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

All fad diets work for a reason. Sometimes it’s because they lower your calorie intake by limiting your food choices. Other times its because they promise results so strongly that the placebo effect takes place.

What fad diets have you tried?

For how long did each one work?

What made you finally give them up?

What will you do in the future to evaluate whether another diet is simply a fad diet or a healthy way of eating?

The Question of the Week is meant to be an Inner Workout for you. Find some time during the week and allow yourself to write the answers to the questions posted. You can write them on paper, on a word processor or here in the comments section. Whatever works for you as long as you do it.

Keep writing until you find out something about yourself that you didn’t know before. I’ve also heard that it works to keep writing until you cry, but that doesn’t really work for me. Whatever works for you. Just keep writing until it feels right.

Yesterday, I talked about eating healthy and how it can be fun like a video game.

If Eating Healthy were a video game, what activities would give you a high score?

What activities would lower your score?

The Question of the Week is meant to be an Inner Workout for you. Find some time during the week and allow yourself to write the answers to the questions posted. You can write them on paper, on a word processor or here in the comments section. Whatever works for you as long as you do it.

Keep writing until you find out something about yourself that you didn’t know before. I’ve also heard that it works to keep writing until you cry, but that doesn’t really work for me. Whatever works for you. Just keep writing until it feels right.

Fear is such a personal thing. For one person, learning to surf is scary. For another, being able to walk out to the mailbox and get the mail is. I can’t look into a magic computer screen and see each of your fears. All I can do is urge you to do something scary.

I can think of a ton of things that used to scare me:

• Running a race.
• Writing down EVERYTHING that I eat, even when I’m bingeing.
• Exercising every day.
• Eating healthy in front of my family and friends.
• Saying no to desserts or other food that wasn’t in my plan.
• Being a “picky eater.”
• Hurting myself by exercising.

I could keep on writing, but these are my fears, not yours. Make a list of your biggest diet and exercise fears.

Today…

Seriously, right now, this very second make a quick list of what you’re scared of. Choose something on that list and do it now. I was scared of being thought of as a “picky eater.” Now, I have no fear of that because I was brave enough to say that I didn’t want to eat unhealthy food. It took me a long time to learn how to be POLITE and ask for what I needed, but I finally got past that fear. Today is your day to learn how to cross one of those fears off your list.

Each time you cross off a fear, you get closer to getting to goal weight and living a healthy lifestyle without effort.

Tell me about your body.

What do you love about it?

What would you miss if you lost it?

How strong are you? How fast are you? What can you do that no one else can?

The Question of the Week is meant to be an Inner Workout for you. Find some time during the week and allow yourself to write the answers to the questions posted. You can write them on paper, on a word processor or here in the comments section. Whatever works for you as long as you do it.

Keep writing until you find out something about yourself that you didn’t know before. I’ve also heard that it works to keep writing until you cry, but that doesn’t really work for me. Whatever works for you. Just keep writing until it feels right.

Self-image is a personal thing. Dave Werner wanted to share the stories he received about body image with the world. Here is a video describing his work:

Here are the responses to the body image question:

Real Images Project Responses

You can see Dave’s portfolio here:

Dave Werner’s Portfolio 2006

Via: Big Fat Blog: Reflect/Respect

There are times when we “fall off the wagon” and eat poorly or fail to exercise for a couple of weeks. Sometimes it’s because of holidays or traveling. Other times, it’s spawned by a feeling of deprivation.

What do you do to get yourself back on track with healthy eating and exercise?

What phrases do you tell yourself to keep motivated those first few days after eating poorly or not exercising for a while?

The Question of the Week is meant to be an Inner Workout for you. Find some time during the week and allow yourself to write the answers to the questions posted. You can write them on paper, on a word processor or here in the comments section. Whatever works for you as long as you do it.

Keep writing until you find out something about yourself that you didn’t know before. I’ve also heard that it works to keep writing until you cry, but that doesn’t really work for me. Whatever works for you. Just keep writing until it feels right.

There was a time when I felt like this, but I have been beating myself up lately. I need to get to that place emotionally again. It was the only time I ever felt healthy.

I didn’t know that it was possible to lose that feeling. I guess I figured that if I felt happy with who I am that I would feel like that for the rest of my life. I had no idea that I would have to keep working on feeling good about myself. It’s a continual process.

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.

We are coming up on the time when people are planning their summer vacation trips. There have been so many times when I have used vacation as an excuse to overeat.

How do you eat healthy when you’re on vacation?

What tips and tricks do you have to keep on track when you’re out of town?

This week, I’m not writing my own response to this question. I really need your tips and inspiration right now because I’m out of town trying to stay on program.

The Question of the Week is meant to be an Inner Workout for you. Find some time during the week and allow yourself to write the answers to the questions posted. You can write them on paper, on a word processor or here in the comments section. Whatever works for you as long as you do it.

Keep writing until you find out something about yourself that you didn’t know before. I’ve also heard that it works to keep writing until you cry, but that doesn’t really work for me. Whatever works for you. Just keep writing until it feels right.

Sometimes I feel as if I have no secrets about weight, exercise or eating anymore. I’ve written them all here.

I’ve told you that I have problems with bingeing. I STILL have problems with bingeing.

I’ve told you that I am addicted to exercise gadgets, even though I KNOW they won’t help me lose weight. I still want to buy them.

I’ve told you that I feel like a fraud or a poser when I write for Starling Fitness and I’m not able to keep my eating under control.

There is one secret that I haven’t ever told you, though…

Writing for Starling Fitness helps me more than it helps any of you. Your comments on my entries mean more to me than all the other websites I read on a daily basis. If it wasn’t for Starling Fitness, I would have given up by now.

I wish my secrets would evaporate when I wrote them here, but they don’t. I STILL have these troubles, even though I confess them every day.

If you were to write a secret postcard to PostSecret about weight, exercise or eating, what would it be?

How would you feel if your secret evaporated the second you wrote it here?

The Question of the Week is meant to be an Inner Workout for you. Find some time during the week and allow yourself to write the answers to the questions posted. You can write them on paper, on a word processor or here in the comments section. Whatever works for you as long as you do it.

Keep writing until you find out something about yourself that you didn’t know before. I’ve also heard that it works to keep writing until you cry, but that doesn’t really work for me. Whatever works for you. Just keep writing until it feels right.