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

After reading Adria’s entry about combating dehydration, I sympathized with her fully.

• A mile in my Birks » Dehydration

I have had a much less intense experience with dehydration almost every time we camp. Because we have to haul in our water, it’s a precious commodity, so I am reluctant to drink as much as I need in this 103 degree weather. Her description fits to a tee:

My throat was burning, my head was pounding, and every muscle in my body hurt. I spent the rest of the day in bed but my body was wracked with pain & I couldn’t sleep.

Yeah, that pounding headache? It’s almost as bad as a migraine. I’ve mistaken it for a migraine in the past. The only difference is that half my face doesn’t go numb with dehydration.

For the full symptoms of dehydration, see here:

• Dehydration – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They aren’t easy symptoms to recognize at first, but if you are listening to your body, you should be able to catch them:

• Headaches similar to what is experienced during a hangover
• Visual snow
• Decreased blood pressure (hypotension)
• Dizziness or fainting when standing up due to orthostatic hypotension.

Adria drank Pedialyte to feel better, but they recommend water.

The best treatment for minor dehydration is drinking water and stopping fluid loss. Water is preferable to sport drinks and other commercially-sold rehydration fluids, as the balance of electrolytes they provide may not match the replacement requirements of the individual.

I’ve found that Gatorade watered down half and half works best for me, but each person is different. If you’re able to recognize the symptoms of dehydration quickly, then you won’t get a more severe case. Be careful out there. Sunburn isn’t the only way the sun can knock you out.

I just wrote something for the Quotations Page about The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian was blessed (or cursed) with a portrait that aged for him. All the scars, diseases and effects of his secret vices were shown on his picture instead of his own body.

The story got me thinking.

What if you were Dorian Gray?

What if you could eat all that you wanted and not an ounce of fat would show up on your body, only on your portait?

What if you never had to exercise again?

Would you live a life of “debauchery” like Dorian?

If you were to live a life of “debauchery”, what would you do?

Is there any way you can incorporate those foods or activities into your life without “falling into debauchery?”

Considering how Dorian turned out in the end, I am reluctant to say that I would gleefully eat whatever I wanted. More importantly, thinking about what I would do if I were Dorian Gray helps me realize how I have been denying myself and lets me plan these things into my diet and lifestyle without harm.

So… what would you do if you were Dorian Gray?

I love this commercial for Reebok! Sometimes it feels like the couch is calling to me, but I’ve never had it wrestle me away from the door. Next time you’re feeling like skipping your workout, just think of how hard it could be to get to the gym.

Here is the trailer from E3 for the Wii Fit. It looks like you’ll be able to keep track of your own progress separate from the rest of the people in your family (something DDR was sorely missing). I’m really excited about this one.

Via: Shiny Shiny: E3 2007 Nintendo Wii Fit trailer – who needs the treadmill?

Mike makes this dinner for me when I’m low on Points. It’s only 3 Points a serving (about 150 calories) and is really filling. Considering that it’s only rice and broccoli with some spices, it’s amazing how tasting it is. Here is his recipe:

Broccoli Rice:

• 1/2 cup Brown Rice
• 1/2 cup Frozen Broccoli
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
• 1/2 tsp Curry Powder

These are the ingredients for one serving. It’s usually much easier to make five servings and put them in the fridge or freezer for several meals. Mike puts the rice and broccoli in the rice cooker and then adds the spices after the rice is fully cooked.

The rice cooker is voodoo to me, but I love it. Mike is able to make healthy rice for me using no oil. He fought for the rice cooker when we first bought it, but if it were to break, I would now let him buy whichever one he wanted at whatever expense. I have been the beneficiary of so many yummy, healthy meals because of that device. Broccoli Rice is merely one of them.

Ever since my obsession with DDR and Yourself! Fitness has worn down, I’ve been looking for a new exergaming option. It looks like Nintendo is happy to feed my obsession with Wii Fit. It’s a new game with a new controller called a Balance Board. You can see the full story about the announcement at E3 at Engadget:

• Nintendo Wii Fit gets you stepping – Engadget

Here is some information on the Wii Balance Board:

“The Wii Balance Board is a Reebok Step look-alike, with dual sensors that can detect your weight and balance on each side as you exercise to the various on-screen Wii activities in Wii Fit. The board is wireless, and holds the potential of full-body games involving the Wiimote and the Wii Balance Board simultaneously.”

Yes! That’s what we’ve been waiting for. I had no idea that it would be Nintendo to fulfill my wishes.

I checked Nintendo’s website, but they haven’t put any mention of this new product on it yet. That’s one thing I like about Apple. When they announce things, they usually have something on their website about it the same day. Nintendo wasn’t ready for fan girls like me to bombard their site looking for more information. I guess we’ll have to wait. I’ll keep you posted.

I was playing with the Nike+ website, looking at the runs I’ve done over the last year. I bought my Nike+ at the end of July last year, so I have a number of runs to go back and look at. Here is what the last year looks like:

That tall month in December, I walked 54 miles on the treadmill. That’s when I walked so much that I ended up with black toenail. It kicked my mileage down quite a bit. January, I ran my 30 miles like I promised on my resolution, but I was in pain the whole time. I just didn’t want to go back to Weight Watchers.

Now, I’m back at Weight Watchers. Rather than a noose around my neck, it feels liberating. I have been gradually increasing my mileage. If I follow my program correctly, I will beat the December mileage without sacrificing my newly grown toenails.

I never really kept an exercise log before. I wrote things down in my food journal, but I didn’t keep as much data as the Nike+. Now, I can look over it and see how far I’ve come and what I can do to beat my “best” month. Runner’s World always recommended keeping a running journal, but I never realized how powerful it could be. Seeing my runs stack up like this makes me want to create a year where the mileage just keeps increasing.

You don’t need to own a Nike+ to keep an exercise log. You can keep that information anywhere. I used to keep it with my food logs, but to compare this kind of thing on my own, I would have to wade through all the food to find my workouts. It would have been better if I had kept track of my workouts in ONE place by themselves.

If you’re a crazy spreadsheet fan, like I am, you could keep track in Excel, letting it graph your progress for you much like the Nike+ has done for me here. Of course a Mead notebook would work just as well for you. The most important thing is to keep an exercise log because it can be more inspiring than I ever thought it could.

When I’m exercising at the gym (or on my treadmill at home), it really feels like there is only one reward, the benefits of exercise. When I’m outside hiking, there are so many benefits that I can barely list them all. When I am hiking in the Wasatch Mountains, I forget that I’m exercising. Suddenly, the huge incline isn’t just a setting on my treadmill. It’s a mountain I have to conquer. Here are just a few of the rewards that hiking has to offer:

• Exercise seems less difficult: This can be a two-edged sword, because when I get back from my hike, I usually end up sore for a couple of days. I don’t feel the extra effort when I’m out hiking, but I certainly feel it the next day.

• There’s a reason for the exercise: All exercise has a reason, but when you’re hiking up a trail, there is a destination in mind, such as the end of the trail, or maybe you want to go as far as the waterfall. Whatever the destination, there usually is one, which makes exercise seem more important.

• It can be social: You can bring your family and have one of those family memories that last for years. It wasn’t just exercise, it was a reason to get together.

• You get to see pretty stuff: Instead of watching television or staring at the wall while I exercise, I see all sorts of beautiful and interesting things, when I’m hiking. For an example of this, read about Tom Mangan’s most recent hike: Two-Heel Drive: Latest hike: Portola Redwoods State Park.

• You feel like you went on an adventure: I don’t know about you, but I don’t go on the trails in my area very often. Even though they are only a few minutes’ drive, I tend to just exercise at home more often than not. When I do go on a hike, I end up feeling like I had an adventure, even though it only took me a couple minutes longer to drive there than to drive to the gym.

If you are feeling like you are bored with your exercise routine, plan a hiking trip next weekend. Find the trails that are near your town and take a hike. You’ll feel refreshed and come home with a camera full of interesting pictures. If you do, please share them here.

It just tipped over into miserable here in Salt Lake City. The thought of running outside just kills all my inspiration, so it’s back to the treadmill for me. I’ve been watching the Swami’s Beach DVD nonstop since I created it, so I can pretend I feel ocean breezes (they’re really a couple of fans hooked onto the treadmill).

Where do you exercise when it gets too hot?

I also head to the mountains because it’s lots cooler up there than down in the valley. The only problem with that is I’m much more likely to get burnt, so I have to grease up with sunscreen beforehand. What do you do?

I’m grieving the loss of footage for a Starling Fitness video. We went to Yellowstone a few months ago and I filmed a lot of walking footage around the Artist’s Paint Pots and Old Faithful. On the Old Faithful Walk, I went uphill and I was panting so hard, I thought it ruined the footage. I talked about it here:

• Starling Fitness » Panting Up The Hill

If you watch this video, you can hear some wind noises and some strange squeaks. The wind noises are from the gentle and quiet breeze. Most of the time, there was a normal breeze, which sounded like a thunder barreling down on me. Most of the footage is ruined by the wind noises making popping sounds into the camera. I’ve added a wind screen to my camera to prevent this in the future, but that can’t fix the lost footage in Yellowstone.

What wasn’t ruined by the wind was ruined by a new tool I was trying. It’s VERY difficult to film these walking videos. I have to carry the camera a certain way, allowing my arms to be a cushion so the film isn’t jumpy or bouncy (and making half of you seasick). My arms hurt for days after doing one of these walks.

For my birthday, my wonderful family got me a steady cam that wraps around my neck to take some of the weight. It worked wonderfully and I was able to do several walks in Yellowstone without arm pain. Unfortunately, there are squeaks that were completely imperceptible to me while filming, but show up loud and clear on the video. What wasn’t ruined by wind was damaged by mechanical squeaks.

I could still make a video with warnings that this one isn’t as good as some of the others, but I really go to all the trouble of editing the video for ME. I make these videos because I want to watch them while I’m running on the treadmill. There’s no way in the world that I would watch that video with all the irritating wind pops and steady cam squeaks.

So, I didn’t make the video. The steady cam is relegated to the basement with the other failed mechanical fixes. I have no video in the hopper waiting to be released. I actually have to film something and I have no trips planned for a while.

In the meantime, I’m training. Once a day, I set the treadmill to 3 mph and walk with hand weights. I hold them like I would hold the camera and suffer through the pain in my arms the next day. I’m hoping that by the time I’m able to do more filming, my arms will be strong enough to film several walks without pain and without squeaky steady cams.

Wish me luck!

If you would like to know more about the Starling Fitness Videos:

• Starling Fitness – Fitness, diet, and health weblog » Walking Videos For Sale