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

Yesterday, I talked about my Healthy & Happy List. It’s a list of things that I try to do every day to stay healthy and happy. It took me a long time to realize what needed to be on that list, but it didn’t have to be that way. Take a few moments today to decide what would be on your list. Answering these questions might help you figure out what should be on your list.

What things do you need to do every day to be healthy?

What things do you need to do every day to be happy?

What things would you like to do but you never let yourself do?

What things do you do too much of and end up getting sick of?

What things should you do that you don’t really like to do?

What do you feel guilty for doing, but like to do anyway? Why?

What do you feel guilty for NOT doing, but do them anyway? Why?

My Healthy & Happy List is a section of my journal pages that I write in every day. You can download those journal pages here:

• Starling Fitness » Journal Pages To Download

You don’t need to use my Healthy & Happy List. Edit the pages to match your own list of things to do to keep yourself healthy and happy.

Yesterday, I provided journal pages to download and use for writing your Inner Workouts and keep track of your healthy eating and exercise. In the Daily Tracking Section, I had a spot to check off my Healthy and Happy List. It took me awhile, but I have a list of things that keep me healthy and happy. The more of these things that I can do, the better my life runs and the happier I am. I wanted to explain each one here:

Exercise: Exercising every day not only helps me be healthy, it boosts my mood. After only a month of regular exercising, I realized that I needed to put it on my list.

Eat Healthy: When I eat healthy, I feel a sense of pride in myself, so it boosts my mood. Mostly, it’s on the list so that I’ll be healthy and strong.

Clean Something: I have a hard time being happy in a cluttered and messy house. All I have to do is tackle one household chore a day to substantially improve my mood.

Sleep 8 Hours: This number might be different for you, but I need at least eight hours of sleep every night to function. It’s really hard for me to be upbeat and happy when I’m struggling to stay awake.

Create Something: Allowing myself a little time every day to be creative is really important to me. All it takes is a small craft project or a few rows of crochet to make me happier.

Journal: I already talked yesterday about how regular journaling keeps me happy and less likely to binge. I find it ironic that there is a check mark in the actual journal. If I don’t journal, then I usually don’t fill out my Healthy and Happy List. It seems like if I don’t journal, everything falls apart.

Work: Work is an important part of life. If I don’t work, I don’t make money, but if life is ALL work, then I end up feeling deprived and unappreciated, even though it was me who pushed myself so hard. I need to make sure I do some work every day, but not so much that I don’t get to check off the other boxes on my list.

Play: I love to play video games. I love to read trashy sci-fi novels. I love to play with my pets. I love to watch movies. I love to watch television. I put all entertainment on such a low priority, though that I end up having binges if I don’t incorporate a little bit of play into my life at all times. I need to give myself permission to enjoy a movie or video game a little bit every day to prevent those strange days when all I do is sit on the couch and watch Star Trek: The Next Generation reruns.

Social: Sending personal emails, calling on the telephone and actually seeing friends in person are all social things. Sometimes I neglect the most important people in my life and other times, I plan so many social things that I’m sick of people. I need to find a balance to keep myself happy. That’s why social is on the list. If I do a little bit every day, I won’t neglect and I won’t get “peopled-out.”

Read: I love to read books, but that is categorized in the Play section for me. This is more work related. I need to keep up on the latest technology, fitness and travel information to do my job correctly, so I have a ton of weblogs that I read. If I am able to read them, I feel more control of my work life and it makes me happy.

This list probably has little to do with YOUR personal happiness. That’s why the journal pages are in Excel format instead of Adobe Acrobat. You can change the journal pages to match what you need every day to keep you happy. Take a few minutes and really think about what makes you happy. Make a list add it to your personalized journal pages.

As I printed some journal pages for the new year, I realized that I have never shared these with you. Every day, I write a personal journal by hand. It’s very therapeutic and one of the ways I have come to depend on to stay on track. I made these journal pages using Microsoft Excel, but you can also open them up using OpenOffice, which is free.

This spreadsheet will probably have to be tweaked to work on your printer, but it can be printed double-sided, so that you will have nice journal pages. I have it available in both paper sizes: 8 1/2″ X 11″ and 5 1/2″ X 8 1/2″. I use the 5 1/2″ X 8 1/2″ size and put them in a comb binder so that my journal is very portable. You can download the journal pages here:

• Download Starling Fitness Journal Pages

These spreadsheets are really just lined paper with a Daily Tracking on each page. You can see the Daily Tracking is just a simple spot where I can record my healthy eating habits, the Points I’ve eaten each day and other things. I’ll talk about the Healthy & Happy List tomorrow.

I use these journal pages for my Inner Workouts. Every day I write out my feelings and worries. It really helps me to stay focused and keep happy. I’ve noticed that the days I’m most tempted to binge are the days when I don’t write in my journal. It has become so helpful to me that I still write every single day.

Hi,

I enjoyed your reviews on the Xavix system. I felt they were the best on the web. I was wondering if you are going to CES 2007 and if you will be checking out and reporting on the Xavix booth.

Both my wife and I exercise daily because of the Xavix. It is much more fun than other methods.

Thanks and keep up the good work.

Ronnie

Ronnie,

Yes, we ARE going to CES! We’re actually leaving today to catch the pre-show press events. I am going to visit the Xavix booth to see if they have anything new. BTW, they finally have the Lifestyle Manager available, which is a scale that connects to the Xavix and keeps track of your weight, etc.

• xavixstore.com – XaviX Lifestyle Manager

I did a comparison of Xavix to the Nintendo Wii for The Gadgets Page:

• The Gadgets Page » Xavix Vs. Nintendo Wii

Some of the conclusions I came to won’t apply to you because you have already invested in the console, but you might find it interesting.

Thanks for the uplifting email. I really appreciate it. Sometimes I feel like I write Starling Fitness just for myself because I hardly ever hear feedback from the readers. I can see the stats, but they are quiet people who hit the site every day. For all I know, they just look at the pictures… It’s really nice to get a positive email from someone who has read my entries.

Thanks again,
Laura Moncur

When I went to Weight Watchers regularly, there was a muffin recipe that made the rounds. It was basically a chocolate cake mix, water and a bunch of Fiber One cereal added to increase the fiber and bring down the Points level. It also made the muffins taste horrible. I was so desperate to eat sweets by the time I encountered that recipe, that I lived on those chocolate muffins for awhile. I knew they weren’t good, but they weren’t “forbidden” so I was happy to eat them.

What I really wanted was a cupcake, but I ate horrible fiber muffins instead.

That is everything that is wrong with what goes on in my mind when I’m dieting. It happened to me when I was on Weight Watchers, but it wasn’t their fault. It was something that clicked and changed in my mind. As long as I lived under the motto of “I can eat anything I want, just not everything I want,” I was fine. The minute I started categorizing food as good and bad, I started to have troubles.

What I should have done instead of eating horrible fiber muffins was make some mini-cupcakes. They now have mini-cupcake pans like this one from WearEver and even mini-cupcake foil liners. Since a tiny cupcake like that is probably 150-250 calories, it wouldn’t overload my eating for one day if I eat one. I could even make them beautiful like the big cupcakes.

It has taken me years to realize that the best road to eating healthy is the one that lets me enjoy the foods that I love. When I want a cupcake, a fiber muffin is just going to make me feel deprived. When I want a cupcake, I should eat a cupcake! If I don’t, I’ll eat fifteen cupcakes in one sitting in a couple of months. Is that better?

Apparently a ton of people got the Nike+ iPod for Christmas because Nike’s website has been slow and undergoing lots of changes the last few days. Yesterday, I logged on to see if a new challenge for my Level 3 group had been started and my heart skipped a beat when I saw this:

After a couple of weeks grounded because of my black toenails, I have NO patience. I want my challenges back. I know I can only do two miles today in order to keep my feet healthy, but I still want to see where I am on the list. I had no idea I was this addicted…

Here is a picture of how my toes look after a week of nurturing. They don’t look all that bad. Compared to the pain that I experienced, they look shockingly unharmed. There was one day last week when I couldn’t walk without limping they hurt so bad. I was shocked that even putting on socks hurt them so much.

After reading all the recommendations on the Internet about how to deal with black toenail, I cringed at every one of them. They suggested lancing under the toenail with a sterilized needle or even lancing through the nail. I was reluctant to do any of those things. I knew what I was experiencing was a really bad bruise, so I treated it like a bruise and an open wound.

Here is how I treated my black toneails:

• Warm water foot baths with epsom salts to reduce the swelling: Since the swelling was so bad that the nail was pushed up at least a quarter inch away from my nail bed, I soaked my feet in warm water with epsom salts.

• Alternating with ice packs: After soaking for about ten minutes, I would fill a Ziploc bag with ice and water and place it on my toes (with a towel inbetween for comfort). I read that alternating between warm, moist heat and ice packs reduces swelling. None of the websites recommended this, but it sure helped for me.

• Triple Antibiotic: After two or three foot baths/ice packs I would put triple antibiotic on my toenails, around the cuticle area and gently under the nail. Since this was a wound, I wanted to prevent any infection, so I used Neosporin liberally. It may be that just keeping the nail and cuticle area soft with petroleum jelly might have been enough, but I grew up in a family that lived under the motto: Neosporin cures everything.

• Most importantly – REST: I stopped running, period. I stopped walking on the treadmill. For two days, I didn’t even leave the house and walked as little as possible. Part of the rest was enforced by necessity. My feet hurt too much to do anything, but after they felt better, I forced myself to stay off the treadmill. It was difficult for me, knowing that I could be logging miles, but I did it. When you feel like you could do an easy workout, DON’T. Wait a couple more days to ease yourself back into exercise.

I’m not a doctor and I didn’t see a doctor about my toes. I probably should have and if you have black toenail, don’t risk infection and pain. Go see a doctor. I definitely wouldn’t follow the advice of the websites that tell you to poke at it with a needle that you’ve held in a lighter for thirty seconds. If your toes are so bad that you feel like they need to have the pressure relieved, have a trained professional do it.

I am easing back into the world of running right now. Wish me luck and you’ll be guaranteed that I won’t increase my distance drastically like I did before. Over the next few months, I’m working up to six miles a day instead of doing it overnight like I did last month.

Other Entries:

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenail

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenails: Final Update

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenail: Biggest Fear

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenail: Finally Healed

Every year we get a bunch of new readers in January. If you’re one of them, let me introduce you to Starling Fitness. We created Starling Fitness back in December of 2003 because I was writing so much about my eating and fitness endeavors that they threatened to take over my personal weblog, Pick Me! At times, I struggle with bingeing, so maintaining a healthy weight is an effort for me. I write about the things that interest me, the things that worry me and the things that just seem kind of cool in the health and fitness industry.

I’m not a doctor. I’m not a nutritionist. I’m not an exercise physiologist. Sometimes I do stupid things. Don’t you do the same. Sometimes I find cool stuff. Check it out and see if you like it too. Sometimes I’m tempted by diet pills, diet plans and exercise equipment that promise more than can be possible. Let’s stay away from them together.

I orginally started writing about my eating problems and exercise endeavors to help keep me accountable. The whole reason Starling Fitness exists is to help me eat healthier, stay away from stupid diet plans and exercise wisely. If even one other person is helped by this website, then that’s icing on the cake.

If you’re new to the site, here are a few entries that will give you an idea of what Starling Fitness is all about:

• Starling Fitness » New Year’s Resolutions

• Starling Fitness » Video Confessional

• Starling Fitness » Losing Motivation

• Starling Fitness » Can’t Buy Me Fitness (Part 1)

• Starling Fitness » Can’t Buy Me Fitness (Part 2)

Starling Fitness isn’t for everyone. I’m very skeptical about weight loss surgery, diet pills and diet fads. I’ve been betrayed too many times to believe that these are permanent answers. If you have put your faith in the quick fix, then you probably shouldn’t read Starling Fitness, because I am all about making small healthy choices every day.

If you have made a New Year’s Resolution to live a healthier life and you came across our website because of it, you have come to the right place. Have a healthy and active 2007 with us!

Richard Simmons is like Mr. Rogers to me. I truly believe that he loves me. He wants me to be thin and healthy. He really cares about me personally. I think it’s because I watched his television show so much as a child. He is permanently embedded in my mind as a loving and nuturing figure in my life. I’ve bonded to him like a baby bird. I could watch this video over and over again. He makes me that happy.

I’ve talked about Richard Simmons before here:

• Starling Fitness » Richard Simmons

Here is a link to his official website:

• RichardSimmons.com

More cool Richard Simmons videos after the break:

(more…)

If you look closely at this picture, you can see it. There is only a slight discoloration of the two big toes and my feet are swollen. It looks so minor that you might miss it. I have the beginnings of black toenail on the two biggest toes. I wrote earlier about Black Toenail.

• Starling Fitness » Subungual Hematoma – Black Toenail

All those entries made it sound like such a common affair. The one thing they didn’t tell you:

It hurts like a MUTHA!!

I only have a minor version of Black Toenail. I won’t lose my nails, but the throbbing pain has made me unable to log any miles for three days. I feel completely unable to describe the constant feeling of my heartbeat coming through my toes. If anything brushes against them, they hurt: socks, my cat, even the sheets on the bed. Does that give you any idea of the pain? After being so obsessed about the Nike+ Challenges, it is killing me to take time off from running, but not nearly as much as the pain of just putting on a pair of socks. Not only are my toenails bruised, but my feet are very swollen. Those cute and fat little toes are usually much smaller.

Why did I get it?

I increased my mileage dramatically. Instead of slowly working up to six miles a day, I jumped in with the Level 3 group and started doing as many miles as my legs could handle. No muscle soreness means I can do more the next day, right? Nope. I felt as if my trusty Ryka shoes had betrayed me. I’ve never had this trouble before because I’ve always taken the slow and steady route to mileage increases. I thought that the only way to suffer from increased mileage was muscle soreness, but that repetitive movement can cause problems with your toenails. It’s not the shoes’ fault. It’s the fact that I ran WAY more than my body is used to. After so much weight training, my muscles could easily handle the increased mileage. Suddenly, my weakest link isn’t my muscles, but my abused toes.

You do NOT want to deal with black toenail!

No matter what the running websites say about how common it is, it REALLY hurts. Not only that, I’ve found that I am really vain about my feet. I never knew this until I was threatened with losing the nails. I had no idea that I put so much stock in how my feet look after a good pedicure. The risk of losing these nails has grounded me until they are healed.

Sandals seemed like a good idea…

I thought maybe I could keep on running by wearing my hiking sandals during workouts. Since I do my mileage on the treadmill, sandals at this time of year isn’t a problem. My feet are so swollen that I had to loosen all the adjustable straps. I was wearing my sandals everywhere. I thought that this black toenail thing wasn’t a big deal and I can just use sandals if I get it again. That was a great plan right up to the point where my exposed toe bashed into my other foot. The nail on the left foot broke down to the quick. It’s currently super-glued together and I’m hoping that I don’t have to deal with the cracked nail until it is able to grow out some more. Sandals are NOT the answer. They’re not even a good idea.

Steel-toed boots one size too big.

That’s what I’m looking for now. I need a pair of steel-toed boots in a size big enough to prevent my toes from having to touch any portion of the shoe. What am I doing for exercise? REST. That’s it. It is hard for me to do because I have to limit my food when I don’t exercise. Limiting my food can make me feel deprived and I worry that a binge is right around the corner. I have miles of walking to do at CES in two weeks. I have to get these feet healthy and ready to go, so I have no other option but to rest.

Other Entries:

• Starling Fitness » How I Treated My Black Toenail

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenails: Final Update

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenail: Biggest Fear

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenail: Finally Healed