Day 47, An Apology

This post goes out to every thin person I've ever hung out with, dated, or been related to.

When you complained of the air-conditioner being too strong...
when you wanted to change tables at a restaurant because there was a draft...
when you wanted to get out of the freezer section at the supermarket a little more quickly...
when you cranked up the heat during the winter, so that I had to wear shorts inside...

I secretly thought that you were weak.

Yes, I assumed that some part of your physiology was inferior to mine. I was warm all year round, my hands and feet stayed toasty even on the coldest days. I could wear a T-shirt to check the mail in the snow. Surely I was some kind of superior specimen, blessed with above average circulation, bursting with vitality that warmed even my extremeties. And you were the at the weak end of the gene pool. Yes, you would be the thin, limping wildabeast that the cheetahs encircled. I pitied you, when I wasn't annoyed by your constant demands to turn down the AC.

I apologize, because, now I know that I wasn't stronger, I just had a layer of blubber under my epidermis that constantly trapped heat.

How do I know this? Because now that layer is gone, and I'm freezing my ass off.

It's early May as I write this, and the evenings are still cool, with a nippy breeze coming off the ocean. And I'm still wearing my winter coat, because if that wind hits my skin, I can feel the chill all the way into my bones. And once the chill is in there, I have trouble warming up again.

I make my choices quickly in the freezer section because I get goosebumps.

I've lost about 7% of my body fat, and sometimes I forget that and still dress like I used to. And then I become one of those people who can't stop talking about the temperature.

ME: "It's so cold today isn't it!?"
FRIEND: "Uh, I guess. Warming up in the daytime though..."
ME: "Man, I should've worn a sweater, I just didn't know it would be so windy today."
FRIEND: "Right... so where do you want to go?"
ME: "Let's just get in out of this cold!"
FRIEND: "How about that cafe?"
ME: "Sure, let's just sit far away from the window, ok? It looks drafty."
FRIEND: "Um, ok, Whatever you want, dude."
ME: "I'm going to get something hot to drink, because it's so cold today. Isn't it cold?!"
and so on...

So, thin person, I'm sorry for thinking you were weak. You aren't. I was just fat.

Day 46, Restaurant

Today I met someone for lunch at.... eek! a restaurant! For the first time since the PCP began I didn't have a hand in what was put on my plate. Trying to follow this diet, there's really only one kind of food that will work if you're going out to eat. Japanese.

So I chose to meet my associate at Ootoya, a traditional Japanese food chain.

Remember, here are my lunch requirements:

100 grams carbs
180 grams vegetables
130 grams protein

So, this is what I ordered.

To get the carbs, a bowl of plain rice.


For the protein, Sumibiyaki Saba, (wood roasted Mackerel)


And for the vegetables, Yasai no Seiro-mushi, (steamed vegetables)

Pretty tasty! But my portions were definitely off. Way too many carbs and a little too much protein, and since two of the steamed vegetables were potato and sweet potato (more carbs) I didn't get nearly enough vegetables. But not too bad.

Also, after eating my own weighed out meals for so long, the portions seemed incredibly large to me, and I was really full. And this is a Japanese restaurant with Japanese sizes. If I went to an American chain I think my stomach would rupture.

So, I managed to "eat out" and stay on the PCP diet. Albeit barely and by ordering the smallest dishes at a healthy restaurant with tiny portions. Still, it was nice to be a normal person. (for lunch at least!)

Day 45, No More Machines

I've joined two gyms in my life. One was my college student gym, and the other was a three month deal while I was between jobs one summer. I don't like gyms. The clanking noises, the whirring of treadmills, the mirrors, the flourescent lights, the smell, the way people size up each other, none of it makes me want to exercise. And I have the kind of shiftless, lax personality that it only takes one good excuse for me to not do something.

The only good thing about the gym, I thought, was that I had access to all those marvellous machines that I could never afford on my own. These things look like they're designed by rocket scientists, and they must be ten times better than anything I could get at a store, right!?
But here's the thing about machines. They constrict your actions to a set motion, which really hits the targeted muscle group. Your muscles get big, but, at least in my experience, there's no accompianing feeling of actual strength. That's because all the little muscles around the targeted muscle get ignored, so you kind of have this one spot of strength sitting on top of a bunch of underdeveloped mass. In addition, I found that when you have to take a week or two off due to schedule or sickness, those machine muscles wither away super fast.

I can't remember who it is now, but an author I read often describes this or that character as having "Machine molded muscles." I think that's almost sick. It's fake, dumb muscles, not useful for daily life, just for decoration.

So, enough about machines. I'm going to show you how to take your resistance band and do everything a machine can do, except that with the band, as I described a few days ago, the resistance is strongest at the end of the action, and in addition, you have to use your own power to guide the movements. This results in tremendous strength gains all over. Toned durable muscle that works in the real world.

You need one extra thing besides the band. This thing.


I don't know what to call it, so I'll just call it the dongle. It couldn't be simpler. You put the dongle on the band...


and find a sturdy door. Shut the door so that the thick part of the dongle is on the outside.


So from the outside someone would see this.


From the inside, this is what you have.

You can see where this is going right? Let's say you take the handles from behind you. Boom! Instant chest fly machine.


Compare.


If you take the handles from the front, Pow! It becomes a shoulder fly.



I promise I'm having more fun than this guy.


Slide the dongle down the door, sit on your butt, and, kazow! Where'd that rowing machine come from?

This is just a small sample of what the resistance band can do when it becomes attached to something stable. At about .01 percent of the price of a year long gym membership!

You're never going to put on a ton of muscle mass with just a band, but, if you're aiming for a trim, strong physique it's just perfect.

Day 44, Thoom!

Today I was going to take some photos about how to do "flys" with the resistance band, mimicking the movements of half a dozen expensive gym machines. But about 15 minutes into my workout, my band broke! I was doing some shoulder training and "snap!" the rubber came apart near the left handle.

I've been wailing on that band for, well, 44 days, so I'm not too upset. The set came with two other bands and the whole thing cost about 10 dollars, so, I can't complain. And I remember at the beginning of the project when just doing 6 reps on the band was so awkward and hard. I'd be lying if I didn't say it was a proud moment, being so badass that my equipment can't keep up with me. Very Incredible Hulk.

(Except instead of bursting through my clothes they're falling off me.)

I'll try to get those photos tomorrow, if the bands can handle my brute strength.

Day 43, Final Diet Plan (?)

I know these diet plan posts can be boring, but the truth of the matter is that the PCP is diet. The training and everything is just icing on the cake.
If you've been following the diet stuff, you'll know that I was on the evening smoothies for over a month, and when I had lost enough body fat I tried to switch back to a solid dinner and more protein. My stomach was not happy with that, so we switched up to a lighter version, spacing out the meals so that a bunch of matter didn't hit it all at once.

I did that for a week and my stomach has gotten a lot stronger, so we're going to move onto what I hope will be the final diet plan of this project. Later I might add more carbs. The idea is to give my muscles a lot of protein and energy to work with. Chen thinks I will gain a kilo with this plan.

It's funny, a few weeks ago, I would have jumped for joy at the chance to eat more. Now, it almost seems like a chore. But it is good to have some carbs for dinner again.

So, here it is, The Peak Condition Project Diet Plan, Final Version (?)

Breakfast
50 grams carbs
1 whole egg
1 egg white
250 ml lowfat milk
as much fruit as I like

Morning snack
1 egg white
50 grams vegetables
fruit if hungry

Lunch
100 grams carbs
180 grams vegetables
130 grams protein
fruit if hungry

Afternoon snack
1 egg white
1 serving of fruit

Dinner
50 grams carbs
170 grams vegetables
70 grams protein

Evening snack
1 egg white
fruit if hungry

By the way, all these numbers are calculated for my height, weight, and conditioning goals. Don't try these for yourself, unless you're my long lost twin. If you're interested in trying the PCP, we're accepting two more participants. Email thepeakconditionproject (at) gmail.com before May 15th to apply!

Day 42, Progress and an Announcement

Today I did 500 jumpropes in a row, without being winded and without a miss (i.e. the rope getting caught on my feet). When I started this project I could barely get through 50 without messing up. And after a hundred my breathing was beginning to get heavy. It used to take me 20 minutes to do my thousand jumps, now I can do it in 5.

Chen has told me to not jumprope so much, I don't need to lose anymore weight, but I really like jumping rope now and am almost sad when I have to stop before I'm ready. I'm currently only supposed to do 500 but I usually cheat up to 700.

In other news, there are a few people out there who have expressed interest in doing The Peak Condition Project for themselves. I talked to Chen today and we decided we can take on three participants and give them the right amount of attention and feedback so that the program will work. So, if you want to do it get in touch with me at ThePeakConditionProject( - at - )gmail.com. We're going to try and choose three very different types of people, (an older person, a woman, a slob, etc...) so don't think you can't do it.

But don't apply if you're only half-interested either! The PCP isn't that hard, but it does require consistent commitment, and about an hour a day.

So take the chance to have your own personal trainer and dietician for free! Apply before May 15th!

Day 41, A Must Read

As you know if you've been following this project, I've had a lot of revelations regarding food during the past month and a half. I now enjoy fruit as much as I used to enjoy sweets, I'm learning how to bring out the flavors in vegetables, and I have finally gotten it through my head that I can control the size of my portions and be very satisfied with my meals.

Which had all kind of primed my mind to be ready to notice this book in the bookstore last week. I would have bought it right there but I didn't have enough money (English books are pricey in Japan, this one was 35 dollars. I'd heard of The Omnivores Dilemma of course, but, not being an omnivore, I was never that interested in reading it.


I got home and was surfing around trying to find more information about the work, and I stumbled upon the NY Times piece that I guess served as the jumping off point for the book. It's one of the most refreshing and well thought out pieces on food I've ever read. And everything I've done on this project convinces me that this is how we need to think about what we eat.

Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.

Please read it if you have a few spare minutes!