So, remember how we mentioned that Patrick wants us all to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night? One would think that forcing ourselves to get that much rest would allow us to wake up refreshed and jumping out of bed. But what we've been doing is more like crawling out of bed. For some reason, the body just says, "hey, I like sleep! I want to keep doing this." *Emiko hits snooze button* Emiko has actually learned how to hit the snooze button while still in REM sleep.
The bad news (or bad snooze) is that the first hour of the day is spent in a groggy haze. We shuffle around in the morning going through the motions, weighing our veggies and peeling our eggs, etc. The lack of energy might also be because we are not seeing the results yet, and it's hard to keep feeling excited every day when we can't really imagine our bodies looking any different.
The good news (snooze) is that despite this lack of energy, we know it's important to continue going through the motions, and we are. We've been sticking closely to our diets, struggling through the exercises, and pushing on.
Adrian found this proverb in Buddhism, A Very Short Introduction, the text we are reading for our Buddhist philosophy class:
"Sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny."
We both found this quote to be inspiring, and we hope that it's inspiring for the rest of you as well. Every action we're undertaking right now with this new lifestyle is creating better habits, and will eventually strengthen our characters and not just our bodies.
On that note, we are off to bed for another full night of rest! G'night.
Showing posts with label chores. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chores. Show all posts
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Adrian: Day 15, Hot Hot Heat!
I jumped out of bed this morning at around 7 a.m. I was wide awake, but my body wasn't, and I stumbled my way downstairs into the white sunlight that plastered the living room. Gus followed me down and ran into the kitchen towards his food bowl. My thought generator hadn't kicked in yet, and I just kind of half-registered the warmth and the sounds of morning traffic.
I had beans and buttered toast for breakfast for the second day in a row. It was satisfactory. Also had a somewhat deformed boiled egg. It reminded me of 'Krang' from the Ninja Turtles.
The heat slowly intensified all morning and at around 11 a.m., the apartment had become an oven. It was so hot that it was difficult to move or to care about moving. At some point I stopped using my legs. There was lots of sweating, groaning and whining. It was hot for pretty much the rest of the day, and it was a chore to do chores. At around 3:30, I laid down on the couch and thought about how I didn't want to finish up my work and exercise, and I also wondered what would happen if I got heat stroke, and then I fell asleep.
I woke up an hour later, with a feeling of determination. I finished my work and I did my exercises around 5:30 or 6. By that time, there was a cool breeze outside, and I felt pretty happy, and strong. I nailed my jump ropes for the first time this week, doing sets of 250-300.
It was a pretty good day.
I had beans and buttered toast for breakfast for the second day in a row. It was satisfactory. Also had a somewhat deformed boiled egg. It reminded me of 'Krang' from the Ninja Turtles.
The heat slowly intensified all morning and at around 11 a.m., the apartment had become an oven. It was so hot that it was difficult to move or to care about moving. At some point I stopped using my legs. There was lots of sweating, groaning and whining. It was hot for pretty much the rest of the day, and it was a chore to do chores. At around 3:30, I laid down on the couch and thought about how I didn't want to finish up my work and exercise, and I also wondered what would happen if I got heat stroke, and then I fell asleep.
I woke up an hour later, with a feeling of determination. I finished my work and I did my exercises around 5:30 or 6. By that time, there was a cool breeze outside, and I felt pretty happy, and strong. I nailed my jump ropes for the first time this week, doing sets of 250-300.
It was a pretty good day.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Emiko: Day 11, Catching yer ZZZs
So Patrick a.k.a. "Papa PCP" just gave us our newest assignment:
SLEEP.
8 hours.
Every night.
Maybe more.
Why? Well, only by allowing our bodies ample time to rest and recover, do we build our strength. He explained that our muscles literally cannot become strong unless we rest well. And now it is required as a part of the PCP!
This one was a shocker, because with all of the work that goes into our new diet and lifestyle changes, getting up early is a necessity (and Adrian and I were already getting up at 5:30am every day pre-PCP). There is a lot of prep work to make sure each meal runs smoothly, and for Adrian and I (and I'm sure the other PCPers alongside us) the morning is when that happens most. The PCP is a huge presence in our lives and has really changed how we spend and interact with our day.
I feel like I don't really even have time to sleep! Our schedules are already so full: Get up, eat, go to school, eat, cook, eat, exercise, go to work, eat, do homework, EAT EAT and....well, after all that hard work, the length and quality of my sleep at night is sort of an after-thought. I mean, look at me right now! I'm blogging after coming home from work (my night shift gets me home around 11pm) instead of getting the rest I need. I am reminded that the time during the day is not to be wasted. Even those little moments where I let myself be lazy for five minutes, by doing so I am escaping my responsibilities.
This is on my mind especially because tomorrow is a very busy one, and I know I need to be very present in order to get things done well. Adrian and I actually had to sit down and plan every part of the day, because there is just that much to do.
Well, I had better go get my beauty sleep (now known as BUFF SLEEP!), and gather my strength for tomorrow!
Goodnight y'all!
SLEEP.
8 hours.
Every night.
Maybe more.
Why? Well, only by allowing our bodies ample time to rest and recover, do we build our strength. He explained that our muscles literally cannot become strong unless we rest well. And now it is required as a part of the PCP!
This one was a shocker, because with all of the work that goes into our new diet and lifestyle changes, getting up early is a necessity (and Adrian and I were already getting up at 5:30am every day pre-PCP). There is a lot of prep work to make sure each meal runs smoothly, and for Adrian and I (and I'm sure the other PCPers alongside us) the morning is when that happens most. The PCP is a huge presence in our lives and has really changed how we spend and interact with our day.
I feel like I don't really even have time to sleep! Our schedules are already so full: Get up, eat, go to school, eat, cook, eat, exercise, go to work, eat, do homework, EAT EAT and....well, after all that hard work, the length and quality of my sleep at night is sort of an after-thought. I mean, look at me right now! I'm blogging after coming home from work (my night shift gets me home around 11pm) instead of getting the rest I need. I am reminded that the time during the day is not to be wasted. Even those little moments where I let myself be lazy for five minutes, by doing so I am escaping my responsibilities.
This is on my mind especially because tomorrow is a very busy one, and I know I need to be very present in order to get things done well. Adrian and I actually had to sit down and plan every part of the day, because there is just that much to do.Well, I had better go get my beauty sleep (now known as BUFF SLEEP!), and gather my strength for tomorrow!
Goodnight y'all!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Adrian & Emiko: Day 3, A Fantastical Day
Hey everyone, we're writing this one together in bed right now because it's late for us early birds and we're tired, and we'd prefer to use two brains instead of one.
We got up early this morning and did an hour of zazen, and then completed our daily exercises. Emiko was really sore and couldn't do nearly as many jumps as yesterday, but both of us got through the routine fine.
After exercising, we went to San Francisco and ate at our favorite Indian restaurant - Tasty Curry. We both ordered Chicken Tikka Masala and shared a plate of plain basmati rice. It was hard not to eat more than half of what we usually eat, or to even make that judgement. We also got this weird naan that looked and tasted like a large, flat cookie. It was called Tasty Naan and had butter, raisins, anise seeds and some sort of candied nuts that were dyed neon green and neon yellow. Didn't eat very much of this because it was too sweet, and not too "Tasty".
We then went to Adrian's parents house, and did our laundry. After loading up the wash, we went to the nearby sporting goods store and bought the resistance bands and push up bars. Then it was off to Target to buy the kitchen and bath scales and blender. We ended up returning the blender later because Adrian's mom had a spare which she gave us.
Back at the house, we played around with the exercise equipment Patrick suggested we all buy. We both found the push-up bars made doing push-ups much more difficult. Watched the Olympics for a bit while folding laundry. Adrian decided to become a marathon runner, then changed mind and decided to become a marathon cyclist.
Later went out to dinner with Adrian's folks at Fresh Choice. Didn't eat too much, mostly because the food was pretty lame tonight. Emiko ate frozen yogurt under the table to hide it from the hawk-eyed manager who told us not to go back for seconds.
Drove back home to Oakland, and tested out the weight scale. Emiko weighs 129lbs (about 3lbs less than last month's doctor visit) and Adrian is at 139. We can literally see our double-chins melting away!
Good night everybody, thanks for bearing with us bed-bugs.
Adrian & Emiko
Quote of the Day:
Adrian: "Zebracorns* are so... fantastical." (*Hybrid of Zebras and Unicorns)
We got up early this morning and did an hour of zazen, and then completed our daily exercises. Emiko was really sore and couldn't do nearly as many jumps as yesterday, but both of us got through the routine fine.
After exercising, we went to San Francisco and ate at our favorite Indian restaurant - Tasty Curry. We both ordered Chicken Tikka Masala and shared a plate of plain basmati rice. It was hard not to eat more than half of what we usually eat, or to even make that judgement. We also got this weird naan that looked and tasted like a large, flat cookie. It was called Tasty Naan and had butter, raisins, anise seeds and some sort of candied nuts that were dyed neon green and neon yellow. Didn't eat very much of this because it was too sweet, and not too "Tasty".
We then went to Adrian's parents house, and did our laundry. After loading up the wash, we went to the nearby sporting goods store and bought the resistance bands and push up bars. Then it was off to Target to buy the kitchen and bath scales and blender. We ended up returning the blender later because Adrian's mom had a spare which she gave us.
Back at the house, we played around with the exercise equipment Patrick suggested we all buy. We both found the push-up bars made doing push-ups much more difficult. Watched the Olympics for a bit while folding laundry. Adrian decided to become a marathon runner, then changed mind and decided to become a marathon cyclist.
Later went out to dinner with Adrian's folks at Fresh Choice. Didn't eat too much, mostly because the food was pretty lame tonight. Emiko ate frozen yogurt under the table to hide it from the hawk-eyed manager who told us not to go back for seconds.
Drove back home to Oakland, and tested out the weight scale. Emiko weighs 129lbs (about 3lbs less than last month's doctor visit) and Adrian is at 139. We can literally see our double-chins melting away!
Good night everybody, thanks for bearing with us bed-bugs.
Adrian & Emiko
Quote of the Day:
Adrian: "Zebracorns* are so... fantastical." (*Hybrid of Zebras and Unicorns)
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