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

Maybe you’ve been exercising for a few weeks, but you’re not seeing any progress. Maybe you’ve started exercising, but you’ve got strange pains in your shoulders or other muscles. Maybe you are thinking about quitting this exercise thing because “It’s not working.” Before you do, read this article from WebMD.

• WebMD – The Top 20 Fitness Mistakes Beginners Make

Here are a few of the most common mistakes:

Doing the “gym slouch.” “We see many people in the gym leaning on equipment,” says Debi Pillarella, MEd, a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise. “We call it ‘gym slouch’: They’re on the Stairmaster, [elliptical cross trainer], or treadmill, leaning over, and hanging on for dear life.” When your back is rounded, your spine doesn’t get enough support. So stand erect when you’re working out on one of these machines.

Giving your abs a free ride. Many people do crunches or abdominal machine workouts without ever toning their abdomens. The problem is that they’re using the upper torso, neck, and head to do the work. “Do mindful exercise,” says Pillarella. “The contraction should be from the ribcage to the hip bone. Put your mind into the muscles that are working, and keep all the other muscles quiet.”

Seeking a quick fix. Many people expect dramatic results from a little exercise. “Current recommendations are for 3 1/2 to four hours of physical activity a week just to prevent weight regain,” says Kasper, who is a professor in the department of kinesiology at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga. “If you want to lose weight and you’re walking 30 minutes, three times a week, without changing your diet, it will take roughly one month to lose a pound.”

These tips are very helpful when you might be considering quitting your workout routine. They will give you the information to tune things up and prevent injury. Check them out.

Weblogs, Inc. has finally started a healthy living weblog. You can read it here:

• That’s Fit

I have been waiting for a health related weblog from Weblogs, Inc. for almost two years. It has taken them a while to realize that this might be an interesting topic, but now that they are here, I’m excited to read their take on this subject.

Head on over there and see what they have to say!

Sometimes I forget that not everyone has heard about all the good things to do with food AND keep it low calorie until I am reminded by someone else. Here is a foodie review of No Pudge Brownies. They are a brand of brownie mixes that taste as good as the real thing with far less calories.

• Light Life: No Pudge Brownies – Slashfood

No Pudge Brownies were kind of hard for me to find in my store (until I asked them to stock them), so if you can’t find them, you can order them at Amazon. They come in a variety of flavors:

• No Pudge Original Fudge Brownie Mix, 13.7 oz

• No Pudge Fudge Brownie Mix – Cappuccino, 14 oz

• No Pudge Fudge Brownie Mix – Mint, 14 oz

The best part of No Pudge Brownies is that they have directions to make ONE brownie in the microwave. It turns out not quite as good as a brownie baked in an oven, but the serving size can’t be beat. If you have trouble limiting your servings when a pan of delicious brownies comes out of the oven, you might want to try No Pudge Brownies. You can make yourself one brownie and keep yourself safe from the rest of the pan.

It has been a while since I’ve seen an exercise product that makes me laugh. The interactive commercial from Brookstone states that horse-riding is the one of the best forms of exercise.

Sure, it might build a little abdominal strength, but there are hundreds of better exercises to do for your abs that don’t require a silly machine or a horse.

This Asian advertisement for the product says what they’re really trying to sell:

I suspect that in five years, anyone who buys this product is going to shake their head at this commercial and wonder why they have an iGallop in their basement.

Via: iGallop: Great Abs While Sitting Down?

When I first decided to start running for cardiovascular health, I found a book at the used bookstore called The Complete Book of Running. It was an out of date book that gave me a little information about how not to hurt myself. The first mistake they made was they showed a runner on the cover without socks. If I had followed along, I would have ended up with blisters on my feet that would have put me out of commission for a week. Fortunately, I already knew that I needed socks.

Today, people are more likely to type “running” into Google than hit a used bookstore. If they found this Wikipedia entry, they would be better informed than I was when I first started.

• Running – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you have been thinking about trying running for weight loss or as a sport, peruse this Wikipedia entry and follow its links until you feel like you know a little more. There’s plenty of information there to help you make your decision. The real deciding factor is how you feel when you try running. Put on a good pair of running shoes and hit the roads. It’s the best way to know whether you’ll like the sport and you’ll find that there is no substitution for just doing it.

Instead of talk about the starving around the world, the International Association of Agricultural Economists conference concentrated on obesity. More people around the world are struggling with weight than starvation, even in countries where starvation was a problem before, like China.

• Treatment Online: World Moved From Starving to Obese with Terrifying Speed

I don’t know what a gathering of economists can do about obesity, but it seems that every group of scientists is tackling this problem.

When it’s so widespread, the concept of “Eat Less and Move More” seems a little simplistic, but sometimes the most difficult problems have the most simple answers.

The Pose Method is a way of running that’s a little different than most of us use. It’s also different than my gym teacher taught me in my jogging class.

Mark, over at Passion for Running, uses the Pose Method and described what it feels like:

• A Passion for Running » describing the sensation of ‘lightness’

He said,

“Do you know the feeling of lightly touching on stairs as you go down them? There is that fine line between going too slow — when your feet begin landing more heavy and flat-footed — and going that speed where they just tightly touch the stairs.”

“That’s what Pose Method runners try for — that kind of quickness and lightness.”

With all I’ve read about the Pose Method, I’ve never heard it described like this before. This simple description makes me want to try changing my method of running in order to feel this sensation.

You can find out more about the Pose Method here:

• POSE METHOD® – by Dr.Nicholas Romanov

• Pose Running Technique introduced by Try My Sport.

A while back, I wrote an entry about exercise:

• Starling Fitness » How To Find An Exercise That You Will Love

Just last week, I had a comment left on that entry from Mysti:

“Hi I am starting to begin working out again and one of the reasons I quit last time is because I didn’t like my workout. Does anybody have any ideas of some really fun excersizes?”

I because exercise enjoyment is such an individual thing, I really didn’t have an answer for her, so I’m opening up the forum to you:

What exercises do you do?

Are they fun?

What is fun about them?

Why do you like to do them?

Answering these questions on the comments will not only help Mysti, but they will help you, too. If you have to answer, what is fun about your exercise and you don’t have anything to say about it, maybe it’s time to find a new one. If you have a lot to say, that’s wonderful. You suddenly have a list of things to remember about your favorite activity when you’re not feeling like getting started.

My SELF magazine came with a supplement this month called Fashion Rocks. I pulled it out and walked to the recycle bin (those supplement things are ALL advertisment, no point reading it), but the girl on the cover caught my eye. The waif standing next to Jamie Foxx was Beyonce Knowles.

Beyonce was the girl who was happy to have “a little junk in her trunk.” She was never fat and her bottom was the envy of women all across the nation. Now, she’s just another stick with arms so skinny they look like teenaged boy arms.

How did she do it?

Apparently, she is touting the Lemon Juice and Maple Syrup Diet.

• Diet of maple syrup the latest celebrity fad – 16 Aug 2006 – Lifestyle & Leisure

What few people are quoting is the side effect of a fast such as this. Beyonce lost the weight for a movie role. Here is her account of her eating after the movie was finished:

“At the wrap party the day after filming they had these cupcakes and I ate about twelve.”

“After that I ate waffles, fried chicken, cheeseburgers, french fries, everything I could find.”

“That was the best time of my life. I’ve gained twelve pounds.”

Don’t be fooled by these fad diets. They do make you lose weight because of the calorie deficit, but the risk of bingeing afterward is so great that it’s not worth it. Choose a healthy diet with a moderate calorie deficit and you will lose the weight AND keep it off.

Via: Diet Blog: The Maple Syrup Diet Fad

Keith left a comment on this old entry.

• Starling Fitness » The Biggest Loser: That’s it?!

Keith said,

“Bottom line is that they will not possibly be able to keep the weight off, if your losing 10+ pounds in a week then you will put it on then some after a few months.”

Sorry, Keith, but you’re wrong. Do you know how I know you’re wrong? A lot of the people in the original Biggest Loser, who also lost 10 pounds a week, have not gained the weight back. They have made permanent changes to their lives.

The “You’ll Gain It Back” argument has been thrown at me so many times by so many people that I don’t even listen to it anymore. It’s the excuse that people say when they are jealous of your weight loss. It’s the “friendly” warning that they give you when they think you’re losing too fast. It’s the admonition they say when you are thinner than they think you should be.

Don’t listen to them.

Worse still, the “You’ll Gain It Back” argument is something that I say to myself when I’m not feeling like following the program. I say, “What’s the point? It’s impossible to maintain at this weight. I’ll just end up fat like I was before.” Sometimes it’s harder to disregard these words because they are hiding within myself.

Don’t believe the “You’ll Gain It Back” argument. It’s not true. If you eat healthy and exercise, you will maintain the loss.