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

I love my iPhone, but I have to be honest, I had to give up some cool features when I switched from my Treo. On my Treo, I had a program that would let me track my WW points and calculate the points of an item if I had the calories, fat and fiber of the food. I’ve been doing Weight Watchers for so long, I hardly used that calculator, but every once and a while, I miss it, mostly when I’m grocery shopping.

Thanks to Alternative Sunshine, I can once again have a WW Points Calculator in my pocket. This little website works with the iPhone and it easily loads even on EDGE’s slow network:

• Weight Watchers Points Calculator

Of course, this website works on your computer just fine as well, so if you’re at work and need to calculate points quickly, you have an option.

I’m so grateful for little applications like this to help me when I’m in a pinch. I kind of miss my Treo, but here is one less reason to miss it. If only I could use my iPhone as a USB modem like I used to with my Treo, then I would be set!

Have you ever dreamed of running a marathon? I have thought about running a marathon for years, but I’ve never gotten past training for a 5K. I’ve enjoyed the sense of accomplishment that I’ve gotten from running a 5K, but I think I’m ready for more.

This video from Zappos and The Las Vegas Marathon shows you all 26.3 miles of the Las Vegas Marathon. It’s an excellent visualization tool for imagining the race.

This reminds me of the Starling Fitness Walking DVDs. I wish they would sell me a DVD of the race route filmed at regular speed so I could use it to train on my treadmill. Wouldn’t that be the ideal visualization technique for running that race?

26.3 miles is a LONG distance. I didn’t realize how long until I watched this video. It’s fast forward (so much so that it gave me motion sickness to watch it), and it still took almost eight minutes to go through the whole route. After seeing what 26.3 miles looks like, I think it’s way too soon for me to start training for a marathon and maybe I should shoot for a 10K next.

We are knee deep in the holidays, but the running competition is still stiff. We had some phenomenonal numbers this week! Click over to Runner+ to see all the results.

Casio took the Level 1 challenge with his total of 8.14 miles last week! A special welcome to our newest runners, ainn18 (7th place), Ladanea (9th place) and chenn (12th place). Thanks for joining up with us and I hope you like the challenges!

Level 1 Results 12-03-07

Vangelis won the Level 2 Challenge by running 18.03 miles this week. Good job!

Level 2 Results 12-03-07

I was determined to break out of Level 2 this week and I made it, barely. I had no idea I would win the Level 3 challenge however!

Level 3 Results 12-03-07

RicC should have dropped out of Level 4 and moved on to Level 5, but I’m giving it to him this time. He overshot the Level 4 Challenge with 48.10 miles.

Level 4 Results 12-03-07

IACOBITTI would have won the Level 4 Challenge if RicC had dropped out of the race when he exceeded the limit. Instead, IACOBITTI wins the Level 5 Challenge with his 38.5 miles.

Level 5 Results 12-03-07

Once again, mkimes won Level 6 by running 49.65 miles last week! You have a great streak going! Keep it up!

Level 6 Results 12-03-07

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 (12-10-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 2 (12-10-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 3 (12-10-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 4 (12-10-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 5 (12-10-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 6 (12-10-07) – RUNNER+

I bought my Nike+ shoes in August. They were looking pretty hashed, so I thought it was time to replace them. Thanks to the RUNNER+ Shoe Manager, however, I was able to see that I had only run 192 miles in these shoes. That’s the risk with bright white shoes. They look horrible before they are ready to be replaced.

So, I took a toothbrush and liquid soap and cleaned them up. I replaced the gray shoe laces with these bright red ones and they look almost new again. They’re ready for their next 200 miles and THEN I will replace them.

Running shoes are usually good for 400 miles or 240 days. If I hadn’t used Runner+’s shoe manager when I bought these shoes, I would have been shelling out another 80 bucks on shoes before they were really ready to be retired. I’m so grateful that I took the time to put them into the shoe manager and I’m even more grateful that Runner+ tracks how many miles I’ve run on a single pair. I can hardly believe I’ve run 192 miles since August!

I washed my shoes and bought new shoe laces. What do you do to make your running shoes last longer?

I’m just back from shoveling my sidewalk. Salt Lake City was dumped on last night and it has started up again, so I thought I better get the heavy and slushy stuff up before more snow fell.

How many calories does shoveling snow burn? According to Nutristrategy, it’s a pretty productive exerise:

Shoveling snow, by hand
If you weigh 130 lbs: 354 calories an hour
If you weigh 155 lbs: 422 calories an hour
If you weigh 190 lbs: 518 calories an hour

My little chore to keep myself from being buried in by the weather earned me a good 250 calories today.

The question is: should I still do my 3.25 miles on the treadmill today?

I’m obsessive about my mileage on Runner+. I’m determined to break out of Level 2 this week and move on to Level 3. If I don’t do my 3.25 miles today, that won’t happen, so yes, I’m still hitting the treadmill today.

The wind has kicked up and is blowing the snow from my neighbor’s roof onto my clean driveway. I’ve got my work set out for me today. Gotta get to it.

This photo from I Can Has Cheezburger? made me realize how silly it is to compare myself to the models in fashion magazines.

That little kitten is PERFECT. We all are wonderful and perfect and comparing ourselves to an image, whether it’s the models in magazines, the concept of the perfect parent or even a ceramic likeness, is just wrong.

We can always strive to be better, but stop comparing yourself to anyone. Be better than you were yesterday. THAT’S the only comparison you should be making.

This article by Rudd Sound Bites was about Thanksgiving, but it gave me a moment of revelation that I have never imagined before.

• Rudd Sound Bites: What does a recovering overeater call Thanksgiving?

It was this paragraph gave me such an insight:

Another tenet that has held true despite a minority of dissenters is that abstinence from the overused/misused/abused substance or behavior is highly recommended if not absolutely necessary to ensure long-term recovery. Most recovering addicts are free of their obsessions and cravings as long as they abstain from their substance/behavior. However, once the behavior is engaged in or the substance consumed, there is a high risk of triggering the cycle of craving that leads to loss of control and ultimate self-destruction.

I’m addicted to overeating, NOT food. It’s the BEHAVIOR I’m addicted to, not the substance. My biggest problem with the food addiction philosophy is the fact that I can’t stop eating. I can’t go cold turkey and even if I did, I would eventually have to go back to eating. Food isn’t the problem, though.

That stuffed feeling from overeating is the problem.

That positive mood swing I get only shows up when I overeat. I can eat a small amount of food and I won’t get that mood elevating effect. I kind of LIKE that effect, actually. Just like an alcoholic likes to be drunk, I actually enjoy the positive emotions I get from overeating. I can binge on ANYTHING, even healthy food. When I’ve lost weight in the past, I’ve done it by bingeing on healthy food.

Basta! Enough! No More!

Cold turkey. I CAN go cold turkey. I can eat tiny amounts of food all day long and stay in control. When I was at my healthiest, that’s how I did it. I ate whatever I wanted in SMALL quantities. That’s because I was “on the wagon” and had been for some time.

Detox… That’s where I’m headed for the next 28 days. Detox from that overstuffed feeling that I enjoy so much. If I can go 28 days without overeating, I will be able to conquer this again!

Thanks, Rudd Sound Bites! I needed that change of perspective more than you’ll probably ever know.

The Wageningen University in the Netherlands has what they call the Restaurant of the Future. They watch your every move while you eat to learn why we overeat and what causes it.

• Restaurant of the Future May Unravel Reasons Behind Overeating

The name is not just bombast, because in addition to a staff of talented chefs, the restaurant is home to some of the world’s leading nutrition and psychology researchers. These researchers watch patrons from a secret control room, measuring portion and bite sizes, eye movements, and anything else that they feel might hold a clue to the often puzzling eating habits of humans. An intricate system of hidden cameras, heat sensors, and scales makes the restaurant an extremely versatile laboratory.

Food research has focused on selling in the past. How can we sell more food? How can we get people to eat more? How can we make it taste better to more people? That’s because a lot of research is funded by the companies that sell food. They want to sell more. They don’t care whether we get fat in the process.

I don’t know what the research focus of the Restaurant of the Future is. Their website is VERY generic. It seems like they are just building it and hoping researchers will come. If they are depending on funding from outside sources, then I suspect they won’t find out what makes us obese and merely find out how to make us fatter.

This postcard from PostSecret reminded me of how I felt when I was thinner. It was before I backslid as far as I have:

“When people compliment on how skinny I am, I know they are really saying that I have small boobs.”

This is a dangerous thought. Discounting the compliments of others and replacing an “insult” is just makes being skinny as miserable as being fat. Firstly, having small boobs isn’t an insult. You can be thin, have big boobs and they make you look fat. When you’re thin, you’re supposed to have small boobs. It’s a good thing.

Secondly, people are complimenting you on your thin body. ENJOY it! That’s what you worked so hard for, right? Don’t turn it into an insult in your mind. You’ll just end up gaining the weight back if you do.

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.

I’m finally back from Las Vegas. I left Salt Lake City brown and chilly. I returned to a winter wonderland. Hello, TREADMILL! Let’s see how everyone did this week. Click over to Runner+ to see all the results.

fhulihee ran a total of 9.11 miles last week and beat the Level 1 challenge!

Level 1 Results 11-26-07

KellerMom won the Level 2 Challenge by running 19.04 miles and toasting us all by at least 3.5 miles!

Level 2 Results 11-26-07

Congratulations to resistente, who won the Level 3 Challenge with 25.39 miles. You dusted us all on that one! Bad form, Mike! You should have withdrawn from Level 3 before moving on to Level 4.

Level 3 Results 11-26-07

Erik finally had a chance to be the winner of the Level 4 Challenge with 39.43 miles.

Level 4 Results 11-26-07

Erik also took first place on the Level 5 Challenge by running 39.43 miles.

Level 5 Results 11-26-07

mkimes won Level 6 by running 57.38 miles last week! You have a great streak going! Keep it up!

Level 6 Results 11-26-07

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 (12-03-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 2 (12-03-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 3 (12-03-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 4 (12-03-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 5 (12-03-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 6 (12-03-07) – RUNNER+