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

Last year, Janet Jackson shocked all of us by losing 6o pounds in four months. I talked about it here:

• Starling Fitness » Janet Jackson Weight Loss

She has been able to keep the weight off for a year and according to the cover of the magazine, she will share her “secrets” with us.

What’s her secret?

Eating light and clean helps, but you really shouldn’t think of it as a diet, otherwise you feel like you are depriving yourself. If you crave something, you should have a little bit of it, then let it go and move on. Do a little extra exercise so you’re back on track.

She exercises six days a week doing cardio mostly. She has toned down on the weight training because she has injured her rotator cuff, so any workout that affects her shoulder has been cut out of her routine.

From the example menu and workout list, it looks like she is keeping things REALLY light in order to keep her size four frame.

I have to admit that seeing her look so good after a whole year is really inspiring to me. I think to myself, “Janet has been fighting this her whole life. If she can do it, then I can too.” Personal trainers and chefs? The fact that she has access to them doesn’t change my level of inspiration. I can plan my own meals. I can create a workout.

I really believe that 90% of weight loss happens in my head and the other 10% is what I do on the treadmill or put in my mouth. When I decide that it’s possible, nothing can stop me. When I decide that it’s hopeless, nothing can help me. Just seeing how well Janet has been able to keep off the weight really helps me get that 90% back into gear.

Street View on Google Maps is a new feature that allows you to see an image of the street on the map. Jason Kottke has been fantasizing about the future of Street View here:

• I’m sure this functionality is coming, but when using the new… (kottke.org)

I’m sure this functionality is coming, but when using the new Street View feature in combination with driving directions on Google Maps, I want a play button that drives me from the starting point to my destination, showing me the street-level view along the way.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just set up the computer in front of your treadmill and tell it to map out a route and a speed and you could pretend you’re running around the streets of New York? That’s why I started filming my Starling Fitness Walking DVDs so I could do just that. I’m perfectly willing to pass the torch to Google if they are able to pick it up.

For more information about Street View, watch this video:

Read this and while you do, insert your own hated body part whenever she talks about her butt.

• skirt!features – Flat-Bottomed Girl

In the end, we all have to accept ourselves the way we are and enjoy the good.

I’ve accepted that I’m never going to have a rump like J. Lo or Scarlett Johansson. I’m never going to have a killer rack like Megan Mullally or Jessica Simpson. But I have made men walk into walls by wearing a short skirt, I will never “have to” wear a bra, and I’m the only member of my family gifted with slender ankles. So I’ll accept my flat ass and belt out my own version of “Fat Bottomed Girls” (changing the lyrics to “Flat Bottomed Girls”) when I strut down the street, knowing that no matter what my ass looks like, I can still make this rockin’ world go ’round.

When you hike outdoors, you may encounter poison oak, which is a plant that will give you an oozing and itchy rash. Wendy Bumgardener at About.com has a tutorial on how to recognize and avoid poison oak

• Is it Poison Oak?

Here is a link to a slideshow of poison oak prepared by Wendy:

• Oak Shaped Leaves – Poison Oak Photos – Is It Poison Oak or Not

Here is a link to all the photos on Flickr tagged with the words poison oak:

• Flickr: Photos tagged with poisonoak

Hiking is great exercise and you should never avoid it because of something like poison oak. With a little preparation and knowledge, you’re sure to be safe from poisonous plants and hike risk-free.

The San Antonio Botanical Garden Walk DVD is finished and ready for you! It is a little over 1 hour of walking on the San Antonio Botanical Garden on September 15, 2006. If your treadmill workouts have been getting you down and you are wishing for greenery, this is the right video for you!

I’m offering this workout DVD for $5 plus shipping.

Order Starling Fitness Walking Videos Here

Here is a glimpse of what the walk will be like:

Video Description:

I was lost and unprepared for the hot Texas weather, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the garden’s beauty. From the native Texas grassland areas to the indoor fern grottos, I filmed all that the San Antonio Botanical Garden had to offer.

Wander along the garden paths. Watch the birds fly past you and squawk at you from the trees. Smell the herbs and flowers in the garden for the blind. Breathe in the humid air in the fern grotto. Explore the historical homes of Texas’ past. Chase down the golf cart. Can you keep up?

If you are missing the beautiful greenery that Texas has to offer, you can enjoy it every day with this video.

Order Starling Fitness Walking Videos Here

I wanted to hate this video. I wanted to just brush off the whole collection of fitness videos from this modeling agency, but this is the BEST explanation of the workout that I did on the treadmill during my Trekking classes at the gym.

It’s REALLY hard to describe the side step thing on the treadmill. This video shows you exactly how to do it. I LOVE to workout on my treadmill and I feel strangely uncomfortable agreeing with every word she says.

One note: You should do the side step thing for half the time facing one direction and half the time facing the other direction so that you’ll get a workout on both legs evenly. She didn’t mention that in the video, but that’s what we did in my trekking class.

You can see more exercise videos (as well as weird fashion stuff) here:

• Ford Models Media on YouTube

It’s a surprising leap for a modeling agency to start creating media. I know it promotes their models, but they are creating some good work here. I’m interested to see how this works…

When I watched this video the other day, I began to wonder what I thought was funny about Jim Carrey when he was on In Living Color. Fifty-nine seconds into it, I remembered.

Sure, this sketch pushes things over the top, but so much of our fitness advice has come to us from people who are pumped up on steroids or have gone under the knife. They give credit for their form to their juicer, exercise routine, workout gadget or miracle pill, when really genetics and illegal steroids are responsible.

It’s no wonder that I have ZERO trust anymore.

Being physically fit has its advantages. Being able to hike Yosemite Park and snap a ton of photos is one of them:

• Busy being born: May 2007 Archives

Yosemite Park was one of Ansel Adams’ favorite photography sites and he has numerous photos of Half Dome. Seeing the same mountain from someone with a different eye is so refreshing.

Next time you’re exercising and you feel bored with your routine, remember why you keep in shape. Being able to hike Yosemite Park is one of those benefits.

Via: Two-Heel Drive: May 2007 Archives

The more I think about this, the more it makes sense. Weight loss is all a mind game. If you think you will lose weight, you will lose weight. Most of the time, it’s because we have a trust in a certain diet or exercise regime, but in actuality, it’s all in our heads. Jason Kottke wrote a pretty intense article about the subject here:

• Better living through self deception (kottke.org)

In the end, he uses a strange logic to sum it up:

“Perhaps the way to true personal acheivement and happiness is through lying to yourself instead of being honest, loafing instead of practicing, and purposely forgetting information. There are plenty of self-help books on the market…where are the self-hurt books?”

We want more. Sorry to break it to you, but no matter how awesome your car is, after a couple of months, you’re going to want a better one. No matter how lovely your house is, you’re going to want a better one (either bigger or in a more prestigious neighborhood). No matter how thin you are, you’re going to want to be better. As humans, we are wired for MORE.

How can we make eating healthy more like a video game? How can we give ourselves a score that we can compare? Maybe if we had some sort of composite number that rated our eating, exercise and mental state, we could compare numbers and compete to try to get it higher. We’re wired for this kind of competition, that’s why places like Weight Watchers work. We’re secretly very proud that we have our little five pound bookmark and all of its stars on it.

So much of weight loss is about LESS, though…

Losing weight is literally about making LESS of yourself. Eating less food. It’s the whole “Eat Less Move More” movement. I’ve got the Move More part down pat. I love to exercise. The Eat Less thing, however is really difficult and I think it’s the LESS part that makes it hard. Since we’re so wired to want more, the idea of less goes against every instinct programmed into us. Less is inherently AGAINST evolution.

Unfortunately, we’ve kinda made evolution obsolete…

We have been able to conquer famine, disease and even our aggressive nature. All the things that helped us survive famine are now causing a disease of their own. Our instinctual desire for more is making us slow and lethargic.

I have no idea how to get past this. Anyone have any ideas?