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

This old video of Big Bird singing Everyone Makes Mistakes brought back so many memories for me.

Sometimes I find myself singing this song to myself and it really seems to help me, especially when I feel like I haven’t done my best when eating. The next time you are beating yourself up for something you ate or exercise you skipped, remember this song and give yourself a break. Get up, brush yourself off and get back on track!

A LONG time ago (back in 2005), I wrote an entry about Margaret Cho’s “F**K It” Diet. She lost weight by having the audacity of throwing away food. I was so inspired by her willingness to let food go to waste at restaurants without bothering to take the food home in a doggie bag.

Unfortunately, most of the people who read that post skewered her for being wasteful. From comments calling the idea “pathetically privileged” to others screaming for take home boxes, it enraged almost everyone.

This comment from echo begs to differ, however:

For all of you out there who are worried about the waste of food in restaurants let me tell something that may ease your minds (and may gross you out as well). I have worked in restaurants of all sorts, including 5 star and I can guarantee you that Margaret’s leftover prime rib is not going to waste. Whenever a large portion of an entree or app. comes back to the kitchen the bus/wait/dish staff will devour it like a pack of hungry jackals. I’ve seen fights break out over who gets first dibs on leftover steak au poivre. So rest easy people, it’s all good!

The next time you’re at a restaurant and you know you will be tempted to eat more than you should if you take the leftovers home, remember echo’s comment. Your food won’t go to waste. It will be gobbled up in the back of the restaurant.

I received a reminder from ROFLrazzi today. Back in June 2010, Lindsay Lohan blamed the alarm on her SCRAM bracelet on kombucha, causing it to be pulled from the market. Kombucha typically has no more alcohol than a glass of orange juice, so I was disgusted with her and her poor excuse for falling off the wagon.

Why can’t that girl get her act together?

Then I cringed in self-knowledge. Who was I to judge Lindsay Lohan? I couldn’t get my eating act together. I had continually fallen off the wagon. Suddenly, Lindsay Lohan became a beacon of inspiration to me.

Every time I considered bingeing on food, I thought of Lindsay Lohan. I didn’t want to be like her. I want to be strong and be able to say no to my addictions, so I step away from the fridge, cupboard or drive-thru. I haven’t been constantly food sober since June, but I have had far more progress than I ever had before I invoked the image of Lindsay every time I was tempted.

If I were followed around by paparazzi, taking photos of every time I put a bite of food in my mouth, I would live my life far differently. I imagine them there, watching me and waiting for me to screw up. Poor Lindsay has the real world version of that problem. Just thinking about her helps me make better eating decisions every day.

The next time you point a finger at someone who seems to have trouble with an addiction, remember yourself. Pay attention to your own addictions and they will be easier to conquer.

I love this ad for a bicycle trainer.

It tells me to train myself every day. Since the weather in Salt Lake has turned frigid and foggy, I brought my bike inside on the trainer, but it just doesn’t feel as good to ride indoors as it does when I’m out on the trails. I’ve had a hard time getting myself to get my butt on the bike.

I guess I need to imagine an entire team cheering me on.

If you are looking for inspiration this month, pick up People Magazine. I found it very motivational.

This article about fruit for dessert gave me some good ideas. One caveat, however: fruit IS zero points on Weight Watchers now, but these desserts are NOT. You must add points for the extra ingredients they’ve included.

Don’t miss the story of Drew Carey’s weight loss. I had seen him on The Price Is Right and wondered about his health. Since no one was making a big deal about his weight loss, I worried that he might be sick. It’s nice to know that he took his health in his own hands and dropped the weight using a plan from his doctor.

I wish People did a version of this magazine EVERY month and gave us more detail about these people who have lost weight in such a healthy way. I need this kind of motivation all year long, not just in January.

I love this motivational poster from Shape magazine. It reads:

“When your mind starts to wander, take three deep breaths to bring your focus back to your goal.”

It has been hard for me to stay focused on my goal. Since I have so much to lose, it’s hard for me to think about being at goal. I find it a lot more inspiring to think about my short term goals like staying food sober, attending my Weight Watchers meetings and exercising at least three times a week. Those are things that are COMPLETELY under my control, as opposed to my weight loss, which feels completely OUT of my control.

Ironically, if I stay focused on those small goals that are in my control, I ALWAYS lose weight at the end of the week. Weight loss has been such a struggle to me that it feels like it is not something that I have any power over, yet paradoxically, I DO have control over it if I just follow my small goals.

I wish there was a way to make this all easier for me, but I know that if it was easy, EVERYONE would be thin and perfect. All I can do is take three deep breaths and focus on my small goals every day.

I LOVE this advertisement. It was for some body building protein powder and I’d never buy that product, but that ad is GREAT for motivation.

Sometimes when I just can’t get the motivation to exercise, I like to think of myself as a hero. I have to train in order to be ready for when the action hits. Would I be able to run away if I needed to? Would I be strong enough to fight my way free? Thinking about these things makes it a little easier to do my workout.

The next time you’re considering skipping your workout, remember this ad and think of yourself as an action figure.

Weight Watchers started a brand new plan yesterday called PointsPlus. Rather than allow their precious plan information to leak a tad early, they opted to disable their iPhone app completely. For the last two days, I haven’t been able to use my Weight Watchers iPhone app to record my food. Rather than allow me to use the old program they have COMPLETELY disabled my program.

Sorry, Weight Watchers. I really love your meetings and my leader, but your corporate decisions have been so shortsighted that you consistently let me down. What is the matter with you folks at a corporate level? Why aren’t you more like the local leaders and staff?

I revamped my Edibles app on my iPhone and it’s logging my food and exercise just fine, by the way.

Here’s how to do it: How To Use Edibles with Weight Watchers PointsPlus

Update 12-02-10:

I have now downloaded the new app, but it requires me to “update my account” on their website. I’ve checked my address and looked at my status, but the entire website seems to have forgotten who I am and that I’ve been a member for YEARS.

An email to tech support resulted in an automated response with a promise of an answer within 24 hours. I am almost finishing my first week on the PointsPlus program and I’m seriously UNIMPRESSED with how they transitioned my iPhone app and eTools account.

Weight Watchers is launching a new program. In the UK, it’s called ProPoints, but in the States, they are calling it PointsPlus. The old Points system has been completely changed, which will change how you’ll calculate the new points on your Edibles program.

According to Wikipedia, the new PointsPlus formula is as follows:

Where pp is the PointsPlus value, p is the amount of protein, c is the amount of carbohydrates, f is the amount of total fat and b is the amount of fiber, all in grams. This formula is an empirical match to the Weight Watchers calculators and may not be exact; Weight Watchers has not published their actual formula.

This formula is pretty convoluted and very difficult to enter into the Edibles Calculator, so Mike converted it for me. This is how I entered it into my Edibles Calculator:

Even if you’re using the Weight Watchers iPhone app, there may be a few days WEEKS when you won’t be able to track using your phone because the app won’t be available as soon as the program starts.

• Weight Watchers: The new program and your iPhone App

The App may not be available for a day or two after the new program launches. We appreciate your patience during this time. You can use the website for tracking, and everything else you usually do on your phone.

You might just want to try out Edibles to see if it works better than the official Weight Watcher app.

• Edibles – Diet Journal

Update 12-02-10: Due to differences in food labeling in the US vs. the UK, the PointsPlus formula is vastly different than the ProPoints formula. I changed this entry to reflect the proper formula for the United States.

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