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About Satu

I'm a 43-year-old, plumped up office worker who loves writing about exercise and healthy lifestyle

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About the Importance of Exercise

April 12, 2012 by 6 Comments
fitspiration picture

This picture has nothing to do with sea squirts! I just want to strut my new fitspiration picture because I think it turned out so well.

Just a short post today.

A tale I first learned from Spark has bobbed in and out of my mind a lot recently. I want to tell the tale because it perfectly illustrates the importance of exercise in our lives.

It’s a story of a tiny, sea-dwelling animal called sea squirt. Sea squirt happily putters around shallow waters with the help of it’s modest brain stem and a 300-neuron brain. One day the sea squirt finds a nice patch on a nearby coral and anchors into it. Then, once it’s safely attached, it proceeds to eat it’s 300-neuron brain. [Read more...]

Best Wishes,

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Filed Under: Healthy Body ·

Easter Eggs and Weight Loss Progress

April 8, 2012 by 8 Comments

I read Deb’s post about Easter and chocolate eggs on Thursday, so I decided to celebrate my Easter by eating one chocolate egg on Good Friday. You can see my chocolate egg are on the left. I was very pleased with my choice – and even though I ate 50 grams of chocolate, I still had a calorie deficit that day.

Otherwise, Easter has been like any long weekend for me. I’ve always thought of Easter as a very boring holiday, except as a child. That’s because we have a local tradition in Finland that children wear Easter witch costumes and go from house to house requesting treats (they usually get candy, chocolate or money). On Saturday evening we also burn big bonfires.

So it’s a bit like Halloween in the US, without the trick part. [Read more...]

Best Wishes,

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Filed Under: Misc ·

2 Weight Loss Strategies That Guarantee Failure Part 2

April 4, 2012 by 4 Comments
weight loss strategies

Relying on willpower is a weak weight loss strategy.

This is part 2 of my two-part series on weight loss strategies that guarantee failure. In part one I claimed skipping meals is the number one reason you will fail to lose weight.

The same can be said about trying to lose weight by relying on willpower.

Just imagine how ludicrous it would’ve been if Columbus had decided to step on a row boat one morning (without any provisions), convinced he’s going to land in India quite soon. We all know what happened – in reality Columbus planned his expedition for years, and even then his journey wasn’t quite successful. :-)

Similarly, in weight loss, a decision to restrict your eating from now on is not going to take you very far. [Read more...]

Best Wishes,

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Filed Under: Weight loss ·

The Flipside of Fitspiration

March 30, 2012 by 8 Comments

I have a small but growing collection of fitspiration pictures on Pinterest. Occasionally I find new stuff to pin, but honestly, I have an ambivalent attitude toward fitspiration – most pictures and quotes leave me either cold or annoy me for one reason or another.

Here’s a couple of examples of annoying fitspiration – and what I think is wrong with them.

ANY CHARACTER HERE
ANY CHARACTER HERE

“Unless you puke, faint or die, keep going.” Yeah, that’s a great way to take care of yourself and avoid injuries. Frankly, I think the above fitspiration picture is targeted for teenage anorexics who use exercise as a form of punishment. I wouldn’t recommend that attitude toward exercise to anyone.

ANY CHARACTER HERE
ANY CHARACTER HERE

I like this picture a lot, but I still don’t feel inspired by it. Why? Most women who pose on fitspiration pictures are fitness models in their twenties. How much work would it require to gain and keep a body like that? Three hours a day?

Not a very realistic goal for anyone my age who has other things in her life than exercise. And  for many reasons, I wouldn’t look like that anyway. I want exercise to be an important part of my life, not dedicate my whole life to it.

ANY CHARACTER HERE
ANY CHARACTER HERE

Marion might actually be able to do that asana(?)! She might also be inspired about the picture, but to me it’s just such an impossible looking goal that it fails to inspire me at all. I’m more inspired by something I can actually almost do. Besides, I just gave up training for my military push up goal so I don’t feel inspired by a new “impossible goal”.

Maybe fitspiration is really meant for younger folks, and plumped up middle-aged women like me need their fitspiration more realistic? So I made a couple of my own fitspiration pictures. The second isn’t even about fitness, it’s about celebrating life.

Source: bodycapable.com via Satu on Pinterest

ANY CHARACTER HERE
ANY CHARACTER HERE

I added my favorite quote from James Levine: “Better to live on your feet than die on your seat“. It’s something that really inspires me from day to day. If I don’t move, I don’t feel alive.

Source: bodycapable.com via Satu on Pinterest

ANY CHARACTER HERE
ANY CHARACTER HERE

I made this one too. I purchased a stock photo, added some sparkles and a Geneen Roth quote from one of her books. I like my own inspiration picture a lot. :-) I’d like to be more able to live like that in my own life.

What kind of fitspiration inspires you the most?

Best Wishes,

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Filed Under: Fitness ·

Bat Wings and Body Issues

March 27, 2012 by 5 Comments

No photos, please!

A couple of weeks ago I bought a cheap pocket video camera. I shot this kind of “funny” video about diagnosing my flabby upper underarms (!) that I posted on my Finnish fitness blog. Big mistake!

Watching the video for a few times forced me to face my body issues – mostly how fat I’ve become. I also have bat wings, double chin, too much facial fat and my teeth could use fixing – and this was only the upper part of my body.

It seems to be okay to gain weight as long as you’re not forced to see yorself in too many photos (or videos) and if you somehow manage to avoid squeezing yourself in a tiny changing room to try on new clothes.

All are activities I’ve mostly managed to avoid lately.

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Well, maybe something good comes out of shooting that video. It might help me muster enough motivation to actually lose the extra weight I’ve gained in the last three years. So far part of me has stubbornly resisted the idea of getting to work. [Read more...]

Best Wishes,

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Filed Under: Psychology ·
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