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

This postcard from PostSecret is touching AND insensitive.

It reads:

You’re fat. Get over it. I STILL LOVE YOU! You can change if you want.

If someone wrote this to me, I don’t know how I would feel about it. Part of being able to change something is accepting it. I know that. I also would love to hear that an important person in my life loves me, even though I feel like a whale.

I guess the question in my mind that pops up has to do with the contradiction. If you love me, why would you care if I lose the weight? I guess you could love me AND want me to be healthy and fit. That’s not a contradiction, really. Something in that card strikes me as wrong, though and I can’t quite put my finger on 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 found a little religious book at an estate sale a few weeks ago. While most of the little stories don’t have much to say to me, this one did:

Two men became neighbors in a new housing development. Both men worked long hours removing the weeds from his new back yard. Then one was satisfied but the other went on to put in a lawn, flower garden, and even a few fruit trees and rows of vegetables. The first man soon realized that his lot was being refilled by a new crop of the same old weeds, while the second man was enjoying a thing of service and of beauty.

To resolve to remove an old way of life without substituting something else was not enough – the old way grew right back.

This story really spoke to me because I have tried time and time again to remove my old bad habits without replacing them with NEW good habits. I don’t WANT the same old weeds to pop back up in my life. I want to replace them with a crop of beautiful flowers and veggies. To do that, I need to focus on new habits that are good for me.

Right now, I’m concentrating on getting twenty minutes of exercise every single day. It might sound like a pathetic and small step, but that’s how new habits are formed, slowly and small and every freakin’ day.

Original photo by: Tobyotter on Flickr

I found this image and it really helped me.

• The Iron You: The Virtuous Cycle

It reads:

The Healthy Living Cycle: Positive Thinking leads to Feeling Good, which leads to Regular Exercise, which leads to Eating Better, which leads to Positive Thinking.

I love this image because it reminds me of how to get back on track if I am having trouble. I can get back to a healthy life just by jumping into the cycle at any point. I don’t need to immediately limit my food choices or pound my body on the treadmill. All I have to do is jump into the cycle.

Let’s say my eating has gotten out of control. In order to get it back in check, I could do any of the following things:

• Write positive things in my journal
• Meditate
• Take a walk around the neighborhood
• Lift some weights
• Talk to a good friend who makes me feel better about myself
• Watch an inspiring movie

If you notice, none of those things involve anything to do with food, but doing enough of them will get my eating back in control.

If I’m just not willing to exercise, I could do any of the following things:

• Limit my calories to account for no exercise that day
• Change my diet plan to include more filling foods like protein and veggies.
• Write in my journal
• Meditate on all the good in my life
• Call someone who loves me
• Read a book that makes me feel better

Whatever your problem is, all you have to do is jump into that cycle at ANY point to solve the problem. So many times, I try to fix my eating by monitoring my eating or limiting my food choices. That actually makes things WORSE for me. Instead, I’m going to focus on other portions of the Healthy Living Cycle and they will lead to better food choices naturally.

The next time you feel discouraged, take a look at this cycle. Find out where you are having troubles and jump into the cycle at a DIFFERENT point to make things better. You’ll find that your problems don’t feel like that big of a problem anymore.

Via: Tumblr: Tattoos and Fitness

I love this simple image from Fresh, Clean, Fit!.

It reads:

Tough Times Don’t Last. Tough People Do.

Every time I hit a rough patch, I need to remember this. I am tough and I’m going to outlast this.

This motivational poster from I CAN DO IT is wonderful!

It reads:

The more you stare fear in the face, the less of a face fear has.

• Eddie Harris, Jr.

For me, weight loss and exercise has nothing to do with fear. At least, I don’t think it does. It’s more about trading present pleasure for future pleasure. Do I run my butt off right now so that I’m stronger tomorrow? Do I skip that peanut butter and jelly snack for a thinner body in the future? Too many times, I have chosen present pleasure and you can tell by just looking at me.

It’s not fear that’s holding me back. It’s lack of planning for the future.

We’re almost to spring and our New Year’s Resolutions are three months old. It’s time to remember that this isn’t a sprint. It’s a long distance run.

Working out every day and eating less calories than your body wants is HARD, but that’s not an excuse to quit. You have to keep going!

Whenever I start feeling like I should want to quit, I remember Finding Nemo and Dori’s continuous singing, “Just Keep Swimming!”

If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, here is the video:

This image is the best because it’s animated:

If you’ve been slacking off on diet, exercise or both, remember Dori singing this song and get back on track!

Images via:

• just keep swimming | Tumblr
• Blogger Challenge #3: Just keep swimming.

I don’t know how I found this television series. I think it might have been a YouTube featured video, but I am so glad I found it. My Mad Fat Diary is a British TV series that started in January of this year and it treats eating disorders so spot on that I just couldn’t stop watching.

This scene is from the second episode and it is brilliant.

This show has really become a battle cry for self-acceptance and I just love it. So does arthlete. She has drawn quite a few of Rae-focused illustrations, but this one is my favorite: Arthlete: Rae and My Mad Fat Diary

It reads:

You can’t spend the rest of your life being afraid of people rejecting you, and you have to start by not rejecting yourself. You don’t deserve it. From now on, people can either accept you for who you are or they can FUCK OFF.

I can’t really show you any of her other illustrations, because they are spoilers.

You can see the entire first season here, but be careful. Space the episodes out so that you don’t consume them in a huge binge like I did.

I saw this image on I CAN DO IT the other day.

It reads:

The most important weight loss muscle?

Your Brain

Change your mind, you will change your body.

Aside from the fact that the brain isn’t a muscle, it’s a good thought and it reminded me of the Eiffel 65 song called, “Move Your Body.” [iTunes link].

Here is a video of Sims exercising to the song:

Here are the lyrics (repeated ad infinitum):

Workout your mind mind – Workout your body
Move your mind – Move your mind mind
Move your body, every everybody.
Move your body, come on now everybody.

If you wanna to move the world, start with your body.
Yo, come on, you gotta start with something.
If you wanna move your mind, just move your body.
Move your mind, move your mind, it’s gonna cost you nothing.

If you wanna move someone, start with your body.
Yo, come on, and try to move somebody.
If you wanna move alone,
Then everybody will move along with you.

I found this great dance video with the same song here:

The truth is, moving your body is a GREAT way to shake the cobwebs out of your mind. It sets you free from your rumination and lets you think clearly. Exercise can dissipate negative moods and alleviate your depression.

Conversely, if you focus on fitness and succeeding, your mind can make your workouts easier. Imagining how good you’ll feel after the workout can make your time exercising better. Visualizing your success will help you get there quicker.

We like to think that our minds are separate from our bodies, but they are tied together with sinew, hormones and blood. If you want to make your mind better, move your body. If you want to make your body better, move your mind.

This image from Hello there, fellow fitblr says it perfectly:

It reads:

Healthy Mind + Healthy Body = Happy Life

So true!

Update 04-29-13: I found another good motivational poster about this subject from Turning day-dreams, into reality.

It reads:

By changing your mind, you change everything.

It’s true in both the positive sense AND the negative. If you decide that the plan you have been religiously following and seeing success with doesn’t work, it will STOP working. This is ALL a mind game. Play it in your favor.

This image from I CAN DO IT is a perfect visual reminder of your goals.

In particular, the bulletin board on the left that says, “Pounds to Lose” and “Pounds Lost” is such a good visual indicator of your goals that it would be hard to ignore. Just think how good you would feel when you got to move a little clothespin over to the lost section. Think how HORRIBLE you would feel if you had to move it back!

You could do this with a jar and pretty stones or glass beads like in this picture from My Sister’s Jar.

You could use popsicle sticks with rewards like 365(ish) Days of Pinterest did.

I’m imagining a bulletin board with push pins and rewards at the end of each five pounds. I think that might break it up nicely.

You have to do SOMETHING to motivate yourself with weight loss. If not, you’ll end up rewarding yourself with food and you don’t want that.

In Jennifer Lawrence’s Elle Magazine interview, she said that Hollywood makes her feel like she is “fat.” So when she was training for Katniss, she kept one thought in mind:

“I’m never going to starve myself for a part… I don’t want little girls to be like, ‘Oh, I want to look like Katniss, so I’m going to skip dinner. That’s something I was really conscious of during training, when you’re trying to get your body to look exactly right. I was trying to get my body to look fit and strong- not thin and underfed.”

Hollywood really needs a kick in the pants if they think she is “fat.” Most people dream of looking as good as she does.

The next time you look at yourself in the mirror and wish that you looked more like an actress, remember that your idol is under EXTREME pressure to literally STARVE herself to look like she does. Don’t judge yourself by Hollywood’s insane standards.

Images via:

• WIL WHEATON dot TUMBLR, karenhallion: lifewithkitty: …
• I CAN DO IT