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

Margaret Cho has been very open about her eating troubles over the years. She received a letter from a man who is struggling with bingeing and she responded with what is currently working for her.

• Margaret Cho’s Weblog – Dear Margaret

I love her advice on keeping healthy:

“I think that eating disorders are very common, much more than anyone realizes. Millions upon millions of people have them. Some of them die, but most live with the disease, and are constantly in varying degrees of pain, and you have to think, ‘Is that life? I might as well succumb if I have to go on like this….'”

“I watch myself. Kind of like when I used to diet, but now instead of limiting calories, I will not allow negative self talk. I cut out insults like I cut out carbs and it is hard as hell because I crave self abuse like hot, fresh sourdough bread, but you know you have to be nice to you if you are going to live together.”

If you are feeling like eating healthy and exercising is not worth it, interrupt that thought right now. You are worth it. Eating healthy and exercising are just ways for you to take care of yourself and you deserve it. Be like Margaret and concentrate on cutting out negative self talk. If you have been insulting yourself with that inner voice, stop now. You are worth it.

When I exercised on my exercise bike last week, I put the camera in front of my face and just started talking. This video is 3:04 minutes and I am talking about hitting rock bottom and getting inspired to eat healthy again.

I really feel that staying healthy and keeping my bingeing in check is like a roller coaster ride. If I can keep the valleys from going too low, then I’m succeeding. Someday, maybe I’ll be able to get off the roller coaster and eat healthy for the rest of my life without relapses. Until then, I’m just learning to ride that roller coaster.

Terry has made the choice to live a healthier life. She smartly realizes that shaming someone doesn’t help make them thin, so she is being gentle with herself during this time.

• I See Invisible People » Being postive in the now

What’s her plan?

“What I’ve been trying to do is be positive about myself right now. I’m only wearing clothes that I feel look good on me. I’m putting on make-up in the morning.”

Next time you think that you have to put a picture of yourself when you were fat on the refrigerator to stop yourself from eating, remember Terry’s advice.

“I’ve read diet books advocating taking a fat picture of yourself and hanging it on the refrigerator to keep you from eating. Sorry, but humiliation just doesn’t work for me. Self-loathing is a terrible thing and comes frighteningly easy to me. It makes me depressed in a way that drugs don’t help. Depression makes me desperate and I stop eating completely, which isn’t a good thing long term.”

Being loving and positive with yourself is really the only way to health.

Via: love and hope and sex and dreams: Some People You Should Meet If You Haven’t Already

The complete 2006 Tour de France route has been mapped into Google Earth. You can see more about it here:

Google Earth Blog: Tour de France 2006 in Google Earth

I found last year’s Tour de France incredibly inspiring. I watched the DVDs of the race while riding my bike on my CycleOps trainer. I found that I rode at a higher intensity for longer when I watched those videos because it felt like I was in the race right alongside Jan Ulrich and Lance Armstrong. You can find out more about this year’s Tour de France here:

• Tour de France 2006: welcome on the official website

Anything that can keep you motivated to exercise every day is a good thing. I found watching these people compete very inspiring and it kept me working hard all winter long.

Via: kottke.org

During my runs, I have been listening to Christopher Lawrence’s new album, Subculture, Vol. 01. It happened to be in my collection because Mike put it there, but I found it and have been digging on the beats. It makes running so easy.

I decided to listen to it while I ran the Salt Lake 5K. It made the race very different than any other race I’ve run. I’ve never listened to music while running a race. I didn’t want anything weighing me down. I didn’t want to have to deal with holding a music player. It just wasn’t practical before.

This time, I found some great shorts for running that have a plethora of pockets. There was room for my chapstick and most importantly, my phone. I can play music on my phone, but I wanted to bring it along on the race because I always get separated from my family during a race and it would make it easier if I just had my cell phone with me.

So I listened to Christopher Lawrence during the 5K and I finished slower than I’ve done in years. Not the music’s fault, of course. It would have helped if I had actually trained for the race. I must say that having the music helped me survive the race better than I have ever done before. The beat kept me pounding away even though the heart rate monitor said 190 bpm. I finally stopped to walk when it hit 200, but the music drew me forward.

Next time running sounds like a drag, download a bunch of techno music from the likes of Christopher Lawrence, DJ Tiesto or Paul Van Dyk and you’ll find yourself pounding the pavement with a vigor you didn’t know you had.

Swimming Suit Season…

Most of us don’t live near either of the two oceans that flank the United States, yet Swimming Suit Season is something that most of us prepare for. Whether we are expected to hang out at the beach, go to the lake or attend a barbeque at the neighbor’s pool party, all of us would like to look stunning in a swimsuit.

I looked through the Flickr photos and found a bunch of motivational pictures that inspired me to keep exercising and eating healthy. Here are my favorites here:

Eating healthy and exercise is about living longer, not just about physical appearance. This time of the year, our physical appearance can be more in focus because more of our bodies are revealed. Keeping a healthy balance of eating to be healthy and eating to be thin is something that I am continually working on. It’s nice to have something to motivate me, though.

The title on the US Weekly magazine said, “How I Got Thin.” Janet Jackson’s belly button stared back at me as I picked up the magazine. Do you want to know how Janet Jackson got thin? She ate less and exercised.

That’s about all I learned from that article.

Her diet consisted of meals sent to her every day and her exercise consisted of workouts with her trainer. She just did what the experts told her to do without cheating and she lost weight.

I thought to myself, “That’s useless advice for those of us who don’t have private chefs and personal trainers. What are we supposed to do?”

EXACTLY THE SAME THING.

I just need to do what the experts tell me to do and I’ll lose the weight.

Let’s face the facts. I KNOW what I need to do. I need to eat less calories than I expend. There are enough tools out there to tell me exactly what I need to eat to lose weight. There are enough websites out there telling me exactly what exercises I need to do. There is little doubt in my mind what I need to do to lose weight.

The hard part is doing what the experts tell me to do.

Getting different experts doesn’t help. They are either crackpots or they tell me the exact same thing, over and over. There are no exceptions.

Next time you’re feeling jealous of some celebrity because they lost a lot of weight using some expensive plan, remember. You can do it to if you’re willing to do exactly what the experts tell you to do.

Update 06-03-07: Janet has kept the weight off for a year. See more here:

• Starling Fitness – Janet Jackson Keeps The Weight Off For A Year

I’m pretty inspired by her.

You’re still my workout buddy and I talk to the camera, imagining you seeing me workout on the treadmill. Here is a little clip from one of my workouts. I was walking during my warmup and I realized that all I have is today. I can eat healthy today. I can exercise today. I can’t change yesterday and tomorrow isn’t here yet. All I have is now.

While driving to California, Mike and I met up with the most amazing couple who are riding their bikes across the world, Rhona Quarm and Gavin McDonald.

• Starling Travel » Perth 2 Perth 2 Perth

Check out what I wrote about our encounter with them and their website:

• Perth2Perth.org – Rhona and Gavin cycle 18000 miles around the world

Both of them were physically fit before starting the trip, but after ten months of riding, they are built of lean muscle and strength.

Next time you think about skipping your workout, remember Rhona and Gavin travelling the roads of India, Australia and the United States. The thought of them will keep your legs going.

As of 04-10-2006, there are 20,590 photos tagged with the word running. A lot of them are of race participants and children, but some of them are surpisingly inspiring.

• Flickr: Photos tagged with running

Here is a slideshow of my favorites: