Monthly Archives: April 2012

3 reasons why my body comp went in the wrong direction

This past week, I met with Zach to do my body comp. The last time I had my body comp done was in December.

My latest body comp went in the wrong direction.

My weight is up, my body fat is up, and I gained inches everywhere — except in my hips, which defies explanation. I suspect there is SOME muscle gain. I am, stronger, but muscle doesn’t explain the increase in body fat.

Zach stared at the results with a confused and exasperated look on his face. “Are you pregnant?”

“Nnnnoooooo!”

“Well, I had to ask because it could explain this.”

At the time, I had no explanation. But after thinking about it for a few days and talking it over with Andy, I think I have pinpointed the problems.

  1. Too much sugar
    SXSW was my downfall. I had been doing pretty good with avoiding excess sugar until March 9. I planned to indulge a little. I ended up indulging a lot. The sugar addiction came back with a vengeance, and the eating continued well past SXSW.
    Then, it became easy to justify “celebrations,” as my son calls it. He always wants to celebrate something with a dessert, and I fell into the trap.
    Heed my advice — beware the sugar beast.
  2. Too much stress
    I set a number of professional goals at the beginning of 2012. The good news is, I’m workin’ it baby! I’m very happy with how things are going for my career. However, the side affect has been a busy schedule that keeps my adrenaline at a level I haven’t felt since I produced newscasts.
    All that adrenaline and cortisol is wreaking havoc on my body because it’s telling me to hold onto and store fat. Mark Sisson and Robb Wolf have both written about this.
  3. Not enough sleep
    Beth likes to point this out often — I don’t sleep enough. And it’s true. I have passion for what I do, whether it’s working out, creating websites, or being a mom — and often I find I don’t have enough hours in the day to do everything without cutting something. That something often turns out to be sleep.
    I don’t talk about how tired I am because I’m so used to the feeling and because people don’t want to hear it anyway. But I am chronically sleep-deprived.
    Unfortunately, sleep loss limits fat loss, and according to research, people who lose out on sleep produce more of a hormone that makes you feel hungry.
    Conversely, sleeping more can help you burn more calories.

Any of this sound familiar? I’m sure I’m not alone here.

The question is — can I fix this?

I know I can tame the sugar beast. I’m already on my way there. I get offered sweets all the time, but I politely refuse or I gratefully accept and share with my wonderful and appreciative family.

Reducing stress is a little more tricky, but completely doable.

Sleeping more is going to be the hardest to changes, but that’s mostly because I’m stubborn. I don’t want to give up anything. I love my early morning workouts, I love my jobs, I love my clients, and I love my family. I don’t want to give up any of the time I devote to these.

Obviously, I have some tough decisions to make. Stay tuned.

This is not the ACTUAL Rooster

Me and The Rooster

I have a new neighbor. It’s a rooster.

I’m not sure he knows that I exist. But I sure know he does.

He lives with the neighbors who live right behind me. They’ve had a chicken coop for a while. They warned us a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, they did not share the news by sharing their eggs.

Instead, they sent a polite note telling us they thought he was a hen when they first brought him home as a chick, but as it turns out… he wasn’t. But, of course, they’ve grown attached to him and would like him to stay if no one objects. They asked us to let them know if he bothers anyone or wakes them up.

I think they said his name is Cal. And they said dogs bark louder than he crows. (Ahem. I have to wonder if they were referring to my dogs.)

Of course, The Rooster laid low for a couple of days. Then I finally heard him. The bird gets up earlier than I do — and that’s saying something! He usually gets up before 4am, gets quiet, then starts crowing again around 6am. One night he crowed at midnight!

Stupid bird.

At first I thought I was going to go crazy, and I planned to let my neighbors know he was a nuisance. But in the past few days, I’ve softened a bit. It’s not that he’s not a nuisance anymore, but he’s starting to amuse me. He’s inspired me in a way. I even shot a little video. (Excuse the darkness — it was EARLY.)

I think I might have a love-hate relationship with The Rooster. This could be fun… hee-hee!

Weight of the Nation - HBO graphic

Documentary looks at epidemic of obesity

Americans are fat, suffer horrible diseases because of it, and our children face a similar or worse fate if we don’t do something about it — that’s according to the HBO documentary Weight of the Nation, which debuts next month.

I had the opportunity to go to the world premiere last night at the Blanton Museum of Art. We watched Part 3 – Children in Crisis. It was about how obesity is affecting American children, and the stories were sobering.

I found myself thinking a lot about my own kids and how just because they’re thin and active now doesn’t mean they’ll always be healthy. There is pressure from many different directions to eat crappy food and live a sedentary lifestyle, and I started to think that only constant vigilance and awareness will help me guide them through childhood.

It’s not just about how you look. Really, it’s not. It’s so much more than that. Obesity can lead to diabetes, a horrible, horrible, horrible disease. When kids are going to the doctor and being diagnosed as pre-diabetic or type-II diabetic, and it becomes COMMONPLACE, there’s a threat at hand. But it’s not the only disease caused by obesity, and that’s even scarier.

There were were a lot of people in the film blaming outside influences for how kids get fat — federal law, food company and advertising pressure, underfunded school lunch and PE programs. Some of the parents found a solution in taking their children to pediatric weight loss clinics. Some blamed themselves. I felt sadness and frustration, but I also felt hope.

Andy and I talked a lot about the film on our way home. We had actually planned to go out to dinner afterward but because of how the film affected us, we decided to eat at home, because our food is always better. I am more committed than ever to staying on our current lifestyle path — it’s a path of nutritious, real food, lots of family activity and it also doesn’t involve screens and the potential to be exposed to a constant barrage of food-like substances that have nearly zero nutritional value.

The documentary series starts on HBO on May 14. I encourage you to watch it.

Take it from me: Schedule time to relax!

It’s recovery week at both of my gyms this week, and that, theoretically, means I can sleep in. Of course, you and I know that just isn’t going to happen.

We all love a good theory.

In reality, I’m using the extra time to work on my freelance projects. Things are really starting to take off, and I want to make sure I don’t fall behind.

However, I’m trying not to work myself into the ground. And even though I’m not heading to the gym this week — here’s what I am doing:

  • Building muscle
    You can’t build muscle without resting them. I don’t know how many times Andy has said that to me — probably not enough. I don’t let my body rest as often as I should, and considering how much cortisol I probably manufacture on a regular basis, I need way more.
    But I’ll take what I can get.
  • Sleeping a little more
    OK, just a little. I’m aiming for an average of 7 hours. Lately I’ve been averaging 5 or 6.
  • Making time for mobility
    I always feel so much better when I stretch and roll out in the morning. At the same time, I’m doing the exercises Dave and Ryan gave me. The Mobility WOD is a great source.
  • Eating clean
    I eat clean 80 percent of the time, but when faced with a basket of chips or glass of wine, things go to hell. Topo Chico, please?
  • Playing!
    I’ve been spending quality time with Luke and Mads, but mostly I’ve been giving hugs, talking and reading. I really want to play more — and physically, too. Running around the backyard, hula-hooping — all of that is fun stuff that I need to do anyway. Mark Sisson writes about why on his blog.

What are your recovery goals? What things do you need to add into your daily routine?

On falling behind (and running to catch up)

I feel like I’m walking into an unfamiliar house.

It’s been weeks since I wrote about my fitness activities, although I’ve never missed a workout. It feels a little strange, and, to be honest, I had a lot of trouble thinking of what to say. I started about 15 times, and each time deleted it, only to begin a again.

How do you catch up when you’ve fallen so far behind?

You’re probably wondering why I fell behind. The simple answer is, “work.” My work and my business have taken over my focus. Projects have demanded my attention, and I succumbed to the pressure — no longer could I find enough time to write a well thought-out blog entry about my workout of the day. Writing and sleeping were two of the first things to go.

I’ve also neglected the exercises Dave and Ryan gave me to correct the shifting in my hip and help my shoulder pain. I know they work, but I’ve found it hard to work them into my already-packed schedule.

I’ve been starting to lose focus over the past few weeks, too. Ever since SXSW, when I let myself indulge, I’ve found it hard to get back to the clean eating I was doing before. I’ll eat on target for a few days, but when the weekend hits, all bets are off.

I mentioned to Zach my pants feel a little smaller. I wondered out loud if it was muscle (I have been doing a lot of squats!), and he laughed at me. Something tells me he does not agree. We scheduled a body comp for this week. I’m dreading it. I fear I have fallen way behind in my goals. I had set a goal of reaching under 20% body fat. There’s no way this week’s measurements are going to say that.

Sometimes it takes a kick in the pants to get my head back on straight. I need Zach to fuss at me. I can hear him now: Get your S**T together, Cindy! It’s not that hard!

We all lose focus from time to time. But I don’t want it to get to where I fall down and can’t get back up.

I’ll let you know how the body comp turns out.