Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

The professional quality on this StrengthCast is the worst of any that I have listened to, but the inspirational quality is the BEST.

• Strengthcast – Live from Central Park

Jason White, who is usually interviewing other participants, spends most of this StrengthCast talking on his own. At the end of this interview, I found myself wondering why he’s wasting his time interviewing chiropractic quacks when he has the ability to be an awesome motivational speaker.

There is a small interview with Matt Ceglie of Fitness Together in San Diego, but what Jason says is far more important than what Matt said.

Here are some good quotes from this podcast:

“What you need is a crystal clear image and that image has to awesome. You have to see that image gigantic in your mind every day, before your workout, during your workout, when you get up in the morning, when you eat… It has to be personal and powerful because that image does two things: One, it provides you with information you need to make good decisions. It guides your life toward that image. Two, it’s an analgesic. It’s a pain reliever. Working out is hard. It hurts, but if you focus on that image it relieves the pain of that hurt.”

“Get a very clear image in your mind of what it is you want to look like.”

Reinforcing the image of you achieving your goal is one of the best things you can do to keep on track. Take some time this week and really take the time to write down what you want and how you want to look. If you need some help, go to the Visualize a Different You entry and contemplate the questions there.

Whenever I think of Los Angeles, I think of beautiful, thin people rollerblading by the beach. The idea of being able to go outdoors to exercise whenever I want sounds appealing to me. That’s why I’m floored by the finding that people in states such as mine exercise more than those in tropical climates.

• SportsGeezer: People in Cool Dry Climates Do More Exercise

• The American Journal of Health Behavior – Climate Conditions and Physical Activity in the United States

Ironically, Utah made the top five along with Montana, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Vermont. The least active states: Hawaii, Puerto Rico, North Carolina, Kentucky and Mississippi are all tropical climates. Of course, California didn’t make that list. Probably because of all those bikini-clad rollerbladers on the boardwalk.

Everyone is all a-flutter about trans fat since New York City health officials asked their city’s restaurants to remove them from their foods:

• Yahoo! News – New York urges restaurants to trim trans fat off the menu

• SportsGeezer – Trans Fats: Bad, But How Bad?

• New York Times – The Panic Du Jour: Trans Fats in Foods

• Diet Blog – Trans Fat Troubles

Whether or not you want to include trans fat in your diet is still your decision right now. The FDA hasn’t made it illegal to use. Here are their thoughts on the ingredient:

• FDA – What Every Consumer Should Know About Trans Fatty Acids

I have talked about my fears about trans fat many times:

• Starling Fitness – Trans-Fats Could Make You Stupid

• Starling Fitness – More on Trans-Fatty Acids

• Starling Fitness – Kidney Stones and Cancer

• Starling Fitness – Hydrogenated Oil vs. Partially Hydrogenated Oil

Just the threat of stupidity was enough to get me looking at the labels. What you want to do is up to you. At least for now…

This is a really long post from Steve Pavlina that gives you some good recommendations on motivational tapes that have helped him.

• Steve Pavlina – Overcoming Negative Emotions and Boosting Motivation

He talks about the things that haven’t really worked for him, like NLP, neuro-linquistic programming, and funny movies. In the end, he finds that he really feels a long-lasting boost from motivational tapes by the greats like Zig Ziglar, Earl Nightingale, Brian Tracy, and Denis Waitley.

I am only personally familiar with Zig Ziglar and Earl Nightingale. Both of their motivational tapes seem so sales-oriented that I don’t know how motivating they would be for people who are working on getting fit. I suggest that you create your own motivational tapes, then it’s not only focused on what you want to accomplish, but it’s also in your voice.

• Visualize a Different You – Write your motivational thoughts, meditation or affirmations.

• How to Record Your Own Meditation MP3 with MusicMatch – Record it as an MP3

Before I started writing for Starling Fitness, I wrote about a lot of health and fitness items on my personal weblog, Pick Me!. This entry has ruffled a lot of feathers and I am still receiving comments on it, even though it’s almost a year old.

• Pick Me! – Weight Watchers Core Food List

Check out the angry and supportive comments from all the people on this entry. I orginally wrote this entry because I kept getting emails asking for the Weight Watcher’s Core Food List. It seemed crazy to me because the list (or the Points program) isn’t what helped me lose the weight. The classes and my excellent leader helped me far more than the nutritional information that Weight Watchers gave me.

I love mastering a new sport. This Trikke thing looks like it would be hard to ride at first, but fun to use once you got the hang of it.

• Trikke: Innovative Three Wheeled Vehicle

I’m surprised I haven’t seen any of these around the Salt Lake Valley. Summer is hard for all the skiers who live here, and they are always looking for something new and different to try to keep active during the warm months.

Via: SportsGeezer – The Latest Not-Necessarily-Cheap Thrills for British Adrenaline Junkies

The Museum of Hoaxes takes on Skinny Water, a new product from a European food conglomerate:

• The Museum of Hoaxes – Skinny Water

I checked out the website for Jana Skinny Water. There is a 3 minute commercial for Jana and its line of waters. There is also a section describing the clinical trials that supposedly supports the claims that Jana Skinny Water aids in weight loss. The clinical trial, however, was done on a product called CitriMax, which are capsules. CitriMax contains HCA, which has been promoted to aid in weight loss. The capsules were given to the study participants before each meal in 500 mg doses. There is no explanation about how this relates to Jana Skinny Water and there is a small message at the bottom of the section of clinical trials:

“These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to cure, mitigate, treat or prevent any disease.”

The website is also quick to mention the “American Epidemic” of obesity. There are so many companies out there eager to jump on the bandwagon of weight loss. Don’t let them take your money. Magic water from Croatian artesian wells is less likely to help you than determining once and for all that you are going to make it through this. You are far more powerful than anything you can buy in a store.

This is a little script that you can use with Microsoft Excel (Windows only). It will remind you when to weigh yourself and log the data. Using that data, you can create charts to graph your success.

• Lifehacker – Script: Log your weight over time with Excel

I have been using Excel to keep track of my weight every week ever since I started Weight Watchers. I have my weight line going up to my goal at the top of the chart. Psychologically, that works better for me. I don’t have a nifty little script to tell me when to log my weight, but I update it every month or so (my actual information is kept in my Weight Watchers card).

Here is a link to my Weight Log and Chart Spreadsheet. Enter the date for your first day in the yellow box and the rest of the dates should update automatically. I’ve tried to make this with a pretty broad range (100-300 pounds). This chart has enough data points for a year. If you want a new one, copy the tab and add the new date in the yellow box. I don’t know how this would work with the script, but this spreadsheet has worked really well for me.

Via: Fitness News – Log your weight over time with Excel

Sometimes concentrating on my health and physical fitness means I have to say no to other opportunities. Sometimes they are things that really sound fun like singing in the choir, joining a book club or watching my favorite television shows. Sometimes the things that are the least amount of fun are the hardest to say no to like participating in a service project. Sure, I’d like to feed the homeless, but I have a workout planned at that time. How do you say no without feeling guilty? This is a great article for that.

• Steve Pavlina – Saying No

The best advice in this entry comes right at the end:

When you say no, usually the person who hears it will react negatively, sometimes mildly, sometimes strongly. Don’t let that bother you — their reaction has a lot more to do with them than it does with you. If they push you too much, I suggest you simply turn it around on them by emphasizing the no that would accompany the yes. For example, “Why are you asking me to say no to my family, my health, my goals, and so on, just so I can say yes to your request?”

I have to shout out an amen to this weblog entry:

• Mary’s fitness blog – What To Do Between Sets

There are times when I go to the gym and every machine I need for the day is filled with someone who is resting. 24 Hour Fitness has a special set of machines in a line that are supposed to be used for Circuit Training, yet I see people using them as regular machines and just sit there, staring off into space, between sets.

I like to get my weight training done quickly, just like Mary. Remember proper gym ettiquette and give someone else a go when you are resting.