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

Mark, at A Passion for Running, has fully tested the new running skirts. He has included pictures and a video of him donning the bright pink running skirt and matching jogging bra. Is he insane?

Probably…

More importantly, he did it for charity. Urging his readers to make donations to thier favorite charities, he promised to wear and review the running skirts for everyone’s enjoyment.

You can read his review here:

• A Passion for Running » a manly man’s review of his pink running skirt

You can see the video of him in the skirt here:

• A Passion for Running » Mark “Feels Like a Woman”

If you would like to purchase a running skirt, you can do so here:

• Running Skirts for Women in Hot New Colors Women’s Fitness Running Gear

After reading his review, I know that I wouldn’t like the running skirt. There is only a panty underneath, so there is nothing to protect my inner thighs from chafing. That’s a lot less of an issue now than it used to be, but I’m still very sensitive about my exercise clothing. Mark looks cute, though.

I videotaped myself exercising the other day. I talked to the camera, letting you be my workout buddy. There are so many times when I have no one to talk to when I’m exercising, so I thought talking to the camera might be interesting. After going through thirty minutes of video, this minute and a half is all that I’m willing to share with you.

For a great inspirational story about walking, read tingilinde’s entry about walking here:

• tingilinde: 2987

The tips about walking are excellent and so many that I don’t want to print them all here. Click over to tingilinde to read them all.

I started out walking when I weighed 235 pounds, and even now, a brisk walk is enough to get my heart pumping and me feeling happy and active. There are so many benefits to walking and running that it’s very difficult to put them into words, but tingilinde has done a good job.

Via: Betsy Devine: Luna bars, movie whiplash, and more inspirations

Fear is such a personal thing. For one person, learning to surf is scary. For another, being able to walk out to the mailbox and get the mail is. I can’t look into a magic computer screen and see each of your fears. All I can do is urge you to do something scary.

I can think of a ton of things that used to scare me:

• Running a race.
• Writing down EVERYTHING that I eat, even when I’m bingeing.
• Exercising every day.
• Eating healthy in front of my family and friends.
• Saying no to desserts or other food that wasn’t in my plan.
• Being a “picky eater.”
• Hurting myself by exercising.

I could keep on writing, but these are my fears, not yours. Make a list of your biggest diet and exercise fears.

Today…

Seriously, right now, this very second make a quick list of what you’re scared of. Choose something on that list and do it now. I was scared of being thought of as a “picky eater.” Now, I have no fear of that because I was brave enough to say that I didn’t want to eat unhealthy food. It took me a long time to learn how to be POLITE and ask for what I needed, but I finally got past that fear. Today is your day to learn how to cross one of those fears off your list.

Each time you cross off a fear, you get closer to getting to goal weight and living a healthy lifestyle without effort.

They don’t promise that you’ll be thinner, just a vague threat that the rest of the world will be…

You can see all the ads here:

• ….HOW ADVERTISING SPOILED ME….

The Fitness Company is based in Germany. They’re clever advertisements, but I don’t appreciate the sentiment that the rest of the world will suddenly change to the Size Zero Mentality.

Tell me about your body.

What do you love about it?

What would you miss if you lost it?

How strong are you? How fast are you? What can you do that no one else can?

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.

Self-image is a personal thing. Dave Werner wanted to share the stories he received about body image with the world. Here is a video describing his work:

Here are the responses to the body image question:

Real Images Project Responses

You can see Dave’s portfolio here:

Dave Werner’s Portfolio 2006

Via: Big Fat Blog: Reflect/Respect

I did a simple search on YouTube and found a few exercise videos. It made me happy just to see these short films.

Exercising with Claire, Peck & Katy:

These three kids spend their afternoon exercising with an exercise video. They are giggling more than they are sweating, but it looks like such fun. Peck is behind the camera most of the time while Claire and Katy try to keep up with the video.

Exercise Ball:

Scott shows you how to do a simple crunch using an exercise ball and then gets a little silly.

Morning Exercise:

A truly inspiring video showing a floor exercise done by an amazing gymnast.

(more…)

If you go into any coffee shop and order a steamer with fat-free milk, they will understand what you’re talking about. If it’s not a Starbucks, they’ll roll their eyes and sneer at you, but they’ll understand.

A steamer is warm milk heated to a frothy goodness using the steam valve on the expresso machine with a shot or two of flavored syrup. Since there are many sugar-free syrups to choose from, you can enjoy a wide variety of steamers for the same calories as a glass of milk.

Since many diets recommend two servings of milk a day, this is an easy way to get in your milk in one fail swoop. One 16 ounce steamer counts as two servings of milk. If you make sure to order the sugar-free syrup, then it’s no more calories than the milk.

You don’t need to shell out two bucks at the coffee shop to get a steamer either. Sugar-free flavored syrups are usually available in the coffee aisle at grocery stores. The selection of syrups is smaller than a coffeehouse, but you’ll be able to create a steamer by microwaving your milk with a shot of syrup for only one minute and much less money.

Torani has a list of steamer recipes that sound delicious. These recipes aren’t specializing in the sugar-free flavors, so make sure you get sugar-free syrups in order to avoid extra calories.

• Torani: Recipe Gallery

When I was a kid, my two biggest heroes were Nell Carter and Miss Piggy.

Seriously. This isn’t a joke.

My personality is 20% Nell Carter and 30% Miss Piggy. I have a little bit of Jo from the Facts of Life in there, but anything that isn’t me, is probably Nell Carter or Miss Piggy. Both of them were strong and independent women who KNEW they were divas. They knew it with all capital letters. It didn’t matter that Miss Piggy was a pig. She was a diva and she demanded the spotlight every week on the Muppet Show.

It didn’t matter that Nell Carter weighed over 200 pounds. She was the star of Gimme A Break! It should have been called the Nell Carter show, she was such a diva.

Miss Piggy will live as long as Frank Oz can still talk, but Nell Carter died in 2003. She died of heart failure complicated by diabetes and obesity. When the fat acceptance people say that fat doesn’t kill you, I know they’re wrong because we lost Nell Carter far too soon.

For some reason, my childlike mind made the connection between fat and strength. Since Miss Piggy and Nell Carter were such strong women, I assumed that all fat women are strong. When I started losing weight, I felt like I was losing my strength. I’m just as tough today as I was when I weighed 235, but now I can kick your butt and run away fast as lightning if I need too.

I need new role models…