ordering out while figuring out how to acquire a post-indulgence/PCP-compliant protein source for the following day's lunch) and we quickly noticed that the time of day would make working out after dinner ridiculous, so we got to banging out the workout only to be rudely interrupted by an early pizza delivery kid making it so that the pie sat there on the coffee table smelling of absolute deliciousness all through those fucking planks. URGH.

And here's the verdict:  honestly, not that great..  Certainly not amazing enough to be worth HALF of my daily caloric intake.  I mean, WTF?!  Don't get me wrong, it was lovely and made by a locally-owned company that uses VT flour to make organic whole wheat crust with yummy sauce and a good balance of toppings to cheese. Frankly, it was a pretty good pizza, but somehow.. it didn't do it for me.  It felt almost like an indulgence wasted because I had made it out to be so much more than it was. After the meal, I shared the thought with Ramiro and he thinks it's a matter of associating pizza with the greater satisfaction that comes with the pizza ordering phenomenon -- that quick burst of joy that comes from the ease of getting a warm, cheesy meal delivered right to your doorstep and then pushing the couches together for the ultimate in non-bedroom comfort and then cuddling up next to the hubster to watch a fun movie on the tube on a rainy weekend evening with little Tigger curled up at our feet. aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh.

Dude, was he right!!  I was COUNTING on that pizza to be all those things for me when, in fact, all it is is..  well, only a pizza. lol  Hence, my issue with emotional eating and why Indulgence 3 was once again a lesson in my struggle to treat food like what it should be: nourishment!

OK -- that took a little longer to write than I was hoping, so on to item 2 of the title! Free clothes!! Here in crunchy/green VT there is a lovely thing called the Front Porch Forum -- it is truly made of awesome.  It's a free neighborhood-based daily email ranging from offers for canning jars to reports of missing pets and debates on downtown-sidewalk-sitting. Oops -- sidetracking again. Anyways there was a free clothes event called "Attire for Hire" (which I learned about on the Front Porch Forum) hosted by an organization whose mission it is to help people get ready for the professional world.  I scored a bunch of stuff! A couple pant suits, lots of button-down blouses & professional jackets, some skirts and even a leather jacket.  I mean seriously -- two boxes of clothes for FREE!!  OK -- i'm still reeling in joy, but that is also beside the point. lol.  Here's what I want to talk to y'all about: I've been having some issues with my current PCP status (á la recent posts by Kim).  I'm closer to where I want to be, but I'm still not really feeling great about my body image and the act of trying on a bunch of clothes in front of a mirror really brought that home for me. As it turns out, I'm only really a fan of the today-me that exists in the mirror for about a half-second at a time (while taking a top off over my head).  At that moment, when my arms are reaching up and stretching my tummy fat across a temporarily longer torso, I feel a little sexy.  So, here's the disappointing part: I started this program b/c I wanted to a) lose weight, b) deal with my stress eating (see above) and c) develop some life-long-fitness habits.  And yet, what keeps me going is the way I look in the mirror??  I mean, I'm really not a vain person, but how superficial is that?!

Which brings me to the commitments aspect of this post.  I decided yesterday that it would be a waste of my time and energy up to this point to NOT keep going with the program until I got to the point I want to be at.  And that point isn't some pie-in-the-sky super model ideal (my goal person is Ugly Betty, for heaven's sake!).  So then I stopped to think about what the ultimate me-look really is and realized that my actual goal person is me at 17, except with my current boob size & my adult woman fuller hips. And to take it a step further, it was me that summer in that two-piece halter top..  Wow -- do I sound sad to you? Cuz I'm depressing myself with my cliché-ness.

Anyways, there it is.  It's not a great reason to want to continue the PCP, but as long as it keeps me on this good thing, I'm going with it and will have to deal with the psychology of all this at some later time.  lol

Thanks again for listening!

heart hugs,

Nathaly

Day 74, Going strong

  I'm reminded of Kilgore in Apocalypse Now. He's there on the beach and he's saying his famous Napalm in the morning line. At the very end of that line, as an after thought, he says in a sad voice "some day this wars going to end".. Robert Duvall is the man. Thats how I'm feeling now while entering the last stretch of the program. Anxious about whats next, kinda don't want this to end. I know some things for certain, Pints of ice cream will last allot longer than a day  and alcohol consumption will be a fraction of what it was before. Don't miss it. my mind needs to know whats next though, gotta keep goin!!!

Ramiro

Day 72, Nathaly: Here we go again!

Hey all!

Hope you haven't missed me too much.  I've been doing the crazy climate organizing thing and have had so much fun and such a re-invigoration of energy and momentum to fight this crisis.  Thanks for your understanding my absences lately.

All the great organizing unfortunately meant that I took a bit of a step back on the PCP.  I kept generally PCP-compliant as far as the food rules are concerned (except for yesterday, 10/10/10, when I was stationed in Burlington's Battery park from 6:30am to 7:30pm and had to eat what was around), but definitely not in terms of gramage/allotments.  It meant that I vastly under-ate, usually getting in two quick meals a day (grossly lacking in vegetable content) and I wasn't exercising at all.

So I got back into the jumping this morning and thought I would fall apart after just a couple minutes.  I was glad to find that the worst of it was the boredom.  The workout was also fairly do-able, but definitely resulted in some painful moments, especially the breakage of a friggin' resistance band, slapping my thigh on the way to the kitchen floor.  That's gonna be a pretty welt..

What else to share?  I guess I just hope I can keep it up.  I have a dangerous love of convenience and a penchant for loading too much on my (rhetorical) plate, which can very easily lead me back down the path of easy cheese and greasy carbs. So, have I thrown all that effort from day 1 to day 60 away?  I really don't think so, but I also acknowledge that the likelihood of me reaching a "peak condition" -- even if I kept up with the regime beyond Day 90-- is pretty low.

In all honesty, what's the real danger in feeling like I've done pretty good thus far?  I've lost 20 lbs and I like how I look.  I wouldn't mind having more definition in my arms and mid-section, but I also like that I feel like I can sustain where I'm at, versus reaching some chiseled look and then losing it...  Am I again letting a fear of failure get in the way of me giving this my all?  Am I being realistic here or just plain lazy?  These questions are more for me than for you all, but I appreciate you being an audience out there to read my words.

I'm tired.  It's late.  I'm going to bed.

Day 68, Back in the saddle again

Though not fully recovered, I am back in in full P.C.P mode. This week has been the hardest thus far. Morale is at an all time low at the Agosto house, too many plates spinnin. That being said, I'm enthusiastic about our last month. Taken it one day at a time and enjoying the results. Sleep is my biggest hurdle. Can't get enough of it. The  exercises are tough but thats the point. Hope all is going well out there for my fantastic carrot cohorts!!!

Keep going!!
Ramiro

Day 65, Nathaly: Quick Update

Hi all,

apologies for not being more present on the blogs here.  By way of a quick update:

Nathaly's baby neice was born.  I was home all weekend, waking up in the middle of the night to be there for my sister who's still recovering from this lovely little 8lb, 6oz baby girl, Chloe.  I followed PCP food rules, but didn't bring my scale, so it was guesswork -- except for some apple spread and crackers I bought on the 6-hr drive.  Jumping happened, work outs didn't.

Ramiro is back to work today for the first time from the horrible sinus infection -- out of work for 4 days plus the weekend, fever for about as many day.  On a 10-day antibiotic cycle. He also didn't do exercises due to this and ate little because of associated nausea and plain old fatigue.  He lost 2.5 lbs this week.  Poor baby..

We both want to jump back on the bandwagon, and with the new diets (and the increased consumption, especially for Ramiro!) this isn't gonna be the easiest task.  I had a full breakfast this morning and couldn't get lunch in til 2pm.  Had some catch-up sleep this afternoon and still feeling the food floating around in there.

Tigger is well -- a little smelly.

Cheers all!

Nathaly

Day 60, Sinus Shut down

So I've been fighting off this sinus infection for two days now. Haven't gone to work, just laying around being sick. Workouts have been crazy rough to do, but I didn't want to stop. I feel if I stop for any reason all my progress and built up momentum will disappear. Well, my body shut me down for good today. Fever kept me bundled up and shaky. For the first time since the program started, I feel frail. I won't be doing my workout today, hopefully the antibiotics will allow me to get back on track soon. One more month. What am I going to do after that?

Day 59, Nathaly: Confessions

We're pretty sure Ramiro's got a sinus infection -- horrible headaches and stuffed nose for about 2 days.  And yet it's 11:09p.m. and he's in the other room doing triceps dips and I'm skipping for the day.  

There you have it.  Fucking Tuesdays. 

Good updates on the climate organizing front, though:  website actually pretty up-to-date!  check out 350burlington.org for more info. :)  This is an initiative of yours truly, 4 other volunteer organizers & and slew of fellow organizations hosts.  Amazing what you can put together in a couple months & a lot of emails.  We've got one senator & one congressional rep lined up to talk at the evening rally and have been selected as one of the top 10 primary "Global Work Party" actions for the US.  

Oh, that reminds me -- another confession:  I had half a crepe with scallion cream cheese in it for breakfast. 

So, i'm f*cking up much more than I'd like, but I've also lost 15 lbs in 2 months, so I think the problem is two-fold:

a) I'm feeling a little too good with where I'm at. I know it's pretty anti-PCP to say this, but to be perfectly honest, I never intended to reach any kind of  "peak" -- i'm feeling like where i'm at is maybe good enough for my lazy ass, frankly.  Now that I recognize how hard it is to look like Patrick, I've decided I guess I don't care that much..  well, the truth is that I knew that all along, though -- I signed up for this to lose weight and develop some healthy eating & exercising habits.  Haven't I done enough?!  Now, don't worry folks -- I'm not quitting on ya, but I'm certainly making a clear statement of where my normal set of rationalizations have taken me today.  Wow -- hope no newbies are reading..  lol

b) I'm really missing my favorite foods. I can deal with the exercises OK as long as I've started them before dinner.  Exercising after dinner and/or after a long day (like my Tuesdays always seem to be) is practically unbearable.  I think today is the 4th day I've skipped the workout on the PCP.  Well, except for the jumps -- I think I've only missed two days of that..  I don't really get much out of pumping iron (or rubber with handles, for that matter) in my kitchen with the hubster.  It's fun sometimes, but I'd much rather be playing volleyball or taking a dance class or learning capoiera.  Why am I not doing THAT?  I know why -- I never made the time.  And I usually made too much time for eating junk.  

UGH -- so, is it possible to separate these two pieces?  Learning how to put Naty's health & mental wellness has been the theme of 2010, it seems.  I'm fucking 28 years old!  Shouldn't I have learned these habits earlier?!?  No one in my family exercises regularly and we eat rice & beans like it's our job -- friggin portions that are completely out-of-control, but perfectly "normal" by Dominican standards. 

La Bandera Dominicana, (a phrase which literally means the Dominican flag, but is commonly used to describe our most typical meal). As described in popular merengue lyrics: "arroz, habichuelas y carne -- tambien espaguetti y concón". "Rice, beans & meat -- also spaghetti & concón"(that hard almost-burnt rice that gets stuck to the bottom of the pan..)  We love this shit!  Oh, and PS:  this is a typical serving for lunch for the average woman.  Dudes would def have 2nds. 

OK -- so i'm fighting an uphill battle here on most accounts:

• family history of obesity & diabetes -- as well as no exercising and little veggie consumption
• bad habits all my life, which really reared it's ugly head during college, when I started to choose all the wrong foods at the dorms & got into my late-night pizza habits
• I tend to under-emphasize the importance of self-care -- I really throw myself at the organizing stuff and place its importance over valuable me-stuff like (like the PCP) & even family time (poor Ramiro often bears the brunt of that..)

So, there it is.. What goes through my head every day & why I'm sticking it through with the PCP at least until I figure it all out..

Day 57, Fantastic carrot knows no fear...Pain on the other hand...

Day 57 -- My, how time flies. Today's workout was a both a tremendous success and failure. Before I started this program my eating schedule was really up in the air, like everything else. I ate when I was very hungry, and eating was a far second priority to being entertained. I've mentioned my A.D.Dness in past posts; my mind pretty much needs constant input in order for me to maintain sanity. Boredom is painful. I'm at my worst when i'm bored for any length of time. Anyway, this causes my meal time schedule to fluctuate. As the program has progressed my managing of food has improved, but today my mind got the better of me.

I woke up around 11 and had breakfast around 12 something. Naty came home and wanted to eat out so lunch was down the gullet at 2:30pm (way too soon after breakfast and morning snack). As soon as I snarfed down the p.c.p compliant salmon sandwich I knew it was going to sit there all day. Dinner came sometime later, but the damage had already been done.

When exercise came around I had to summon the intestinal fortitude of my forefathers to mentally dictate "I will do lunges and frog jumps now" (frog jumps is what I call them, I always make believe I'm handcuffed). Lunges were a bear -- nothing new there.We had to do frog jumps in the backyard as to not disturb our downstairs neighbors. Mind you, it's 10:15 at night and we're in our backyard in sweat pants under a flood light. It's come to this. In the last post attention was brought to the rest periods in between the sets -- with that fresh in our minds, we endeavored to complete the frog jumps with the correct break times in the charts. I had one of those awesome moments when that little voice in your head is telling you in a semi-panicked, but sincere voice "pretty sure you can't do this chief, we sent the order to the quadriceps and they agree. We will hit you with the pain if you don't cease and desist immediately." That was on set 3, by set 4 my body was trembling pretty hard core. I had to reach in deep and play every grunting exercise movie montage I could muster (ALL the Rockys...and G.I.Jane... just being honest).

Set 5 was an out of body experience. It was kinda like my carrot plank vision. I knew I was jumping, I knew I was counting the jumps, but I don't know how my body was following through with the order. It just was.

The limits we set on ourselves can be re-set. That's what I learned today. I finished all the sets with the right rep count in record time. Going back up the stairs to our apartment was arduous. We limped and swayed like two drunkards. The feeling of personal accomplishment was great and was a bit of a perspective-changer. It's funny how some of the biggest wars we wage are all quietly fought in our heads. Naty was four feet away and  could not have had a clue I was going through such an intense experience. I'm actually surprised I'm voicing my thoughts to this extent. Hope it helps any.

After the high of finishing the leg exercises faded some, my stomach was again center stage. I got through a bit more than half the shoulder exercises before I had to stop or risk immediate expulsion of dinner. There's the failure bit -- if I had woken earlier and spaced out my meals correctly, today would have been an all-around smashing success. Not the case. Workout Day 57 incomplete. That sucks, man. I'll get it right.

ROCKY MONTAGE!!

Day 56, Nathaly: On 34s, brunch & 4-min sets

Hey all,

Not much new today.  Have been able to get through that mid-week slump by leaning on Ramiro quite a bit -- I know I would secretly be skipping workouts & eating out a lot if it weren't for his encouragement and his steadfast determination and pure joy at this whole getting fit thing.  It doesn't hurt that he's constantly complimenting me on the weight loss.  :)

WARNING: Potential TMI alert! (especially if you're a guy..)

Speaking of which -- I'm back down to a 34 bra size!  I realized early this week that I was feeling pretty loose-y goose-y in my 36 & decided to go into the local ladies undergarments store for a fitting. The assistant seemed pretty sure I was in the 34 range, which gave me a quick jolt of gratitude for all this effort, but it dissipated a bit when I started doing some fittings and found that even though the tightest setting of the 36 has come to feel too roomy, the loosest I can go on a 34 is still a little snug.  I've still got work to do, but man do I love this new bra!

It's a Saturday so we slept in like usual and after the dog walk (which resulted in a quick visit to a friend's house) and the jumps, I was pretty much starving for breakfast.  AND it was once again late enough in the day that I had to do a bit of PCP-finagling and get in both my bfast & lunch portions.  That's a LOT of eating for one sitting, let me tell you!  Especially when it's of some weird combination of whatever can be prepared most quickly.  I hate those thrown-together meals.  It turned out alright though: I wrapped some chicken and a scrambled egg in a wheat tortilla and had some zucchini & corn on the side. It would've been sooo much nicer to just walk to a local diner and order my usual homefries with cheese & onions and over-easy eggs, but I fought back the urge (again, mostly a factor of having Ramiro as a PCP partner and watchdog).

Regarding jumping rope in 4-minute sets:  for the first time this morning, I felt comfortable setting the alarm clock on my phone instead of using the stopwatch function.  I had to sorta sit there waiting for the minute to change, but it was such a better solution than constantly fighting that urge to glance over every 20 secs to see if I can stop yet.  After the 1st set of jumps, I sat and figured I'd just break for a minute to start the next set of 4, but that was over in a heartbeat!  I rushed to get into my next set, figuring I must've been very distracted my the mommy slurping up maple creemee excess from a toddlers cone (mmmm creemees!) and jumped my way through an almost perfect second set.  The next experiment with breaking for only one minute confirmed that sneaking suspicion: time is a fickle beast.  4 minutes jumping can feel never-ending, but 1 minute sitting on the porch is over before you can even catch your breath.  I decided to just break until I felt ready to go again between the 3rd & 4th set and learned that my preferred break time is a whopping 3 minutes long.  Talk about inefficient!!  Jumping for 4 & breaking for 3 -- no wonder work outs take forever!  I'm gonna try to get better about breaking for only the allotted times from now on...  I almost wish I was working out in the morning solely so that I could have more of an urge to get it all over with already -- when working out at night, the only thing before me is that measly egg white, apple & milk; a shower & the bed. One solution I've found is my Shakira Pandora station.  Do what it takes, right?

Day 54: I'm alive and married to superwoman.

    Things are looking good. Half way done with the program and I'm no worse for wear. I'm surprised my body has  been able to respond to the the added stress so well. Going from zero exercise and Madmen drinking to daily workouts and zero scotch must have been quite the shock to my innards. My asthma has been under control with a new medication I'm taking (which has proven to be essential) Couple wheezing mornings, but much better than I expected.
 
 Natys had a very hard week. She's one of those rare people that keep civilization going by sheer will power. Google her name and you get links like this-http://developmentcommunity.csd-i.org/profile/NathalyAgostoFilion. She habitually over extends herself for the best of reasons yet somehow manages to dot every I, cross every T and land on her feet to the continuous amazement of myself and others.

Thats what my post is about tonight. I want to express how proud I am of Nathalys progress and how grateful I am of having her as a wife and P.C.P partner. Keep doin what your doin babe.

GO TEAM Fantastic Carrot!!! We know no Fear.
Ramiro

Day 53, Nathaly: Time mgmt probs (again!)

So, I've been sleeping my ass off the last couple weeks.  I thought it was just a thing, but it's totally not.  Nat on the PCP sleeps a solid 10 hours.  Dang -- I needed those extra two to get shit done.  Like my dishes.  Ahhh -- that sinister pile of dishes.  Ramiro was a dear and did most of them for me today, but I could certainly overhear him grumbling about why we own so many in the first place.  lol

OK -- so, I skipped a day.  Ramiro was a champ and DIDN'T. Here's the story:  I woke up and immediately felt overwhelmed.  Yesterday was a pretty bad day at work (felt like I got absolutely nothing done) and the day itself didn't end until 9pm. I had anticipated being unable to work out due to lack of energy from my long-ass Tuesdays so I did it all in the morning.  It was a nice slow start to the day and I didn't have to be into the office until noon, so no biggie there.  Thing is, I never made time Sunday to do an all-out cooking fiesta and so, although I spent a friggin $50 at the farmer's mkt Saturday morning and then another $150 at Price Chopper Sunday, there's never anything ready to eat in the ol' fridgidaire.  Dang.

So when I got up this morning, I cut up some broccoli for Ramiro and then thought about what I would want (not into the raw veggies -- sorry dudes) and then got a little mad.  I looked at the dishes pile and then at the laundry pile and realized I had fallen asleep with my bra on (totally just zonked) and thought:  fuck it. I am SUCKING at this PCP.  I mean I could do all this if I was ONLY doing all this.  But I'm not -- I'm doing a heck of a lot.  And, to be quite honest, I'm cooking for two.  Ramiro's skills in the kitchen are.. well, pretty close to nil.  Double dang.  So I crawled back into bed til 10am. (stupid flexible schedules making this sort of bad decision-making EASY!!).

I decided I would take a break for the day and try to get my shit back in order so that I wouldn't just KEEP dragging the undone stuff around in the back of my head and would feel a little better about my life-juggling skills.  I ate some cereal for bfast & bought a curry chicken pita sandwich for lunch.  Come to think of it, that's pretty much all I've eaten today.  Virtually no veggies -- what a disgrace!  Then I proceeded to have an OK day -- good movement on the climate activism front (able to secure a lift for an aerial 350 photograph -- have I told y'all about that?), but still kinda blah on the work front.  Lots of assigned reading before a mtg tomorrow morning, so I could at least feel like I was keeping busy -- but certainly NOT what I would  call productive.

Leave work. 350 organizer's mtg.  choir.  home.  Then I made another lackluster decision.  "I will not do exercises; I will cook."  And I've been doing just that for the last 3 hours.  Ramiro tried to help me out of that head space, but it was pretty firmly ingrained; I wanted to take a day off as a bit of a jump-start. Home made spaghetti sauce with spinach & mushrooms, zucchini/corn thing, potato curry, and some leftover corn cobs.  Doesn't sound like much, but it'll make life hecka easier when i wake up tomorrow morning and think:  what should I eat? (thereby breaking the get-made-and-crawl-back-in-bed-to-ignore-life issue).

Now I'm exhausted and I'm realizing I was in such a cooking frenzy that I skipped my measly apple/egg white/milk dinner.  What a mess I am today.  I guess I'll have the milk at least.  Sorry for such a downer report y'all.  Back on the bang wagon in the a.m.

Day 51, Together: Indulgence!

So, I (Nathaly) had a little hiccup of frustration planning out her indulgence, but the final product came out just fine and was VERY enjoyable!  As you can see in Day 49's post, I had definitely been craving deep-fried cheesy goodness.  I got most of what i was looking for in the following:

Bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers! (50 cal each). 

• Cut jalapeño pepper in half, scoop out veins & seeds.  
• Fill with 1 tbsp of fat free cream cheese
• Wrap with 1/2 a strip of uncooked bacon.  
• Seal shut with a toothpick (I was out, so I ended up having poppers that popped open during cooking) 
• Broil on high for 10 minutes (turn once, halfway if your oven is like mine and likes to cook the back half of the tray more than the front). 
• Oh!  And be sure to lay the little suckers down on a small rack on TOP of the baking tray so the bacon drippings don't get all over the poppers -- that can be a little nasty! 
• I made 24 (to finish off the 12-pc package of bacon and not be tempted with it in my freezer) and invited some friends over. :)

I was VERY surprised they could be made for 50 cals each (45 actually), and chowed down on 5 which only added up to 250 calories -- UNDER HALF of my allotted indulgence!! :-D (talk about good times!). So I walked my butt over to the corner store and was gearing up to buy a bottle of Long Trail Blackberry Wheat (135 cals), when I realized the store was closed for the night!  UGH.  Saddened, but really not all that upset, I decided to pop another popper (at 300 cals now) and then sat at the couch wondering what more I could eat with minimal effort (I was feeling too lazy to walk to the market at 9pm on a Sunday).

I decided I'd be OK with enjoying a serving of Ramiro's indulgence treat (only after MUCH cajoling -- he didn't wanna share even though he knew he wasn't allowed to down it all, lol):

sickly deliciousness (300 cal per 1/2 cup).

Surprisingly, this STILL left me under the 700 cal maximum, so I think all in all it was a pretty good day!!  I was planning on meeting a friend at a bar yesterday so there was a small chance I would've ordered a Blackberry Wheat just cuz, but he rescheduled and anyways, that would've felt a little too far on the cheating side of the spectrum (to split up my indulgence over two days). YAY for keeping indulgences positive! :)

Lesson learned:  I need a full day to think through my "need" to eat cheese fries covered in bacon bits and slathered with ranch dressing.  In the end, I usually make the right choice, but since I like to be in control, the thought of those amazingly delicious (but honestly pretty horrible dishes) being "forbidden" can get the best of me.  A simple alternative to cut back calories is to make it yourself!! Yay for home cooking!
**********************************************************************************

I (Ramiro), decided to further experiment with my ice cream addiction.  For my first indulgence, I had 400 cals of my favorite Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Chocolate Fudge Brownie. I was surprised to find it bitter-tasting and overly chocolate-y.  For this indulgence, I tried my absolute top favorite, Vanilla Swiss Almond from Häagen-Dazs -- all 700 calories. It was much creamier than I remembered and almost too sugary. It wasn't bad at all, just incredibly intense, but I could've easily made do with half the portion I served myself (2.5 servings, according to the nutritional information). The result: a bad stomach ache and a slight headache.

Lesson learned: My ice cream addiction is subsiding.

DAY 49: THE FANTASTIC CARROT KNOWS NO FEAR.

THE FANTASTIC CARROT KNOWS NO FEAR...It came to me like...like something out of a dream...There I was shoulders rigid, abs as hard as cobblestones and buttocks clenched for dear life. The Plank does weird things to the mind. One second my eyes were set in Zen-like gaze at the hardwood kitchen floor, the next... complete state of daydream. Didn't even know I was still in plank mode. All that was going through my lil A.D.D mind was "The fantastic carrot knows no fear". At first it was just a strange background noise type deal, but it firmly took hold in my mind until I burst out laughing and pretty much fell on my face. Thought y'all would enjoy my new found plank mantra.

I apologize for the lack of posts on my part this last week. Its been hard for me to get on this thing and communicate my particular P.C.P probs. I don't have a week long synapses in me like Naty, but I'll try to be more in-depth with my future posts. One thing I can say now is that taking this program one day at a time has become essential for me. Not because I'm running out of steam, but my focus is wandering. This has happened to me time and again when it comes to all kinds of projects and goals. I start thinking of  "the next step" and start losing momentum on the tasks at hand. Got to stay Presently minded.
GO Team,
Ramiro

Day 49, Nathaly: Saturday musings

 I know it's Ramiro's turn to offer some PCP wisdom nuggets, but I think having the newbies join the flock has made me want to share more.  SO:

1.  I really wanna indulge.  In fact, I wanna over-indulge. A LOT. So much so, that every time I look up the calorie count for something I wanna snarf (as a snack or appetizer, mind you!!) I realize it's closer to the 1000-1500 range.. WOW -- scary, huh?  So, i'm thinking I'm gonna have to put some work into this and home make the preferred item, but that means I'd have to eliminate both pizza and french fries from the running (i'm no good at making either of these.. Sad!).  OK -- so, here's what i've been craving:  something cheesey & gooey á la nachos or loaded fried potato skins or jalapeño poppers.

Eliminated from the running:

Chili's Loaded Nachos (w/ chicken, the 8-count version: 1050 cals)

Outback Steakhouse Cheese Fries (amazingly, the nutritional menu counts one of these as 6 servings.  Each serving 355 calories. I wonder if that's including dunking them in the ranch dressing? Probably not..

Domino's hot wings. 12 piece = 1200 cals.  This time i'm sure it doesn't include the dipping sauce.

Jalapeño poppers -- My usual allotment: 6.  They come in at 150 EACH, so that add up to 900 calories!!  

WTF, man?!  Here's what i'm realizing:  a) I can't BELIEVE I used to eat this stuff REGULARLY without hesitating. b) Why do I even WANT this?  I mean, I'm a HUGE fan of the Meatrix & Food, Inc. & other such eat meat sustainably (ie, conciously and seldomly) type initiatives -- I'm making MYSELF upset just knowing that I'm craving this sh*t. And last, but not least, c) what's up with my obsession with deep-friend, cheese covered goodness?!  UGH.  Now I feel like I've learned nothing on the PCP -- SO disappointed in myself right now.  However (!!), if I eat one of the above and get really sick -- wouldn't that be a good life lesson?  On the other hand (...), if I eat one of the above and DON'T get sick -- uh...  I don't wanna even think about the consequences..  3 months of really awesome healthy living completely lost, money down the drain, back to a terribly unhealthy body image and completely emo relationship to food.

UGH.

There were other things I wanted to say, but now I'm mad at myself because of my indulgence fantasies..  I"m gonna go remember how much I love maple yogurt.

Day 48, Nathaly: Slacking with the updates DOESN'T mean we're slacking!!

Hey all,

SOOOO sorry to be slackers this week.  I actually have had several personal ah-HAH moments and I'm a loser for not sharing it with you all, but I wanna send a shout out to Kim, especially for reaching out to check in on us via email.  (Funny to think we don't really use email in Team Mango -- when did we choose that name? lol -- given how much I rely on it for my day to day communication).

OK -- so how to sum up the last 5 days?  There's been frustration and there's been moments of real, deeply-entrenched strength.  I'll try to go day by day.  The veggie post was done on Sunday night, so this is gonna be a long one.  APOLOGIES FOLKS -- we both PROMISE to be better!

MONDAY
The new form of jumps has meant re-acceptance of my abilities with the rope (I took to it naturally from the beginning).  I love love love getting thumbs up from cars driving by smiling at me jumping my little heart out in front of my house every morning.  I think my fave moment so far though, as certainly been from a little girl who was obviously impressed by also really shy and still managed to give me a double thumbs-up.  SO cute.

So, what had happened was that I was chugging along from Day 1 (50 jumps in a row) to somewhere around the end of month 1 (up to 200 in a row) and I realized that b/c it was so difficult to maintain, my breaks in btwn sets were going for too long (and therefore, I was taking too long getting jumps done).  So I went back down to sets of 100, but when the 2-min sets started, I worried I would tank. Turns out that because I also re-committed to doing jumps in the morning (based on Patrick's email about how that's when they've got the greatest fat-burning effect), they've been totally manageable.

TUESDAY
Definitely fell off the bandwagon this evening.  It was a SUPER long day starting with a morning 350 organizers mtg (I'm helping to plan a huge local day of action around climate solutions on 10/10/10 as part of the 350.org campaign's climate movement building -- if you've never heard of 350, def check it out and sign up!) and followed by a full day of work and then running up to campus for a grad school gathering and some work on my grad thesis and culminating with a two hours rehearsal with the Burlington Choral Society for our upcoming concert of the Duruflé Requeim and Britten Te Deum Festival.  LONG LONG day.  Anyways, I was perfectly PCP-compliant all day with the diet, but by the time I got home at 9:30pm, I just needed to sit (the wrong choice, I knew even as I made it..) We popped in our latest Dexter netflix arrival which was interrupted by a friend stopping by and before I knew it, it was 11pm.  I was absolutely exhausted and knew that I was just not going to make it.  Ramiro got a little pissed that night (as he had waited for me to do them with him, like I promised) but was a total champ and proceeded to do his workout even at that super late hour.

WEDNESDAY
I knew that Tuesday had been bad and made sure to get up early enough to do my jumps before work.  I had my 2nd choir day of the week (I also sing with the choir at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington), but I planned my day around it and did just fine.  It helped to have gotten a really good night of sleep in, of course. Victory for the day: a guy stopped by the office with a tray of assorted Lake Champlain Chocolates.  he offered each of us one and I grabbed my favorite flavor (dark chocolate mint) as i didn't wanna go into the i'm-on-a-diet spiel.  I set it on my things and gave it to one of the interns the following morning without too much mental struggle (felt very much like bilbo baggins asking himself in the 1st LOTR why he shouldn't keep the ring, "it's such a little thing, what harm could it do?" lol.  YAY NATHALY.

THURSDAY
A friend came in from California late Wednesday night and I was really worried about waking him up in the morning, so after getting ramiro his breakfast and a cup o' joe (those guys stayed up pretty late catching up and playing video games), I stayed in  bed til 9am (NICE) and then took Tiggs out for a nice long walk and did my jumps outside.  It was a slow morning and I realized that in order to get everything done (walk, jumps, shower, bfast) and feel comfortable getting to work without feeling rushed, I need a full two hours.  DANG.  I honestly can't imagine how you all who ALSO do the workout in the mornings handle it.  More power to ya!
That evening we decided to call the day our "saturday" (the 7th day of our PCP week which would normally be only jumps) in order to enjoy some time with the folks from out of town and some other friends. The host made a spaghetti dinner and I had some salad and a bite of carby-loveliness and did a great job of resisting the homemade chocolate cake, but the red wine and Long Trail Ales had my mouth watering..  In a small dip in my rock solid sweets resistance record, as I was helping to clean up, I decided to let Tigger have a nibble at a spoonful of cake someone left on their plate and gave my finger a lick.  WOW was that yummy.  Made seeing that half-eaten tray soo much harder to resist.  lol.  And, knowing our indulgence was around the corner, gave my mind plenty of fodder for going back and forth with questions and such..

FRIDAY (today)
I've been exhausted lately.  We were up late last night and ramiro got crazy allergies from the bunnies at our friends house, so we all slept in.  A morning without the alarm makes for a very difficult time waging the hour, however, and I was in bed until 11:34am.  Wow.  So, I made Tito some coffee and took Tigger out and was only done with jumps at 12:35pm.  Which meant breakfast and lunch kinda collided a bit.  We went to a local Jewish diner to spend a last couple hours with our friend from out of town and had to be really creative to stay within PCP.  To be honest, neither of us ate enough probably, but at least everything was within bounds, except for a couple bites I had of latke (fried potato pancakes) before giving it away. We went to the market to pick up more milk and eggs and when I got home, I did a little reading and felt that exhaustion coming in again DESPITE the frigging 10.5 hrs of sleep!  I was also a little cold, so I used that as an excuse to curl up in bed ("I'm not napping -- really!") and proceeded to sleep the afternoon away, only to get woken up by a VERY exciting message from Ramiro -- our PCP indulgence is of 500-700 calories!  WOOHOOOOOOOO  I was so excited (and thankfully ready to be up again), I flung my arms all around the air and hit the hubster in the face.  LOL.  So, obviously, not a good day, but INDULGENCE, here we come!!

OK -- last two things, i've been saving to share:
1. At some point last weekend, I think (or maybe Tuesday.. possible why i was so wiped out that night), I made the mistake of skipping BOTH my breakfast carbs and lunch carbs.  Never before would I have known how incredibly important they are to functionality.  How do those atkins ppl function?!?  I mean, honestly, I ended up having to add a slice of toast to my dinner meal that day.

2.  How could it have taken this long to learn to do push-ups effectively??  I guess, my arms have been too high this whole time.  It was only Wednesday of this week that I actually did push ups correctly and i've been feeling it ever since.  I really hope my boobs don't shrink too much!!

OOH -- last thing, i promise (SORRY for the long post!!):  YUMMERS BFAST SANDWICH IDEA:  Smear half and avocado all over your breakfast bread carb portion and layer an egg onto THAT.  LOVELY!!

OK -- DONE

Day 43, Nathaly: VEGETABLES!

So, Ramiro's been hungry the last couple weeks and our weekly diet message saying he could eat as many veggies as he wants made his eyes light up -- so healthily cute.  lol  This is a man I used to have to trick into eating fruits and vegetables back in the day!

Anyways, so as i've mentioned before, I've been pretty bored with the veggies lately, so I went to the lunch counter at the local co-op the other day and checked out some veggie medley options that could be adapted to be PCP compliant (as simple as removing salt from ingredient list for the most part).  Two looked really yummy so I bought some on the spot and enjoyed them thoroughly.  Recreating them based solely on my memory of the ingredients list was certainly the hard part..

From L to R: zucchini/corn medley; mustardy roasted broccoli & roasted red peppers; asian slaw (PS -- that peanut butter is exclusively for Tigger's daily pill delivery -- fear not! (I get no more that one finger lick per morning)

1. Home versions of City Market creations:

• Yummy roasted broccoli thing (shown in the center shot above)!  Mmmm MMM M!  I'd never even had roasted broccoli before (can you believe it?) and it stood out a little while back after Sarah left this great comment with lots of veggie suggestions.  Anyways, this is simply roasted broccoli with roasted red pepper and (here's the ta-da ingredient!) MUSTARD.  not your typical hot-dog stuff, the classry stuff with the seeds.  SO GOOD.  Also a little drizzle of olive oil. 
• My version of the Napa cabbage thing (pictured on the right) was not so great (and I made a LOT so i'm gonna be eating this mistake for most of the rest of the week..).  I think this one definitely req'd precise measurements as opposed to the free hand thing I was doing -- mine has too much apple cider vinegar and has never really got sweet, despite 3-4 drizzles of agave nectar.  Anyways, the original recipe had toasted almonds and soy sauce which I omitted from mine and am definitely missing.

2. Other stuff I whipped up this afternoon:

• Zucchini corn medley (pictured on the left above):  The original recipe which I shared before (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Corn-and-Zucchini-Melody/Detail.aspx#) includes bacon and although is did make for a really lovely dish, it's not bad without that salty-greasy loveliness..  As mentioned before, I add 1/2 of a seedless jalapeño for a little kick. I think it's cuz the corn I got is from a local farm (19 cents each a week ago!) and in season and I cooked it perfectly (not to brag or anything), but I ate a whole ear for lunch today without even blinking cuz it was just SOOOO lovely.  Guys -- if it's corn season where you are, do it up! WARNING: avoid licking fingers if you've recently been chopping jalapeños..
• Roasted fall veggies:
• eggplants (below, foreground):  I was in the first stages of making some baba ganoush, but by the time I was done with the stuff I've already listed, I really didn't feel like pressing on.  Plus, I don't keep tahini on hand, so I'm gonna hold off on that.  Hope the eggplants will keep (they were already sorta borderline..

Roasting fun. 

• beets (center): we had bought these to juice, but never got around to it, so I found them tossing around a fridge drawer and thought, what the heck..  Here's the thing:  I don't really like beets.  I'm thinking I'll try to sneak them into Ramiro's food somehow.. lol I'm open to other ideas, of course!
• potatos (background): a new fave.  ramiro had one for lunch while I went with a nuked sweet potato.  not as lovely as the last one I nuked, but still fun times.  

This is what's left to cook up/eat before the next trip to the super market:

Anyone have any suggestions for what to do with that watercress I bought on sale?  I'm thinking of trying this, .http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Avocado-and-Watercress-Salad-242342, but am afraid of experimenting with asian after that sad slaw

OOh -- and as long as I'm in this fun picture-sharing swing, I've been saving these next couple images to work into a post at some point.  Now seems as good as ever:

A PCP-compliant refrigerator: fruit & veggies galore, milk, homemade chai & lean meats (not shown here..)

Local Farmer's Market Bounty!  YAY for VT in the summer!

And last, but not least..

My teeny weeny garden red onions.  Hold back the giggle, folks! It's a product of my very first gardening attempt.

OK -- it seems I had a lot to share today.  Total bummer I lost dinner bananas, btw..  I was really loving those banana milkshakes.  OH -- and HUGE bummer that I didn't lose any weight this week.  I knew it was too good to be true:  last Sunday's weigh-in shown I had lost 4 lbs in a single week which seems WAY weird.  Must've just been a glitch in the matrix.  150 lbs, here I come!!

Day 42- Easy peasy, lemon squeezey

For the first time I can report Fridays exercises were a breeze..mostly. Bicycle is the new king of the hill in my book. We switched days off this week so that Friday was our  jump rope only day and did Fridays workout on Saturday which might be the reason things went so smoothly. By smoothly I mean naty and I were able to finish the routine and not immediately collapse. I think I actually might be getting close to looking forward to the exercises, which is pretty revolutionary to me. I say that because I definitely felt my body expect a full workout yesterday and not doing it left me feeling antsy. Hard to describe. Our dog tigger on the other hand has not gotten use to us hopping around and being active. He usually gets a bit nervous when we start cleaning or rearranging things in the apt.. As soon as we start, he walks around with a confused look on his face.
Thats all I got, Fight the good fight.
Ramiro 

Day 39, Nathaly: Finally getting used to the diet

So, I realized today that I've got this diet under my belt. It's kinda boring sometimes and I still miss cheese & butter, but most of the strong cravings are gone and it's really not all that hard to say no to the non-PCP-compliant stuff.

On the other hand, when lunch gets inconvenient (which has happened 3 or 4 times since the start of the program), I don't bat an eye at the thought of grabbing a veggie sandwich or a shrimp salad.  It doesn't feel like breaking the rules since it's all the right stuff (no fats, sugar or salt), but it's obviously not perfectly weighed, so it's kinda lame and Ramiro (who's really into playing the perfect gram-age game) is not really a fan. In essence, there's little of that guilty feeling that we all know equals cheating, but it means it's not a perfect PCP day.

The last couple days have been super busy (and super awesome!) and house chores have sort of fallen to the side lines so, as a result, creativity in the kitchen has reduced considerably (especially given the weird assemblage of uncooked veggies mocking me in the fridge).  The newest rendition of the diet makes it kinda difficult to make anything that will produce leftovers unless you wanna eat the same lunch everyday, so it's a constant battle to make something I know I will enjoy.  Ramiro doesn't mind mixing together weird combinations of carb/veggie/protein, but I like meals that feel like a meal. Please share ideas, folks!

Anyways, enough rambling for now and off to make some late-night meatballs!

PS:  went back to jumping rope in the morning and realized it's not that much earlier out of bed and it makes it so much easier to split up the work out.  Yay for morning jumping!

Day 36, Together: Some Favorite Recipes

Potato Curry: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Potato-Curry/Detail.aspx

• switch from ghee to olive oil
• i've never used mustard seed and haven't missed it
• great with whole wheat tortillas!

Zucchini Corn Medley: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Corn-and-Zucchini-Melody/Detail.aspx

• obviously, you gotta forgo the bacon & cheese
• i like to add peas
• you can also add 1/2 of a small jalapeño for zing

Balsamic Marinated Eggplant & Zucchini:

• cut into 1/2 inch rounds (i like to leave the skin on)
• dip in balsamic vinegar
• pan sear on med-high heat for about 1 min on each side
• serve with your choice of protein (i like lean steak)

Pasta Primavera:

• toss appropriately weighed angel hair pasta with:
• cherry tomatoes
• sugar snap peas
• broccoli spears
• a sprinkle of Parmesan
• a drizzle of olive oil
• serve with your choice of protein (i like salmon)

New Favorite Pasta Sauce:

• sautee at low-med heat:
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 2-3 medium garlic cloves, crushed or diced
• add 1 large can low-sodium, organic diced tomatoes
• stir in 2-3 tablespoons of homemade pesto sauce
• sprinkle in fresh basil to taste
• serve over turkey meatballs & pasta 
• OR make a turkey meatball sub on a whole wheat sandwich roll (i like to sprinkle on some Parmesan)

Shrimp & Veggie Lo Mein:

• weigh out & stir-fry together: 
• frozen lo mein noodles
• frozen shrimp
• frozen veggie mix

Banana milkshake:

• 2 medium bananas
• 250 ml milk
• handful of low-sugar breakfast cereal
• 1 tsp on maple syrup

Other easy fave's:

• nuked potato with plain yogurt
• nuked sweet potato with drizzle of maple syrup
• steamed broccoli with garlic
• frozen blueberries

Day 33, Nathaly: Scheduling

OK -- so there are some perks to being a graduate student.  For starters, I am among the lucky few who get paid to go to school (via a USDA fellowship).  How AWESOME is that?  I'm still not over how blessed I've been.  Secondly, you get to learn from and study alongside a lot of really fantastic people.  And last, but certainly not least, you set your own schedule!

So, as I transition from graduate student to "Master of Science" (hah!) and from the flexibility of summer to the schedule of the fall, i'm faced with the need to figure out how I plan to do everything I want to do.  I've struggled with over-committing myself to causes for years.  Now that i'm trying to take care of me, I need to find that balance between my work (at the moment, my full-time job is getting a job), my activism, my singing, my health and my relationships.  Usually, work, Ramiro and activism are at the center of my life and everything else just kinda hovers, but I'd like to move forward giving all the other aspects of well-rounded-happy-me some time, as well.

Things I need to remember as I move forward with that:

Lesson 1:  I can't do jumps/workouts after dinner.  My tummy just doesn't handle it well.
Lesson 2:  I need to get up earlier.
Lesson 3:  I need to plan my days, almost like I budget our income, if I actually want to do it all (and not forget the basic stuff like dishes & laundry).
Lesson 4:  I need to call home and far-away friends more often.  I forget it's actually fun times.

There's other stuff, but that's what I can come up with for now.  So, this fall I'll be starting a 30-hr/wk internship, singing with two choirs, attempting to get my project writing into a publishable state and working with a small group of organizers to put together an amazing 350.org 10/10/10 Global Work Party for Burlington, VT (if you haven't heard of 350.org, check out the website).

Anyways, being healthy through all that is a challenge I'm actually looking forward to!  If I can get through this, I'll have learned skills to actually move me through my normal life AND even stay fit -- wow.  It's a lot to ask of myself, but this is a great time for me to learn!  And, as always -- thank goodness Ramiro's around to help me figure it out. :)

PS:  we're having a bit of a heat wave up in VT.  Jumps have been sucking BIG time.  Hope y'all are keeping cool!

Day 32, Ramiro: Today Was Hard

Today was hard. We bought new resistance bands and a new jump rope and both items seem to be a lot more intense than the previous ones we've had. I broke the cheap Wal-mart resistance band at the hardest level which is what led to its replacement. It used to be I could get through most of the exercises without a problem, but today's sets stopped me cold. I'm anticipating a harder time on this project than expected. I'm glad I'm doing it with Nathaly.

Day 30, Nathaly: I PASSED MY DEFENSE!!

OK -- non-PCP topic today, but REALLY big news in my personal life:  I PASSED!!!!!

I had been super worried about this because I hadn't given my graduation studies committee much by way of progress reports.  Pretty much, every time I emailed them this summer, it was to ask to re-schedule my defense (literally 3 times..).

Anyways, not only did I give a really good presentation, I impressed them enough for one committee member to suggest strongly that I consider publishing my work!!  I mean, for realz?!  I was floored, I have been all day.  I allowed myself one non-PCP treat (a Mexican wedding cake cookie), and was again surprised by how un-fulfilling it was.  I mean, for someone who has always associated reward and celebration with food treats, this is HUGE (hmm..  maybe there are some PCP lessons to be learned from this blog post, afterall!).

Anyways, I've got until September 17th to institute their revisions (including some additional stakeholder analysis -- UGH) and then, i'm officially a MASTER.  Of what?, you may ask. Well..  that remains to be seen, I guess. lol  The degree will read Master of Science in Natural Resources (concentration in Ecological Planning). And, for the first time, I'm thinking I may just be able to live up to the title..

Now to try to have one last week of summer before starting an internship after Labor Day!
Lake Champlain:  here I come!

Tigger, too!

Day 28, Nathaly: Lazy Eating

So, the need for convenience has cracked me several times this week, but never like today when I broke down and just microwaved a couple frozen hot dogs leftover from pre-PCP days.  Not good, not worth it, but it was that or get on my bike to the local supermarket and, frankly, I chose the road taken by most Americans everyday and it's probably gonna show on the scale tomorrow morning.

I'm trying to atone by eating a frigging pound of sugar snap peas.  these things are fantastic, but dang does deliciousness get old when it's force-fed. gonna have to keep working on getting up earlier on the weekends -- these 4pm lunches kinda suck.

Wish me luck with the weigh-in!

Day 26, Nathaly: Exercising after a small break..

hey folks,

Thesis writing has been a drag, but I haven't wandered too much off-course from the PCP. I skipped jumps on Monday and then was SO utterly exhausted from the workout (and i'm guessing the stress of sending off my project report that afternoon) that I knocked out hard that night.  The following day I didn't get as far as I wanted on finishing my literature review, so I decided to take the day off all exercises in a last-ditch attempt to finish the literature review before we took the day off for our anniversary.  I also didn't measure anything that day -- I just ate as was simplest, keeping to the rest of the diet rules.  I'm pretty sure I under-ate quite a bit Tuesday, but since then, I've gotten back on track.

Getting back on the workouts was tough.  Jumps yesterday were exhausting and then the new exercises certainly provided fodder for some serious self-reflection ("why am I doing this again?" "do i really care that much?" and other such musings..).  I think I was only able to make it through the planks b/c Ramiro was there urging me on.  I hated him and loved him for it, but with his advice, I made it to 23 seconds before collapsing on the 3rd set (don't worry about it -- I always made sure to put in the total of 30 per rep).

Anyways, the week is chugging along and the big day is getting closer.. I'm still struggling to get my literature review just right (stupid perfectionism) and diet food is tasting better.  So, I'm just gonna keep chugging along and taking it one day at a time.  It's day 26.  Kim, Stu -- can you believe it?

Oh! Quick Q:  is anyone else experiencing some join pains?  I was struggling with that through most of the workout today -- achy knees during the creeps, pain in the left elbow during the shoulder press and, weirdest of all, stiff fingers during the pull-ups..  What's up with that?  Maybe it's all the sitting in front of the computer. (Hence the lack of blog posts -- we'll get back on track!)

Cheers all!

Day 25, Ramiro: Success!!!

First and foremost, today is our three year wedding anniversary! I took a day off work, Naty took a day off her Master's project and we vegged. Usually we'd celebrate by going out and treating ourselves to a fancy dinner, but seeing as we can't eat most of the things out there we stayed in. We cooked up some pasta and steamed some mussels with garlic. It was really good. Naty and I have been concerned we'd stray from "the way" this week, but i'm happy to report we've made it through today unerringly. Of course, we did get to enjoy a couple treats..

Our indulgences experience was odd. I expected to be disappointed by my 400 calories of chocolate fudge brownie (my favorite Ben & Jerry's flavor). I still enjoyed it, but the taste was definitely different -- it was really really bitter, very strange. Naty had some triple creme brie and a bottle of Woodchuck hard cider. She experienced the same level of extra sensitive tasting and also thought it was odd. All and all it was a good day.

P.S. I'm back on track with the jumprope, I discovered that I needed to keep my A.D.D. mind on something else entirely so that I wouldn't "over think" my skipping. I now jumprope to the sound of the Rat Pack. Whatever works, right?

Ramiro

Day 20, Nathaly: I feel like cheating

Hey all,

Ever since I got out of the routine by going home for the weekend, I've been fudging with the rules a bit.  On top of that, it's only been three weeks and I've lost 5 lbs, so I figure -- at this rate, why even bother doing the harder exercises?  I could get away with adding a sprinkle of salt on this, a little mayo here, a dab of butter there, right? Add to both of those thoughts the fact that I defend my thesis in 8 days and am very much anticipating the most stressful week of my life (thus far) and it all spells very alluring rationale for not following the diet and/or exercises to the T.

SO -- I'm reaching out to you all for some support.  What I know I need for me to stay on track through the next (excruciating) week is some serious rationalization of why this is worth doing.  Know thyself, right?  I'm a thinker and I'm a worrier by nature.  I'm also a giver & a nurturer so I don't really value taking care of myself as the reason for this 3-month experiment. To offer a bit of perspective on this last thought: Ramiro and I are nowhere near starting a family, but one of the main reasons I want to develop healthier habits is that I'd like to be ready for motherhood well before taking that step -- emotionally, physically, financially, socially. (looking nice in a bathing suit would be nice, too). Hence, the last couple years have been about finding a career path that really means something; paying off debt in an efficient way; adopting socially & environmentally responsible practices and learning to be happy with me.  It's more about being the right person than about reaching my "peak".

This leads me to the next thought I've been struggling with.  Thus far, this program is so über-scripted and Patrick-is-Guru (no offense, dude -- you're a cool guy, we chose this and you've got a great record of success) but I'm not sure I'm actually learning how to incorporate some of the important life lessons I'm seeking.  One of my biggest problems before Day 1 was emotional eating & the weighing of foods has left emotional eating out of the question both b/c it's not allowed and b/c I haven't really been hungry with all this food.  So, here's the problem:  I don't feel like i'm actually listening to my body yet.  I'm not eating when I'm hungry; I'm eating what and when Patrick says I should.  So, I'm really hoping this will develop over the course of the next 80 days. Has that happened for others?

Next, this is not a life-long endeavor for me. I value the beauty of eating good foods too much to keep nuts & beans and chocolate & ice cream out of my life forever. What happens when Day 91 comes along and I start eating my beloved cheeses again?  What happens when I finally choose to adopt vegetarianism? I plan to continuing doing the exercises forever more, but 80% of this program is diet, so.. is it worth being so hard on myself for three months if I know it's just going to end.  In other words, why not fudge?  Why not use this time to simply learn to go with less of ______?

Another thing that will make this week difficult is exactly the topic of Kim's last post:  convenience.  If I have to write for 10 hours straight, I can't stop to steam the veggies.  And if I'm hating every minute of that writing, I most certainly do not want to hate my meal. So -- another rationale for cheating a bit.

Given how tough it's been to get back on track after going home for the weekend, I don't wanna have a lax week and then struggle to get back into the thick of things after my thesis defense on August 30th (send positive thoughts my way from 1-4pm that day, please!!).

OK -- it's a long post b/c it had to be.  Thanks for reading and help me by sharing:
1. rationalizations I can adopt
2. easy, simple recipes that are actually enjoyable
3. ways you get yourself through the hard times

THANKS SO MUCH, PCPers!

Day 18, Together: Veggie Stains & Muscle Pains

A rainbow of swiss chard leaves stained our tilapia kinda purple yesterday.  Meanwhile, Ramiro says that every time he burps it smells like carrots.  (What a nicely packaged veggie -- portable, small, light & orange! Our favorite color). We're experimenting with different veggies, and each have a couple of favorites:  Ramiro loves broccoli & carrots because of their ease of consumption (he just eats them raw) and i'm into a zucchini & eggplant kick.

Muscle pain.  Lunges are deathly.  Not taking a beak in between sets it literally impossible for us.  The pain!! Will showed Ramiro a pistol lunge & it kinda scared me -- this program gets harder?!  It was enough to scare me into delaying jumps for 3 hours this morning, but I got them done.

Confession:  we both skipped our jumps yesterday (we might have influenced each other in that regard..).  I tried to make up with it by biking up the hill to campus today.  Ramiro managed to hurt his left leg from jumping rope, which is actually an improvement considering that before he only felt  it on his right leg, so maybe it's evening out.  He's doing the walking replacement for another day until that heals up enough for him to go back to the rope.

Nothing really else to report.  We've both just barely managed to get back into our routine, so here we come, week three!

Day 15, Nathaly: Going home for the weekend

My sister's baby shower was this afternoon.  Pretty much everything there was out of the question and I didn't have my trusty scale to bring me back to true PCP form.  So, I struggled to both gauge the right amount of food (I pre-weighed meals using last week's gram allotments and there's been a slight shift) AND fight the temptation of everything before me at a typical family gathering.  So, I've decided to let the pictures speak for themselves in the latter of these struggles.  The following images are all foods I deprived myself of this weekend -- I'm pretty proud of myself for not giving into the simple excuse of "just one bite"!

WARNING: The following images may make you salivate for all the wrong things. Keep reading at your own risk.

my sis grinning as she prepares plates of junk food at a park BBQ after my nephew's victorious little league game.  Nothing like a hot dog & some soda on a hot august afternoon.

mom's flan-cocho: half flan, half cake, drizzled in sugar-syrup. she made it for some friends that came over for dinner &  games Saturday night.  I've never had it before -- this was definitely the hardest to resist. 

pre-lunch snacks at my baby shower table.  moving from the back forward, cheese & crackers & tuna dip; tortilla chips & salsa, potato chips & "health food" exotic vegetable Terra chips; leftovers from someone else's beef empanada (2nd hardest temptation of the weekend); and sprinkled all over the place are decorative "it's a girl!" Hershey's kisses (the bulk of my neice's un-supervised lunch) and soft dinner mints.

 a friend enjoying a lovely slice of red velvet cake. Classic soul food dessert from Harlem! One of my favorite desserts. oh man -- I even considered grabbing a piece to store in my freezer until October 31st.. lol. decided against it as I still have a 6-hr drive back to VT to overcome.

My preggers sis showing off one of the prize baby bottles filled with sugary goodness. This one is full of gummy bears, one of my favorite stress-eating treats -- not too messy and not nearly as sweet as jelly bellys, satisfactorily chewy without the jaw ache, and can be stretched for fun (ideal for both it's distraction value and stress-relief properties).

So -- there you have it. Tomorrow, I have to contend with all the highway drive-thru's, also.  I'll be driving up to VT alone and much more likely to stop for breaks meaning temptations at the store. (at least during the trip down, I rode with a couple ladies who could keep me entertained).  In truth, it wasn't as terribly hard to just say no, but the only reason I could make it through was that I know this program isn't a forever diet.  Maybe that's dangerous talk, but I can't bear the thought of never having a buttered slice of toast again.  How I dread that dry toast..  haha.

I'm proud to have made it through these last couple days in one piece, considering all the sources of temptation. Ramiro's doing pretty well keeping things going up in VT, as well.  I can't wait to get back home and away from all this deliciousness -- back to the beauty of garden sungolds (our favorite variety of cherry tomato) & the Wednesday veggie truck.