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

There is a new book coming out that might give me a hint of why I am obsessed with being thin, even more so than being healthy. It’s called Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body. AlterNet has an interview with the author.

• AlterNet: Blogs: PEEK: The Un-Pretty Perfect Girl

The quote that really hit home for me is this one:

“It’s not just about Ivy League admittance or extracurriculars. It is about a nation of women buying in to the idea that their wellbeing is not as important as achievement and beauty.”

There was a time when I was willing to do anything to get thin. Take dangerous pills? Sure. Starve myself for days? Yeah, but I always ended up breaking and eating like a pig afterward. Have a serious surgery? If I could have afforded it, I would have jumped at the chance. I was willing to do anything to get thin except eat normal and healthy food in moderation.

The big question is: Why is being thin so important that I was willing to risk my health for it?

This book might have an answer to that question and I’m eager for it to be released!

Via: TDR Updates: Week of April 9

You know how you work out in the gym and eat healthy every day and it takes you twice as long to get thin as your “naturally” thin friend? It’s not all in your head.

• ‘Fat’ gene found by scientists-News-UK-Health-TimesOnline

“People who inherit one version of the gene rather than another are 70 per cent more likely to be obese, British scientists have discovered. One in six people has the most vulnerable genetic make-up and weighs an average 3kg more than those with the lowest risk. They also have 15 per cent more body fat.”

So, why diet? If I’m just destined to be fat because of my genes, why should I suffer more than the normal person just to look normal?

Because it will probably save my life. An extra five years or so sounds really nice. If all I have to do is eat healthy food and move my body once a day, it’s worth it.

Based on this article, they might even solve the genetic problem:

If the biological function of the gene, known as FTO, can now be understood, it could become possible to design drugs that manipulate it to help people to control their weight. “Even though we have yet to fully understand the role played by the FTO gene in obesity, our findings are a source of great excitement,” Mark McCarthy, of the University of Oxford, who led the research, said.

“By identifying this genetic link it should be possible to improve our understanding of why some people are more obese, with all the associated implications such as increased risk of diabetes and heart disease. New insights will hopefully pave the way for us to explore novel ways of treating this condition.”

All I can say is don’t be the first in line for these miracle cures. You don’t want to be the guinea pig in the race to “cure” obesity.

Via: Blind Prophecy 2.0 – Is this why two years of regular gym workouts and dieting have had limited results?

This is my new photo for this year. It has been almost four years since I changed my photograph, so I thought I better do something about it:

I don’t feel like writing today because it’s my birthday. I’m out of town right now. We are going to California to see friends and Disneyland. Wish me luck eating healthy and if posting is spotty over the next couple of weeks, don’t worry. I’m not freaking out, I’m just having fun in the land of sun (even though it’s kind of cloudy today).

By the way, if there are any readers in San Diego that want to meetup, feel free to contact me.

As a child, my grandma told me that no one would want to be my friend if I was fat. That’s why I try so hard to have friends. It’s like I measure my self-worth based on how many friends I have. Even if they’re not good friends…

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.

Threadless T-Shirts is a clothing company that is a little different. The t-shirts are designed by the readers of their website. The designs are voted on by the readers of their website. They make limited editions of the designs and once they are gone, they’re gone. They even advertise thier t-shirts with pictures from their readers.

That’s what today’s shoutout is about.

Threadless uses a wide variety of their readers’ photos to promote their t-shirts. They have enough readers that they could choose only the hot girls with the large breasts to feature in their catalog, but they don’t. They choose the most interesting photos they are submitted. They are truly blind to discrimination based on body type. Here are some examples:

You can see their full catalog here:

Threadless T-Shirts – The full catalog of Awesome T-shirts

If you like these or any of the other shirts in the Threadless catalog, order them NOW. They only do limited runs and once they are gone, they are GONE. Once again, a Diversity Shoutout to Threadless for choosing models of all shapes and sizes!

Eating healthy and exercising regularly is work. Sorry… I know you’d like to hear that it’s just a walk in the park after you get skinny and being thin is a piece of cake. It’s not. It takes some effort. When you get thin, you have to keep eating healthy and exercising to stay that way. That’s how it works.

So, it better be worth it, right?

Why do you want to be thin?

What do you think will be better for you when you are thin?

What problems do you think being thin will solve?

What if you get skinny and you still have all those problems?

Is being fat really the issue?

Is there a way to solve those problems NOW while you work your way to being thin?

When I have arguments with myself about overeating, the wild child inside of me discounts all the reasons that I want to be healthy. I have to have some serious ammunition to fire back at her to remind her of all the benefits of eating healthy. What is your ammunition?

Just this morning, I looked at myself in the mirror. I was having an argument with the wild child inside me that wants to eat everything. Even though I felt sick to my stomach this morning, that little girl inside of me wanted to eat. “Why, why, why? Why won’t she let me eat healthy?” I asked her. “Why is it so important?” she asked me.

I don’t have an answer and it looks like thin people don’t either…

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.

About a month ago, I found this thread at Metafilter:

• How did you redefine your relationship with food? | Ask MetaFilter

There is some good stuff there:

Two things I had to seriously change about my thinking in order to keep myself sane and also not gain weight. I had to stop pretending that my male partner and I could eat the same food. He’s far larger and has a far higher metabolism. I make less testosterone, creating muscle mass on my body is a herculean task. He just has muscles. It’s a bastard. There’re usually two separate breakfasts, lunches, and dinners around here.

The other thing is that if I overeat I try not to consider it a moral failure and just keep overeating out of guilt and self-hatred. It was a reeeeeally hard practice to get into but now it’s second nature. So I ate an entire sleeve of oreos at lunch? Oh well, it’s still salad and an omelet for dinner, and fruit for breakfast.

I keep telling myself that I need to read the entire thing, gleaning ideas from it that will help me, but something is resisting that idea. I don’t know what it is, but I think it’s the same part of me that wants to eat an entire sleeve of Oreos…

Not in the mood to exercise? Just watch this video for about 45 seconds and you’ll want to run. There is something really inspirational about watching other people exercise. It makes me want to join the crowd!

Via: Video of the Week: California Dreamin’ » Complete Running Network

It has been a long time since a exergaming machine has surfaced. Say hi to Motivatrix, the newest exercise-gaming machine.

• Motivatrix

I have seen so many of these companies come and go that I never believe that their products exist until they are available on Amazon.com. Granted, Motivatrix looks like they are promoting their exercise equipment to sports facilities, but the lack of an “order now” button on their website really makes me doubtful of their existence.

Did they build one prototype and a spiffy flash-based website? I can’t tell. I’m trying my hardest not to get excited about this product, but it looks like it has the potential to be a lot of fun.

For more information:

• Motivatrix’s MX9 Workout Master replaces aging stationary bike – Engadget

• Silicon sweat / High-tech, full-body machines merge multimedia and exercise

• Get an interactive workout sans game console | Crave : The gadget blog