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

I’m not willing to believe this postcard from PostSecret. I know it might seem like you’re alone because you’re fat, but it’s simply not true. You’re alone because you won’t let anyone love you because you’re fat. It’s a minor distinction, but one that is entirely in your control.

You can break the cycle, and honestly, it doesn’t start with eating healthy. It starts with being willing to admit that you have been pushing people away. You deserve a healthy body AND a loving group of friends and family.

Don’t tell yourself lies like this.

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.

In a folder called Old Stuff, there lies another folder called Physical Progress. Inside that folder is a picture named MyGoal dated July 22, 2002. I KNOW the picture is older than that, but that July five years ago was the last time I opened it. It is a photo of my face on Jennifer Love Hewitt’s body.

I’ve never shared this before because I’m quite embarrassed by the photo. Not only is it not my best job at photoshopping, it doesn’t look like me. It probably will never look like me because my body is shaped differently than hers. I have a shorter waist and it’s a bloody pain to straighten my hair like that. Embarrassing or not, my goal was to look like Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Everywhere I turned last week, I saw Jennifer Love Hewitt defending her body. Every grocery store had her declaring “I’m not fat!” on every checkout line. Damn straight, she’s not fat. She’s freakin’ perfect! She’s my goal embodied and running around in a bikini! Why should she have to defend herself?

Apparently TMZ.com thinks that a size 2 is fat and announced it for all to see. Instead of caving to the insanity of it all, Jennifer defended herself beautifully on her website:

I’ve sat by in silence for a long time now about the way women’s bodies are constantly scrutinized. To set the record straight, I’m not upset for me, but for all of the girls out there that are struggling with their body image.

A size 2 is not fat! Nor will it ever be. And being a size 0 doesn’t make you beautiful. … To all girls with butts, boobs, hips and a waist, put on a bikini – put it on and stay strong.

Thanks, Jennifer. I think I’ll forgo the bikini right now, but I will stay strong. Thanks for being such a great role model for me.

This photo from I Can Has Cheezburger? made me realize how silly it is to compare myself to the models in fashion magazines.

That little kitten is PERFECT. We all are wonderful and perfect and comparing ourselves to an image, whether it’s the models in magazines, the concept of the perfect parent or even a ceramic likeness, is just wrong.

We can always strive to be better, but stop comparing yourself to anyone. Be better than you were yesterday. THAT’S the only comparison you should be making.

This postcard from PostSecret reminded me of how I felt when I was thinner. It was before I backslid as far as I have:

“When people compliment on how skinny I am, I know they are really saying that I have small boobs.”

This is a dangerous thought. Discounting the compliments of others and replacing an “insult” is just makes being skinny as miserable as being fat. Firstly, having small boobs isn’t an insult. You can be thin, have big boobs and they make you look fat. When you’re thin, you’re supposed to have small boobs. It’s a good thing.

Secondly, people are complimenting you on your thin body. ENJOY it! That’s what you worked so hard for, right? Don’t turn it into an insult in your mind. You’ll just end up gaining the weight back if you do.

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.

Japan must think Americans are insane. The Pizza Huts there are serving this monstrocity:

• Pizza Hut Japan – Double Roll

There is just too much in the crust and on the top to really list it all. FitSugar, however, have tried to breakdown the calorie count:

• More Fun With Fast Food: Double Roll Pizza Breakdown | FitSugar – Fitness, Health & Well-Being.

They came up with over six hundred calories a slice. I’m not surprised, but I AM surprised that all my thoughts of food went from one part of Japan (sushi) to another (weird “American” food) so quickly.

Via: holy sweet mother of jesus – this is the best pizza ever on Flickr – Photo Sharing!

As Wendy Bumgardner pointed out, it’s dark at night and not so safe for night time exercise:

• Time Change Deadly to Walkers

Changing from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time triples pedestrian deaths from 5 pm – 7 pm, according to two Carnegie Mellon University researchers. An average of 37 more people are killed each year in November vs. October around the 6 pm commute time.

She recommends a variety of reflective and lit items to make yourself visible. After looking at the reflective vests on Amazon, I’m shocked to see that they all are near the twenty dollar mark. Sure, you can’t put a price on safety, but it seems like an awful lot of money for a light little vest.

I found this reflective vest for walkers for six bucks, but other than that, anything under $15 was meant for construction workers.

Ironically, the best thing I’ve seen walkers do is carry a flashlight. Because it lights up itself, it doesn’t depend on the car headlights to hit it exactly right. The walker that does this in my area always carries it in the hand closest to the street. He lets his arm swing just as it would while walking and the light is moving, so it attracts your attention as a driver. A two buck flashlight and some batteries is a great way to keep yourself visible.

Me? I’m back to the treadmill now. It has gotten a little too cold out there for me and I’m logging my miles while watching my Walking DVDs.

What do you do for exercise when it gets dark and cold?

Adele Hagan, a food stylist from Canada, was the guest blogger on The Diet Blog last week. Food styling is the art of making food look good for a photograph and making it look good for advertising.

• Are There Ethics in Food Styling?

When talking about food advertising, she said:

What you see on the plate probably won’t match what you see in the ad, but that’s to be expected.

Why? Why is that to be expected? She said that they have to make sure the food looks good under the grueling environment of the hot lights of photography. Shouldn’t the “better” environment of the real world make it appear better?

When you watch that television ad and are craving that food, remember that what you’ll get is a far cry from what you are looking at.

Is food styling deceptive? Yes. Be on the lookout for it.

• Starling Fitness » Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality

The words Anatrim and spam are linked in my mind. Every day for the last few weeks, I have received a spam message in my email for a product called Anatrim. Here are some of the subject lines they have used:

• Healthy living with less fat
• Getting thinner can be enjoyable
• Say goodbye to extra pounds
• Doctors and Celebrities endorse Anatrim

And my favorite…

• You’ll love the new, non-obese you

Just based on the wording of the spam alone, I suspected that these messages were from a non-English speaker. I have never used the word non-obese, have you?

I decided to look them up and they are just peddling Hoodia under a different name:

• Anatrim – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anatrim is the name of a product that is marketed as hunger reducer or fat burner. According to websites and spam emails that promote the product, it contains hoodia, and helps people to lose weight by reducing the feeling of hunger. According to other sources, Anatrim tablets contain various ingredients, like green tea and spirulina.

It is unknown which company produces the Anatrim tablets; it is not registered as a trademark nor patented in Europe or the United States of America. According to the actual owner of the patent of hoodia for weight reduction, Phytopharm, Anatrim does not contain enough hoodia to be effective for the purpose of weight reduction.

As far as their origin, it looks like my instincts were right on:

• Who makes anatrim pills

The websites linked to from the emails give no information about the company who manufacture anatrim pills. There is no contact information given on these websites and the emails give a return address different from the website visitors are directed to. This is standard procedure for a product exclusively promoted by spam. Many of the domain names on which these websites are found are registered in China or Russia, but these change frequently.

Hoodia has not been shown to aid in weight loss. It is untested and companies that claim that Hoodia helps you lose weight are on thin ice.

• Starling Fitness » What’s the truth about Hoodia Gordonii?

If you get one of these emails, just file it in the spam folder with the rest of the people trying to take your money.

This website is supposed to be funny. Yeah, it’s kind of funny, but for me, it hits too close to home.

Crying, while eating

All of them seem staged and the “reasons” they’re crying range from silly to hilarious. The only problem is, I really turn to food when I’m sad. It actually lifts my mood and I can feel it working about halfway through a meal.

I have come to notice this pattern, so I have a bunch of alternate activities that I can try to make myself feel better: reading, writing, exercise, talking to friends, setting a schedule, and focusing on work. Just because I’ve noticed the pattern, however, doesn’t mean I’m free from it. It just means that I feel guilty AND sad when I resort to food.

Via: Twitter / Daniel Johnson, Jr.: This is still one of the si…

If you are abusing your body by bingeing, purging or starving, you are teaching your child how to have an eating disorder. I learned how to binge by bingeing with my father. This postcard from PostSecret showed me how my father must have felt when he realized he had passed his eating problems on to me.

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.