Day 27 - in the groove....

So Friday night came and went - green light for "indulgence" but I'm eating so well and enjoying it that there seems to be no reason at this stage to head off piste. At friends for supper so I was a little off plan as I did not want to be a rude guest but still only fish and vegetables and definitely no wine, pudding or cheese.

Not managing to get all the exercises to burn but am doing my best. Wherever this journey takes me it certainly is an interesting and thus far rewarding experience.

I'll have an indulgence another day.....

Day 22 - ouch!

Good things today:
- putting Richard's salsa recipe into action and on my plate. Great flavour - thank you Richard!;
- doing bike and exercises in the gym at lunch time leaving only skipping for the evening;
- rattling through skips when I got home with fewest ever number of trips (still lots but getting some rhythm);
- someone told me I was looking good!

Bad thing today:
- knees hurt after skipping for the first time - I'm hoping it's a one off but any tips on this one gratefully received 

Day 20 - safely back from a business trip

Well that wasn't easy - but not so hard either. Flew to Taipei on Thursday with my lunch in my hand luggage; was upgraded on the plane and successfully turned away champagne, spicy prawns et al and happily chomped on my chicken, veg and brown rice. Work dinner in dumplings heaven but ate modestly and had no direct carbs (rice or noodles) but had some through the dumplings skins I guess. Back in my hotel at 9.30pm and time to skip! Read on another blog about the joys of barefoot skipping but one trip and agonising toes and it was straight on with the shoes.

PCP compliant breakfast in the hotel but lunch had to make do with spicy beef noodles - hopefully not too far off the beaten track. Another upgrade but no airline food and safely back in HK. Unfortunately straight back for a gourmet banquet but proud to say I ate half portions of each course (or less) and had no carbs (or pudding) and certainly no wine! Home at 11.30 and time for skipping etc beyond midnight!

Needless to say a bit sluggish this morning but nothing like a clear head and blue sky and sunshine to feel a million dollars!

Day 15 - need to finesse the workout strategy...

Safely back in Hong Kong and the next stage begins! Great to have help on the food preparation front and lunch from a lunchbox (for the first time in my life) is actually fine - I quite look forward to it. Skipped on Sunday night when I got home and have done the next two days workouts after work - not a long term every day solution but not yet sufficiently jet lag free to stomach a 5am start... But it will have to come. Am thinking that maybe a 5.30 start to skip with the exercises in the gym at lunchtime (post a cardio warmup on the bike) might be a good strategy. Anyone got any thoughts on that idea?

Day 8

Broccoli for breakfast? Seriously strange but I guess there's stranger stuff coming down the road. Glad to be on the proper diet sheets as I have struggled with the "flexibility" of week 1 and have been guilty of many a sin. Still can't get the hang of the skipping - or is that jump roping - but I guess it's a practice thing and there'll be no shortage of that in the weeks ahead. Biggest blow today was finding that my favourite flavouring in the world (Tabasco) has salt in it so I guess that's a no no. Big shame....

Day 6

This is definitely the calm before the storm. I'm on holiday and eating a bit less than I might normally on holiday - but rather more than other PCPers - but am doing my exercises and still feeling very positive. Bring it on!

Day 4

Pretty sure I'm last in the pack due to challenge of doing this on holiday but definitely eating less and doing the exercise so looking forward to next week with prescriptive diet sheets. Skipping getting easier but not sure about the day 7 non stop set! Raining in England so I'll have to skip inside...

Day 3

Day 3 begins - not been much good on the blog as I'm on holiday in the UK and Internet access is sparse. 2 days of half portions of meals not so challenging but certainly eating much less than I normally would on holiday! Skipping is not as easy as my daughters make it look and lifting my not so light frame off the ground 50x5 times is no easy task. as Patrick says this is in some ways the calm before the storm but the game is on and looking forward to where the journey takes me. Good luck to all of you who are just kicking off on the PCP.