Thank you, Pam LeBlanc, for your colorful mention in Fit City

Thanks, Pam LeBlanc, for your kind words and for including a picture of your colored-in Streaming Colors calendar page in your Fit City blog for the Austin-American Statesman.

Screencap of Pam LeBlanc's Streaming Colors Fitness Journal page

Pam has many years of colored-in Streaming Colors Fitness Journal pages tucked away in her desk drawer, going all the way back to January, 2004, when we released our first calendar and Pam helped spread the news.

In fact, Pam wrote our favorite news story ever!

We know that Pam gets tons of new books from authors hoping for a mention or a good review.
 
Technically speaking, after all these years, we're old news. That's why we couldn't be more honored when Pam mentions us anew to her readers.

In the fitness and diet area, there's always a lot of new stuff to try out, but it's unusual to find something that works year after year after year after year after year after year after year...well, you get the picture.

Someone like Pam who has discovered the secret to fitness (having fun doing activities you truly enjoy, in Pam's case, water skiing) would probably do OK without our calendar.

But Pam claims the calendar motivates her to do a little bit more throughout the week (like biking to work) in order to make sure she has plenty of color on her page. That extra physical activity adds up over time to the better fitness that makes anyone's favorite sport even more enjoyable.

When you consider that every day is a new day to do something good for your health, and every week's a new week to tally and then start over, and every month on our calendar gives you a chance to set new goals, and every year there's a fresh new calendar to fill with color...maybe we're not such old news after all.

Not surprisingly, we have more new and old Streaming Colors Fitness Journal users in Pam's Fit City (Austin, TX) area than any other large metro area.

Thanks again, Pam. We wish every city could have a Fit City blog to give people an in-depth idea of the fitness scene in their community and to make them feel comfortable becoming part of it, whatever their fitness level. 

we made it to the finals!!!

We've been selected as finalists for Idea Cafe's Innovation & Originality Grant. This is so exciting! If you're a small business owner and you're looking for a fun website that provides information on marketing, financing, and running a small business then you need to check out Idea Cafe. It's a great place to gather and share information with other people (like you) who are trying to make their small business a big success!

Oh, and you can vote for us on their site too. Wooohooo!!!

we're featured in the Austin American-Statesman newspaper

Ooh, this is exciting! Our Lean Mode food diary is featured in the Fit City section of the Austin American-Statesman. Check out what journalist Pamela LeBlanc wrote about us:

For the fitness junkie on your list: Gear, gadgets and guidance

Heart rate monitors, DVDs, water bottles for the fit-minded

By Pamela LeBlanc
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, December 05, 2008

Athletes (and the rest of us) love to get faster, stronger and more powerful. To do that, we need the right stuff.

Gadgets, gear and guidance, books, bottles and blinkies: It's all part of our never-ending quest to improve performance.

Got a fitness junkie on your holiday gift list? Listen up.

We've rounded up some of our favorite products, from basics such as water bottles and blinking lights to exotics, like a top-of-the-line heart rate monitor and a stylin' pair of sunglasses.

Lean Mode Color Code Food Diary

$20

www.colorcodemode.com

Streaming Colors introduced its exercise journals in 2004 and we were instantly addicted to the color-it-in-as-you-exercise system. Now comes the Lean Mode food diary, for people who need to home in on their eating habits. Studies show that people who track what they eat every day lose more weight than those who don't. This fun-to-use diary keeps you honest.

That's right, it keeps you honest! It's a big eye-opener to see what you eat everyday written down on paper. And our color-coded system makes it real easy to see if you've been naughty... or nice-n-healthy. Read the rest of her awesome holiday gift recommendations (including one of my personal faves and featured A-List item, the Sigg water bottle.)

we're semi-finalists for Idea Cafe's Innovation and Originality Grant

IdeaCafe.com is a site that takes "a fun approach to serious business!" (Just like ColorCode Mode journals take a fun approach to fitness journaling.) As semi-finalists for their Innovation and Originality Grant, we're thrilled to be included among a group of entrepreneurs that impressed Idea Cafe "with their inventiveness and willingness to leverage their business acumen and personal talents to help others." We'll keep you posted!

the pen is mightier than the scale

Wow. It's been 3 weeks since I last posted. We've been so crazy busy with our Lean Mode Food Diary product launch that I haven't had time to write. Well, actually that's not true. I've been writing every day, mostly emails, press releases and other communications. Haven't had much time to surf the web for fun stuff. Though I did find another news story about the benefits of keeping a food diary. It's a good, quick read. And it makes the most important point, that if you want to change your habits (& lose weight) you have to be accountable to yourself. Keeping a food diary tells you exactly what you're doing right & what could use some improvement. And this article shows that it will help you lose twice as much weight. Read the article from abc news.

why keep a food diary?

  Ooh lookie, another sneak preview of the Lean Mode Food Diary. Doesn't it look fun!A study published in the August edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, shows that keeping a food diary may be a key to losing extra weight. It's all about accountability and awareness. Read about the study on webmd.com.

The article includes 5 tips for keeping a food diary. One of them suggests you use whatever type of food diary works for you. Which is true. The whole point is to use it, whatever it is. However, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that our Lean Mode Color Code - Not Your Usual Food Diary is the most fun food diary ever!!!! That's my totally unbiased opinion. Ha ha. So try it out people!

eat this, not that! for kids!

usatoday.com published an article about this new book by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding, Eat This, Not That! For Kids! I thought the adult book was pretty good, though I didn't actually buy it because I rarely, if ever, eat fast food. I wasn't raised on it, and I just don't like it. However, I realize that loads of people eat it everyday. So, as far as helping people make healthier choices goes, this book does a pretty good job. I like all the pictures they use, visualizing the healthier choice is a good habit to create. And I think paying attention to calorie content is another good habit, because it creates awareness. What if ALL restaurants were required to post their calorie counts on their menus? Just like in NYC.  I'm hoping it will happen on a national level. What do you think?