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

I found Iron Yoga at the library and I’ve been working out with it several times before I have to return it. Here is how it stacks up.

The workout video is VERY watchable. There is none of that irritating patter. The only thing the instructor says are directions about how to hold the poses correctly. This video is hosted by Anthony Carillo, who is a “nationally ranked Ironman triathlete.” I had never heard of him before watching this video, but the instructor doesn’t need to be famous. All the instructor needs to do is give me intricately clear directions and refrain from saying anything else. This isn’t a workout video that will ever need to be muted in order to be enjoyed.

I’ve been weight training for over two months, so I didn’t think this would give me much of a workout. In fact, I tried this with 3-pound weights because I thought I’d just take it easy the first time through, but it was very challenging. There were several times when I needed to set down the weights because the poses were very difficult with them. For now, I’ve had to use my 1.5-pound weights and I’ll increase the weight when I gain more balance.

It’s not the kind of workout that will burn a lot of calories, however. It’s almost an hour long and I burned about half the calories that I would have burned had I run on the treadmill that long. It’s great for developing balance, but not so good for burning calories.

According to my Nike Imara, these are the stats for my first workout:

Total Minutes: 56′:49″
Total Calories Burned: 274
Average Heart Rate: 109 BPM
Time in Moderate Zone: 37′:47″
Time in High Zone: 4′:50″
Time in Low Zone: 14′:12″

Evaluation:

I usually hate workout videos, but this is one that is challenging. There is no annoying chatter that becomes so irritating after several viewings. This is a workout that I’m willing to buy and after seeing the inexpensive price at Amazon, I was easily able to justify it.

Many, many thanks to Eh… not so much for directing me to this article.

• Stumptous.com – We hate her

It was such a positive approach to my worries about Skinny Bitches. This article nailed my feelings about getting closer and closer to my goal.

“If you have been into training for a long time, perhaps you know what I am talking about. You feel apologetic around other women, as if you’re letting them down or buying into the beauty myth. Maybe you feel the need to justify yourself, or hide under baggy clothes. Maybe people ask you if you have an eating disorder just because you prefer fruit and cottage cheese to greasy hamburgers for lunch.”

I haven’t gotten past this issue yet, but I’m one step closer to it thanks to this article.

This beautiful shrimp cocktail is an update to the 1970’s version that is so popular at the casinos in Las Vegas.

• Regular shrimp cocktail is so 1970s – Slashfood

Even with the decadent marinara-vodka sauce, this treat couldn’t be more than 3 or 4 WW Points. Sometimes we eat the same things over and over in an effort to be healthy. Life doesn’t have to be boring and this low calorie shrimp cocktail is an indulgence that can add to your diet without guilt.

Island Worlds is a software program in alpha testing right now that is supposed to allow you to use your exercise bike or treadmill to explore various worlds.

• Island Worlds

Even though the graphics are relatively simple, I find this software appealing.

Being able to just run along this sandy beach while I’m on my treadmill is just the kind of thing that would make the treadmill that much more appealing. Sometimes I get sick of watching movies when I’m running on the treadmill and being able to explore other worlds sounds fun to me, even if they are a little simple compared to Xbox 360.

They will open up beta testing soon and I volunteered to test their software when that time comes. They sent me an email saying that I will be able to be part of their beta testing, so (depending on their confidentiality agreement) I will keep you updated when they get to that point.

Via: Videogame Workout: NeoRacer

There is an email running around that warns women to avoid eating chicken wings to prevent ovarian cysts. Is this email true?

• Urban Legends Reference Pages: Horrors (Wing Ding)

Snopes explains the underlying fear of this email:

“Hormones are linked in our minds (as they should be) with the growth process, which in humans is strongly tied to changes related to sexual maturation. Ergo, that fear finds voice in stories about women exposed to such hormones developing cysts in their reproductive systems and in stories about men developing the physical characteristics of women (that is, growing breasts).”

But they assure us that our fears are not true:

“The FDA has ruled that ‘No steroid hormones are approved for use in poultry,’ so chickens intended for human consumption in the U.S. cannot legally be fed or injected with steroids.”

There are so many legitimate things to be scared of, don’t let these email chain letters fill you with fears that aren’t a problem yet.

What do you think is your strongest asset when you are successful at taking care of yourself?

My strongest asset is my obsessive desire to measure EVERYTHING. When I am on a roll, I insist on tracking every bit of food that goes into my mouth and every minute I spend exercising. I have years and years worth of data about what I’ve eaten and how I’ve exercised.

What’s scary is what ISN’T documented. I can tell when I am close to a binge when I don’t feel like writing down what I have eaten. Even if I know that I haven’t overindulged, I can tell that I’m at risk when I don’t want to pull out my Palm and track my food. That has also been a blessing for me because when I notice that I don’t want to write down what I’ve eaten, I can analyze myself and see what is REALLY going on.

The only problem with this asset is that sometimes I waste too much time documenting everything. Sometimes I don’t need to measure as much as I do. I don’t need to write down every calorie I have eaten to stay healthy. I don’t need to document every workout to get stronger. All I need to do is eat healthy and exercise. Writing it down has become magical to me. If I don’t write it down, somehow the magic doesn’t work anymore.

I keep thinking that I SHOULD be able to live a healthy life without documenting every bite of food that goes into my mouth. The SHOULD word is something that causes me a lot of trouble. I assume that everyone else doesn’t need to monitor their food. The truth of the matter is, it doesn’t matter what everyone else needs to do. I need to write everything down, or I will overeat. I don’t need to test that theory. I’ve tested it enough already.

I am introducing a new feature. Every Monday morning, I will post the Question of the Week. These questions are meant to be Inner Workouts. They are questions that can help you get to the bottom of the reason you don’t take the best care of yourself. Most of these questions will concentrate on overeating and bingeing because that is the problem that I have. It has been my nemesis, and I still need weekly Inner Workouts about this issue.

I recommend that you get a blank piece of paper (or pull up your word processor) and just keep writing about these questions until you find out something about yourself that you didn’t know before. I plan on posting the questions in the morning and posting my write-up on the question in the afternoon.

You are welcome to post your answers to this question in the comments. The more stories we have about each issue, the more we’ll all learn in this process.

What do you think is your strongest asset when you are successful at taking care of yourself?

This is the LAST thing I want when I groggily step on the scale in the morning!

• Sharper Image – Talking Height + Weight Scale

They state the negatives of the products like they are positives.

“Large LCD screen clearly shows both height and weight. Choose “Voice” mode and the scale announces your height and your weight.”

“Enter a target weight and the scale will helpfully tell you the variance between your current weight and your goal.”

They market this scale as something for families with growing kids, so they can see how tall they are growing, but kids only spend a few years at that age and then you have this scale in your bathroom for the next twenty years, tormenting you.

In Hell, they weigh you on this scale… Naked… In front of your Junior High School crush.

It’s Girl Scout Cookie Time. We got our boxes outside the grocery store, but you might have ordered a bunch when they only looked like harmless boxes on a piece of paper. Our ability to resist is easier when food is two-dimensional. If you haven’t purchased any Girl Scout Cookies and you want them, I think you should. Learning to live with tempting food in the house is another step toward a healthy life.

How To Indulge In Girl Scout Cookies Without Overdoing It:

• Open The Boxes Immediately: No matter how many boxes you have bought, open them all up right now.

• Divide Them Up: Calculate how many cookies you can eat for 100-150 calories and divide the boxes up. Put these individual servings into Ziploc baggies.

• Treat Yourself: Take one serving of cookies and put them into your treat cupboard.

• Freeze The Rest: Put the rest back into the individual boxes so you can remember the exact calorie and fat content. Put the boxes in the freezer.

• Limit Access: Only allow one serving of cookies to be unfrozen at a time.

If you follow this process, you’ll be able to enjoy Girl Scout Cookie Time without over-indulging. You can do this, so prove it to yourself!

Glen at Videogame Workout just finished his 12-Week course with Eyetoy:Kinetic. It’s an exercise game for PlayStation 2. He gives his full review here:

• Videogame Workout: Eyetoy:Kinetic Week 12 – DONE!

He feels like he has gained some muscle tone and cardiovascular benefits, but laments some losses:

“I’ve lost a little muscle tone (compared to my prior exercise regimen) in my mid and upper body. This is largely because I stopped doing the “optional” segments. As my training progressed the main game portion got longer and more intense and I started to feel like I had neither the time nor the energy left to do a full toning segment. Rather than start a workout segment I know I’d have to bail out of, I just skip right to stretches.”

I’m just grateful that the videogame industry is trying to make games that train your body. This game is first generation. I am excited to see the next generation of exergaming.