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

Over a month ago, I started going to the gym three times a week to do the Xpress Zone workout. Here’s what I have noticed:

• Weight training initially slows weight loss: Even though I have been eating very healthy the last month, I have only lost two pounds (as opposed to my usual pound a week when I’m eating healthy).

• I am toning up: Even though I’ve only lost two pounds, I am toning up. My clothing is fitting better, so I KNOW that I am losing fat. It’s just not showing up on the scale yet. This is hard for me to face when I have to weigh once a week, but it’s great when I pull on my jeans.

• Gyms are full of gross, sweaty people: 24 Hour Fitness has a rule that you’re supposed to carry around a towel and clean up after your own sweat, but it is NOT enforced at my gym. I end up using my towel to clean up the sweat of dripping wet, gross people.

• Gym ettiquette is non-existent: People crash down weights, grunt and scream and sit like zombies on the circuit (Xpress Zone) machines. I’ve even had the 24 Hour Fitness personal trainers sit their clients at the circuit machines and have them do their exercises, talking to them while they rest between sets.

What’s the verdict?

I love weight training, but I HATE the gym.

Tune in tomorrow to see what I decided to do to keep up with my weight training without having to wipe up the sweat of other people.

Cheryl Koch, R.D. talks about the things that her mother used to tell her when she was little. Does all that advice hold any water in this day and age?

• Yahoo! Health Expert Blogs Eat Right, Stay Fit – Things My Mother Used to Tell Me

These are the sayings that she analyzes:

• Eat your carrots so you’ll be able to see in the dark. Verdict: True

• Eating spinach will make you big and strong. Verdict: True

• Eating chocolate will give you pimples. Verdict: False

• An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Verdict: True

• If you don’t finish your dinner you cannot have any dessert. Verdict: True

• You are what you eat. Verdict: True

See her article for the full story behind these things that your mother told you.

A study at BYU found that Utah Mormons weigh 4.6 pounds more than Utah Non-Mormons. Ironically, this is great news, because ten years ago, Utah Mormons used to weigh 5.7 pounds more than Utah Non-Mormons.

• BYU study finds Mormons weigh more – MSNBC.com

So much of my experience with growing up was blaming things on the Mormons. We have huge ice cream parlors here dedicated to decadent treats. I used to blame this on Mormons until I heard about Ben and Jerry’s. I don’t think there are enough Mormons in Vermont to have started that craze.

I remember seeing a editorial cartoon in the Salt Lake Tribune where a fat Mormon woman with a huge ice cream sundae was scolding a thin woman who was smoking. She said, “You’re just praying for a heart attack.” I remember laughing at that cartoon blaming the Mormons for their judgemental behavior when I was doing just as much judging myself.

The problem that I have with this study is that they are comparing the weights of Mormons to Non-Mormons. We’re all human. We all have the same access to the same restaurants in the state. Why are they comparing us? If the study had turned out the other way, I wonder what headlines would be announced on the local news. “Word of Wisdom Protects The Faithful” is what comes to my mind.

Ironically, the Word of Wisdom SHOULD protect the faithful. In 1833, before science truly knew what was healthy and what wasn’t, Joseph Smith released the Word of Wisdom with recommendations for a healthy life:

• Avoid Alcohol and Strong Drink (such as Coca-Cola or other caffeinated or carbonated beverages): “That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good.”

• Avoid Tobacco: “Tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man.”

• Avoid Hot Drinks (such as coffee and tea): “Hot drinks are not for the body or belly.”

• Eat Your Vegetables: “Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.”

• Eat Meat Sparingly: “Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly; And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.”

• Eat More Whole Grains and Feed Your Animals Grains: “All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth.”

• You’ll Be Healthy If You Eat This Way: “And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.”

All of these recommendations came before the Food Pyramid and the research about tobacco related deaths. Whether you believe these recommendations came because of divine inspiration or because it’s more economical to feed the minions on grain than it is on beef is a discussion for the Theology wing, but the truth of the matter is, the Word of Wisdom SHOULD be making the members of the LDS church thinner than their Non-Mormon counterparts. Why aren’t they?

You can read the full Word of Wisdom here:

• The LDS Word of Wisdom – Section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants

Via: food museum blog: Utah Mormons Weigh More, But Less Than Before

You need to go to the closest store right now and pick up the March issue of Self Magazine. Right at the top of the magazine, they have the story, “Wow! Shrink a Size Naturally” advertised. It’s on page 156 and I nearly missed it. Hidden after the makeup and the clothing, I almost ignored this article. My attention span for women’s magazines is less than a full magazine, so I am so glad I didn’t pass this one by.

Self Magazine convinced six women to give up their favorite over-the-counter diet pills and try exercise and healthy eating. The called their article, “Squeezing Out Diet Pills” and the results these women saw were phenomenal.

They threw away their Zantrex-3, Total Lean-Control, Trimspa, Suvaril, Metabolife, Metabolife Ultra Caffeine Free, and Cortislim in favor of eating and exercising according to the Self Challenge. One of the six women gained 1 pound of muscle, but the rest lost between 8 and 20 pounds where their diet pills had done nothing before.

Next time you think about throwing your money away on these diet pills, remember that simple eating and exercise can give you far better results.

This is called a Word Cloud and it was created based on what we’ve written on Starling Fitness. Somehow it seems like a good collection of words for this weblog. You can make one for your website:

• Create Your Own Word Cloud

They want to sell you a t-shirt, but you don’t need to buy one if you just want to see your weblog in words.

Via: ministrare: “Word Cloud”

I found this comic from The Boondocks funny last Sunday.

It reminds me of my entry about Cookie Monster on Sesame Street telling kids that cookies are only a sometimes food.

• Starling Fitness » Cookie Monster Confronts His Bingeing

I guess that was like David Crosby on those “Say No To Drugs” commercials.

When forty-six year old Yang Guangwen decided to ride his bicycle around the world all by himself, he was hoping to do it to promote the Olympics in 2008.

“I’ll travel and speak to people around globe, telling them how Chinese are in favor of the notion of Olympism – friendship, solidarity, and peace. I’ll record 2,008 wishes for the Beijing Games from 2,008 people during my trip and send them to the Games’ headquarter in Lausanne (Switzerland).”

He said nothing of the training that he has been doing so he can accomplish this feat, but China Daily was able to find out how hard he’s working out.

• China Daily – Chinese cyclist ready for solo global travel, for 2008 Games

Financially, he had sold off some of his business to amass the funds, while physically, he is keeping fit by cycling 30 kilometers and swimming 2,000 meters each day.

He has plans to visit the cities who have hosted the Olympics in honor of Being’s 2008 Olympic hosting. I have fantasies about traveling around Europe on a bike, but this takes bicycle touring to a new level. When I am riding on my bicycle, the whole world is smaller and I see things that I wouldn’t have seen rushing by in a car. That’s why travel like that is appealing to me.

That said, I have ridden in a car along I-80 and the strip from Wendover to Reno is an empty expanse of life-endangering heat in the summer and cold in the winter. I’m sure the rest of the world has its own expanses of desolation. It doesn’t say in the article whether he will come through Salt Lake City, but if he does, I’ll be there, cheering him on!

Good Luck, Yang!

Via: World Hum | Travel | Chinese Cyclist Aims to Ride Solo Ride Around the World

There is a foot of snow on the ground, but last week, baseball players reported for Spring Training.

• Happy News – Pitchers and catchers report to camp – by Ronald Blum with Associated Press

The World Series ended only 112 days ago and now the pitchers and catchers are back in training in Florida and Arizona. Baseball is a year-round sport for professional athletes.

What if we considered ourselves athletes? They are always in training or competition. They don’t take days off when it rains, they find some other way to keep in shape. Their career depends on keeping fit, so they take it seriously. What if we were to take our own physical fitness as seriously?

Next time you’re thinking of skipping a workout because it’s snowing or because you’re running a little late, remember those baseball players working all year long just to give you a good show when you pay for a ticket at the stadium. If they can throw a baseball all year long, then you can figure out a way to fit a workout into your day.

As of today, consider yourself a professional athlete and act like one.

This question came up on the comments section of my entry:

Starling Fitness » What You Need To Know About Weight Watchers

This is a great help. Is there a maximum of exercise points you can reduce your total by in a day? I exercise for 45 minutes everyday and get my heartrate up to 144 bpm which qualifies me for the heavy category, but 9 extra points sounds like it’s too many for me to get just for an intense 45 minute workout. I know there is a 4 point bank cap, but is there a cap if you eat the points that day? Thank you for your response.

Andy Marris
West Allis, WI, USA

Andrew,

There are some mixed answers on this question. If you ask some Weight Watcher leaders, they will say that you should not exercise more than four Points a day. The logic behind that is they want to avoid exercise bulimia. Other leaders will say you should eat all your exercise Points so that your body doesn’t go into shock and stop losing weight.

The real answer here is that you should listen to your body. Each one of us is different and some people can exercise a lot, eat a lot and still lose weight. Others need to exercise a lot and keep their eating level low so that they will lose weight. Since we’re all different, the best advice is to experiment and see how your body reacts. If you eat all your Points and still lose weight, then you’ve found your answer. If not, then you may have to cut back on eating those extra exercise Points.

Good Luck,
Laura Moncur

This article is the perfect condensation of a long, boring article on WebMD.

• Diet Blog – How to Eat Less Candy

Simple tricks like keeping a candy dish further away from you and the candy less visible can really affect the outcome of how much candy you eat. This is a definitive read!

Long Boring Article: Diet Trick May Outsmart Candy Binge