Day 44-Feel like a new man

I missed two days of exercise due to a fever but I feel refreshed and significantly better. The two days of illness must have cleared me up as I feel stronger oddly enough. Weighed myself in the gym today. A hair under 93 kilos, which is down about 7 kilos. I can see an abdominal muscle that I have never seen before. Cool. I can see the difference and although I do not think it is significant, my belt buckle tells me otherwise. My suits and shirts are hanging off of me and my jeans are way too big now. I can see that my quads are more defined as well. I still am not near my goal on pull ups though. I can get about 3 before failure and I really would like to be able to do 6-10. I still need to build those weak muscles. Also my lower back fat is still very much present. I miss certain food types but we are half way there and I am getting very close to a weight I am happy with and for once I do not wince when I look in the mirror. I need to get a weekly photo up as I think I am tardy on this.

Day 40-This has been a very tough one

On the brink of quitting this week but keep telling myself it is half over. I am cooking en masse to allow me free time during the week which is spent watching movies. The exercises have reached a new level of difficulty but I can see the difference and I am down about 6 kilos. This morning I did the jump rope before eating and I will do the remainder of the exercises this evening. I seem to store a considerable amount of fat around my lower back and love handles. When will this go away? My gut has come in considerably. The jump rope has become less of a chore and I will jump rope for the rest of my life I think. For travelling it is so convenient-Just pack a small rope. The creep and floor jump are now the toughest for me. After the last set of each I am barely able to stand. (And I hate the pistol squat as well) My knees are feeling a bit worse for wear though. My pull ups have improved but I still find them nearly impossible. I really hope to be able to do 6-10 solid ones without cheating at some point. The diet is fine but my cravings for pizza, indian food and chocolate are becoming more pronounced. Everyone keeps telling me my face has sunken in. I notice it a bit but everyone keeps telling me that. Many others telling me I do not need to lose weight so why am I bothering. I want to get down to 90 kilos and if that big lump of back fat leaves I think I will get there. I think work is making this much more difficult as the market for us is terrible and it seems like finger pointing and back stabbing is increasing. Heading to the states for Thanksgiving so will get a break from work before too long.

Day 34-I am near death

OK I am being melodramatic but I feel like a zombie at the moment. Today's workout killed Reed and me. I felt I was going to collapse after the floor jumps and again after the ab exercises. Instead of the normal sense of euphoria after exercising I am experiencing rage.

Day 29 and I am having an indulgent day

Client lunch and dinner means off the diet for the day. Had a wonderful tempura lunch and the flavors were much more pronounced. Off to dinner at Nobu soon and will most likely have a drink or two. My client will most likely want to take a walk on the dark side so we shall see what the night has in store. Did the Day 29 workout after work with Tim and it was a big step up. It took us almost exactly an hour and I do not see how anyone could finish it much quicker. It was clear that both Tim and I have improved massively on the rope as both of us got around 500 done without tripping. He is still much quicker than me and today he was flying and making few errors. I am mixing it up by doing dbl jumps, slow then fast, back and forth jumps, running in place, and one legged to keep from boredom. The lunges were hard but to immediately go into the floor jumps was harsh. I collapsed into a pile of useless goo as the floor jumps put my quads out of action. I imagine that is a good thing. The pull ups seemed a bit easier today but only in relative terms as I can barely muster 3 before going to the incline ones. I really hope I can do more of these by the third month. Oh the Plank. Did not hurt as much today but I fear this exercise.

Days 25 and 26

I can see a change but it has gotten this has gotten to a new level of difficulty. The last two evenings I had serious hunger pangs and wanted to order a pizza or eat some Nutella. I did neither. My jump ropes seems to have gotten worse and it has infuriated me. I was close to ripping my rope in two, hulk style. I hope this rage passes. In reference to Patrick's email: There have been a few naysayers but they do not bother me and I am not going to turn my back on them as friends. I see that as more of a challenge. There are some people at work getting into jumping rope which is cool. Ok now to whinge about some of the new exercises a bit. Floorjump. I felt like an ass doing this outside next to my apartment but in many ways it was hilarious as I must have looked like such an ass especially when I collapsed like a heap of dung onto the pavement. And the V-sit! hahahaha I feel so uncoordinated doing this. My legs come up no problem and my heavy upper body is stuck to the floor. I did an ugly 3 sets. Day 25 was not a fun workout for me. Day 26 I did in my apartment. My jump rope is Donki quality and its squeakiness was heard well over the CCR I had cranked. I might need to get one of those nice Valeo ropes w/ the internal ball bearings. The Creep is brutal. My quads were on fire. I can see that this is going to get very tough. The shoulder press is fine for 2 sets but by the third I am in pain. I suppose the same weak muscles that are incapable of lifting me up to do more than a few pull ups are to blame here. What a wimp I am! "I did the plank today over lunch break and they were easy"-Jim O'Hanlon. Well I have not had that experience. I felt like my mid section was going to explode. Holy sh$t is the plank hard. I can really see that these are going to get brutal and really work the muscle. I had my doubts but they have been dashed. The nutritious diet is fine. Mixing it up a bit more and improving a bit with my time management. Thank god we get Monday off.

Start of Week 4-Day 22

Glad to see the carbs being reduced a bit and slightly less milk in the AM. Hope I do not get hunger pangs. Really miss chocolate....Workout today was brutal. Did the jump rope with Tim and Jimbo which was a good laugh. Tim is ridiculously fast. Embarrassing that I can not keep up with that old fart. Pull ups...yeah they make me feel like such a wimp. I struggled to do 3 so for now sticking with the incline pull ups until I am stronger. Is that ok Patrick? Curls were tough as well. I was unable to complete all the sit ups as well. Did the first 2 sets no problem using the incline sit up machine. Then did a set of 20 and then 15 on the last set. Total exhaustion. Just finished my carb free dinner. Work is frustrating me but the weather is great and I do feel good.

Day 21-3rd week done

Have not been sleeping too well the last few nights. Not sure why. Yesterday worked out with Tim and the two of were exhausted. I really had very little energy but finished the workout regardless. Feeling exhausted today and have had  a few occasional hunger pangs but nothing I can not control. I do miss chocolate though and those Reese's peanut butter cups floating around the office are quite tempting. The 1000 jumps (I did 1050) felt very manageable. It took me about 15 minutes. Is that about the same as the rest of you guys? The scale says I have lost about 4 kilos and some have commented that my face is less fat. My clothes fit better as evidenced by the looseness of my belt. I do feel good but time management is an issue. Still spending a lot of time prepping/weighing food. I can tell I am slimming a bit but there is a lot to go as when I lean over the folds are nasty. Also my back seems to store a lot of fat and there is obviously little muscle back there.  My biceps also feel like they are decreasing in size. My libido has come back with a vengeance and the sex addiction is back. Blocky's girlfriend seems excited by this. Having lunch with Jimbo, Tim and another colleague the last few days has been a treat. Good guys and helps to have others in close proximity going through the program and dealing with this POS market. I hope the fat continues to drop so I can see my millimeter Peter again.

Day 18/19-Getting more difficult.

I feel I can see some positive changes in my physique surprisingly quickly. My back seems to store lots of fat though as I can see no muscle there and the pull ups are nigh impossible. I can do 3...embarrassing but true. I can do the incline pull ups but with considerable difficulty. Any suggestions for the regular pull ups? I doubt I am alone with this. Should we occasionally get massages? My muscles are feeling quite tight and today I can barely move as my lower back is in serious pain. I managed to do my workout this morning without pain but I am icing my lower back as I write this because it feels pretty damn bad. The outside curl felt like it was going to rip my arms from their sockets. I have had a few hunger pangs as of late but I am not cheating. Been using a lot more spices to make it manageable as I used to use too much salt. Patrick-What do you think of glucosamine? I used to talk it when I trained for tris as my old coach instructed me to do so. I have stopped while on this nutritious diet. Thoughts there? reading your last email I have not noticed any strange changes besides the gas and actually my libido has dropped off of a cliff. I used to be addicted but for this last week I really have not been in the mood. I do not feel more flexible and in fact my muscles feel very tight right now. What a lovely weekend though. Hope this weather can stick around.