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

Food is involved in so much of our lives that when we are learning to eat healthier, it can get in the way of so many things. Terry, at I See Invisible People, talks about her relationships, alcohol and food.

• I See Invisible People » Food as bonding

I love her thoughts here:

“When I was younger, my friends and I bonded through alcohol. Drive-in movies, dance parties, cutting school, just hanging, out all involved booze. If we were together, we drank. As much as our shared tattered backgrounds, liquor was the glue that held us together. It was the lowest common denominator between scarred kids with serious trust issues. Looking back on it, we had little in common besides our Underclass pasts and our reliance on alcohol. Perhaps this is why most of those friendships didn’t survive into adulthood.”

Is food the glue that is holding your relationships together? If so, how are you going to change that dynamic so you can live a healthier life?

Every once and a while I come across these stories. They talk about sideshow carnivals and people who made their living just by being fat. This is the story of Dolly Dimples.

• The Human Marvels: Dolly Dimples – The Dainty Fat Lady

She was 4’11” tall and weighed 555 pounds, enjoying the carnival life. Then she survived a heart attack.

Her doctors told her to alter her diet or she would die. Dolly was frightened by the prospect of death, she enjoyed live greatly, and so she paid attention to the advice in a most astounding fashion.

In fourteen months Dolly Dimples was gone, and in her place stood Celesta Geyer at a svelte 112 pounds. She had lost over 443 pound by limiting her diet to baby food. The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes this achievement as the greatest weight loss in the shortest period of time.

She spent the rest of her life promoting her diet as a method of losing weight. She profited from being fat and she profited from slimming down. We all like to watch as the celebrities perform stunts of amazement like Janet Jackson’s weight loss. This has been going on for so long that it makes me believe that we are programmed to want to watch others on this journey.

This article is an excellent argument for walking more and driving less:

• Get Rich Slowly » How to Walk for Fun and Profit

I love this great list of reasons to walk:

• The average cost of operating a vehicle is 52.2 cents. Walking is free.

• A regular walking regimen can take less time than going to the gym. And there are no membership fees.

• When I walk to the grocery store, I buy much less. A car effectively gives me unlimited carrying capacity. When I have to haul each item home by hand, I’m much more particular about what I purchase.

• Walking helps you become more aware of your surroundings. I see a lot more of my neighborhood when I walk.

• The only pollutant you produce when walking is sweat.

The next time you’re tempted to jump in the car for a quick trip to the grocery store, remember to strap on your tennis shoes instead. You might just find a source of exercise that feels much more useful than walking on the treadmill.

I have been planning my meals using this spreadsheet. I originally got it from the Microsoft Templates Library, but it was a simple sheet meant to be printed out and written on instead of used to the full capabilities of a spreadsheet. I altered it substantially. If you would like to try it, you can download it here:

• Weekly Meal Planning Spreadsheet

This uses Microsoft Excel, so you need to have that software to play with it. If you want more details on how to use this, click here:

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I’m still eating healthy. I haven’t binged for a week now. The only thing I can credit to staying on track is planning my meals. Mike and I sat down a week ago and planned three days worth of meals for me. We wrote down breakfast and lunch and then planned the evenings that we were going to go out to eat dinner. For the first time in months, I was able to keep myself from bingeing by following that plan. Friday evening, we sat down and planned an entire week for me and I’ve been able to keep from abusing myself.

I was always reluctant to plan my meals ahead of time. I didn’t want to lose my spontaneity. I have always wanted to be the kind of person that eats what she wants when she wants. I was never willing to write out a plan for the next day, much less a week.

The only problem with that is I end up obsessing about food all day long.

As soon as I finish a meal, I need to think about what I’m going to eat next. I had no idea that giving up spontaneity would give me such freedom. Now, instead of worrying about my next meal, I already know what my next meal is going to be. It’s something that I was excited about when I planned it, and I know it’s going to fit into my program.

Since I’ve planned my meals, I actually obsess about food less, not more. If I follow the plan perfectly, I don’t need to journal a thing. I don’t need to write down one word because it’s already there. Planning makes eating healthy so much easier.

I know I’ve heard that before. It’s said so many times that it’s a cliche. Planning makes eating healthy easier. I would nod and I thought that I was doing enough planning by buying enough healthy veggies and fruits for the week. I didn’t want to have to plan every morsel of food that went into my mouth. Where’s the fun in that?

None. I have to be honest. There is very little fun in planning your meals for the week. Last Friday, it took Mike and I an hour to do it. There was a little bit of excitement when we chose which recipes we were going to cook on the eating at home dinners, but basically, it was an hour of boring planning. No fun.

The truth is, I feel such a sense of peace about food. I had gotten to the point that I wasn’t journaling because I was sick of writing down every bite of food I put into my mouth. Now, if I follow the plan, I don’t need to write. I just eat the meal on the schedule.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll share the spreadsheet that makes planning so much easier.

Terry has made the choice to live a healthier life. She smartly realizes that shaming someone doesn’t help make them thin, so she is being gentle with herself during this time.

• I See Invisible People » Being postive in the now

What’s her plan?

“What I’ve been trying to do is be positive about myself right now. I’m only wearing clothes that I feel look good on me. I’m putting on make-up in the morning.”

Next time you think that you have to put a picture of yourself when you were fat on the refrigerator to stop yourself from eating, remember Terry’s advice.

“I’ve read diet books advocating taking a fat picture of yourself and hanging it on the refrigerator to keep you from eating. Sorry, but humiliation just doesn’t work for me. Self-loathing is a terrible thing and comes frighteningly easy to me. It makes me depressed in a way that drugs don’t help. Depression makes me desperate and I stop eating completely, which isn’t a good thing long term.”

Being loving and positive with yourself is really the only way to health.

Via: love and hope and sex and dreams: Some People You Should Meet If You Haven’t Already

Imagine the most loving person in the world. Imagine someone who could love you exactly as you are. Pretend to sit next to this person who loves you unconditionally and write down how they would answer these questions:

What is my best feature? Which part of me is the prettiest?

What are my strengths?

What do you respect the most about me?

All of us have greatness within, but sometimes self-loathing makes us blind to what that greatness is. Put aside that self-loathing and be willing to look at yourself with loving eyes. Don’t be worried about being conceited or vain. It won’t happen.

Loving yourself is the first step toward taking care of your body. Take it today.

The Question of the Week is meant to be an Inner Workout for you. Find some time during the week and allow yourself to write the answers to the questions posted. You can write them on paper, on a word processor or here in the comments section. Whatever works for you as long as you do it.

Keep writing until you find out something about yourself that you didn’t know before. I’ve also heard that it works to keep writing until you cry, but that doesn’t really work for me. Whatever works for you. Just keep writing until it feels right.

Twenty pounds since March. That’s how much weight I’ve gained because of my struggles with bingeing. I’ve been eating healthy for almost five days now. It took me a while to realize what my problem was, but I think I finally cracked it.

• Pick Me! » The Girl With The Most Cake

I thought that I was just lonely after SXSW, but really I was feeling jealous of all the girls who were more successful than I am.

How many times do I need to tell myself that it’s not a competition? Life is about living, not about “beating” someone else.

Five days is the longest I’ve gone eating healthy since March. I know they say that you are never cured of your eating disorder, you just manage it. I don’t want to believe it. I want to believe that that was the last time I ever have to fight that demon, but the damn thing keeps coming back.

Twenty pounds… I feel like I’m starting all over from scratch.

A University of North Carolina study shows that liquid calories are to blame for the obesity rates in the United States. You can see the slideshow presentation from them here:

• University of North Carolina: U.S. Diet and the Role of Beverages – Power Point Presentation

Since we don’t tend to eat less food when we consume more liquid calories, and their study shows that consumption of extra calories when they are in drinks is linked to weight gain, they have suggested the following recommendations for drink consumption:

• Go with water: Women should drink up to 9 servings of water a day and they recommend 13 servings of water for men.

• Unsweetened coffee and tea: As long as you aren’t using any type of sweetener at all, coffee and tea can have some positive health benefits. They recommend a maximum of 4 servings of coffee and 8 servings of tea a day.

• Skim/lowfat milk or fortified unsweetened soy drinks: The research on the benefits of milk is still iffy according to UNC, but they still recommend up to 2 servings a day.

• Diet soft drinks and coffe or tea sweetened with artificial sweetener: Even though these drinks are calorie free, they may condition a preference for sweetness. Because of this, they are to be used in moderation. They recommend up to 4 servings a day.

• 100% fruit juices, whole milk and sports drinks: The University of North Carolina sees little nutritional benefit in these drinks and recommends limiting consumption of up to 1 serving a day.

• Soft drinks and juice drinks: Also high in sugar, they recommend no more than 1 serving a day.

It looks like the best benefits are those to be had by drinking water. I’ve found that I feel better when I replace soda with water, so I have to agree with them. Here is a handy graphic to visualize what your beverage choices are:

Via: Liquid calories can pile on pounds – Orlando Sentinel

When Mike and I hiked the Na Pali Coast in Kauai, we started with only our tennis shoes and some water. A couple hiking down the trail handed us walking sticks, “You’re going to need these.” We took them gladly, not knowing how helpful they would be when we hit really steep parts on slippery rock.

Ever since then, I have planned on purchasing walking sticks to tackle the steeper trails in the Wasatch Mountains, but the cheap-skate in me doesn’t want to shell out the big bucks for them. I know they help with balance and give me extra power when going up really steep inclines, but I don’t want to spend that much money on them.

These websites give detailed instructions on how to make a sturdy walking stick:

• Making a Walking or Hiking Stick

• How to Make a Walking Stick or Hiking Staff

• Crafts : Tips / Techniques : Crafty Walking Sticks : Home & Garden Television

• Make Fun PVC Pipe Projects

I personally like the simplicity of the PVC walking stick in the last article. PVC tends to be lighter and stronger than wood and much more readily available. Have fun making your own walking stick and you’ll be better able to tackle the trails.

Via: Before You Buy Fitness Walking Poles or Trekking Poles