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

Each week, I will give you step by step instructions on how to get into a swimsuit this summer. If you’re short on time, scroll down to the end and read “The Short Version” to get your weekly tips.

Last week’s job was to buy a swimming suit. Did you do it? There’s still time to get into that swim suit by summer, but you need to act now. If you didn’t buy your suit and lovely sarong last week, get to the store TODAY and buy one now and then proceed with this week’s task.

If you did buy a swimming suit, the first thing you need to do is give yourself kudos. Good job for taking that first step to feeling like a goddess this summer.

This week’s challenge is simple. Wear your swim suit around the house for a total of seven hours. Now, you can do this however you want. If you want to come home from work each night and wear it for an hour, you can. If you want to wear it for seven hours in one sitting, that’s fine. However you want to do it is fine with me.

Personally, I think the best thing to do is wear it for an hour each night. That slowly eases you into the idea of wearing your swim suit.

Note that no one needs to see you wearing your suit. No family, friends or lovers need to glimpse you wearing it. You can put it on, lock yourself in the closet reading a book for an hour if you want. You don’t need to leave your room or bathroom.

You DO have to be conscious, however. Wearing your swimming suit to bed really won’t do the trick unless you like to lounge around in your P.J.s for an hour before you go to bed.

That’s all you have to do. Wear your suit for a total of seven hours this week. Have fun and see you next week!

The Short Version:

• Give yourself kudos for buying a swim suit last week.

• Wear your swimming suit around the house for a total of seven hours this week. Recommended: Wear for an hour each day this week.

• No one needs to see you. You can lock yourself in the closet, your bedroom or even the bathroom as long as you wear your suit for the allotted time.

Something about this DVD bothers me: Women’s Health: The Wedding Workout (2006). Wedding workout? Really? Is it any different than a general workout? What could be physically grueling about your wedding that would make you need a wedding workout to prepare for it? It all smacks of profiteering to me.

I’ve been disgusted with the wedding industry lately. I talked about it over on my personal blog back in November of last year:

• Pick Me! » Your Day, Your Way

I thought it was just Utah, you know? I thought that all those billboards all over the city telling people to spend a boatload of money on their wedding was a Utah thing.

Apparently not.

According to One Perfect Day by Rebecca Mead, the wedding industry has grown to be a 161 Billion dollar industry.

It looks like Women’s Health is trying to profit from that 161 Billion dollar industry. Wasn’t the multi-billion dollar weight loss industry enough for you? Is this a trend that I haven’t noticed or one that is just starting? Whatever it is, don’t get sucked into the hype.

A wedding is just ONE day and a perfect wedding is no indicator of a happy life. Instead of starving yourself to fit into that expensive dress, you’re better off saving the money for a down payment on a house. Don’t let them tell you any different.

When Super-Size Me came out, I had some major disagreements with the movie that I voiced here:

• Starling Fitness » Fast Food Nation the Movie

• Starling Fitness » Supersize Me Rebuttal

• Starling Fitness » Comment on Supersize Me Rebuttal

It looks like Tom Naughton had the same problems with the movie as I did and he made a movie to prove his point:

• FatHead The Movie Home Page

Here is their description of the movie:

Have you seen the news stories about the obesity epidemic? Did you see Super Size Me? Then guess what? … You’ve been fed a load of bologna. Comedian (and former health writer) Tom Naughton replies to the blame-McDonald’s crowd by losing weight on a fat-laden fast-food diet while demonstrating that nearly everything we’ve been told about obesity and healthy eating is wrong. Along with some delicious parody of Super Size Me Naughton serves up plenty of no-bologna facts that will stun most viewers, such as: The obesity “epidemic” has been wildly exaggerated by the CDC. People the government classifies as “overweight” have longer lifespans than people classified as “normal weight.” Having low cholesterol is unhealthy. Lowfat diets can lead to depression and type II diabetes. Saturated fat doesn’t cause heart disease — but sugars, starches and processed vegetable oils do.

You can see a trailer for the movie here:

You can see more clips from the movie at FatHead’s YouTube Channel or after the break. (more…)

I’ve talked about Kimkins before. It was a very low carb, low fat and low calorie diet that imploded in controversy last year.

• Starling Fitness » How Did Kimkins Fly Under My Radar?

It looks like a local Fox News affiliate did a story about it and you can see it here:

Click through to see parts two, three and four: (more…)

If you are one of the many people who have bought a Starling Fitness Yearly Journal, then you know that the quote of the month is about keeping your body healthy. If not, here it is:

Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos – the trees, the clouds, everything.

• Thich Nhat Hanh

What did you do today to show gratitude to the whole cosmos? Did you get enough sleep? Did you exercise? Did you choose something healthy? These aren’t chores. They are the best way you can tell the universe that you are grateful for your most exquisite body.

If you would like to order your own Starling Fitness Yearly Journal, you can do so here:

• Starling Fitness » Order Your Starling Fitness Yearly Journal

If you order it now, you can choose the month you want it to start and it will last you a year from that date. You won’t have to throw away any unused days from the first of the year. You can start fresh now.

Something about this article doesn’t sit right for me.

• UMHS Press Release: U-M poll: Kids’ obesity not weighing on their parents’ minds

I think it’s this line of reasoning.

While most parents agree childhood obesity is a major health issue, many underestimate their own children’s weight and fail to take corrective steps to manage weight gain. Without intervention, childhood obesity can take a hefty toll on a person’s life-long health.

“It is critical to address obesity in the childhood years – at home, and in schools and other community settings,” says Matthew M. Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., director of the National Poll on Children’s Health. “But in order to address childhood obesity at home, parents must first recognize that a child is not at a healthy weight for their height. Parents also must be concerned enough to want to do something about their children’s obesity.”

I don’t believe parents should restrict their children’s diet. Every summer from the age of nine until seventeen, my grandmother placed me on a restrictive diet. I’ve written before about how misperceived my grandmother was about my obesity (or lack of it). The honest truth is that I don’t think parents should try to help their child lose weight. They should lead by doing. If the parents eat healthy, the children will follow along. I’ve written about this before as well:

• Starling Fitness » Childhood Obesity

In the end, it bothers me that doctors are wasting money on these kind of studies and not working on figuring out what is making us fat in the first place.

Via: Teens and Their Parents May Underestimate a Weight Problem

To all those health insurance companies that want to charge people with high BMIs more money, maybe they should read this finding.

• Body Image Is Stronger Predictor Of Health Than Obesity, Says Study

Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health found that the desire to weigh less was a more accurate predictor of physically and mentally unhealthy days, than body mass index (BMI).

It turns out that if you are unhappy with your weight and wish you weighed less, you tend to take more sick days and have more doctor visits than the people who are happy with their current weight. Whether you are content with your body weight is more of an indicator of health than your BMI.

What does this mean to you? Does that mean you should stop trying to eat healthy and keep up with an exercise regime? No. It just means that Inner Workouts are as essential as diet and exercise. This journey takes your MIND and your BODY on a roller coaster ride, so take care of yourself both physically and mentally.

Via: Rudd Sound Bites: Body Image as a Predictor of Health

Each week, I will give you step by step instructions on how to get into a swimsuit this summer. If you’re short on time, scroll down to the end and read “The Short Version” to get your weekly tips.

Even though you might have a foot of snow outside your door, NOW is the time to get ready for swimsuit season. It will take you a few weeks to get swimsuit ready, so you MUST start now if you are going to be on the beach or at the pool this summer vacation.

This week’s job is probably the hardest job you’ll have this entire program. Before next Wednesday, you must buy a swimsuit.

I know it’s freezing cold outside and you can’t even think about wearing a swimsuit right now, but the stores have just got their swimsuits in stock. You MUST shop NOW if you want your choice of the best. If you wait until two weeks before your vacation, all you will have to choose from are the swimming suits that no one else wanted. Even though you have to wear a coat, boots and gloves to the store, go shopping for your swim suit RIGHT NOW.

What if I lose weight between now and summer?

Then you DESERVE to buy a new suit. Plus, suits are VERY forgiving. If you lose a little weight, it will still fit, believe me. If you lose a lot of weight, then you will happily try on the dregs of the swimsuits left over because you’ll be that much thinner.

What should I buy?

There are lots of styles of suits out there. My most important recommendation is to buy a suit that feels comfortable. If you don’t feel comfortable in the dressing room with no one watching, then you’re certainly not going to feel comfortable when you are at the pool or in the hot tub.

In addition to your swim suit, look for a sarong or coverup that matches your suit. I want you to feel like an island princess with your suit and your sarong together. You might need to walk from your car to the pool or beach and I want you to feel comfortable. Imagine that you are bone thin and beautiful. If you were wearing your suit and sarong, would you be able to run into the grocery store to pick up some sunscreen before you headed out to the pool? I want you to feel like you’re modestly covered up and a little sexy all at the same time.

Why bother?

I don’t know about you, but too many summers of lost opportunities have gone by for me. I refused to participate in activities that I really wanted because I was “too fat.” Honestly, if I had found a swimsuit that I loved and enjoyed, I might have been more willing to participate.

If I had lived with that attitude my whole life, there are a myriad of wonderful experiences that I would have never had, like snorkeling in Hawaii.

Back in 2002, we went to Hawaii. I had just started Weight Watchers, but it was before I ever lost any weight. If I had let my discomfort with a swimsuit bother me, I would have never gone snorkeling at Ka’paa Beach with Michael. I can’t describe the joy I felt being able to feed fish out of the palm of my hand, but here’s a photo.

If you look, I wasn’t svelte, but all of my body fears were forgotten when we were swarmed by the fish. It was such a joyful experience that even now, over six years later, I am still brimming with excitement and happiness when I see that picture.

If I hadn’t bought a swimming suit that I adored before that trip, I would have never experienced this joy.

So, your job for this week is to purchase a swimming suit and matching sarong that you adore and feel comfortable in.

The Short Version:

• Buy a swimsuit this week.

• Buy a matching sarong this week.

• Make sure you are comfortable in them both. Could you wear it in the grocery store without surprising anyone?

I have seen a lot of advertising for Medifast lately. Their current celebrity darling is Genie Francis, the woman who played Laura in General Hospital. Oprah lost her weight with Medifast back in the late Eighties, but she immediately started gaining the minute she went off the program. A public failure of their program is something that I’m surprised Medifast was ever able to recover from.

I don’t mind celebrity endorsements, but misleading advertising is another story. This Medifast ad in particular bothers me:

It was an animated ad that showed the girl fat, then thin. The thing that bothers me is that she isn’t a success story. They don’t claim that she is. They don’t claim that the girl pictured lost any weight with Medifast, but having her there is misleading.

I KNOW that this isn’t a before and after picture. How do I know? Shoddy Photoshop technique. When they used the photo editing software to make her “fat” they forgot to airbrush out her ribs. Can you see in the “fat” version? The shadow of her ribs are still there. I don’t know about you, but I have never had the shadow of ribs show up in a photo, even when I am thin. You have to get EXTRA skinny to see your ribs.

This is the opposite of what Redbook did to Faith Hill. Instead of taking a perfectly beautiful woman and making her too thin, the advertising agency for Medifast took a strikingly thin girl and made her look fat for her “before” picture.

It makes me wonder. If Medifast REALLY can make you lose weight two times faster, then why don’t they have some REAL people who lost weight in their ads? Why do they have to Photoshop themselves a good before and after picture?

When you go to their site, they have a handful of real people (in addition to Genie Francis) who have lost weight on their program, but why didn’t they use them? Real people get a little sick of starving. That’s what fasting is, starving. When their real customers go back to eating real food, they might have an embarrassing relapse just like Oprah Winfrey. So, it’s better that they find a thin model for the after picture, fatten her up using Photoshop for the before picture and never mention her name. She’s “just” a model afterall.

Sounds like the best thing to do is stay away from companies that are willing to bend the truth a little bit in order to get you to buy their product. Sure, they didn’t lie. They never said that the beautiful blonde pictured in their ad lost weight with Medifast, but having her on their advertisement is manipulative and shady. Don’t trust your health to a company who’s willing to cross those lines.

Here are some other articles about altered images and what they do to our view of ourselves:

• Starling Fitness » Photoshopped Christina Milian

• Starling Fitness » Photoshopped Thin

• Starling Fitness » Beautiful Faith Hill Not Good Enough For Redbook

The photo on the cover of The National Enquirer was enough to cause confusion. After losing an incredible 75 pounds with Jenny Craig, the tabloid suggested that Kirstie Alley had gained it all back and lost her job because of it.

What if there was a different motive? According to People Magazine, Kirstie Alley is planning on launching her own weight loss plan.

“I had not intended to make this announcement at this time, but after an online People magazine article ran last Friday, announcing that I had stepped down as Jenny’s spokesperson, I found myself bombarded with inquiries from the media and fans. So I guess it’s as good of a time as any to announce that I intend to develop and pilot my own weight-loss brand that I hope to launch in 2009.”

You can read Kirstie Alley’s full statement here:

• Kirstie Alley Launching Her Own ‘Weight-Loss Brand’ – Bodywatch, Kirstie Alley : People.com

Paranoid as I am, my first instinct was that The National Enquirer had just found an old photo of Kirstie before her experience with Jenny Craig and were using it to sell their magazine. When paranoia really set in, however, I imagined that she really HAD gained back all the weight… purposely. After losing it “on her own” the second time, SHE would be able to cash in on the experience this time instead of Jenny Craig.

What do you think? Has my marketing paranoia run overboard? Is she just purposely gaining weight to “shock” you with another before and after picture? Worse still, did she gain the weight to discredit Jenny Craig?

Staying at a healthy weight is difficult enough without complicating it with negotiations, spokespeople and contracts. The tabloids are just trying to sell you papers, not make you healthy. Remember that in 2009 when they print Kirstie Alley’s “amazing” weight loss the second time around.

Via: Kirstie Alley Plans Own Weight Loss Program | TV Crunch