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

If you like to log your runs outside, you might want to look into Trailrunner.

• TrailRunner – Mac OS X route planning and journaling for iPhone, Nike+ SportBand, Garmin ForeRunner GPS

It’s a software program that works with the iPhone, Nike+, and the Garmin ForeRunner to log and map your workouts. Since I use the Nike+ on all my runs, I used it to download all my runs for the last two and a half years. Of course, the Nike+ doesn’t have a GPS, so it can’t show any maps of those runs. If I download iTrail, on my iPhone, however, it will log my runs AND map them on the screen.

Personally, I like the desktop application that works with my iPhone. It’s like they took the online capabilities of RunKeeper and let ME control them on my desktop instead of making me log onto a website.

The biggest problem with both TrailRunner AND Runkeeper is the lack of interactivity. The killer feature of Nike+ is that I can compete with other people. There are thousands of people online at Nike’s website that I can run races against. When I’m trying to rack up the miles on my Nike+, I do it to kick somebody’s butt. That feature of the Nike+ makes all of these other applications pale in comparison.

I have been downloading Podrunner onto my iPod for a LONG time and I’m surprised that I have never talked about it here. You don’t have to subscribe using iTunes. You can download the latest podcast here:

• Podrunner: – Free Workout Music
• Podrunner on iTunes

Running is much easier when I have the right music. Podrunner always gives me music with a thumping bass that makes keeping active easy. I hate it when I have my iPod on shuffle and a slow, mellow song comes on, so a mix like Podrunner lets me exercise without having to worry about skipping songs. I just start it playing and I have an hour of run-friendly music to keep me company.

The FDA has released a warning about weight loss pills.

• FDA Warns Consumers About Tainted Weight Loss Pills

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is alerting consumers nationwide not to purchase or consume more than 25 different products marketed for weight loss because they contain undeclared, active pharmaceutical ingredients that may put consumers’ health at risk.

Here is the list of potentially tainted products:

• Venom Hyperdrive 3.0
• Fatloss Slimming
• 2 Day Diet
• 3x Slimming Power
• Japan Lingzhi 24 Hours Diet
• 5x Imelda Perfect Slimming
• 3 Day Diet
• 7 Day Herbal Slim
• 8 Factor Diet
• 7 Diet Day/Night Formula
• 999 Fitness Essence
• Extrim Plus
• GMP
• Imelda Perfect Slim
• Lida DaiDaihua
• Miaozi Slim Capsules
• Perfect Slim
• Perfect Slim 5x
• Phyto Shape
• ProSlim Plus
• Royal Slimming Formula
• Slim 3 in 1
• Slim Express 360
• Slimtech
• Somotrim
• Superslim
• TripleSlim
• Zhen de Shou
• Venom Hyperdrive 3.0

With a list that long, maybe it’s just easier to never buy diet pills.

The Healthy Weight Network has released their Slim Chance Awards for 2008.

• Slim Chance Awards 2008: Fraud and Quackery

For their Worst Product category, they chose Kimkins:

WORST PRODUCT: Kimkins diet. It must have seemed an easy way to get rich quick. Founder Heidi “Kimmer” Diaz set up a website and charged members a fee to access the Kimkins diet, boasting they could lose up to 5 percent of their body weight in 10 days. “Better than gastric bypass,” there was “no faster diet,” and in fact she herself had lost 198 pounds in 11 months. Stunning “after” photos were displayed. In June 2007 Women’s World ran it as a cover story, and that month alone PayPal records show the Kimkins site took in over $1.2 million. Then users began complaining of chest pains, hair loss, heart palpitations, irritability and menstrual irregularities. This was not surprising since Kimkins is essentially a starvation diet, down to 500 calories per day and deficient in many nutrients (appallingly, laxatives are advised to replace missing fiber). In a lawsuit, 11 former members are uncovering a vast record of Diez’s alleged fraud. They found that the stunning “after” photos, including one of Kimmer herself, had been lifted from a Russian mail order bride site. According to a deposition reported by Los Angeles TV station KTLA, Diaz admitted using fake pictures, fake stories and fake IDs, and a judge has allowed the litigants to freeze some of her assets.

It was hard not to notice Kimkins. I did a couple of write ups about it here:

• Starling Fitness » How Did Kimkins Fly Under My Radar?
• Starling Fitness » Kimkins Diet Exposed on Fox

Technically, the whole problem with Kimkins imploded in 2007, but all of the deception really came to light last year. I’m surprised to see that Kimkins took in over $1.2 million, but I’m glad to know that some of that might be recovered for the victims.

The Healthy Weight Network has released their Slim Chance Awards for 2008.

• Slim Chance Awards 2008: Fraud and Quackery

In their Worst Claim category, they awarded AbGONE with the trophy:

WORST CLAIM: AbGONE. Throughout 2008 full page ads assaulted the eye in daily newspapers across the country touting AbGONE as “proven to promote pot belly loss.” Claims are that AbGONE increases “fat metabolism” and calorie burn, promotes appetite suppression and inhibits future abdominal fat deposits. These are drug claims that, if true, would alter the body’s regulation, but unlike drugs, the pills are sold as food supplements not requiring FDA approval. The bold ads feature the obligatory before and after shots of models, cut-away sketches of the abdomen with and without belly fat, and a white-coated researcher with chart purportedly confirming success of 5 times reduction in fat mass, 4 times lower BMI, 4 times greater weight loss than placebo. No added diet and exercise needed – well, except, you may want to heed the fine print disclaimer at the bottom that reminds us “diet and exercise are essential.”

This is yet another product that flew completely under my radar. I know there are advertisements everywhere for pills that are supposed to help me lose weight, but I’ve completely disregarded all of them. I don’t even see them anymore, mostly because I’ve become so numb to the idea that a pill could help me. I probably saw the full page ads promoting this product, but I immediately ignored them. That’s probably a good tactic for all of us.

The Healthy Weight Network has released their Slim Chance Awards for 2008.

• Slim Chance Awards 2008: Fraud and Quackery

This product is one I’ve never heard of: Skineez.

WORST GIMMICK: Skineez jeans ($139). A new item in the fight against cellulite, Skineez jeans are impregnated with a so-called “medication” of retinol and chitosan, a shellfish product once claimed to cut fat absorption in the stomach (see 1999 Slim Chance Awards). Friction between the jeans and skin supposedly triggers release of the substance, which goes to work on fat when absorbed through the skin. Reportedly a big hit in Europe, the “smart fabric” is also used in lingerie. Ironically, the creators of Skineez, Clothes for a Cause, profess to raise funds for breast cancer and “a wide range of other socially conscious charities.” So while the company hoodwinks women into buying an expensive pair of jeans, it promises they can “do good with every purchase … As our sales grow, so will our ability to help others.” FTC, however, is clear about such gimmicks, emphasizing that products worn or rubbed on the skin do not cause weight loss or fat loss.

As unpleasant as wearing a girdle is, I find it even MORE unappealing to think that the girdle might be oozing some “medication” on me while I wear it.

Last year, I wrote a weekly plan to get you on track for a healthy and active life. If you followed the plan last week, then here is the link to this week’s plan:

• Starling Fitness » New Year’s Resolutions: Week 2

The Short Version:

• DO NOT change your eating regime at all, but write down EVERYTHING you eat, including the measurements (i.e. 1 cup of rice) and calories.
• You are allowed to ADD two or three servings of vegetables every day, but you are not allowed to restrict anything in your diet.
• Increase your mileage. Walk 0.75 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.

The Healthy Weight Network has released their Slim Chance Awards for 2008.

• Slim Chance Awards 2008: Fraud and Quackery

The first on the list is Kevin Trudeau. Here is their evaluation:

MOST OUTRAGEOUS CLAIM: Kevin Trudeau infomercials. It’s rare that regulatory agencies look at books, given our free speech laws, but the infomercials for Kevin Trudeau’s weight loss book and his repeated violations were just too much for the Federal Trade Commission, and this past August he was fined over $5 million and banned from infomercials for three years. In “willful efforts” to deceive, Trudeau told listeners they could easily follow the diet protocol at home, even though his book calls for human growth hormone injections and colonics that must be done by a licensed practitioner. The tortured case began in 1998 when FTC charged Trudeau with false and misleading diet infomercials. In 2003 he was charged with false claims; in 2004 he was fined $2 million and banned from infomercials. Again in 2007 a contempt action said he misled thousands with false claims for his weight loss book “in flagrant violation” of court orders.

Kevin Trudeau has been promoting this book for a long time, but I’m glad that the FTC finally caught up with him. I did I review of the book here:

• Starling Fitness » The Weight Loss Cure They Don’t Want You to Know About

Back then, I said:

Don’t let your paranoia get the best of you. The reason why everyone in Hollywood is thin is because they kick out the fat ones. They don’t have a secret cure to obesity, they just don’t put fat people on the screen. Injecting the urine of pregnant women into your body is not the answer.

I’m glad the FTC was finally able to take him out.

Plaid Stallions has an excellent collection of exercise equipment from the past gleaned from old catalogs. The only one that even has a chance of helping you lose weight is this very excellent exercise bike from Vitamaster.

• Get Fit With Brick Mantooth 1 70s excersize equipment I Plaidstallions.com

Before you laugh at the silly gadgets of yesteryear, remember that we are still being inundated with fitness gadgets to this day. In fact, many of them bear a striking resemblance to the past.

• Starling Fitness » Power Plate Diaries

The important thing to remember is that you can lose weight and exercise without any equipment at all. Take a walk or run around the block. Do some squats and push ups in your home and you don’t need to pay any money for it. The key to it is spending the TIME on your fitness, not your money.

Long ago, I suggested that you didn’t need a Gastric Bypass surgery. All you needed to do is follow the diet that they prescribe to gastric bypass patients:

• Starling Fitness » The Gastric Bypass Diet

I was being SARCASTIC, but it looks like Dr. Alwin C. Lewis took me a little too seriously. With his book, Why Weight Around? Changing The Weight Loss Strategy, he suggests that you eat five bites of food at lunch, another five bites of food at dinner. He suggests that one of those ten bites should be “high quality protein.” You are allowed to drink any liquid as long as it’s calorie-free.

He suggests that his Five Bite Diet will reset your body and you’ll be able to survive on a smaller volume of food. He talks about it here:

He suggests using this diet for everything from obesity, to bulimia and even ANOREXIA. He actually said:

This diet gives you absolute CONTROL like you’ve never had before.

It’s almost like he is purposely appealing to the eating disordered among us. Unfortunately, it’s that kind of control that this diet would spawn a binge for months in me. I was joking when I suggested that the Gastric Bypass Diet might be a weight loss option, in order to show you that the surgery is a BAD idea. This Five Bite Diet, however, is taking itself seriously.

Via: Diet Blog: The 5 Bite Diet