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

Soon there will be so many runners that they won’t all fit on one screen. Let’s look at this week!

It’s totally uncool to join a race at a level that’s lower than your ability just to win it. The REAL winner of the Level 1 Challenge goes to Salli!

Newcomer, Ivano_M, took the lead on the Level 2 Challenge. Tight race, everyone! Good job!

It was a tight finish, but SpartanGirl took the lead on the Level 3 Challenge!

SLBplus is kickin’ butts and takin’ names on the Level 4 Challenge. Keep it up!

It was just me and ashjoy on Level 5 this week and she kicked my butt!

Rasmus said he was cutting his mileage this week because he is training for a marathon. At over 41 miles, he’s actually holding back!

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 (10-08-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 2 (10-08-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 3 (10-08-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 4 (10-08-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 5 (10-08-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 6 (10-08-07) – RUNNER+

Frazz shows what it’s like to go to a specialty running shoe store and have your gait analyzed. I don’t know why I’m scared to do this. I was much more comfortable trying on shoes at the Nike store and running on the treadmill unanalyzed, even though it was at the entrance to the store for all the strangers to see. Why am I scared to have a professional analyze my running?

I got good shoes at Nike and they have been great for me, but I’m scared to try this.

As if to make it normal, plastic surgeons have created the phrase, “Mommy Makeover,” which is a combination of surgeries: breast implant, tummy tuck and liposuction. This video treats the surgeries like they are the new and fashionable thing to have:

Any one of those three surgeries are MAJOR surgery with potential complications that could kill you. Doing them all at once is courting disaster. Don’t let them convince you that hacking and slicing your body is normal or something you deserve. This woman, Christy, was beautiful enough without the surgery and so are you.

It looks like the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts has banned the use of phosphatidylcholine and sodium deoxycholate injections, otherwise known as, LipoDissolve:

• Lipodissolve proves popular despite lack of FDA nod – USATODAY.com

Patients have complained to the Kansas State Board about problems with LipoDissolve, including pain, nausea, diarrhea, elevated liver enzymes and lumps at the injection site.

That’s the problem, Mark Stafford, general counsel of the healing arts board, says: “We don’t know much about this product, because it has not been clinically studied. There might be some longer-range problems, but again, we don’t know. If this product is as effective and safe as its proponents say, then let’s have some clinical research.”

Proponents of LipoDissolve are trying to slide away from the FDA using the compounding pharmacy rules, but the FDA is not willing to let them:

“These are unapproved drugs for unapproved uses,” [FDA] spokeswoman Karen Riley said in an e-mail, noting the FDA is “investigating and evaluating” Lipodissolve. Meanwhile, she said, “Consumers need to know that this is a buyer-beware situation.”

I warned about LipoDissolve when I first noticed the billboards all over Salt Lake City advertising it:

• Starling Fitness » LipoDissolve Billboard

Any product that says it can melt fat without altering diet and exercise is suspect. Make them prove it to the FDA before you risk yourself.

Via: Consumer Health Digest, October 2, 2007 – Kansas battling over dubious injectables.

You may have seen this short film from Dove. It’s called Evolution and it shows exactly how different a normal beautiful woman goes through before she is deemed “worthy” by advertisers. Not only are the women in magazines and on billboards, made up, hair sprayed, and lit within an inch of their lives, they are then digitally manipulated. Is this real beauty?

Dove just released a new short film called Onslaught:

A frame by frame analysis shows the amount of “beauty” images we are exposed to just by walking down the street. Additionally, it shows the everlasting pimping of products and pills. Finally the daily ritual of weighing on a scale and the toll it can take on the body.

Of course, all of this is coming from Dove. Does real beauty sell more lotion or fake beauty? I’m voting for the real kind.

For more information: Dove Campaign For Real Beauty

Laura,

I have had two really sad things happen in the last month and I’ve been dealing with it by overeating.

Can you give me some ideas on how to deal with the pain without eating myself to death?

I’ve tried writing in my journal, playing video games, watching movies and exercise. They all seem to distract me, but don’t elevate my mood the way eating does.

Any ideas?

Anonymous Email

Anonymous,

I wish I could say I had a huge bag of tricks to give you to deal with grief, but I don’t. Honestly, food is an intense mood enhancer for me and I resort to it more often than I should.

Second in line is exercise. The only problem with exercise (and you’ve probably encountered this) is that you can’t do it all day and the mood doesn’t last as long as overeating does.

Writing in my journal is also another way to deal with negative emotions, but it looks like you’ve tried that as well.

The only trick that I have that you haven’t mentioned is scheduling. When I’m really sad, I get out my Healthy and Happy List and schedule my day to include everything on that list. Now, what you need to be happy might be different than my list, but it’s a good place to start. Schedule the fun things as well as the work things into your life.

Then, follow the schedule.

Even something as small as getting up and showering can feel like an accomplishment when you’re really sad, so put it on your schedule and check it off when you do it. It’s the checking off that is pleasurable and you need all the positive in your life that you can get right now.

Try scheduling and tell me how things go for you.

Sending good karma your way,
Laura Moncur

Last week’s runners were awesome and it looks like we have some stiff competition going.

Another tight race this week, this time between Mary and manical. Mary squeaked a win with less than a mile lead!

It was an even closer race this week between mistyp and AirGar. I’m sure AirGar is smacking his forehead for letting mistyp beat him by only 0.18 mile! Next week, it’ll be payback!

runsomemore got out there and ran some more to take the win for the Level 3 Challenge!

Once again, SLBplus has won the Level 4 Challenge. Excellent work!

No one competed on Level 5 this week, so I won it with my measly 4.74 miles. That doesn’t seem fair, does it?

You would have to run 14 miles a day seven days a week to beat Rasmus. Are you up for the challenge?

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 (10-01-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 2 (10-01-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 3 (10-01-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 4 (10-01-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 5 (10-01-07) – RUNNER+

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

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 6 (10-01-07) – RUNNER+

This is an interesting commercial from a few years ago:

I love the final line:

Reebok Whatever your goal.

Two years ago, I wrote about Bodybugg, which is an overpriced gadget that attaches to your arm to measure your caloric expenditure:

• Starling Fitness » Bodybugg – Weight Management On Your Arm

Sometime last year, 24 Hour Fitness jumped on the Bodybugg bandwagon, offering the Bodybugg for $350 instead of the original cost of $500. Since 24 Hour Fitness is a major sponsor of The Biggest Loser, all the contestants are wearing a Bodybugg.

Now that Bodybugg is $150 cheaper than it was before, do I think it’s worth it? Part of me says no. You can get all that information from a $100 heart rate monitor and a food journal. Why spend the extra money?

Of course, another part of me was surprised at how happy I was with the Nike+. I could have kept track of my runs with a running journal for almost free, but that $20 gadget changed my running habits for the better. I loved seeing the graphs of my runs and how well I was doing. Maybe the Bodybugg would do that for my eating.

Am I going to shell out the bucks for a Bodybugg? No, but I’m less certain about how worthless it is after experiencing the Nike+.

Nicole Lee bought the new iPod Nano with video and a Nike+ running kit to go along with it. Unfortunately, the Nike+ running shoes were killing her feet:

• Perfect Running Shoes | neekole.com

She decided to go to a specialized running store to have her feet fitted to the perfect running shoe:

This was the procedure: They measure your bare feet. Then they ask you to roll up your pant leg, and walk around as they look at your gait, posture, and so forth. After that, they get a sense of what your “problems” are — whether you over-pronate when you walk, or you tend to lean a little toward the left, etc (These guys are trained to notice these things).

He then placed them on my feet, and encouraged me to go walk around the store, run in place, even jog around the block and come back. And I have to say, these shoes are amazing. He even taught me a special “butterfly” lacing technique meant to secure the shoe further.

I don’t know why that whole procedure scares me so much. There is one of these stores in Salt Lake City and visiting it has been on my list of to-dos for a long time. I guess I’m scared of having these professionals judge my running and walking style. I felt more comfortable going to the Nike store in Las Vegas and running on their treadmill in front of the whole world to test the shoes than to be evaluated by a “professional.”

Not Nicole! Kudos to her for going in and getting the best running shoes for her feet!