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

Hey! I just started reading your blog, and I love it! I went and read most of your archives this weekend. I have a dilemma that I would love your advice about!

I am overweight and I started eating right and exercising two weeks ago. So far it’s going really well. Yesterday I jumped rope for two 10 minute sessions and today my left calf is really sore. I can walk fine, but if I try to move my foot I can feel it. I’m a teacher, so I stand all day and it got worse throughout the day.

I want to keep exercising so I don’t lose momentum, but I don’t know much about sore calves. Is this something I should work through and walk tomorrow, or should I give it a rest for a few days? Is it supposed to hurt, or is it a sign that something’s wrong? I was hoping to walk on the treadmill tomorrow after work, but I don’t know what’s a good idea and what’s stupid.

I know you’re not a doctor, but as a runner you have way more experience with this type of stuff than I do after two weeks.

Thanks for any help you can give me!

Stephanie

Stephanie,

You’re right, I’m not a doctor, so visiting one might be a good idea if the pain becomes any worse.

That said, I have dealt with a lot of calf pain and shin splints (the front muscle of your lower leg). Fortunately, the stretch for both of them is the same. I dealt with this pain a lot when I first started exercising.

My first recommendation is to start slowly. Jumping rope, even if it’s only for 10 minutes is REALLY intense for a beginner. I recommend walking. At first, you are building muscle, so you probably won’t get a good cardio workout. Go to my New Year’s Resolution: Week 1 and start there with your walking plan. It will prevent you from getting sore:

• Starling Fitness » New Year’s Resolutions: Week One

In addition to taking exercise slowly in the beginning, you need to stretch those muscles. There has been a lot of talk about stretching and how it might not be as helpful as once thought. I don’t know what medical science has found. All I know is the days when I stretched before and after my walks, I wouldn’t hurt as much the next day. The days when I forgot (or was in a hurry and skipped it), I paid for it in pain. Here is an entry explaining how to stretch your calf muscles:

• Starling Fitness » Shin Splints

It took a couple of weeks of regularly doing that stretch in addition to my exercise for the pain to ease off. I wanted to keep exercising, but I didn’t want to hurt myself and this was the only way that I found that worked for me.

I wish you the best and please come back to Starling Fitness and tell me how it works for you over the next couple of weeks.

Happy Walking,
Laura Moncur
Starling Fitness

Update 01-25-08: Video Jug has this video showing how to deal with cramps or spasms in the calf:

How To Deal With A Cramp In The Calf

Every week, I’ll be giving you some direction for how to actually KEEP your New Year’s Resolution to lose weight or get more active. If you’re short on time, scroll down to the end and read “The Short Version” to get your weekly tips.

If you’re like a lot of people, you have given up on your New Year’s Resolutions, but are desperately trying to find SOMETHING that works. Somehow, you’ve found Starling Fitness. If this describes you, go back to New Year’s Resolutions: Week 1 and start from there.

If you have been faithfully following along since Week 1, then here are your assignments for this week:

Cut Your Intake By 100 Calories A Day

Last week, you calculated your daily caloric average and should have cut it by 100 calories a day. Were you able to do that? If no, stick with last week’s goal for cutting your calories. If you were able to keep your calories within last week’s range, then this week you are to cut your intake by an additional 100 calories.

Make sure you visit The USDA’s MyPyramid Site to calculate your recommended daily calorie intake. If you complete their little questionaire, it will give you an idea of how many calories you should be eating every day. You should never go below their number.

If you are eating the right amount of calories every day, then keep it up. If you are eating LESS than the recommended amount, then increase your calories by adding healthy food.

Plan One Non-Food Related Present Every Day

Last week, we talked about avoiding the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself. Since this is different for every person, you were supposed to think of some activities that you like to do. If you didn’t do this exercise, then go back to New Year’s Resolutions: Week 3 and work on finding out what these activities are for you.

Plan a non-food activity for yourself EVERY day and protect that time. It is your reward for eating healthy every day. You MUST reward yourself every day to stave off any feelings of deprivation that limiting your calories might cause.

Eat four or five servings of fruits and vegetables every day

One way to stay within your calorie range is to eat vegetables on a regular basis. You should be adding four to five 1/2 cup servings of fruits or veggies to your diet every day now. They are low in calories, provide essential vitamins and fiber and they keep you feeling full.

Save enough calories to eat two servings of dairy products each day

You need to make sure that you have enough calories saved up for two servings of dairy products every day. This is another healthy food to add to your diet. One cup of fat-free milk is approximately 110 calories. It’s probably your best option for adding calcium to your diet, so make sure you get two servings a day.

Increase Your Exercise

This week, I want you to increase your walking mileage to 1.25 miles five days a week. I want you to do it at the same time every day. If you want, you can increase your speed to really get yourself sweating, but if you end up sore the next day, you MUST slow down. It’s more important to exercise every day than to push yourself. Consistency is key. You need to learn the habit of exercising every day and that is WAY more important than going fast or covering a lot of miles.

If you are keeping track of your mileage, you can join us at Runner+ to track your miles and compete against other beginners.

Give Yourself Kudos

If you are still working toward your New Year’s Resolution, then you need to give yourself kudos. There are little boxes on the forms every day to give yourself a shiny sticker. Each day that you stay on the program, you need to acknowledge yourself and how good you are doing.

See you next week!

The Short Version:

• Reduce your daily caloric average by another 100 calories. Write down EVERYTHING you eat including measurements and calories.

• Avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself EVERY day.

• Eat four or five servings of vegetables every day.

• Save enough calories to eat two servings of dairy products each day.

• Increase your mileage. Walk 1.25 miles five days this week. You are allowed to increase your speed to the point of sweating, but if you are sore the next day you MUST go slow again.

• Give yourself kudos for coming this far.

Faintstarlite went to Weight Watchers to lose weight and after a little over a year, she finally hit goal. Here is her YouTube video:

When I first started watching this video, I thought that she was just another beautiful girl who needed to lose 15 pounds to be “perfect,” but she lost a total of 58 pounds. Her before and after pictures are stunning!

For the guys out there, here’s a wonderful motivational video for you:

He lost 236 pounds in two years. He lost an average of two pounds a week. His advice?

“You can do it. I’ve averaged just a little over two pounds a week. The only thing I’ve done is not quit. That’s the key: don’t quit. And you’re gonna want to… you’re gonna want to. I had a six month plateau where I didn’t lose a pound. This is not six month of me playin’ Nintendo or whatever. This is six months of me running 5Ks, me exercising, me bustin’ my butt, watchin’ what I eat every single day and I didn’t lose a pound. That was a test and I’m proud to come out on the other side of that.”

If you are feeling like skipping your eating plan for the weekend, watch these videos instead. It is possible to eat healthy and get to a healthy goal weight.

I got this recipe last week at Weight Watchers. I have no idea where the member got the recipe, but she was SO excited to share it with all of us and I can understand why. It’s delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of fat-free milk – 100 calories – 2 points
• 6 ice cubes – 0 calories – 0 points
• 2 Tbsp of sugar-free fat-free pudding mix – approx. 15 calories – 0 points

Total: 115 calories – 2 points

Directions:

Put all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. The pudding gives the milk flavor and a little bit of creamy smoothness.

This recipe is a fast, 2 point dessert that REALLY fools me into thinking I’m eating a Wendy’s Frosty. I’ve also tried the white chocolate flavor, which has a malted milk and vanilla taste. There are so many pudding flavors to choose from, you could have a different milk shake every day of the week!

Yum!

The rice cooker has been a boon to eating healthy for me. Honestly, cooking rice on the stove top is difficult. Most times, I would end up with a sticky glue instead of fluffy rice. Brown rice and other whole grains are even harder. Now, I just cook up three to six servings of rice, divide them up into Ziploc bowls and put them into the refrigerator to eat in a myriad of ways.

Here is one of my favorites: Mexi-Rice

• 1/2 cup pre-cooked brown rice – 140 calories – 3 points
• 1/3 cup canned dark red kidney beans (drained) – 100 calories – 2 points
• 1 cup canned diced tomatoes – 25 calories – 0 points
• 1/4 teaspoon oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried onion
• Smidgen of dried chipotle peppers
• Optional additions: Two sprigs of fresh cilantro and/or a few drops of Tabasco sauce.

Total: 265 calories – 5 points

These are the ingredient sizes for one serving. It’s a HUGE serving, so you might want to cut everything in half if you have a small appetite.

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. Mix together and add the fresh cilantro and Tabasco sauce for extra flavor.

If you are following the Weight Watchers Core Plan, this is also a Core Food. It counts as one serving of whole grains, one serving of lean protein and two servings of vegetables.

If you don’t own a rice cooker or know how to make brown rice on the stove, you can purchase pre-cooked packets of brown rice from Uncle Ben’s. It’s not quite as good as making it yourself, but it’s really easy.

If you try this recipe, please leave comments here about how you made it better. Considering how horrible a cook I am, I’m SURE there are ways to make it better!

Every week, I’ll be giving you some direction for how to actually KEEP your New Year’s Resolution to lose weight or get more active. If you’re short on time, scroll down to the end and read “The Short Version” to get your weekly tips.

Last week, you should have been writing down the measurements and calories for everything you ate. If you didn’t do that last week, go back to New Year’s Resolutions: Week 2 and try again this week. If you DID write down everything you ate and your calorie amounts, good job! Now you have the information to help you move on to Week 3!

Find Your Daily Caloric Average

Add all your calories for the whole week and divide by 7. This will give you a daily caloric average.

Now, visit The USDA’s MyPyramid Site. If you complete their little questionaire, it will give you an idea of how many calories you should be eating every day. Compare that number with your daily caloric average.

If you are eating the right amount of calories every day, then keep it up. If you are eating LESS than the recommended amount, then increase your calories by adding healthy food.

If you are eating MORE than the USDA recommended amount, then this is the week you start to work on losing weight. I don’t recommend going down to the USDA daily calorie recommendations unless you are within 100 calories a day. Instead, take your daily caloric average, minus 100 calories and stay within that range this week.

This might sound easy, but it can be very difficult. When you take away, even if it’s only by 100 calories, you start to feel deprivation.

Avoid Feeling Deprived

Avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself. This is different for every person, so I can’t really tell you what your magical activity will be, but here are a few ideas:

• Give yourself 30 minutes to do whatever you want: Reserve that time and don’t let anything else get in your way. Read, play video games, crochet, whittle wood, whatever you want to do, give yourself at least a half hour to do it.

• Take several nurture-breaks: Throughout your day at work, I’m sure there are times when you reach for food. I know I hit the vending machines or walked past the candy dish at those times of the day. Instead of eating, take 2-5 minutes to breathe deeply, call a friend or do some other activity to clear your mind and give yourself a break.

• Watch TV Snack-Free: Every commercial seems to entice me to get up and check the fridge for some food. At commercial time, consciously do something else instead of eating. You can get up to go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, or even do a few exercises. Whatever you do, enjoy your television time without food.

I’m sure there are a million ways to nurture yourself without food. Please leave comments telling me your favorite way to reward yourself.

Eat three or four servings of fruits and vegetables every day

One way to stay within your calorie range is to eat vegetables on a regular basis. You should be adding three to four 1/2 cup servings of fruits or veggies to your diet every day now. They are low in calories, provide essential vitamins and fiber and they keep you feeling full.

Save enough calories to eat one serving of dairy products each day

You need to make sure that you have enough calories saved up for one serving of dairy products every day. This is another healthy food to add to your diet. One cup of fat-free milk is approximately 110 calories. It’s probably your best option for adding calcium to your diet, so make sure you get one serving a day.

Increase Your Exercise

This week, I want you to increase your walking mileage to 1.0 miles five days a week. I want you to do it at the same time every day. If you want, you can increase your speed to really get yourself sweating, but if you end up sore the next day, you MUST slow down. It’s more important to exercise every day than to push yourself. Consistency is key. You need to learn the habit of exercising every day and that is WAY more important than going fast or covering a lot of miles.

If you are keeping track of your mileage, you can join us at Runner+ to track your miles and compete against other beginners.

Give Yourself Kudos

If you are still working toward your New Year’s Resolution, then you need to give yourself kudos. There are little boxes on the forms every day to give yourself a shiny sticker. Each day that you stay on the program, you need to acknowledge yourself and how good you are doing.

See you next week!

The Short Version:

• Reduce your daily caloric average by 100 calories. Write down EVERYTHING you eat including measurements and calories.

• Avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself.

• Eat three or four servings of vegetables every day.

• Save enough calories to eat one serving of dairy products each day.

• Increase your mileage. Walk 1.0 miles five days this week. You are allowed to increase your speed to the point of sweating, but if you are sore the next day you MUST go slow again.

• Give yourself kudos for coming this far.

Running is strong this month. I was out of town, logging miles by walking the convention floor at CES. Lucky thing this isn’t a speed race. I would have never even got on the board! If you have an iPod Nano, spend the extra 30 bucks and get the Nike+ so you can easily upload your runs. You don’t need a Nike+, however. You can manually enter how much you run every day. Click over to Runner+ to see all the results.

Level 1 Results 01-07-08

We had three winners of the Level 1 Challenge with week with KellerMom, Marsupilami, and Hansenvl61. Good job! Time to move up to Level 2, Diet Me! Bad form, Laura Moncur!! You should have withdrawn from Level 1 before the week was finished.

Level 2 Results 01-07-08

Congratulations to AirRobi, who squeaked by to win the Level 2 Challenge by running 18.09 miles this week. You beat out mjn1877 by only 0.01 miles!

Level 3 Results 01-07-08

The win easily goes to stuckinord for the Level 3 challenge with her 29.52 miles last week. The next competitor was five miles behind you! Good job!

Level 4 Results 01-07-08

It was just me and Sareybabes on Level 4 last week. She easily kicked my butt with her 39.34 miles! Good show!

Level 5 Results 01-07-08

Not only did Sareybabes win Level 4, she finished off Level 5 with her 39.34 miles.

Level 6 Results 01-07-08

Mangaman narrowly beat out anderu for the Level 6 Challenge. He logged 58.46 miles last week. Excellent Work!

Congratulations to all the competitors! Join us at Runner+ and show off your mileage!

If you exercise by running or walking, you can compete in the Starling Fitness Challenges on Runner+. All you need is an account at Runner+ (free) and you can log your miles there. If you have a Nike+iPod kit, then your runs will automatically be added, but the site will also allow you to add your runs manually. If you would like to compete against runners on your level, here are the links for this week’s challenges:

Level 1 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 0-10 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 1 (01-14-08) – RUNNER+

Level 2 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 10-20 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 2 (01-14-08) – RUNNER+

Level 3 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 20-30 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 3 (01-14-08) – RUNNER+

Level 4 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 30-40 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 4 (01-14-08) – RUNNER+

Level 5 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 40-50 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 5 (01-14-08) – RUNNER+

Level 6 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 50-60 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 6 (01-14-08) – RUNNER+

This is the original trailer from Nintendo for the Wii Fit. I watched this and the game looked like fun.

It looked like fun until I watched this parody of it…

I don’t know if the Wii will be any good for exergaming, but I’m willing to try it out. Sometimes something simple is better than the most complicated games.

Watch this commercial:

Next time you think of one of those excuses, remember that there are NO EXCUSES! If that guy can get up off the couch, then all of us can.

Via: AdFreak: If this guy can get off his ass, so can you

The Bowflex is an exercise machine that uses flexible rods for resistance. It’s a small machine that folds up nicely and is relatively light weight when compared to weight machines that use weights for resistance. When I was looking for a weight training solution, I looked at Bowflex machines in the sporting goods stores. I decided against them because they were too tall for my basement and because it looked like a royal pain in the butt to switch between exercises.

Plus, it was EXPENSIVE. The cheapest Bowflex machine I could find was almost $600. I just wasn’t willing to spend that kind of money on flexible plastic rods. It looks like that initial price tag wasn’t the only thing to worry about with Bowflex. According to some of the people who have bought them, there’s a lot more to worry about. That financing offered by Bowflex is a little more complicated than it appears:

2/16/2007 – Silena writes:

I am a physically handicapped woman confined to a wheelchair. I was encouraged by my physical therapist to consider purchasing a bowflex after being told that my insurance could no longer pay for my therapy and the small monthly payments of $28.00 a mo. would make it affordable to maintain my physical strength. My problems began when they started doubling my pmts. without telling me. By the time my pmts. exceeded $120.00 a mo. I was left with no choice but to stop making pmts. What really upsets me is the fact they knew what my income was when I ordered this item. They knew I could not pay more per month and they still approved me knowing they were going to raise the pmts. My account was turned over to collection and my credit is ruined, and I will never be able to pay it off because it is still collecting interest.

You can read all the complaints here:

• INFOMERCIAL SCAMS.COM – BOWFLEX COMPLAINTS

In the end, I bought an Apex weight bench, but it’s no longer available. Apex does make this Deluxe Standard Bench that is very similar, but it’s about $50 more than what I paid last year. I’m still using my weight bench off and on and the cost of the bench and the weights was less than half of what I would have paid for a Bowflex and even takes up less space.

Should you buy a Bowflex? When there are so many other options out there that are just as effective and less expensive, I think it’s best to steer clear of them.