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

I feel like I should talk about the Olympics, but I have nothing to say. How about a beautiful picture from the 1948 Olympics instead?

I don’t know why I’m not excited about watching any of the Olympic events this year. It’s a great year for women in sports and I should be inspired by the athletes, but I just haven’t had any interest in them. Personally, I have been exercising more now than I have for years. Maybe that’s it. I’m doing more than watching.

That’s a good thing, right?

Photo via: Track Events, Olympic Games, 1948 | Retronaut

This picture from Pictures Taken at The Right Time shows me just how important it is that I can run fast.

I’ve talked about this thing before:

• Starling Fitness – Fitness, diet, and health weblog » Could You Escape?

What if you were in that situation? What if the freeways were clogged with cars? Could you get away if you were on foot or on a bicycle?

How far can you go in one day on foot if you were really pressed to get out of town? How far could you go on a bike? If the situation was desperate enough, could you escape using only the power of your own body?

THIS is why we workout. We have to be strong for those rare times when everything might be asked of our bodies. It can be the difference between life and death.

Seeing that photo of a huge wave nearly taking over two runners reminds me that I need to by physically fit so I can SURVIVE. It’s what survival of the fittest is all about.

Photo via: Workin It Out / this is the kind of motivation I need to do a 5K!

Stylesight has an entire collection of women on bicycles throughout the ages:

• Cycle in Style | Blog | Stylesight

There were two that were my particular favorites:

This is Claire McCardell’s 1940 Bicycle Outfit. The next photo was unattributed.

Seeing so many women riding bicycles over the years makes me want to get up and ride my own!

Via: i like clothes / Claire McCardell bicycle outfit, 1940s. This looks like a supremely comfortable and stylish outfit for a nice ride…

Here is the complete playlist for the BBC documentary, “The Men Who Made Us Fat.” It’s worth a watch.

Now, the blame for the obesity epidemic isn’t the fault of the farmers who are trying to make a living. Too much food isn’t the problem. The WRONG food is the problem. HFCS AND sugar are bad for us. If our consumption of soda that had been sweetened with sugar had increased as much as it did with HFCS, we would have gained the SAME amount of weight. They BOTH have fructose.

I don’t know about everyone else, I snacked between meals because I was STARVING. I felt hungry all the time because I was eating sugar all day long. Even when I was on Weight Watchers, and losing weight, I did it with fruit smoothies, whole wheat bread and Kashi cereal. I was eating high carb all day long and it made me SO hungry. Once I started eating low carb, my need for snacks throughout the day evaporated.

I don’t believe that the palatability of food caused this constant hunger. I eat good foods now, but avoid carbohydrates. My food tastes delicious, but I’m not obsessed with food anymore. It’s not the fact that food tastes so good that causes people to overeat. It’s the carbohydrates.

I also don’t agree with taxing food manufacturers. They are just trying to make yummy food and sell it. It’s OUR responsibility not to buy it.

This is a pretty good documentary, but it goes overboard on laying blame and doesn’t spend enough time tell people what to do about it. I’m less worried about blame and more worried about how to get healthy.

via: Don’t Miss BBC Two’s Documentary ‘The Men Who Made Us Fat’ « Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb Blog

I found this animated GIF at this summer and I just LOVE it!

This scene is from the movie, Burn After Reading. I HATED that movie because of what happens to Brad Pitt’s character, but at the same time, I kind of liked it. I really felt each of the characters represented one of the seven deadly sins.

Brad Pitt’s character was eating ALL the time, so I really felt he represented gluttony. To see gluttony running on a never-ending treadmill really brings home the tragedy of that sin. In order to burn off the food, you must spend an inordinate amount of time exercising. This little GIF reminds me that it’s better to get my gluttony under control rather than waste my life on the treadmill. I exercise every day to get strong, not burn off the food I eat.

I’ve talked quite a few times about the episode of Friends when Phoebe runs like a little kid.

• Starling Fitness » The One Where Phoebe Runs
• Starling Fitness » The One Where Phoebe Runs

My favorite quote from the episode is here:

“I run like I did when I was a kid because that’s the only way it’s fun. Didn’t you ever run so fast that you thought your legs were going to fall off?”

You can see the important parts of the video here.

Someone actually made an animated GIF of Phoebe running and I just want to watch it over and over.

Phoebe’s screaming:

That’s not running, let’s GO!

Animated GIF via: acciohealthylifestyle: if you’re not running… – Turning day-dreams, into reality

I made this inspirational poster the other day.

It reads,

Of course it burns, but complaining won’t make you look good naked.

I surprise myself at how wimpy I can be sometimes. After a hard workout, it hurts to climb the stairs to my bedroom the next day. If I want to be a hottie, though, I’m going to have to live with a little pain on the way up the stairs. It’s a lot better than living with the pain of being the fattest girl in the room.

Original photo via: I CAN DO IT

I’ve never found a workout buddy who could last longer than a month with me. I need someone who will workout with me every day without flaking on me. Sure, you might have to flake on me once or twice a month, but not every other day.

My dog, Nina, is the only exercise buddy who is eager and ready to go with me every single freakin’ day, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone get a dog for that reason. I’ve talked about that before.

• Starling Fitness » Bad Fitness Advice: Get A Dog

In the end, when it comes to staying motivated to exercise, it all falls on me. I can’t depend on a workout buddy. I have to put on my gym clothes and get my butt out there every single day, no matter the weather, my mood or schedule. It all depends on me and all the people who said they would be my exercise buddies and flaked on me will see the difference soon enough.

I read this saying on Lifehacker the other day:

It reads:

If you want guaranteed results, do nothing—you’ll be guaranteed nothing in return. But that’s no way to succeed. -Ben Nesvig

The truth is, I WANT guaranteed results. I want to be able to know that if I follow the exact eating regime and workout plan that I will be to goal at a specific time. It’s depressing to know that there are no guaranteed results, except in failure.

No diet or workout can promise that I will get to goal, especially if I’m not willing to work at it. As long as I am willing to get my butt off the couch and my face out of the fridge, however, I will be better than I was yesterday.

I’ve been back to doing weight training again for the first time in two years. Every time I tried to do it in the past, I just did too much at first and ended up quitting before a week was over because I was in too much pain to do any more.

This time, I did it differently. This time, I cut my weight down to the lowest it could be and the first week, I only did one set of 15 for each exercise. I had a routine for the muscles on the front of my body for one day and a different routine for the muscles on the back of my body for the next day (I think I got that idea from Jillian Michaels). And I have been doing my weight training EVERY day.

It was super easy, but I didn’t hurt myself and I didn’t quit, so I considered it progress.

The second week, I upped my workout by doing two sets of 15 and kept the weights at that same LOW level. I was surprised that at some of the exercises, I was really struggling to do my two very simple sets. No wonder I had hurt myself before, I was doing WAY more than I should have for a beginner.

Next week, I’ll up my workout to three sets of 15 at that same low weight level. Sure, I’m going to start feeling pain and the last rep is going to look just like the girl in the picture, but at least I won’t be injuring myself. Pushing myself is good, but pushing myself so hard that I quit isn’t.

The next time you’re inspired to overdo it on your workout, remember that you have to be able to do another workout tomorrow. If you push yourself so hard that you can’t remain consistent, then you’re sabotaging yourself. That photo might be what your last rep should look like, but only if it doesn’t injure you.

Original photo via: I CAN DO IT