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

What is food to one, is to others bitter poison.
Lucretius, De Rerum Natura

I think that part of the reason that there are SO MANY diets out there in the world is because of this known fact. A half a century before the birth of Christ, Lucretius knew that for some people certain foods are healthy and for others it is nothing more than poison. Sure, the diet industry is fueled by the desire to make money, but the reason that there are so many different diets available is because they ALL work.

Yep, you’ve heard time and time again that diets don’t work, but sorry, those people are WRONG.

Diets DO work. They just don’t work for everyone.

That’s why some people can lose weight on the vegan diet while others grow fat on it. That’s why some people thrive on the low carbohydrate diets while other people feel lethargic and exhausted. That’s why some people lose weight while eating as much pasta as they want while other people are literally sick from all the wheat and gluten.

The important thing is to find the diet that works for YOU. Take the time to see what kinds of foods are healthy for you and what kinds are poison. Once you know what works for you and what doesn’t, you’ll feel so empowered to follow your diet that it will mean more to you than anything said in a diet book or website.

I read teen lit all the time, mostly because the science fiction is better than the sci-fi written for adults (less sex and more cool ideas: see Scott Westerfeld for more). While perusing the teen section at my local bookstore, I saw The Fat Girl by Marilyn Sachs. The blurb on the back of the book was compelling to me.

Jeff Lyons can’t stand Ellen de Luca, the fat girl in his ceramics class. She’s huge and clumsy, can’t throw a pot to save her life, and stares at Jeff all the time. But he’s a “nice guy” and feels bad when Ellen overhears his hurtful remarks about her. The “crumbs of kindness” he tosses her way soon turn into advice on weight loss, college, clothes, hair… To everyone’s surprise, good-looking Jeff soon dumps his pretty girlfriend to be with the fat girl! But as her pounds melt away, Jeff resents the happy, independent young woman he has unleashed. Where is the gratitude for all he’s done for her?

Through most of this book, I had a uneasy sense of distress for Ellen. Here was this good-looking guy who seemed to enjoy being with her only because she was easy to control. He dressed her, he chose their activities, he was in complete control and when he wasn’t in control, he was pissed off at her. It just didn’t seem like a healthy relationship. Fortunately, Marilyn Sachs is a brilliant writer who can make even the controlling Jeff Lyons a likable character and the story works out well for everyone in the end.

Overweight teen girls LOVE stories about fat girls who lose the weight and end up with the cutest guy in school. I know this because I was an overweight (or so I had been told my whole life) teenage girl. My beloved fat girl book that I read over and over in ninth grade was Dreams Can Come True by Jane Claypool Miner. It was about a girl name Ellie who lost a lot of weight right at the time that her mother moved her to California, so none of the kids knew how fat she used to be at her old school and none of them were surprised when she tried out for cheerleader. It all risks crashing down around her when her old friend from the Midwest comes back to visit, exposing her dark secret of her past self. I LOVED that book and read it countless times. Even now, I’ve come to realize that my desire to move to California was first spawned by that very book.

Unlike Dreams Can Come True, The Fat Girl is a book about losing the weight and coming into your own life and an additional story about not allowing anyone to control you or your dreams. It’s a better role model story about health and fitness for young girls than Dreams Can Come True and I wish I could go back in time and give it to my fourteen year old self instead.

This postcard from PostSecret made me crinkle my brow in confusion.

It reads:

I told everyone I ran the race…
But really, I went to Starbucks, enjoyed a latte, and watched everyone else run past the window.

My confusion was, “So what?” Races are held to earn money. If you paid the entrance fee, they got what they wanted. If you didn’t run the race, you didn’t get all the benefits of training, so anyone can tell that you didn’t run it. It all was a big confusion until I realized how different I am from a lot of people.

I don’t care if other people know I ran a race. The MOST important thing about running a race is that I know that I did it. It was never about impressing other people. I’ve been trying my best to impress myself all along.

Ironically, no matter how many races I run (or walk), I have yet to really impress myself. I might as well have sat at Starbucks for all the lack of self esteem I’ve achieved from race participation over the years. The only thing that has been better is that I am stronger. I can’t deny that, no matter how much I feel like I have to prove myself.

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.

When I first saw Project Natal, flashbacks of trying to get Playstation’s Eye Toy to work filled my mind. The disappointment of a new toy that doesn’t work was all I could think about.

It just looked like a marketing ploy and I had no hope that it would work.

Then I saw this video of Felicia Day playing with Project Natal:

• Felicia Day » Blog Archive » Project Natal

Just found this video of me doing Natal. It was pretty much the highlight of my E3. It is so fun and surreal to be IN the video game. Can’t wait to be able to cast a fireball with a single thrust!

Felicia Day is a long time World of Warcraft gamer, so I tend to believe her opinion a little more than the marketing spiel I saw from Microsoft, until…

I noticed that they have her playing on a white carpet in front of a white wall. How many of you have a stark white wall to stand in front of when you’re playing a video game? Not me. The video games are in the living room, so I’m standing in front of a couch. Sure, it’s easy for Project Natal to be able to see Felicia’s movements when she’s standing in front of a big white wall. Throw a couch and some friends on it and once again, I have SERIOUS doubts about whether this thing could work.

People have been saying that Project Natal is going to give the Nintendo Wii a run for their money in the exergaming market. I’d love for it to be true, but I think we’re going to have to wait ten years before technology is good enough for this to work in any living room.

This video was made by BenjaminLotan. His description of it:

Compilation of Rachel Ray mmmmm’ing after tasting food on her show 40 dollars a Day… slowed down to 40% original speed…

All of the shows on the Food Network seem strangely obsessed with food. I know it’s the Food Network, but come ON! It can’t taste THAT good! Of course then there are some of the shows on the Food Network, where the insanely skinny hostess tastes all the food, but you never see her swallow on camera. I just imagine that she spits it out as soon as the camera stops rolling.

This obsession with food CAN’T be healthy.

Via: Littlest, Yellowest, Differentest – RACHEL RAY EATS HER FEELINGS

Hats off to The Fat Solutions for this EXCELLENT workout that you can do at the park with your kids or while out walking your dog.

You will never look at a swing set the same way again!

Via: Bodyweight Swing Set Workout | Blog | The Fat Solutions

I have been doing Weight Watchers for a LONG time. When I first started, I measured my portions faithfully, but over the years, I’ve gotten a little lazy. If you had asked me this morning how much a 1/4 cup of nuts looked like, I would have pulled out a small handful and shown you, safe in the knowledge that I was right.

But I would have been WRONG!

And not wrong how you think. This morning, I decided to measure my “1/4 cup” of almonds. I pulled out my handful measurement that I’ve been using for the last few years and put it into a 1/4 cup. Here is what it looked like:

For the last few years, I’ve been eating approximately 1/8 cup of nuts and counting it as 1/4 cup. I’ve been cheating myself out of food.

Whenever you eyeball your measurements, you have the chance of getting things wrong. Either you’re under estimating and you could be eating more food, or your over estimating and you’re eating more calories than you counted. If you haven’t measured within the last month, it’s time to get the measuring cups out and start using them again. You might be cheating yourself and you don’t even know it!

Laura: Hey Matt! What are you doing to keep fit?

Matt: Me? What do I do?

Laura: Yeah, you look fit. What are you doing to stay fit?

Matt: I’m taking a lot of long walks in the evenings.

Laura: Alone or with the family?

Matt: With the family. After an hour long walk with a twenty pound baby, you really feel it. I’m doing a lot of low intensity exercise because on The Splendid Table on NPR had a show about how a lot of low intensity is better than high intensity.

It’s funny. When I just ask normal people in my life how they are keeping healthy and fit, I learn more about about living a healthy life. Long walks with the family sounds like the most wonderful way to keep fit.

Yesterday, I walked the Judge’s 5K Run with people from my Weight Watchers class.

Our leader, Gina, had told us to meet at the northeast corner of the parking lot so we could all keep together. Here’s a photo of all of us together. Our Weight Watchers leader, Gina, is on the right. She has been at goal for years. On the left is Jim, he has lost over 100 pounds on Weight Watchers and he is looking great!

Before they started the race, they had some radio personalities talking and they interviewed Miss Utah. She was running the race with us all.

My only thought was, “Is she going to run the race wearing that crown?” For the record, she did not. When she passed me I pointed it out that she wasn’t wearing her crown and she said, “I ran my first race with the crown and that didn’t work out.” Good to know. Next time I run a race, I’ll make sure to leave the tiara at home.

I used RunKeeper to track the run, so you can see the map of the race here.

Of course, I wanted to use the miles for the run to compete in my weekly Nike+ Challenges, so I ALSO tracked the walk with my Nike+. I love how RunKeeper maps my walks, but I also love how I can kick some serious butt in the weekly challenges with Nike+. For now, I’m measuring my runs TWICE and carrying both my iPod and my cell phone. Until Nike allows cool features like the RunKeeper site, I won’t be able to use just the Nike+. Until RunKeeper adds the fun connectivity of racing against other RunKeeper users, I won’t be able to use just the RunKeeper. I’m stuck between them both.

I had a lot of fun at this 5K walk because my friends from Weight Watchers were there with me. I can’t wait for our July 5K!

I have been using Edibles for a few months now and I’m loving it. I love it even more after seeing how well it has worked for one of its creators:

• From Fat to Fit: GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY! I made my WW goal last week! I was so nervous going in I almost didn’t want to step on the scale. I lost 2.5 lbs last week which puts my total weight loss at 91.2 lbs. I am now starting the “Maintenance Phase” of WW. It’s a little weird and a little scary to not be trying to lose weight. It’s been such a long time on WW that it’s almost part of me. I have to turn the weight loss mindset off and turn on the maintain switch on.

Here are her before and after pictures. These are the undramatic photos. Her boyfriend took some smokin’ hot pics of her as well, so you can see those on her blog here: From Fat to Fit: GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations, Dawn! After two years of following Weight Watchers, she has finally made goal! Kudos to ya, babe!