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

“My Nike+ is dead.” Mike was trying to start his workout, but the iPhone couldn’t find his sensor. It just sat there, spinning it’s wheel and searching helplessly.

“I’m going downtown tomorrow. I’ll pick you up a new sensor.”

So I did, but the next day when he tried to start his workout, it sat spinning again.

“Maybe you should reboot.”

When he turned off his iPhone and turned it back on, it worked just fine with his old sensor. “I guess we didn’t need to buy a new one.”

This happened to me just yesterday, but because it had happened to Mike last month, I knew what to do. Before you assume your Nike+ sensor is dead, try rebooting your iPhone. It might save you twenty bucks.

Michelle Aguilar was the winner of The Biggest Loser back in 2008. You can read about it here:

• Starling Fitness » Lightning Strikes Twice on The Biggest Loser

I’m not a religious person, so this little video clip really had the potential to just turn me off. Depending on your tolerance for God Talk, this may or may not be inspiring to you.

The idea of giving your problems over to a higher power has been incredibly motivating to many people. I never write about that aspect of motivation because it just doesn’t work for me, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. If you are having trouble staying with your eating and exercise program, try having a heart to heart talk with your preferred deity and see if that helps you hold on for one more day.

I rarely shop at Old Navy, but I saw these advertisements in their store windows and they just made me smile. The ads are made up to look like Lost Dog signs, except what you lost was your flabby body.

This was the first sign I saw and I love how they used Jello to represent Jiggle.

Muffin Top is a recent phrase in my vocabulary. If it’s new to you as well, it means the fat that can spill out the top of jeans.

Losing your spare tire would be a bad thing on a car, but a very good thing when you’re exercising.

Despite what Old Navy is trying to convince you, there are no magic clothes that will make you lose weight, but having a new exercising outfit is sometimes enough to get me on the treadmill. I really liked these t-shirts because they entice me to do a little more.

If these posters or clothes entice you to exercise, then Old Navy HAS helped you to lose your couch potato, jiggle, muffin top or spare tire. Get up and do a workout now because the motivation is free!

• Trainers: What to consider before you hire one. http://bit.ly/7fxSij (via @cnn) #
• ran 0.75 mi on 1/9/2010 at 3:43 PM with a pace of 33'12"/mi http://bit.ly/5mpeeH #
• #CES Philips' Activa MP3 player insults the lazy-http://bit.ly/55Z2s5 #
• DDR on the cheap at Big Lots: http://wp.me/pzT7L-e3 /via @DDRdiva #
• Just filmed a Las Vegas walking video. I walked from The Luxor to Planet Hollywood with footage of Aria. Hope the video is usable. #

While I was in Las Vegas, I visited the Nike store to see if they had some comfortable shoes for me. I did buy some cute Nike+ shoes, but they had a big advertising campaign with the slogan,

Run into the dark of the night.

I thought that maybe Nike was selling shoes that light up so people can see you running in the dark, but that was wishful thinking.

They did have a jacket for $250 that had a rechargeable pack that lit up, however.

Here is the description from Nike:

Make your presence known when running at night or in other low-light conditions with the Nike Distance Light Running Jacket. This lightweight, flexible and washable (when control unit is removed) layer features electroluminescent (EL) panels on the front and back to help others on the road see you.

EL light provides visibility from multiple angles, and the blue-green variety used in these panels is less likely than red or white light to compete with other lights along roadways, helping you stand out. The panels in the Distance Light Jacket are activated by a small control unit in the front pocket and flash in a heart-beat pulse pattern that switches to a strobe pattern to indicate that charging is needed in the next two hours.

Considering that this TerraLUX FlareStar30 Light runs for 50 hours on 2 AA batteries, can be attached to ANY jacket AND only costs about twelve bucks, spending $250 on a Nike jacket that lights up seems a little silly.

It’s so cold in Salt Lake City right now that the idea of running outside at night sounds miserable, but if you have to do your workouts in the dark, the TerraLUX LED lights sound like a much better option.

This week, on PostSecret, there were tons of postcards that I found interesting. Here is one of them.

It reads:

I have involuntary orgasms doing strenuous exercise at the gym all the time. I wonder if anyone notices.

My only comment is, “Why can’t I have that problem?!”

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.

This week, on PostSecret, there were tons of postcards that I found interesting. Here is one of them.

It reads:

Now that I’ve lost the weight, fat people disgust me.

This postcard just brings to light the stark reality of fat hatred. I’ve talked about this a couple of times before. The first time, I suggested that people don’t really hate fat people. It’s more complicated than that.

• Starling Fitness » Why Do Skinny People Hate Fat People?

It didn’t take too many comments to realize that I was totally wrong about that idea and that there are people out there who HATE the overweight.

• Starling Fitness » Why Do Skinny People Hate Fat People? REDUX

There is nothing that we can do about other people’s feelings about us. All we can control is our actions and our own feelings. Focus on yourself and let those fat haters stew in their own juices.

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.

This week, on PostSecret, there were tons of postcards that I found interesting. Here is one of them.

It reads:

I’ve been pumping iron for a year and my wife has said nothing, but other women do…

This postcard made me realize what a minefield our lives can be. Has his wife really not noticed that he has been working out? I doubt it. She probably has been watching his progress, but doesn’t know what to say. Sometimes we train people to treat us the way they do.

Maybe every time she has noticed his progress in the past, her husband acted as if she had insulted him. “Was I so out of shape before that now you need to gush over me?”

Maybe he is walking around like he is god’s gift to women and she is sick of his posing.

Maybe she has been working out as well and he hasn’t noticed HER progress.

Maybe she really hasn’t noticed his changes because she sees him every single day and the change has been gradual.

When we work so hard at making our bodies stronger and healthier, it seems discouraging when the people we love don’t notice our commitment. We can’t expect them to be mind readers. We have to tell them what we need, whether it be positive reinforcement or compliments. Expecting our loved ones to know what we need isn’t fair to them or us.

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.

This week, on PostSecret, there were tons of postcards that I found interesting. Here is one of them.

It reads:

I compare my groceries with those of others at the store and always find my choices superior.

Sometimes I think that humans have an innate need to feel better than other people. I believe it’s the whole reason clubs and religions exist. Food elitism is just another way for people to feel superior.

Sure, eating healthy is important, but that has little to do with the sort of preachy attitude that I’ve seen.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter WHAT you eat. You can lose weight eating nothing but gummy bears. You can get fat eating nothing but organic whole foods. And what I put in my grocery cart is NONE of your business, so keep your snobby nose out of it.

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.

I have been doing the Couch to 5K program on the treadmill while watching my Walking DVDs. It’s so cold outside in Salt Lake City that I am trapped on the treadmill. Luckily, I have many exotic locales to explore on DVD. Because of this, I decided to film two walking videos while Mike and I are in Las Vegas.

There is nothing I like better during my Vegas trips than to take an early morning walk on The Strip. This morning, I filmed from The Luxor hotel to Planet Hollywood (and back). I even got some footage of the brand new casino, Aria. It was an eerily quiet and relaxing part of the walk.

It was a total of 2.73 miles and you can see the map of my walk on RunKeeper.

My moronic Nike+, however, had its typical glitch where it doesn’t register a pace and only recorded 0.33 miles. I hate it when Nike+ screws up like that. I shouldn’t have to monitor it every second to make sure it is reading a pace for me. Grr…

I haven’t had a chance to even look at the video I shot yet, but if it’s usable, I’ll get it edited and ready for sale as soon as I can. I actually have two other videos in the hopper: Quail Gardens Botanical Garden Walk in Encinitas, California and a Old Faithful Walk in Yellowstone Park, Wyoming. The hardest part of these videos is designing the sleeve, so I will get working on that as soon as I get back to Salt Lake because I want to have new videos to exercise with as much as everyone else.

Until then, I’m kicking my butt getting filming done here in Vegas while I can.