back from Bali, back on line

Apologies for not blogging last week, had trouble accessing the website.
Congratulations to the pCPers who have just completed well done,you have been an inspiration to us.

The trip to Bali for my friends wedding went well, managed the work outs each day either at the gym or on the beach or the comfort of an air conditined hotel r

oom, nice to be on holidays for a few days, stayed at the Hyatt hotel and got spoilt.

Sticking to the diet was good for breakfast and lunch and all the tropical fruits were amazing, dinner time was tough and the wheels came off going out to restaurants, had to tweak my food.

The pace in Bali is very slow, "Bali time " l am used of Tokyo time, being on the go all the time, it took a few days to chill and slow down.
Weather in Bali was hot, and busy catching up with friends, the traffic was appaling spent about 3 hours a day sititng in a taxi to go 18 kms took us 90 minutes,this is where the massages came in handy to ease the tension.
I did not do a weigh in last saturday did not have my scales on me!My friends att he wedding had commented on how l have lost wieght and looking good, there was a guest at the wedding from Hong Kong whos brother had done PCP last year, it seems the word is getting around.

last night at SIngapore ariport while in transit, who would have ever thought that l would be buying milk for a drink instead of a beer?

I am back in tokyo now and headed down to Shimoda for the opening of the hotel and restaurant this friday, the stress levels will be high!!! I am happy to be back ( well not really could have stayed in Bali for a month)and get back into my routine, l did miss not being able to prepare my meals.
Some pictures from Bali

Have a fun week to all.
Tony

Day 39 & 40 Train work out

WHo would have thought l would be working out at the trian station l was taking the train back from Shimoda last night( gave me 2 1/2 hours to myself instead of driving) , there where 3 carriages and 3 people on the train, l decided to start the exercises and do the pistol squats, then the inlcine pull ups, the later did not happen as a bunch of school kids got on the trian at the next stop.
While waiting for the shinkansen ( bullet train) at Atami 20 minutes transit, l found a hiding place and did my jump rope, had a few odd looks, but hey us Gaijin "foreigners" always get strange looks from the locals.
Got home to do the rest of the exercises and discovered l have left my band back at the beach house. had to improvise on the band exercises.

day 40,
Its bucketing down with rain, plan was to do exercises this morning out side, will hit the gym later on, then its off to Bali tonight, 10 frineds will be travelling together, a pity the other passengers on the plane.

Just did a weigh in and l have broke under the 90 kg mark,( have not been this weight for 7 years) 89.6 kg am very happy

Have a fun day.
Tones

Days 36, 37 & 38

Motivation Friday day 36 was zero, l donot like to admit this, it was one of those weeks where work pressure got the better of me, a hot kitchen, no aircon, add to that hayfever, allergies,fever, aching body, the only work out l had was my nose running like a tap. Came home from work at 10 pm with no energy and went straight to bed, slept solid for 10 hours.( my body id telling me to slow down, my work is saying we have deadlines to meet grrrrrrrrr) I am sure we have all been there, why do we get so worked up about our jobs.

Saturday a killer day at work, a warm day, energy levels still down, we had out side catering for 400 guests,at one of the most disgusting dirty kitchens l have ever seen, all l wanted to do was crawl up in a corner and go to sleep, struggled thru the day to get the event underway, no work out again today, my work out was unloading the car with catering equipment.

Sunday headed down to the beach, 3 hour drive,car all packed up with kitchen stuff, feeling tired and lack of sleep was getting the better of me, my patients where very short,got thru work stuff and headed home for a "Nana nap" felt refreshed and finally got around to the work out, l am 2 days behind the work out, will make up one of the days on Thursday.

I am hoping my energy levels pick up during the week, Bali is just around the corner, leaving Wednesday morning,it will be nice not to be working
and be on holidays, massages, chilling out and off course PCP training.

Will up load photos from this week soon, have noticed my belt size has not changed at all, face is thinner, upper body taking shape, the spare tires are stilling hanging aorund the gut, was hoping to have hit the 90 kg mark by this week for Bali, 90.5 kg, my final goal is 85 kg lets see how things go in the next 52 days.
Sorry for the long Blog.
have a fun week ahead everyone.

Cheers
Tony

Day 34 & 35

I have been setting the alarm early to get up and do the exercises, sleep seems to be taking priority.

forgot today was Jump rope, was all geared up to work out wiht Lori in the park at 10.30 pm,have just called Lori and looks like we will work out in the park, this time last year we where off drinking at a bar ! how times have chnaged !!
Work outs are going well,l donot seem to be so hungry at night time,due to the kitchen is a sweat box,all l want to do is sit in a cool tub of Ice or pool to keep cool, having my veggies for a snack, l prefered the fruit.I guess there is a reason for it.

Next week am off to Bali 6 more sleeps to go and it will be holiday time.

I found this photo of me taken many years ago when l was travelling thru Europe, its a real " Mario Photo, Not sure if l will get to be that thin again.

Hope alls well with every one.

Cheers

Tony

day 32 & 33

Catching up on sleep has been taking place the past 2 days, the works out have been happening after work, late at night.

Have enjoyed being down the beach with lots of space and fresh air, only wish work was not so full on.My mate Pietro was oging to cook me Osso Bucco for dinner l said that ait possible, he laughed at my Eggwhite and banana smoothy & apple for dinner but was complimentary on the other hand,said l have lost wieght around my face and look may years younger, he offered me a Negroni for a drink, l opted for home made Vanilla tea.

Monday played aorund with the pizza oven at work, made a Calzone, cottage cheese, spinach and mushrooms,have not worked with a wood fire oven before, lots of practise is needed.

Tuesday did trial run for breakfast menu, the drive back to tokyo took 3 hours, after sitting in the car for 3 hours was ready to hit the exercises. Am coming down with the flu or hayfever or may be run down with work,the rest of the week is a night mare at work.
Time to hit the sack.

Have included a few pictures from work.The teaser at work was making Chocolate cello, a take on Lemon cello, made from Spiritis Alcohol 96% proof, chocolate & Milk, will have to try it July 16th?

Cheers

Tony

Day 30 & 31

Day 30, a beautiful sunny day in tokyo, action packed with activities, was at a friends house warming party at lunch time,got talking to some friends who where talking about PCP, little did they know l was doing PCP" My mate had commented l looked a bit thinner,by the end of our converstaion l had convinced him and his wife to enrol in the next intake.
The afternoon Lori and l headed down to see Patrick, my results were okayish, down on weight & visceral fat had lost muscle mass and put on some fat. felt a bit peeded off with the results it is probably due to lack of sleep and rest, the next 10 days at work are going to be tough not sure how my results will be next week.
The banana and apple, egg wite for dinner is interesting, have decided to blend the banana, eggwhite and milk to make a smoothie.

day 31
The drive down to the beach, feeling all energised after a great nights sleep, my mood changed for the better as soon as l hit the coast and saw clear blue water and boats out fishing, its something about the water that seems to take the stress away. This did not last long at work we needed to finalise menu, opening up in 3 weeks time & where firing up the wood fire pizza oven for the first time and training the staff, OMG it was challenging, needed to test the pizza dough bases,managed not to indulge too much in the eating part, need to be careful of the carb intake.
Work out is geting done just before bed time.
Tomorrow will be back doing pizza's and training the cooks on how to cook pasta another bad day for the carb intake, on the flip side am hoping to get a swim in at the beach for some extra cardio work.

have a great week every one, the exercies are ramping up.

Tony

Day 27

Woke up this morning, felt as though l had been hit by a truck, not sure if it was from dehydration from yesterdays heat & the work out, l realised after speaking to Lori l did the creeps wrong, thought they where the floor jumps, what an idiot. my body ached, hands where sore could not lift my arms up above my shoulders, l did not come good until about 3 pm, it was going to be along day at work.Had no energy to do the work out, thought l could squeeze it in after work, this didnot happen, its going have to be tomorrow,

Had outside catering at a VIP clients house, Thought we would be in and out in 3 hours, 6 hours later still there, the menu was food we cannot eat on PCP, Tiramisu, wine jelly, beef, lamb heavily seasond with salt and pepper, risotto, salami, l then realised Gnocchi is a veg!!! but not with gorgonzola cheese and cream,dinner ended up being ratatouli and left over seafood salad and lettuce leaves.

l have never seen a house like this in Tokyo in my gazillion years here. there was a jet pool, jaquzzi, and a river running thru the front yard, and baccart crystal every where, me and my boss where the celebrity chefs, most guests ended up in the kicthen, its amazing what achef jacket can do at a prty to enterian the guests, there was a Miss a Japan contestant at the party.

I noticed my upper body is starting to firm up,( man boobs still there) l was able to fit into an L size chefs jacket and not the usual 3L jacket.

we are nearly a third of the way thru PCP, got to admit the past 27 days seem to have flown by.
Time for bed at 1 am,
Cheers

Tones

Day 25 & 26

Monday, the start of the working week, and training for the new job, felt like a beginner all over again, one of the staff l am working with has real attitude, l am wanting to pick an argument but can not be bothered, l will be here for 10 days only, the kitchen is hot and no aircon, not impressed, made fish stock and cleaned the fish bones to remove all the fins and blood from the back bones of the fish,my fingers stunk of fish all afternoon,even wearing gloves the fish smell still got to my fingers.
I was so annoyed that when l came home was determined to get the work out over and done with.

Dinner was my monthly Food and Beverage dinner group, a group of chefs, hoteliers, wine distributors we get together and talk about whats going on in the industry and a great chance to network. WIll not mentioned what l had for dinner but it was all good.

Tuesday, another hot one, tokyo is humid and a taste of what is coming in the upcoming months, the kitchen was hot as hell, l am sure l lost about 1kg in sweat, took my lunch to work and the chef with attiutde was making fun of my meal, l tried explaining what l was doing but it did

not sink in.

"free range BBQ chook " chicken" from last week down at the beach"

It was raining in the afternoon, opted to go to gym as it would be quiet to do the work out, the air con was not on, due to power savings, managed to do the jump rope 1200 around 12 minutes was determined to so how long they would take, as for the pulls up, managed one set badly and did the rest as incline pull up, saw another man at gym attempting the pull up and he managed only 1 so l didnot feel so bad.Patrick l need to work on this, as there is no room in my house for the pull up bar!

All in all am glad the work out is over and now its back to work for a few hours in the hot kitchen, ( sweat some more, moments like this a cold beer sound good, will not touch it until day 91,) will attempt to do some jump ropes before l go to bed.

Hope alls well with every one.

Tony

Day 23 ok Day 24 Torture working on the kitchen

Saturday day 23, up early feeling "Genki" a full on day with appointments and the work out witht Patrick and Lori, headed off shopping to Kappabashi to the cooks wear area again for work. picked up some digital scales for Lori.
Today is a day no meals cooked at home, out to lunch and dinner, salad and fish for lunch, and dinner was the same, fish and salad squeezed a little feta into my dinner, and mineral water, I used to loath guests when they would come into the restaurant and not order alcohol, which increases the sales, l know seem to be one of those customers, but opt for Sparkling water equivalant to a glass of wine sales.
Lori and l enjoyed our work out with Patrick, walking down the street to Patricks studio we pass so many nice cafes and cake shops we can not enter, strong will power.

Sunday a beautiful sunny day in tokyo, 25 degrees, up early,delayed the work out, hepled lori move some stuff little did we know there were lots of steps to carry boxes up to the house, a good work out for us both.

It seems that l am always out on the weekends to eat, catching up with friends, today was "Amaoroso"itlaian and no wine, the chef was very impressed with me and kept saying he needed to do something about his weight,a glass of wine and chocolate mousse sat in front of me, was not tempted at all.
Did the work out with Lori today in the park, we got a few starnge looks from the japanese people. Still have not been able to do the pulls up, l am going withe the incline pull ups.
Felt great after the work out it was off to work for a few hours, my first time in the kitchen for a month, my mouth was drewling, with all the food l was preparing and unable ot eat, it is going to be tough going working back in the kithcen, my mouth was watering. The party at work was for a group of Japanese girls, age 18 to 28,they were stunning yet so loud and ate too much, when the desserts came out it was hard not to be tempted to eat a choux cream, and seeing one of the girls put 3 on her plate l was jealous,( beatch) but strong will power was on my side and l resisted.

it is now time to plan mondays schedule and how to overcome the temptations at work.

Wishing you all the best

for the coming week.
The Glass of Sicilian syrah & chocoloate mousse with rosemary, l was not able to eat!!

Tony

Day 21 & 22

Am back in the city, after 6 days by the beach needed a taste of the city life and be with familiar faces, ( missed my close friends).

The past two days have been eventfull,l have been side tracked with work, hence the exercies are being done before l go to bed, getting up in the morning to do them has not been a motivator, the meals have suffered a bit,l was out with the house guests for dinner and was so tempted to have beer, was a good boy and had my Perrier water, drinking water when out to dinner is making me run to the loo several times, the temptation of a glass of red wine has been there also,l keep saying this, but l am lucky that my friends are so supportive of me doing the PCP,and apologies when drinking wine in front of me...

Tonight before going to dinner l did the jump rope, will do the rest of the exerices before hitting the sack.
Dinner was tough agian tonight, no carbs!!! went to dinner at the Tokyo American Club, every one ordered steak or a juicy 225 gm Burger,me l had my small portion of grilled salmon and steamed broccoli,a bread basket sat in front of me all night,it was so teasing l had to be brave, and just stare at it.

I am not sure how l am going with weight loss and measurements this week, will know tomorrow when l head down to do the work out with Patrick and Lori, my friends tonight had commentend that l look thinner,my belt size is still the same. looks like it is going to take a while to get rid f the blubber out my gut.

I am happy Patrick mentioned on the video that NATO japanese fermented beans are a no goer,thought it may be time to attempt them, looks like this aint going to happen.

I have not noticed any changes with hormones or mood swings whilst on PCP, l guess with my work situation over the past year being screwed- taken advantage by employers l have hardend up and don't seemd to be fazed any more, maybe this may change as PCP continues!
Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Tony

Day 20

Am having trouble with Internet connection in the mountains- beach area

Another sunny day, up ealry and straight into work stuff, a good breakky, of avocado, poached egg, bagel and some veggies.I was on a missoion to finish work and get to the beach and enjoy the sun, no chance the day went by so quicky, I made some tomato and apple chutney for the steak sandwiches and condiments to some main courses, all smelling very nice, lots of suagr and vinegar, and spices, l will get to enjoy it in 70 days. Eringi mushrooms blanched and marinted in olive oil,to use for Antipasto's.

Doing the work out in the back yard was intersting as the house mates were interested in PCP and giving their advice on what exercies they do, and how they can not commit to 90 days on no booze, l am not misisng the no drinking and not feeling any peer pressure which is nice,l got my first mosquito bite for the season, need to be careful from now on.
Dinner is at Pietros house again, bbq veggies, whole roast free range chicken, I am sitting backk tonight and not cooking enjoying being a guest for a change.

Plan for tomorrow is up early, to knock over the exercies, lets see what how the night progresses.

Cheers

Tony

Day 19

I seem to have miss counted the days and thought we were on day 19 on Monday, I just realised now.
So Day 19 Tuesday a tough one, did quite a bit of pysical work settng up a herb garden, and moving large planter boxes around, l am planting the herbs so they will be in full peak in about 4 to 5 weeks time when the hotel opens up, basil, roseamery, sage, thyme, corriander, Fennel, artichoke, mint & a blue berry and mulberry plant.
The afeter noon wa smore clenaing and scrubbing out drians int he basement of the hotel, No work out until later on in the evening.
A nice sunny day and no chance to enjoy the beach.

Cheers

Tony

Day 18

Its Midnight and just getting around to doing my Blog.

Had a productive day at work, a nice sleep in, no traffice only the sounds of the waves from the ocean.Met my two cooks who l will be working with over the summer at the hotel and got stuck into exploring vendors in the area, A work mate brought donuts for a snack,and apologised to me for offering me one, it is nice to have support around you while on the PCP.

Today managed to have all my meals at a decent time,feeling energised or stressed with work so much to do it so little time.

Tomorrow will take the jump rope with me and attmept to knock out some extra skips while at work, the beach is about 100 meters from work and did not have a chance to get down there today, it was nice and warm, and perfect for a run, but it did not happen,got stuck into cleaning at work.
Went to the local conveni store "7 eleven" and saw fried chicken and ice cream, in the past l would have been tempted to grab both, my will power got the better of me and l came home and had fresh berries.

Day 20 tomorrow, hope to get to fishing port and grab some freshly caught fish and take a break from eating chicken.

Have a great week every one.

Tones

Day 17

A very early start at 6 am to head down to the beach, to avoid the Golden week traffic, packed the ice box up with fruit and my meals for the next few days.

I plan to be down the beach for about 4 days,to check out the new work place, met my boss and the rest of the day was history,we started talking about work and then it all went down hill, got caught up with work stuff, so l need to be prepared from now on with my meals and going to work.

I was brave at lunch time, my boss and work mates were sititng down to Japanese wagyu Beef fillet,all very nice looking and full of marbeling. I stuck to my chicken and steamed veggies, knowing that in 74 days l will be looking alot thinner and healthier than my work mates.

Its 10 pm, need to get the exercies down before l heading off to sleep.

l am hoping tomorrow l can get back on track with my routine and the sunshine is out today it was raining all day.

Cheers

Tones

Day 16

A decent nights sleep, up early and got the exercises done, then
went on a shopping adventure with Lori to Costco, to stock up on fruit and veggies, it was the quickest shop l have done in years, avoiding all the processed foods, alcohol, meat, Costco pizza.The roast chook at costco is a live safer manged to get 4 meals of it.

In the afternnon went to to research on cheking out a pizza oven and pizza ideas for the new job at the beach, being on PCP,it has now got me thinking of doing whole wheat pizza bases.Had a bit of good luck one would say riding home on the scooter a bird shat on my left leg, had a bit of a laugh.
Stayed in on Saturday night avoided going out drinking with friends and being in a smokey bar. Tomorrow is going to be an ealry start, for the drive down to the beach.

Cheers

Tony