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

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 4

The Short Version:

• Reduce your daily caloric average by another 100 calories. Write down EVERYTHING you eat including measurements and calories.
• Avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself EVERY day.
• Eat four or five servings of vegetables every day.
• Save enough calories to eat two servings of dairy products each day.
• Increase your mileage. Walk 1.25 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.

I LOVE this commercial for the new Weight Watchers plan:

I’ve always felt at war with the part of myself that wants to eat EVERYTHING. Seeing hunger personified by that furry orange thing was so motivating to me. It was like Weight Watchers gave a body to the demon that has haunted me my entire life. With that fluffy and orange body, it is so much easier to see the constant desire to binge as a pathetic monster that needs to be ignored and shunned.

Via: Funnymoods: Weight Watchers has a new program and it’s called Momentum

If you have made a New Year’s Resolution, this podcast from Fat 2 Fit Radio is truly inspirational.

• Fat 2 Fit Radio » Blog Archive » Fat 2 Fit Show #51 – The Most Important Show of the Year

If you have been feeling a little low because you might have fallen off your New Year’s Resolution wagon, listen to this podcast and DO what they say. Have your goals, WRITE THEM DOWN and make sure that they are achievable.

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 3

The Short Version:

• Reduce your daily caloric average by 100 calories. Write down EVERYTHING you eat including measurements and calories.
• Avoid the feeling of deprivation by finding non-food activities to nurture yourself.
• Eat three or four servings of vegetables every day.
• Save enough calories to eat one serving of dairy products each day.
• Increase your mileage. Walk 1.0 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 2

The Short Version:

• DO NOT change your eating regime at all, but write down EVERYTHING you eat, including the measurements (i.e. 1 cup of rice) and calories.
• You are allowed to ADD two or three servings of vegetables every day, but you are not allowed to restrict anything in your diet.
• Increase your mileage. Walk 0.75 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.

It’s a new year and I’m sure you’re all fired up to be healthy. Last year, I wrote a weekly plan to get you on track for a healthy and active life. You can get started here:

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

If you are ready to get going with your fitness and eating plan, start there and get started RIGHT!

If you just want the short version, here it is:

• DO NOT change your eating regime at all, but write down EVERYTHING you eat.
• You are allowed to ADD a serving or two of vegetables every day, but you are not allowed to restrict anything in your diet.
• Start exercise slowly. SLOW, SHORT and EASY. Whatever you were thinking of doing, cut it in half. Recommended exercise: Walk 0.5 miles five days this week.
• Check with your doctor.

I’m sure the fashion industry considers this model a “plus” size, but honestly she’s a NORMAL sized woman and she looks freakin’ fantastic!

Hooray for Curvation for this spectacular advertisement. I can’t believe this ad showed up in the November edition of In Style magazine without being put right next to an article about exercise or diet. It was adjacent to Eva Mendes in an ad for The Spirit.

Next time you feel bad because you think you can never look as good as the women in the fashion magazines, remember this curvy beauty and know that you can do it!

For those of us who have been watching the covers of O Magazine, we know that Oprah had gained some weight. It happened slowly, but one day at the checkout counter a few months ago, I saw an O Magazine right next to a tabloid announcing that she had gained weight. I looked at Oprah’s magazine and realized, “Yes, she HAS gained some weight.”

Then, the January 2009 O Magazine hit the stands and Oprah is so open about it all:

• Oprah’s Battle with Weight Gain – O January 2009 Cover

I can’t believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I’m still talking about my weight. I look at my thinner self and think, “How did I let this happen again?”

Weight gain can happen for many reasons. In Oprah’s case, she was having some physical problems. When she was finally diagnosed with hypothyroidism, she felt defeated.

It seemed as if the struggle I’d had with weight my entire adult life was now officially over. I felt completely defeated. I thought, “I give up. I give up. Fat wins.” All these years I’d had only myself to blame for lack of willpower. Now I had an official, documented excuse.

She is back on the road to recovery and has the kahunas to admit that she has a problem. Next time you feel like you just can’t do this, remember how brave Oprah is to show herself on her magazine next to her past self. It’s a before and after picture that is rarely shown, and Oprah deserves a pat on the back for her honesty.

Via: Oprah’s Weight Gain

Zen Habits had a great article last month:

• The 7 Keys to Turning Bad Habits Into Good Habits | Zen Habits

For each habit, identify your triggers. Whenever you are tempted to eat when you shouldn’t or skip a workout routine, find out what is going on right before those thoughts.

For every single trigger, identify a positive habit you’re going to do instead. If you like to eat while you’re watching TV, what can you do instead? Knitting? Origami? Skipping TV altogether?

For at least one month, focus entirely on being as consistent with your triggers as possible. Every time you are tempted to eat when you’re not really hungry, do the new activity instead. It’s very important to do it every time to imprint the new habit.

Avoid tempting situations. Sometimes it’s easier to avoid situations in which you overeat completely. Parties? Skip them for a month. Buffet Dinners? Insist on a different restaurant until you’re stronger.

Realize that your urges will be strong, but they will go away after a few minutes. These sorts of desires tend to come and go. If you can hold out for a while, then the urge to eat will go away and you can get back to life as normal.

Ask for help. This one is the hardest for me because I’ve failed so many times that my family just rolls their eyes when I ask for help. You need to be as SPECIFIC as possible, such as, “If you see me eating healthy, I need you to praise me. If I’m eating poorly, don’t say anything at all or I’ll bite your freakin’ head off.” Knowing exactly what you need will help them help you, but you have to figure out what you need first.

Staying positive is key! You can do this without keeping a positive attitude, but it’s a helluva lot harder that way. Every time you hear your inner voice give you permission to break your new habit, remember to tell yourself that you can do this!

If you fail (and many of you will, at least once), don’t give up. The only difference between the people who lose the weight and keep it off and the people who don’t is that the successful people didn’t quit. Never, never, never give up.

The next time you think that eating poorly or skipping your workouts is “just how you are” remember that you CAN change yourself. You can eat healthy and ENJOY exercise. Do it one habit at a time and you’ll find that you suddenly have all GOOD habits and no bad ones.

I found this advertisement for LaCoste clothing in the November In Style magazine. I thought it was the perfect inspiration for staying on program during the holiday months.

I never think of winter as a very motivating time to stay on program, but looking at these models being active makes me want to go outside and play in the snow.