Inspirational Voices

As I make an effort to refocus my life around a healthy diet and regular exercise, I am trying to find and follow inspirational voices. This includes people on Facebook, twitter, and blogs who talk about healthy living in positive ways that resonate with me.

For example, there's Jank and Tea, who I've been following since I first started running. There are my friends and co-workers who do Triathlons during race season and yet I can relate to. There are people like Sarah Stanley who just finished 3rd in her age group for a 100-mile ultramarathon. And, of course, there are people like the Anti-Jared who lost 200 pounds, as well as people who are still working on their journey and whose ups and downs are mirrors of my own struggles at times.

And then there are the other kind of people:

The bottom-feeders. The get-skinny-quick scam artists are all over the place, of course, but then there's the slightly-less-obvious affiliate marketers. They seem to have something interesting to say when you first encounter them, but after a week their "inspirational quotes" file cycles over and you realize they're just saying the same thing over and over, and hoping you click their links so they can make a couple bucks off you. These are closely related to ...

The opportunist. These folks may be legit, but they can't resist the dollar signs and pepper their life stories with affiliate links and sponsored content. "Here's a picture of me eating a HealthyBar after my run! It tasted so good I almost ate two, LOL!" Gag me.

The silent type. We know many blogs get abandoned. But when a fitness blog gets abandoned it has a darker implication. Did the author give up posting because he or she got tired of writing? Or because they couldn't bear to write about how they'd (temporarily) lost the battle?

The drama queens. Every weekend is a disaster, every week is a new victory. We all struggle and honestly I want to read the bad and the good together. But there's a personality type that's addicted to drama and conflict and when that person runs a fitness blog the result is too much to handle. I have to unsubscribe, even as I feel their pain. I just can't keep up with their roller coaster ride.

I'm always looking for new folks to follow, whether it's a blogger, a twitterer, or something else. So if you have a great suggestion, let me know.

Status update: C25K W2D1 completed yesterday. This week the 30 minute workout is 21 minutes walking, 9 minutes running, running in intervals of 90 seconds. Legs are ready for more, but I'm sticking to the program. Of the 35 pounds I wanted to lose to reach my "back in shape" goal, I've lost 15. For the last few weeks of summer, I'm wearing my shorts one size smaller, because the ones I started the summer with keep falling down.