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

The FDA has approved a machine that is supposed to provide a “temporary reduction in the appearance of cellulite.” They tout it as a safer alternative to liposuction.

• FDA Clears Syneron VelaSmooth for Cellulite Treatment

It all sounds like hype to me. I don’t want to pay my doctor for anything that is temporary and only changes the appearance of my legs. My biggest problem is getting to my ideal weight. When I’m there, if I still have cellulite, I’m not going to care. The goal is to be healthy. If I am at a healthy weight and I still have cellulite, then I’ve achieved my goal.

So many companies are trying to profit from our insecurities. There are creams and machines, loofahs and exercise balls. While these things might make you feel better about the situation, they are just placebos. A good massage could make you feel just as beautiful and empowered.

• Quackwatch – Cellulite Removers – by Stephen Barrett, M.D.

I hope that the FDA will be watching this company and the doctors who use them very closely, just waiting for them to do something illegal. Don’t be a victim. Let them experiment on someone else.

Via: Really Useful Fitness Blog – Velasmooth: A safe cellulite treatment that actually works?

Newsday talks about Lance Armstrong’s lessons on fitness.

• Newsday.com: A tour of Lance’s lessons in endurance

Here is a condensed list of what he said:

• Planning is important.
• Think strong. Get Strong.
• Mix up your intensity.
• Take your fitness seriously.
• Know your strengths and weaknesses.
• It’s not about your bike.

I guess it doesn’t matter whether I ride the Cruiser or the Mountain Bike to work. It’s all about me, baby!

Via: Really Useful Fitness Blog – Fitness Tips from Lance Armstrong

Steve Pavlina has a great entry about mentoring. When you are trying to change your life drastically, it helps to have someone who has been there before to answer your questions personally. I’m not talking about websites like mine; I’m talking about a real live person who you can talk to face to face (or cry on their shoulder, as the case may be).

• Steve Pavlina’s Personal Development Blog – Mentoring

He doesn’t have too many ideas on how to find a mentor and it’s even harder when you’re looking for someone who has lost a lot of weight. Most of us don’t want to announce to the world our past. Those before pictures don’t even feel like they are part of us anymore because we had to change so much to get where we are today.

Here are some ideas on how to find a mentor:

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I used to take surveys in my free time. I volunteered to answer questions about products and commercials and movie trailers. This article is about a survey of 4000 women and 1000 men. When I read the findings, (83% said they suffered from deep “self-loathing”, 91% felt depressed and 79% said they felt “utter despair”) I wonder how the survey was worded. How can I judge whether this was an accurate survey without seeing what questions they asked?

The Mail Online – Overweight feel life is ‘worthless’

I remember taking a survey about socks. Never once was I give the option, “I don’t care about my socks. I just make sure they match my clothing. I don’t care if they are long or short or are based on the holidays. I don’t freakin’ care!” That was how I felt at the end of the survey, but there was absolutely no way to tell them that because the test was designed poorly. They ended up finding out that I wear short white socks for exercise and black crew socks to match my shoes. They didn’t even ask me how often I wear socks, which is never in the summer and mostly under boots in the winter.

I wonder how this survey, which tells me that overweight people feel like “life is not worth living,” was written. I wonder what the motivation behind a survey like that would be. Are they trying to tell me that I am worthless unless I conform to their standards? They didn’t even define overweight. As I have said many times, overweight is a far cry from obese, but it seems like everyone is using it interchangeably.

Don’t pay any mind to news articles like this one. They are not scientific. They are not even repeatable. They have no bearing on your life. The first step toward getting a healthy body is getting a healthy mind. You deserve love and cherishing. Make sure you love and cherish yourself enough to protect yourself from these surveys. Don’t let them play with your head.

Via: Food is Worse than Crack – Survey of Overweight Women

I just got home from the softball game. Tonight I made my first run ever. I made it to home plate, not just once, but twice. The second time, I hit a double. That was sheer luck because the opposing team had the same color t-shirts as our team. The pitcher threw the ball to our first base coach instead of his guy on first base. I don’t care. I’ll take all the luck and run with it.

We won the game. It’s also the first time we’ve won since I started playing with them. I had no idea how good it felt. I drove past Franklin Covey Field on the way home and I thought, “Why would anyone watch baseball when they can play?” I didn’t think about the scorching heat. I didn’t think about all those lost games. I was seriously high from winning. It felt as good as running a 5K, but I didn’t have to work as hard.

Apparently, the winning team gets to keep the game ball. Our team gives the ball to one of the players. I had no knowledge of this honor. When our coach threw the ball to me, I said, “I have a ball at home.” He smiled and laughed, “It’s the game ball, Laura. When we win, we get to keep the ball and we give them to one of the players.” I nearly cried. Seriously. I had to suck it in and remember Tom Hanks saying, “There’s no crying in baseball!”

Mike says that we could get a cool box to display the ball in. For now, it’s in a creme brulee ramekin. Better use for it anyway.

This postcard showed up on PostSecret last week. I often talk about the first step toward a healthy life (Margaret Cho’s F**K It Diet, The Fat Girl’s Guide to Life, etc.), but I rarely talk about the first step toward failure. The first step that derails your mind and sends you on the road to desperation.

I call that first step, Bulimia, Diet Drugs and Stomach Stapling. It’s the mindset that says, “This isn’t working. I can’t do this on my own. I’m willing to do ANYTHING to get skinny, even if it hurts me.” I never even remember thinking the phrase, “I can’t do this on my own,” but that is the premise behind every step toward these weight loss methods. It’s a very harmful thought and it is promoted by companies everywhere trying to sell you something.

When I used to read up on the most recent medical procedures, the new diet drugs that are in the testing phases and was tempted to empty my stomach after a binge, something far more sinister was at work than just “keeping informed.” I was telling myself over and over again that I couldn’t do this on my own and that it didn’t matter if I was healthy as long as I was thin.

I AM NOT A CLOTHING SIZE!!! I am a smart, witty and enchanting person! I want to stay on this planet as long as I can, so I’m going to take precious care of my body so it doesn’t betray me early in life. I am going to exercise and provide it with healthy food. I’m going to protect it from chemicals. I’m going to protect it from scapel-happy surgeons, wanting to make a buck off the insecurities of humans. I’m going to protect it from binges and purges. I can do this!

And so can you.

Visualization is a powerful tool to prepare your mind for weight loss. For me, visualization works best with writing. If I sit down and write what I will look like, what I will be able to do and how I will feel when I reach my ideal weight, it works for me.

I’ve learned, over the years, that what works for me doesn’t necessarily work for everyone, so here is a list of ways that you can use to get your head wrapped around the idea of what it will be like when you’re thin:

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This post is about how negative thinking can affect your exercise routine. If you have been struggling with exercise, it might be your head, not your body.

• You Are What You Think – Beat Negative Patterns of Thinking

The best advice from this post:

Carry around a pocketful of paper clips. Every time you have a negative thought about yourself, hook the paper clips together in a chain. Often clients become motivated to change because they are surprised at the length of the chain at the end of the day.

This is a good way to gauge how much you beat yourself up. You cannot get to goal and stay there by constantly berating yourself. You have to learn to love yourself enough to do what you need to do to be at your ideal weight.

This entry was orginally posted on Pick Me! 06-28-05:

I was at the Utah College of Massage Therapy, waiting for them to call out my name. I rode my bike here and I was a little winded from the ride up the hills and happy for some water and a seat to rest on. It felt good to write and listen to their relaxing music.

I just heard some one say the words, “chug-a-lug” to someone else. It was the brown-haired girl manning the computer. That was the name that the kids in elementary school made fun of me with. It hurt a little to hear it. I looked up and identified the girl who said it. She hadn’t been talking to me. She hadn’t even noticed the glare I threw her. Of course, she had no idea that I had been tortured with that name for years.

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Just in case you didn’t notice, we added a new category called Inner Workouts. The Motivation category is for those times when you feel like quitting, but the Inner Workouts category is for changing your mind.

Half the battle of weight loss is in your head. Little things that you say to yourself can undermine you far more than any dessert or sabatoging cohort. Beating yourself up for slips, berating your body, and weighing yourself every day are all habits that can undermine any diet or exercise routine.

This week is Inner Workouts Week. All of our posts will pertain to getting your head in the right spot to get to your ideal weight.