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

A little over a year ago, I wrote about Skinny Songs:

• Starling Fitness » SkinnySongs: Inspirational Music For Your Workouts

They are really fun songs that help you get the motivation to get to the gym. Redbook finally noticed Heidi’s work and wrote about her here:

• Diets that Work – Losing Weight – Skinny Songs – Redbook

I love her description of why she decided to record the CD:

The same morning I saw 190 pounds on the scale, I drove to the office–where I knew there’d be cookies–and turned on the CD that always pumped me up before work events. I had an epiphany: Why wasn’t there a song called “Don’t Touch Those Cookies”? If music could psych me up for work, then it could motivate me to lose weight. That night, I searched for weight-loss tunes on Google and iTunes, but found nothing. I wasn’t looking for songs to listen to at the gym–I needed music that made me want to get my butt there. Instead of Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats,” why not “Before I Cheat (on My Diet)”? My idea for a CD called Skinny Songs was born.

Skinny Songs has been in my workout music mix ever since I bought the album on iTunes. Every time one of the songs shows up in the shuffle, I just love it! You can still buy them here:

• Skinny Songs at Amazon.com

She has also come out with a bunch of motivation t-shirts.

• The SkinnySongs Shirt Store

I love this one: You Can’t Buy Thin. I’ve talked about that as well:

• Starling Fitness » Can’t Buy Me Fitness (Part 1)

• Starling Fitness » Can’t Buy Me Fitness (Part 2)

Congratulations, Heidi, on the Redbook nod.

Here is a great article about how to bribe yourself on a budget from Iportion:

• Iportion: Bribing Yourself on a Budget

You can use bribery to achieve your fitness goals, no matter what your income level.

I found this in an advertisement for Aleve.

I thought it was a great motivational photo to paste in a collage with all my pictures of how I want my body to look when I get to goal, so I tore it out of the magazine.

The underlying message of the advertisement is take Aleve and you’ll be able to keep exercising through the pain. THAT message isn’t quite as positive as the initial euphoria of “Never Stop Moving.” Aleve is a non-steriodal anti-inflammatory drug called naproxen sodium. It’s like aspirin or ibuprofen, but totally different than acetaminophen.

For a long time, Advil ran advertising calling their product “Vitamin I.” I’ve even heard runners refer to ibuprofen as Vitamin I. The idea of just popping a pill instead of giving your body the rest it deserves after hard exercise isn’t the healthiest mindset to subscribe to. It looks like Aleve is jumping on that bandwagon.

There are risks to every medication. I’ve written an article here about the problems with over the counter pain relief:

• Starling Fitness » Drugstore Pain Relief

I love the idea of Never Stop Moving. I love the idea of working out every day, no matter what. I HATE the idea of choosing to take an Aleve rather than giving my muscles a rest. In the end, I choose to take the image as inspirational and forget all about what they were trying to advertise.

One of the best motivators is bribery. One good way to get into the habit of exercising every day is to pay yourself to exercise. Whether you’re walking, going to the gym, riding your exercise bike or pounding the pavement, you can motivate yourself to get your exercise done by bribing yourself.

According to the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, it would take anywhere from $9 to $37 a week to convince people to walk for their own health.

• Older Adults Say Cash Might Motivate Them to Walk

He pointed out that one hour of activity per week does not meet government health standards of 30 minutes, five days a week for moderate intensity activity such as walking. In the study, sedentary and inactive adults wanted $36.30 per week to do this much exercise. If they had to go in a group, they wanted nearly twice as much more.

Money is a great incentive. Giving yourself some money every day as a reward for getting your exercise done has worked for me in the past. You can read about it here:

• Starling Fitness » Bribe Yourself

I even created a form to keep track of my weekly bribes:

• Weekly Goals Journal Sheet from Starling Fitness: Excel spreadsheet for use with MS Office or Open Office.

If you’re having a hard time getting into the habit of exercising every day, try bribery.

Via: How Much Would They Have to Pay You to Walk?

Last year, I wrote a weekly plan to get you on track for a healthy and active life. If you followed the plan last week, then here is the link to this week’s plan:

• Starling Fitness » New Year’s Resolutions: Week 8

The Short Version:

• Get support and accountability: Join Weight Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous, or some other support group. Find a friend who will hold your feet to the fire.
• If you aren’t at your recommended daily caloric average, reduce it by another 100 calories. Write down EVERYTHING you eat including measurements and calories.
• Choose lean protein and whole grains.
• Save enough calories to eat two teaspoons of healthy oil each day.
• Avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself EVERY day.
• Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
• Save enough calories to eat two servings of dairy products each day.
• Increase your speed. Walk/run 2.0 miles five days this week. Remember consistency is more important than speed, but you need to make sure you’re pushing yourself.
• Give yourself kudos for coming this far.

This is the last week of this program, that’s why it’s essential to get a program for support and accountability.

Last year, I wrote a weekly plan to get you on track for a healthy and active life. If you followed the plan last week, then here is the link to this week’s plan:

• Starling Fitness » New Year’s Resolutions: Week 7

The Short Version:

• Reduce your daily caloric average by another 100 calories. Write down EVERYTHING you eat including measurements and calories.
• Choose lean protein and whole grains.
• Save enough calories to eat two teaspoons of healthy oil each day.
• Avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself EVERY day.
• Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
• Save enough calories to eat two servings of dairy products each day.
• Increase your mileage. Walk 2.0 miles five days this week. You are allowed to increase your speed to the point of sweating, but if you are sore the next day you MUST go slow again.
• Give yourself kudos for coming this far.

Last year, I wrote a weekly plan to get you on track for a healthy and active life. If you followed the plan last week, then here is the link to this week’s plan:

• Starling Fitness » New Year’s Resolutions: Week 6

The Short Version:

• Reduce your daily caloric average by another 100 calories. Write down EVERYTHING you eat including measurements and calories.
• Choose lean protein and whole grains.
• Save enough calories to eat two teaspoons of healthy oil each day.
• Avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself EVERY day.
• Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
• Save enough calories to eat two servings of dairy products each day.
• Increase your mileage. Walk 1.75 miles five days this week. You are allowed to increase your speed to the point of sweating, but if you are sore the next day you MUST go slow again.
• Give yourself kudos for coming this far.

This postcard from PostSecret is so motivating to me.

It reads:

Classic literature, religious texts, and self-help books aren’t helping me put myself back together, but 2Pac is.

I have found inspiration on YouTube FAR more often than in church. I have found the will to hold on one more day from listening to Weird Al Yankovic more than I’ve ever found it in classical music.

What keeps you from eating until your stomach bursts? What keeps you exercising every day? I think the entire world would be surprised to know what motivates us isn’t always the classic literature, religious texts and self-help books.

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.

Last year, I wrote a weekly plan to get you on track for a healthy and active life. If you followed the plan last week, then here is the link to this week’s plan:

• Starling Fitness » New Year’s Resolutions: Week 5

The Short Version:

• Reduce your daily caloric average by another 100 calories. Write down EVERYTHING you eat including measurements and calories.
• Save enough calories to eat one teaspoon of healthy oil each day.
• Avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself EVERY day.
• Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
• Save enough calories to eat two servings of dairy products each day.
• Increase your mileage. Walk 1.50 miles five days this week. You are allowed to increase your speed to the point of sweating, but if you are sore the next day you MUST go slow again.
• Give yourself kudos for coming this far.

My friend, Jake, linked to this video on his Facebook page:

It’s a sad state of my coolness when the first time I hear the new song from Beyonce it’s in a “funny” video. I actually LOVED this video. That guy dancing just goes to prove that you can dance like no tomorrow no matter what size you are! Way to go, Dancing Guy!

I had to search the dregs of YouTube to find the original video. If Dancing Guy was inspiring, just get a load of Beyonce doing her thing!

It makes me want to get up and learn the entire dance. What a great workout!