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

I saw this postcard on PostSecret this week and it looked so familiar. I used to keep a tally like this to mark the days I had gone without a binge. I think the most I’ve lasted is eight weeks. I stopped doing it because I would see all the tally marks pile up. Just looking at them grow would make me feel this enormous pressure. I would say, “It has been so long since I last binged.” Part of me would be proud of that and at the same time, another part of me would think, “I can do it just this once… It’s been so long…”

Right now, I don’t know how long it has been since I last binged. I know I didn’t binge yesterday, but I really have no idea if I binged the day before. I don’t know if keeping track was good or bad…

PostSecret‘s beneficiary is the National Hopeline Network. It is a 24-hour hotline (1 (800) SUICIDE) for anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who is considering it.

Sometimes I think that if I had lived my younger years differently that eating healthy would be easier now.

If you could change something in your past that has affected your weight and health, what would it be?

What are you doing right now that you could change that would make your future easier?

The Question of the Week is meant to be an Inner Workout for you. Find some time during the week and allow yourself to write the answers to the questions posted. You can write them on paper, on a word processor or here in the comments section. Whatever works for you as long as you do it.

Keep writing until you find out something about yourself that you didn’t know before. I’ve also heard that it works to keep writing until you cry, but that doesn’t really work for me. Whatever works for you. Just keep writing until it feels right.

Exercise is a fun and enjoyable way to keep healthy for everyone. The Buddy Walk is trying to raise awareness about Downs Syndrome and sponsors walks all over the country. You can find one to volunteer for here:

• Buddy Walk

Encouraging exercise for all members of our society makes our world healthier on a whole. Give the Buddy Walk in your area a little of your time and you will profit more from it than you will every know.

I hadn’t heard of Fat Chance until I found this review from Rudd’s Sound Bites. Mo’Nique is sponsoring a beauty pagent for fabulous and thick women. I think it’s absolutely wonderful!

• Rudd Sound Bites: Fabulous and thick by Stephanie Feldman

Stephanie believes that the show is not quite comfortable in its skin, but it has moments that are inspiring:

“There is one contestant, the African-American security guard Tiffany Jones, who does not don a wig to cover her short blond cut. MoNique says she couldn’t allow Tiffany to cover up her own beauty, and Tiffany answers that she is thrilled not to have to hide her hair or tattoos to be beautiful.”

If you missed the show, you can see clips from it on Oxygen Network’s official website for the show:

• Mo’Nique’s F.A.T. Chance

For more information about Mo’Nique and her sassy attitude, see her official website:

• The Official Monique Website

Remember, loving yourself just the way you are is the first step toward living a healthy life. Shows like Fat Chance are a way to learn to love yourself and be able to commit to living a healthier and stronger life.

If you have ever talked yourself out of exercising, you know that there are a million excuses not to work out. Wendy Bumgardner at About.com blows all those excuses out of the water with her Excuse Busters series:

• Walking Excuse Busters – Too Busy to Walk

• Walking Excuse Busters – Scared to Walk Alone

• Walking Excuse Busters – Lonely Walking Alone

• Walking Excuse Busters – It’s Too Cold

• Walking Excuse Busters – Too Hot to Walk

• Walking Excuse Busters – It’s Raining

• Walking Excuse Busters – I’m Tired

• Walking Excuse Busters – Sore Muscles

• Walking Excuse Busters – Sore Feet

• Walking Excuse Busters – I Have a Cold

• Walking Excuse Busters – My Family Misses Me

• Walking Excuse Busters – Walking is Boring

• Walking Excuse Busters – Unmotivated

• Walking Excuse Busters – I’m Too Fat to Walk in Public

• Walking Excuse Busters – I’m Too Old to Exercise

• Walking Excuse Busters – Health Concerns

Wendy has compiled such a thorough list of excuses and how to bust them that there really are no excuses. No matter what you say, there is a way to work around the problem. Now, if you don’t exercise, you need to analyze why and find a way to bust your own exercise excuse.

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.