Veterans Day

If there were a time when words were inappropriate, when silence was the most articulate speech, it would be here and now. Better than any oratory, better than any speech or poem for you and I to stand two minutes in silence and look out at those whom we know and those whom we do not know and think of all that they did for us.

Body Composition

My most recent numbers:
Total Pounds lost: 27.00
% Body fat lost: 5.10
BMI Change: 3.70
Pounds of fat lost:17.62
Pounds of lean muscle lost: 9.38

I know, I know, negative lean muscle delta isn't good. Interestingly enough, I'm stronger and have more endurance even with the loss of muscle mass, but this now must become a focus. I wanted to wait until I hit 200lbs before _really_ worrying about it but I'm thinking I'll adjust my protein blocks accordingly and start adding a little more weight to my olys.

The roughest thing is the project that I'm on. I haven't been to the gym in three weeks and I'm getting depressed. I'm fighting t keep my schedule clean so that I can get ou of the office at a decent hour, but no one really respects that the drones shouldn't have to work 24 hours a day. It's toughsetting boundaries, especially over the last few weeks with the potential of program ending dates not getting met.

I'm hoping that the most recent round of 'All hands on Deck' has passed and we can get back to our regularly sheduled healthy (ier?) lifestyle.

These Four Things

These four things have been rolling around in my head lately:

• Dave Egger’s TED Talk from Once Upon A School from last year.
• A Story on the Huffington Post about a JROTC program in San Francisco taking responsibility for the PE of several schools.
• CrossFit Kids
• I was at the YMCA doing my CrossFit workout* and there was a father about my age, maybe younger, and his son (about 10 years old) there “working out”.  They had been there from before I arrived (I saw them when I came in) and were still there when I left. I give awesome kudos to dad for getting them both there, but neither one had broken a sweat by the time I left, and both were drinking a 4 serving size bottle of Gatorade.  They were both considerably overweight (I know I’m not the poster child of fitness, but it also puts me in a state to know where others are) and dad was obviously trying to do the right thing.  What was missing was education.  I heard the son asking questions about machines and how to use them, and I thought “What ever happened to playing as fitness?  Why aren’t you running around outside chasing a football and playing catch?”

Schools cut funding in PE and the Arts first; these activities and structures that give our children outlets of expression and energy (both creative and physical).  Sports, on the other hand, gets booster money and proclaim the schools success through wins and losses, and therefore get better funding, but that’s not the root of the problem.

When you cut PE (as an actor and improviser, I have another rant on arts altogether, but I’ll save that for another post), you are killing the opportunity for kids to get the natural, hormonal goodness of sunlight, endorphines and the calm that comes after really being active.

So, how about this:  Instead of a store front with a back room that teaches writing skills, how about a place called the “Jungle Gym” that sells all sorts of Safari based paraphenalia, and the secret path leads out back to a Crossfit Kids gym?  Or steal the Super Hero idea from 826NYC store ouright and have the ‘Super Hero Training Ground’ out back and we let passionate people who are stupidly, insanely passionate about health, fitness and kids do what they love, and help kids rediscover play.

Not XBox Play, or Wii Fit bullshit play, but real, actual, ‘Let’s GO Ride our Bikes!’ ‘Keep Away’ ‘Dodge Ball’ ‘Swing on a rope, run on a log, do cartwheels until we fall over’ play that we all seem to have forgotten.

 First things first, however. Friday, on my lunch hour, Rachel and Daddy are going to go outside and play.

*WOD: (posted time 26:05)
10–9–8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1
Run 200m
Dips
Box Jumps
Push-ups

Me, CrossFit and a big Change

I made a life style change recently.  I didn’t go on a diet, or start a weight-loss plan.  I started living differently.

I’m trying to live by the CrossFit tennants (World-Class Fitness in 100 Words [1]):

• Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.
• Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.
• Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense.
• Regularly learn and play new sports.

Based on lectures on nutrition and performance from coaches in the CrossFit system, I’m focusing on:

• Rest
• Food
• Exercise

In that order of importance for my lifestyle, given my known weaknesses and patterns.  This is also why I twitter my workout and take pictures and use Wolfram|Alpha to log my food to FaceBook.  Being open and honest about this info are steps to transparency (meaning I’m hiding nothing from others or myself).

My starting weight at the end of June was 230 lbs (26.9% Body Fat and 31.2 BMI).  I weighed today at 218lbs (24.3 % Body Fat, 29.6 BMI), which means that since 06/29 I’ve lost 11.5 lbs (which translates to 2.4% Body Fat and 1.4 pts of my BMI). I should mention that I was at 238lbs in December, but didn’t log or track anything in between, so it’s just an errant data point.

More importantly, I’m more fit.  I ran 2 miles today, I also rowed 1200m, did 50 jumping pull ups, 60 squats, 25 push presses, 40 Wall Ball throws, 30 Burpees, 30 body weight dips, 12 hanging leg lifts and I’m sure I’m missing something, but I was a little winded there at the end. I have the sheet and will log it accurately with my time after work.

My time?  Oh, that..it took 40:29. That’s not a great time (there are a couple of people who did harder exercises during this Workout and did it in close to half my time – but they are what we like to call “After Pictures”), but let’s be clear:  Six weeks ago, I would not have been able to finish even half of that.  I couldn’t even run a mile or row 400m without rest.

I’m getting fitter.  And I’m not using my weight loss as an indicator, or my muscle size.  I’m using Time and Performance.  Weight Loss and Muscle Size are by products of fitness.  This is what I’ve always thought, which is also why I get bored at the gym doing rep after rep of the same thing.

My one concern is that when I’m done here this week and I start to work from home and take paternity leave over the next month, that I can maintain the rigor and give myself the time to continue this hard work.  Right now, as I write this, the answer is “Yes, of course I will.”  I have a passion to do it.  I like being pushed and how I feel when I work with intensity.  I like the results so far as well, so I’ll see you at the gym.

And if you want to be this motivated, go and check out your local CrossFit Affiliate.  I promise you, if you do it, it will change your life.

Special thanks to all the folks at CrossFitMN, especially Damian, Christine and Kat whose motivation has kept me focused.

[1] – What is Fitness and Who is Fit

Happy Birthday, Sara

Image by cacharbe via Flickr

Thank you for the gifts you continuously give me. Our daughter(s), a home to come home to, good advice and love. I wouldn't be able to function without your help and I know you have forced me to be better than I ever thought I could be,

I love you Sara. My wish for you is yet another day of naps, and "I'm ok, I'm alright"

my three (and a half) year old

So I just finished reading the book Your Three Year Old: Friend or Enemy. It's from a series of books by Louise Bates Ames on child development. Some of the examples are outdated but the child development information is right on. One of the major points in the series is that children go through periods of balance and turbulence. The half year period tends to be a more turbulent time emotionally and physically as kids develope. As one parent educator explained to me it's like building a tower of blocks. You have three blocks stacked up and the half-year comes along and knocks them down. Okay, so they have to be picked up and restacked but they don't always go back in the same order.

Although Rachel is not quiet 3 and a half she is already started her turbulent period. She has a hard time expressing herself. She stumbles and stutters and trails off mid-thought. Rachel has regressed in potty training which has been difficult but not unusual with a new baby at home. She is stubborn, anxious, contrary and insecure. She has trouble sleeping, has nightmares and is afraid of the dark. I go from felling extreme frustration with her to feeling complete sympathy for her. She's having a hard time and I try to keep that in mind when she's doing something that drives me up the wall.

Rachel is very bright, perceptive, loving, energetic, charismatic...I could go on and on. She really is a delightful person and I have to remember that when things get difficult. I'm very happy that I have a parent group that I can talk to about it. There are many moms that can relate and give good advice. I've also been blessed to have Fran Swift in my life. She has made me feel more confident as a parent. Fran understands child development so well that she almost has a smile on her face when I say I need to talk to her because we're at a half-year. She's very reassuring.

I'm starting a new book: Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka. This book, like the child development series, has already put me more at ease. I can see that this book and the class I'm going to take based on the book are going to do a lot to improve my relationship with my spirited child.

on a lighter note...

some photo updates of my lovelies:

my photographer

Julia's new toy

Rachel

raspberries

handprints

Tigger buddy

january

This January has been a rough month and I'm glad to see it coming to a close. At the end of December I made an appointment to see my midwife and was officially diagnosed with Postpartum Depression. I started medication immediately and have seen impressive results. I feel like a new person. I've had one appointment with my new therapist and have three more scheduled. I think it was a good match. I'm glad I know myself well enough that I recognized something was wrong and that I had the strength to do something about it. Chuck was put on notice: If at anytime I start acting that way again he is to do something about it immediately even if he thinks I'll be mad at him.

Speaking of Chuck, he was told at the end of December that he would be required to work out of town Monday through Friday and be required to work from home on the weekends throughout the month of January. This has been really hard on all of us. Chuck was working unreasonable hours. He said that he was in the office until 11:30 some days. When he was home and had to go to work it really confused Rachel. She had the hardest time with it. On more than one occasion she'd melt down in the afternoon (when she was already overtired) and want a hug from Daddy. She cried for an hour one afternoon last week, "I want my Daaaaaad! I need a hug from my Daaaad!" It was heart breaking. I called him up so she could talk to him and that only made it worse.

Ugh. I'm really glad we made it through this month. Chuck deliverd his project yesterday and went out and got drunk. He surprised us by coming home early today. That made my day. He brought the mail in when he got here and there was a package from one of his superiors addressed to me. It was a Harry and David gift box thanking me for being so understanding while Chuck worked so hard. I can't say that I was very understanding (in fact I think one time I may have mentioned delivering a flaming bag of poo to someone's doorstep), but I'll take the truffles and fruit thank you.

4 months

We had Julia's 4 month check-up last week and I thought I should post an update. Julia is delightful. She is a great sleeper - which is nice. She's right on target developmentally. She can push up, roll over, and she's descovered her toes. She laughs and coos and gabbles on and on. She can sign six words: Mom, Dad, Change, Milk, Bed and Blanket. Julia loves her taggie blanket, getting kisses on her neck, and watching her sister.

The stats:
weight - 17 lbs 8 oz
height - 26.5 inches

rolling over

teething

art project

a nap

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

happy about their new Christmas jammies

Rachel is REALLY excited for Santa.

Julia in her Christmas jammies and hat

Dad and Rachel read Twas the Night Before Christmas