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. 

January fitness tip from the Streaming Colors Fitness Journal

Starting this month, resolve to change directly into your exercise clothes, including your shoes, right after wrok. Now you'll be that much closer to getting started exercising. On weekends, or if you don't have a job outside the home, put on your exercise clothes first thing in the monring. Tell yourself you can't change out of them until you've done as least a few minutes of exercise. Move a little to warm up your muscles, stretch a bit, then do a few minutes fo the exercise you've chosen. Now it's easy to keep going until you meet your goal. ***(And if you're at all like me be prepared to have a good laugh at yourself when you're still wearing your exercise clothes at 8pm. But don't worry, tomorrow you'll do better. I always do.)

Do you Issuu?

Get your own - Open publication

This might be the coolest FREE thing I've found on the internet in a really really long time. Ok, it is. This site allows you to publish your book online so people can view it like they would if they had it in their hands. Every single page. Doesn't it look nice?!?! To me, this is what good design is all about. Check out all the beau-tee-ful books on their website. So cool. If you use Issuu please post a link in the comments section so we can check out your publication.

December fitness tip from the Streaming Colors Fitness Journal

That bowlful of jelly might be cute on Santa, but if you have stubborn belly fat, it may be a sign of chronic stress. Making time for brisk exercise is more important now than ever, if the holidays stress you out. Exercise helps relieve your body of the "flight or fight" hormones that humans needed ages ago to survive in a primitive world. They ran it off. We sit in traffic. But those hormones still tell our bodies to store fat for survival. So give yourself the gift of fitness and add some festive color to your journal. You'll look and feel better, and have more energy for the holidays. If you're prone to holiday blues, exercise has also been shown to help relieve mild depression. Happy Holidays!

November fitness tips from the Streaming Colors Fitness Journal

What are you thankful for this month? Look back over your calendar and if you see plenty of color, thank and commend yourself for a job well done. Count your blessings if you're enjoying better health & more energy. Now don't undo your healthy habits just because the holidays are here. Enjoy holiday meals, but focus on lots of healthy vegetables, lean meats, and a little less pie. Keep track of "treat" days by coloring them in you journal, but try to limit it to one or two days a week. Give thanks actively this Thanksgiving, with a brisk walk outside or a game of touch football. Give thanks because life is good–and even better when you're healthy and fit!

october fitness tip from the streaming colors fitness journal

If you're in the habit of working out with weights, it's time to change–not your habit, but your routine. Continually adding more weight or sets can lead to overuse injuries or a plateau. To see real progress, you need to challenge your muscle fibers in new ways. Shake up your strength training routine every month (and track it in your journal) by varying the exercises you do and/or the order in which you do them. Try "breakdown training," where you decrease the weight at the end of the set by about 10%, and then immediately perform up to three more sets at the lower weight. This recruits fibers deep within your muscles and helps your muscles grow. Allow adequate time between workouts for muscle repair.

september fitness tip from the streaming colors fitness journal

Back-to-school is a busy time of year, but it doesn't have to derail your fitness progress. Just do your math. Small efforts throughout the day can add up to impressive fitness gains by month end. For instance, multiply your effort (and your results) by taking the stairs twice as often each day. Or, use a pedometer to count the daily number of steps you walk, gradually adding more to reach about 10,000 steps per day. Subtract an unhealthy food item from your diet (e.g. sugar-free day, french-fry-free day.) Get smart about all the sugars and empty calories in the beverages you drink by counting them all this month. Tally it up on your journal and analyze the results. You're a fitness genius!