Day 90+ Overview

Well, it's taken me longer to sit down to write this final post than I either expected or wanted. I suppose this is in line with the fact that I've posted less frequently on the KFB than I did on PCP.

Which also frustrated me and left me feeling a little disappointed in myself - although intellectually I know that continuing to post daily for 180 days straight (and taking as many photos) was more time than I was willing to commit and (I thought) I'd mentally let go of the idea. Apparently I'm better at guilt than I imagined :) I think I also posted less regularly because, as Shivani said, there seemed less to say than during the heady days of PCP when everything was new and fresh.

To be honest, I was very relieved when Patrick sent us the email about not being able to go home again for post-PCPers doing KFB. That struck home for me why I'd been feeling a bit frustrated with the KFB project - he's right, especially as I'd only just come off of the PCP, that the lack of new took a little out of the WOW of the experience for me. I mean, it was a plus that I still remembered the little tricks to make managing the diet less time intensive and what sorts of meals were more satisfying - but that also meant there was less of a challenge to try to find new foods/meals and ways to make the diet an adventure.

For me, there was also a little loss of adventure in the workouts as well - I'd never really done strength training before the PCP, so that was all new and exciting. On the other hand, I have done martial arts before, so that portion of the KFB workout wasn't so new and exciting. In fact, it made me really miss having a partner to spar with :( Until I'd started the KFB, I'd sort of let myself forget how much fun sparring can be (even if it usually kicked my butt!).

Which isn't really a negative - I'm jazzed to try to find a place to take a martial arts class again, thanks to KFB! Once my calf/achilles tendon loosens up, that is.

While a part of me wonders what the KFB experience would have been like had I had more of a break from the PCP - had I a good stretch of time to settle into a non-Patrick/Chen determined exercise and diet routine - I'm more glad I did it when I did it than not. For one thing, now I've got twice as much time of regular exercise and diet habits under my belt as I would have otherwise had - so am more confident that they'll "stick". For another, as it happened the KFB filled the time between when my Dad died and when we held his memorial. While I probably didn't have the attention and focus for KFB than I might have otherwise had, I also had KFB to keep me glued together. On KFB I was getting enough (or more than :) exercise, eating well, and sleeping well - All the sorts of things I tend to let slide in times of stress, and all the sorts of things I need to manage the stress.

So Yay KFB!

Another thing about KFB, now that I've had a week or so to move on to trying my own thing, is that I think what I really like is a mash up of KFB and PCP. Over the past couple of weeks I've been doing:

• meditating first thing in the morning,
• running (love it sooooo much more than jumping rope - and my poor jumprope is just hops away from breaking),
• and then doing PCP exercises - but instead of just hanging out between reps, I've been doing KFB stretches. Such as push-ups, followed by rabbit stretch or the cobra stretch.

So Cheers to the freedom/risk of doing my own thing!

And Yay Team Tiger! and my friend's on Team Crane (Lili! Shivani!)!

Way To Go!