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

I read this quote the other day and it really made me think:

It reads:

I’m lazy. But it’s the lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle because they didn’t like walking or carrying things.

• Lech Walesa

For years, I have thought this to be true. I’ve thought that my laziness was a GOOD thing because it made me invent better ways of doing things. But when I look at it honestly, ONE important question comes to mind.

What EXACTLY have I invented?

Sure, I’ve found quicker ways to put away the dishes and clothes after they’ve been cleaned, but aside from that, laziness has done nothing but HARM me. It’s one of those character defects that I cling to with the flimsy excuse of finding a “better” way.

Guess what? There is NO better way to stay thin than to eat properly and exercise. You can’t escape it. There is no bare minimum to eat that won’t throw your body into starvation mode. There is no time when I will be so thin that I won’t have to exercise every day. It’s just not going to happen and clinging to that hope is just me living in denial and choosing laziness over recovery.

The next time you’re thinking of skipping your workout and deciding that there MUST be a better way, think about this. The next time you see an infomercial for an exercise machine or pill that promises a workout without the sweat, think about this. There is NO other way. Discard your laziness and come to the stark realization that a healthy body REQUIRES exercise, industriousness and work.

So, I thought I would try to increase my exercise slightly. It might be my disease talking and if it is, I’ll keep an eye on it. I’ll talk to my sponsor about it. But, for now, I feel okay.

I signed up for a challenge on Lose It! that works with my FitBit. To do 12,500 steps a day.

It says 12,000 steps a day, but when I divide 375,000 steps by 30, I get 12,500.

Every night, I’ve found myself hovering at the point where I used to feel proud of myself, which is 10,000 steps. The bad thing about this challenge is that they didn’t account for rest days. If you want to take a rest day, you have to do MORE than 12,500 steps on your “On” days. For example, if you want one rest day a week (or four days in the month), you have to do 14,424 steps a day to make your monthly goal. I’m struggling just to do my 12,500 a day, hopping on the treadmill to squeeze in a couple thousand steps right before I go to bed. I can’t imagine trying to do over 14K a day.

I might have set an unrealistic goal for myself. Maybe it’s time to call my sponsor…

I laughed out loud when I saw this Facebook post on Imgur the other day.

It reads:

Montreal: Hey Facebook kids, what are your favourite songs to run to?

Friend Replied: I made my own song. It’s a mix of zombie noises, people saying, “I’m going to cut you,” “Come here little boy,” and police sirens. I’ve lost 10 lbs. 3 of which were in tears. I’ve also lost my wallet and my keys.

Montreal: Hey NORMAL Facebook kids, what are your favourite songs to run to?

I’ve talked about this concept before. The Primal Workout is a theory that you can trick your body into becoming more fit because it believes it’s in danger:

• Starling Fitness – Primal Workout: Trick Your Body Into Getting Thin
• Starling Fitness – Zombies, Run! Makes Exercise Fun
• Starling Fitness – Keeping My Dopamine Levels High

I don’t know how beneficial it is to do that workout every day, because it might cause enough stress on your body that it negates any benefits you might get from it. The more important question, however, is what music is good for working out and I have talked about that A LOT!

• Starling Fitness – Monday Music Motivation

I could never narrow things down to one or two songs, so I literally have HUNDREDS of songs in my workout playlist. The good thing about that is that I can listen to my tunes with every workout and not get sick of them.

Via: Fitness, Health, And Confidence

I was looking at A New Leaf in Everfree and I found this animated GIF from the game, Animal Crossing.

It reads:

Cookie, the lazy dog, says, “Yeah, exercise is totally hard and stuff. I think I’m gonna go take a nap and read a book or whatever.”

It’s true. If you over-do it, like I did for YEARS, exercise is hard and stuff. I have lost 51 pounds NOT over-doing it. I have consciously tried to keep my exercise totally mellow and stuff. My only goal is to move for thirty minutes. The way I’ve achieved that goal is by taking the dog for a walk every day. We average a mere 2.7 mph because Nina is so busy smelling interesting smells. It’s a pathetic workout, one which Cookie could easily do without breaking a sweat.

AND IT WORKS!

Part of my problem was that I thought I had to hurt myself to make the workout work. I took to heart the slogan, “No pain. No gain,” when really I should have just enjoyed the view and smelled a few interesting smells.

The next time you are procrastinating your workout because you think you need to go all out or go home, just take a walk. Not a power-walk. Just a simple and easy walk. Make your workouts mellow and stuff and you’ll actually DO them instead of take a nap and read a book or whatever.

I’ve talked about Animal Crossing before here:

• Starling Fitness – What I’ve Learned About Fitness from Animal Crossing

When I saw this photograph on Fit, Fast, and Furious I laughed so hard!

It took me a few seconds to realize that this guy was dressed up as Lakitu, who is the nice koopa who tells you which lap you’re on in Mario Kart and pulls you out of the lava, sand or water when you go off the track.

I immediately wanted to run that race. I wanted to throw green shells at the other runners and drop banana peels for the people pulling too close behind me. I wanted to get the Star so I could whiz past everyone else at super speed. I wanted to watch the other runners go off the track and get stuck in the water.

I want to go to there.

I saw this Nike ad on Do it | We Heart It and it really confused me.

The first thing I thought was,

Just do it? What? Run on water?!

And then I got a little angry at Nike, thinking,

Yeah, they think they’re God. They think they can run on water.

All of this shuffled through my head so quickly that it almost immediately reverted to what it was meant to be, inspirational, but that thought about God, still irked me.

Honestly, I’ve acted like I’m Queen of the World for so long that I almost thought I was God. I thought I could run on water.

Well…

I CAN run on water, as long as it’s less than 32 degrees outside and I’m really, really careful…

Anyway, I’ve been working on my humility lately. I’m trying not to think that I am God. I’m trying to keep myself humble. It’s super hard and I pretty much screw up every, stupid day. Seeing this poster just made me think that I’ve been a little too proud of every single workout I do.

I absolutely ADORE this animated GIF from Believe To Achieve.

It reads:

Change is in the Challenge.

It is SO right! I only see changes in my body when I challenge myself. If I just keep coasting, everything stays the same. This realization got my butt off the comfy chair today and put my feet right on my treadmill desk where they belong. I made that desk for a reason, so I could work AND move.

Don’t forget, the change is in the challenge!!

Ever since I was a little kid, people have been saying, “There is no magic pill that will help you lose weight.” No matter how often they say it, I see new diet pills come and go on the market over and over.

Here’s a diet pill that REALLY works:

EXERCISE

It reads:

Prescription: EXERCISE

Use 30 minutes daily. Free Refills

Uses: Broken Heart, Belly Bulge, Holiday Binge, Anxiety, Bad Day, Anger, Sadness, Over Energized, Healthy Body, Tight Jeans, Saggy Butt, Flappy Arms, Heavy Breathing After Walking Up A Flight Of Stairs, Relationship Revenge, Boredom, Training, Longer Life, Couch Potato Syndrome, Reality TV Binge, Concentration, Weight Loss, Metabolism Enhancer, Disease Prevention, Energy Boost, Bonding Date, and for absolutely no reason at all, just because.

I would also add that it’s great for breaking down the mental barriers to meditation. It’s FAR easier for me to meditate and get that self-transcendence feeling when I exercise right beforehand.

The next time you are wishing for that magic pill that just makes you skinny, throw on your running shoes and take a run or walk around your neighborhood. Nothing like a little physical activity to dispel the depression and start the blood pumping.

Image via: work sweat achieve

I saw this motivational quote on Fit Facts the other day and it really hit home for me.

It reads:

One day this pain will make sense to you

This is such a good thought for EVERYTHING. Sure, it explains away the muscle soreness with an eye on the final outcome, but the truth is, there is a lot more pain in this world than simple muscle soreness.

How about the pangs of hunger? Feeling hungry is worth the benefit of eating less in the long run. As long as I am eating three healthy meals a day and 2-3 snacks, there is NO risk that I am starving myself, so if I feel hungry, that means it’s not real hunger. Suffering through the pain of hedonic hunger is definitely worth the outcome and it will all make sense when I am at goal weight.

How about emotional pain? It’s never wise to go searching for relationships that hurt your feelings, but after experiencing heartbreaking pain, I can sincerely say that it was worth it. I can look back on those heart-wrenching moments and I now know that each one was worth it. It hurt when it happened, but the perspective of now has shown me that it was all to my benefit. Does that emotional pain of my past make sense now? You betcha!

Even the spiritual pain that I experienced makes sense to me now. The years of feeling no connection to that spiritual part of my brain showed me that I didn’t want to live that way. I didn’t know it then, but that feeling that said to me, “I want to go home,” was trying to tell me that something was missing. It wasn’t home. It was accessing that part of my brain that gives me all those feel-good spiritual chemicals I was missing. Once I started meditating regularly again, I had full access to that part of my own physiology. All the pain of isolation from it for years sincerely makes sense to me now.

The next time you are suffering, whether it’s physically, emotionally or spiritually, remember that one day this pain will make sense to you. Do what you must to relieve the pain. Don’t go searching for it, but if you are in pain, it will become a pristine and clear moment of clarity some day in the future.

As you can see, I have wanted a treadmill desk (treadputer, walk station, etc.) for a LONG time. The first time I wrote about it was back in 2006.

• Starling Fitness – A Whole Website About Treadputers!
• Starling Fitness – The Walking Desk Blog
• Starling Fitness – The Walkstation from Steelcase
• Starling Fitness – Treadmill Desk
• Starling Fitness – Fitness Magazine Review: April 2010
• Starling Fitness – The Best Inexpensive Treadmill Desk

EIGHT years later, I FINALLY did it to my treadmill, and I’m so excited! Best of all, it only cost me THREE bucks!!

Read more for instructions, but I’m sure you can see what I did just from this first photo. (more…)