Veggie Chips or Potato Chips?

Posted by Fatty Founder on June 9, 2017 with No Comments

Adding vegetables to things usually seems like a great, healthy idea.  But what about when they put them in packaged food- does it make it better for you?  I assumed it did, so I tried Veggie Straws- like potato chips but better for you because vegetables!  But was it better for me?

 

When I saw veggie straws, I was thinking: vegetables.  When you look at the bag, it has a nice picture of a potato, tomato, and some spinach.  So you think “hey, those things look healthy”.  You can also see the potato just “peeking out” behind the healthy stuff, like an afterthought:

 

 

Hey, they made these out of vegtables!  They’re a healthy snack!  Easy to eat, and good for you!  However, if you read the ingredients, the truth is far different.  These are technically potato straws that someone threw vegetables on as an afterthought.  The first 3 ingredients are potato starch, potato flour, and corn starch.

There are then some vegetable products, but they are not the primary ingredients.  Many people will argue that a potato is a vegetable, but in meals is most often used to replace a starch like break, pasta, etc.

 

So if Veggie Straws are close to potato chips, how do they stack up against the traditional snack?  Am I better off just eating the regular old potato chip?  Or do the Veggie Straws allow me to  be a health expert who gets to lecture you in condescending tones on my superior snack choice?  Let’s examine the nutrition facts:

 

Verses Lay’s Potato Chips:

 

And Baked Lay’s:

 

Right off the bat you can see that the Veggie Straws have a much higher sodium count.  Now, to be fair, I cover vegetables in all kinds of stuff to make them taste less like sadness.  It’s how life works.  Things that taste amazing are not as good for you as things that taste like dirt.  There’s nothing wrong with dressing things up.  Everything is better with butter and cheese.  But when you increase certain things that are bad for you, but market it as a healthy alternative, you aren’t being honest.  Which isn’t odd for a business, but still annoying.

 

Examining the nutritional facts also shows that the differences are not that awe inspiring.  Veggies Straws shows that they only have 7 grams of fat verses the 10 grams of fat in potato chips.  I found that interesting, and wanted to know how Veggie Strips are prepared.  They are fried, not baked.  This is once again interesting when they want to sell you on their product being healthy.  But when you compare Veggie Straws to Baked Lay’s, the potato chips have only 2 grams of fat- and no saturated fat!  The fried potato chips have the most saturated fat, but the Veggie Straws also contain some “bad fat”.  But Baked Lay’s contain none, which makes them the winner in that category.

 

The final test is nutrients.  I would assume (and I think most people would) that the Veggie Straws have the most vitamins.  And I would be wrong.  This is what surprised me the most.  They have vitamin C and Iron, and a very small amount of fiber.  Regular Lay’s Potato chips have Vitamins E, C, and B6.  The same is true of Baked Lay’s.

 

Overall, Veggie Strips grab you by claiming they have vegetables.  Your mind thinks “hey, vegetables are good for you!  And I like chips!  I bet if they add vegetables to chips they taste amazing but are good for me!  I’ll buy these and be healthy!”  But you would be wrong.  They want you to assume they are good for you because they threw some veggies on potato straws and called it a day.  But when examining the nutrition facts, you can see that the straws are not any better for you than regular potato chips.  And if you go with baked potato chips, those have less fat and more vitamins than the Veggie Straws.  Overall, you’re better off buying baked potato chips than you are getting a vegetable/potato snack.  And then you CAN be a health expert who gets to lecture people in condescending tones on superior snack choices- while eating potato chips.  It’s a win-win!!

Fatty’s Fixins

Posted by Fatty Founder on May 24, 2017 with No Comments

 

Vegetables.  Those things your parents made you eat so you could have what you really wanted: cake.  As an adult, I now eat it to be healthy.  And also, so afterwards I can have cake.  As I attempt to lose weight, I know that vegetables are a way to get nutrients I need, while also providing fiber to keep me full longer.  But besides just throwing them on top of salads, or using them in their natural form, how do you shove them down your gullet while not feeling intense sadness?  Creativity, friends, creativity.

 

As I try to eat more healthy meals, I know that cutting back on “empty carbs” (white rice, white bread, pasta, sugars- really, a war on whites) is necessary to feel full longer and get the nutrients I need.  BUT- it also means my food tastes like sadness and regret.  So figuring out how to work more healthy food into my diet that I actually WANT to eat is important.  And I find that hiding the vegetables in my food (as if I were a toddler) is the best way to do this.

 

Cutting out starches and grains is never going to happen for me.  I love them.  But I’ve started changing the types of grains I eat.  I use brown rice instead of white, I use whole grain pasta (I also tried the veggie enriched pasta, but it wasn’t as good for you as you might think), and I do whole wheat bread rather than white.  Having grains that are higher in fiber allows me to eat less and not feel like I’m starving (which results in my eating an entire cake rather than one piece).

 

Adding vegetables to many of my staple foods became easier as recipes and products became more available.  Many of these items are billed as replacements for the item you’ve been eating for years.  Cauliflower mashed potatoes instead of white potatoes, replace your rice with riced veggies (vegetables shredded into small pieces that resemble rice), thin spiral cut vegetables in place of pasta.  I have tried all of the above, and while good, I did not find to be a true “suitable replacement” for the items they claim they are just like.  However, using these items with the original is an excellent option.  I added riced cauliflower to my rice in chicken tikka masala, and found that it added a perfect taste to the dish without taking anything away from the original.  I would have missed having no rice, but cutting back on the rice and adding finely cut cauliflower was the perfect compromise.  The same is true of baked and mashed potatoes.  Mixing cauliflower into the potatoes is subtle, not overpowering.  Mashed cauliflower is not a true replacement for mashed potatoes, but adding them in with potatoes gives you a serving of comfort food with a serving of health, and that’s a compromise I think most people can make without feeling like they’re compromising at all.  And that’s what every diet needs.

 

If I was told that in order to be healthy I could only eat bananas and brussel sprouts I would die of starvation and grief in no time.  However, when I find things that I like and that I know are good for me, I have no problem loading up on them.  And adding veggies to your current recipes is far easier than you might think:

 

Riced vegetables

Use a grater or food processor to make raw vegetables “rice sized”

Add to your favorite recipes and season/cook as required

 

Mashed cauliflower

Cook cauliflower until soft

mash into paste

Add to mashed or baked potatoes, season as required

 

Veggie Spaghetti

Use a peeler or food processor to create “spaghetti noodle” vegetables (usually squash, cucumber, and zucchini are best for this)

Add to pasta, season as required

 

DONE.  Easy.  Simple.  Even someone who sucks at most things like I do can do this.  And that says a lot.

 

And if this all seems like too much work, the frozen aisle of most grocery stores sells products that are fast and little to no work.  Green Giant has riced veggies, cauliflower mashed potatoes, and even veggie tater tots.  I tried the Broccoli and Cheese Veggie Tots by Green Giant, and they were very good.  Again, not a replacement for tater tots, but an excellent substitute.  I am also a fan of anything covered in cheese (ANYTHING- cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting are one of the most delicious things on earth), so the advantages of a broccoli cheese veggie tot is not lost on me.

 

Making comfort foods healthy is not always possible, and there is a time when loading up on mac and cheese is just a necessary guilty pleasure.  But when done right, adding some nutrition to an overall non-nutritious dish is possible.  Vegetables can be used in most dishes to add flavor and substance to a meal, without giving up all the flavor you love.  Making a dish healthy is great, but if it tastes like dirt and depression, you will not want to eat it.  But adding vegetables in creative ways to dishes you love is a way to eat healthy AND happy- and that is well worth the effort.

 

Fatty’s Samsung Watch

Posted by Fatty Founder on May 11, 2017 with No Comments

I recently decided to upgrade my Fitbit to something a bit more fashionable- and purchased the Samsung Gear S2 Classic in rose gold. I have to say, I am pretty darn pleased with the function and look. It is more a “watch” than a “fitness tracker”, but if you want something that looks like you drink smoothies for lunch WITH YOUR PINKIES UP- then this is the watch for you. It does everything the Fitbit does, but, in my humble opinion (and that’s the only one that matters here, this is MY blog) looks and functions better. But life isn’t all about looks (which you would never know by reading my rants- this is a fitness blog called Fatty’s Fitness Forum and I talk about how fat I am, and how a new body would be marvelous), substance is needed to sustain you. Lucky for me this watch is more than just a “trophy wife”- it has multiple redeeming qualities beyond just looks.

 

Besides doing everything my Charge HR did, the Gear S2 has a lot of features that my former Fitbit lacked. The watch is round, and has a rotating bezel that changes the watch face. The first face is just the standard watch face, allowing you to see time, date, month, etc (you choose the style, so it can include different things). I then set up the faces in the order I prefer. Face 2 is my step counter, 3 is the heart rate monitor, and 4th is an exercise tracker where you can set they type of workout you are performing. I don’t often use this, but it is available as needed. The watch itself picks up on workouts and starts a timer. Based on heart rate it determines if you are walking, running, etc and sets the workout type under the timer. This is nice because when the workout ends, it gives you a total time you were performing a task. The apps are also a great addition that my Fitbit did not have.

                                          

Standard Face                                                                Heart Rate Monitor

(picture from Samsung’s site)

                                

Inactive Watch Face                                                         App watch face

 

I added a calculator to my Gear S2, because it comes in handy at work. But this isn’t a “I can do calculus in my head while playing D&D” calculator watch, more a “I need to take my glass of champagne with me while calculating out my Rolls Royce payment” type of watch. Adding apps and changing the faces on this watch is super simple, which is great when you’re me and not a tech mastermind. I also find the step counter to be more accurate than my Fitbit was, which is a bonus when you want to track your activity for the day.

 

The app for my phone is where I have the most qualms. When you install the app for the phone, a secondary app needs to be added to track fitness related items. The Samsung Health (S Health) app is average, and this is where Fitbit has Samsung beat. The app is not terrible, but I don’t rank it as highly. I don’t like how the calorie totals are calculated- Fitbit includes your RMR (resting metabolic rate) in along with the calories you burned through activity, so it shows a total you burned that day. S Health only includes what was burned that day through activity, so it does not give me an idea of the whole picture.

 

The food tracker on the app could use a larger library- it does not have all the brands for every food, and the calorie totals are hard to determine. It lists foods as serving size and grams, so it’s difficult to know what that is in cups, tablespoons, etc. Remember how I suck at math and installed a calculator? Determining grams in a cup is a thing I can’t do without Google. And by then I have eaten my entire meal and don’t want to enter it into the counter anyway (screw you diet! I curse you and your demand that I count calories!). I have linked S Health with MyFitnessPal, but am still stumbling through having them talk to each other.

 

Step totals on app

 

 

The only other concern I have with my Gear S2 is the band. I bought the Gear S2 Classic in rose gold, which comes with a white leather band. A WHITE band. You put anything white on me and it 1. Blends in with my pasty white-like-milk skin and 2. Gathers all kinds of gunk, grime, and perspiration. When using this watch for working out, the leather band turns yellow in no time. No matter how much I wipe it down or clean it, it yellows.

 

The one great thing about this band is it was simple to take off. There are spring snaps on the band that are easy to pop in and out. And then stay locked when you are wearing the watch, so the band does not come loose. I replaced my band with a rubber watch band, and this worked great. I highly recommend getting a more durable watch band for everyday use, and use the leather bands for “upscale events”- like taking a glass of champagne with you to calculate out Rolls Royce payments.

 

I’ll stick to my doughnut ranking, and give this watch a 4.5 out of 5. The only Cons I have deal with the app and the band, not about the actual functioning of the product.

 

Pros

Looks great- like an expensive watch

Tons of apps

Monitors heart rate

Step counter is very accurate

Easy to use

 

Cons

White band turns to yellow in no time

S Health app needs a bigger library, and a “total calories burned”

A fairly expensive watch (they start at $250 and go up from there)

 

Overall, I highly recommend the Samsung Gear S2 Classic. Beautiful AND smart? This watch is like me, just less annoying, thinner, and more functional.

Fatty Festivities (Cinco de Mayo addition)

Posted by Fatty Founder on May 6, 2017 with 1 Comment

Cinco de Mayo is here friends.  That one day a year that I can have a margarita for breakfast and its “festive” not a “serious alcohol problem”.  When eating tacos for every meal is “fun” and not a “serious gastrointestinal event”.  Knowing that celebrations in general require, by law, being a glutton- I plan to eat my fill.

Attempting to eat healthy is a difficult path when you love food.  I didn’t become the fine looking fatty I am today by eating broccoli and lettuce.  Attempting to eat healthy, but not have it taste like dirt and sadness, is important if you want to maintain it.  And planning for a healthy option when things are about to get crazy (margaritas for breakfast crazy!) is putting out things I love, but that are also good for me.

Because my husband and I like different food, it can be difficult to agree on a healthy diet.  That’s why my plan for this year is to set up a buffet.  I am not a huge fish fan, but my husband is.  Having a fish option allows him to make fish tacos if he’d like.   I love shrimp and scallops.  Grilling up seafood, chicken, beef, and other options allows for me to pick what I want.  This also works with large groups- everyone can pick what they enjoy, build the foods they want, and have as many servings as they want.

I love avocado, and it’s a perfect topping on any kind of taco.  They are calorie and fat dense (234 calories per cup and 21 grams of fat!), so coating every taco in them may not be the best idea.  Now, the fat is mostly the good monounsaturated type, and avocados are a great source of many vitamins, but too much of a good thing blah blah I’m already fat I don’t need extra calories.  So adding avocados along with other toppings is great, just don’t make an avocado taco topped with avocado and a side of avocado.  Put other stuff on there too.

I also love spicy salsa, and I have an avocado lime salsa (more avocado!!) that I use with everything now.  Herdez Avocado Salsa has a good spicy flavor, and is another healthy option for toppings- only 60 calories for 2 tablespoons.  Because it’s a thin salsa, it works well on tacos in place of other sauces.  Salsa and pico de gallo are other healthy options that add flavor.   I also use nonfat Greek yogurt in place of sour cream.  It has the perfect texture and flavor to work as a replacement, and has far fewer calories than low fat sour cream (35 calories for 2 tablespoons verses 60 calories in reduced fat sour cream).  The other difference is that nonfat Greek yogurt tastes delightful, whereas low fat and nonfat sour cream tastes like caulk and looks like eel goo.

Finding healthy ways to eat things you love is important when trying to lose weight.  You can’t cut out everything you love and expect to maintain any diet.  I love tacos!  Finding a new way to eat what you love, but do it better, is the best way to celebrate and maintain a fit physique.  So go have a taco or 80- but top it with things that are good for you!

Fatty Freshness

Posted by Fatty Founder on April 25, 2017 with No Comments

It’s an unpleasant thing: we sweat. But there are ways to keep it from making your life unpleasant (if you have a date, always shower after exercising. No one likes a date that smells of onion- unless they love the smell on onion. . . but then you may be dating a weirdo or cannibal- use caution). I have a few tips on how I keep my skin clear, and mostly non-stinky, after getting my sweat on.

1. When I shower, I use a body wash. It helps clean up your skin and can help you avoid an unpleasant side effect of sweat: acne. I love Neutrogena Body Clear Body Wash, Pink Grapefruit. It has salicylic acid, which is what many face washes use to fight acne. And it smells great. For the manly men out there, or women who hate things that smell like joy, Neutrogena also makes a Body Clear Body Wash that’s unscented. But it smells a bit like medicine. So if you want to be a manly, medicine smelling man (or woman!), that’s the one for you.

stinky man

Stinky Medicine Man One

pretty woman one
Pretty Smelling Woman One

2. Sometimes oil is a great cleaner. Sounds like I’m a crazy person, right? Well, yes. BUT the oils can actually bind to the oil on your skin and whisk it away, without drying out your skin. I often use an oil cleaner after I exercise since it doesn’t dry my skin. Don’t believe me? Read this quote from a doctor I’ve never talked to from an article I read (seems legit, right?):

No matter the skin type, cleansing oil mixes with the preexisting oils already on your face, according to cosmetic dermatologic surgeon Dr. Ariel Ostad. “Some of these oils can either be naturally produced sebum or those from makeup and other products. When you rinse it all off, the ‘good oil’ takes those ‘bad oils’ and dirt along with it,” he told HuffPost Style (Oliver, 2014)

Wanna read that article? It was pretty interesting. Here’s the info:
Oliver, Dana. November 17, 2014. “What The Heck Is Cleansing Oil, And Why Is Everyone Obsessed With It?” The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/17/what-is-cleansing-oil_n_6158450.html

I currently use Garnier Clean+ Nourishing Cleansing Oil For Dry Skin. It keeps my skin clear, but also leaves it soft and not dried out.

face oil

Often I wash my face with this first, then use an acne wash before bed to prevent clogged pores that make me look like I’m suffering from some sort of face plague.

3. Lotion, lotion, lotion. My final step after the shower is lotion. It keeps my skin from getting dried out, and it calms any irritation after exercising. I always shower immediately after exercising. That way I’m not sitting in sweaty clothes for too long. And after getting clean I put the lotion on IN THE SHOWER. I towel myself off just enough for my skin to be damp, but not wet. Having the humidity of the shower, and the damp skin, allows me to lock the moisture in when I put the lotion on. Your skin can really dry out when you sweat and shower, since you’re washing/sweating away the natural oils. But locking in that moisture right after the shower keeps me from getting dry skin (and here in Las Vegas, it’s an even bigger issue since it sucks moisture from you like the casinos take your money and dieting robs you of joy). Right now I’m using Suave Smoothing with Cocoa Butter and Shea Body Lotion, because I like saving money and that stuff WORKS!- but I also use Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Miracle Dry Oil for Hair, Body, Face. Both work very well for dry skin. Although- if you use the oil I would do so right before bed- I have no idea what they mean by “dry oil”- but it isn’t dry. It’s oil. And it can take some time to really sink in. So, not for use before you put on your fine silk gown (or whatever it is normal people wear these days)

suave
Coco butter yeay!

dry oil
“Dry Oil” that isn’t really dry but IS oil and is best before bed

Sometimes diet and exercise can wreak havoc on your skin and body. Determining how to combat that to become your better, awesome self, is important- especially if you want to have friends. Fitness is more than being able to run a mile (or meander a mile if you’re me)- it’s also about taking charge of your life and being comfortable in your own skin.

Fatty’s NEW Fitbit

Posted by Fatty Founder on June 2, 2015 with No Comments

I’m back. I know, I’m a slacker. I got a lot on my plate right now (besides, you know, doughnuts), so things fall by the wayside. I’ll be better. Maybe.
SO- on to the blog. I have a new Fitbit. I loved my old one so much I decided to get a new one. And it does more stuff- yeay! I managed to break my old one, and needed something new. I know Fitbit, and liked their stuff. I had the Flex, which gave me little dots to make my steps (see old Fitbit blog), but I wanted something a little different this time. I chose the Charge HR because it actually displays the steps, and gives me a built in heart rate monitor. Both those things were important to me.
This new tracker also fixed some of the concerns I had with the Flex. This one has a button on the side that allows me to select the information I want to see. One touch switches from one screen to the next. With the Flex, you have to tap to see the dots. If you tapped too much, it was set to sleep mode. This happened a lot when I was pushing a shopping cart, because the movement of my wrist would change it over. The second concern I had with the Flex was the band- they often ripped when you slid the Flex tracker out. I had to order a few new bands during the time I had it.
The Charge HR is similar to a watch, you don’t slide it out of the band. It charges as one complete piece. The band is thicker, and it doesn’t have the little plastic snap the Flex did. The band actually fastens like a watch, and it seems more secure because of it.
The step counter on the Charge HR also seems pretty accurate. I actually did a little test- I clapped, waved my arms, and pounded my hand on the table. I looked ridiculous, BUT the tracker did not register any of those things as steps. I noticed on the Flex that sometimes clapping would register as steps. The Charge HR fixed that issue.
The one major issue for this tracker is the
I put in a pretty picture of the Fitbit website so you can see all the stuff it does. Fitbit makes a pretty site, so I’ll let you look at it:
From the website: https://www.fitbit.com/chargehr

site

And the page where you can track your info:
fitbit

I’ll give you my rating as follows. And since it’s a fitness blog, what better way to rate this item than with doughnuts. This is far better than giving something a kale, or broccoli, ranking. So, I give the Fitbit HR a 4 out of 5 doughnuts. See the picture below:

dough dough dough dough

Pros:
Button on the side allows for quick scrolling through displays
Easy to use- one touch displays time, the next steps
Tracks heart rate
You can set a timer by holding the side button
Links to my phone
Longer battery life
Automatically tracks sleep- don’t need to change it over to a sleep setting

Cons:
Takes a while to link to the phone and send over the information
The band is very thick- if you have small wrists it can take some getting used to
Cannot be used while swimming. Recommend you remove before showering
For some, the cost may be a bit high

Overall, I highly recommend the Charge HR. I think it’s an efficient and accurate tracker. It runs at $150, but that’s not too crazy for a tracker.

Fatty’s Resolutions

Posted by Fatty Founder on January 4, 2015 with No Comments

Happy New Year!! I am attempting to get back into the swing of things. My blog has been behind a bit. Life gets crazy- fitness, school (back in class again!), work, marriage. And really, being amazing is an all encompassing job. But I have set goals that I hope will inspire me to an even better year than the last one:

1. Do better this year than last year. No excuses. Do better. Workout more. Eat more healthy. This goal is based on ME. Everyone can make this goal, and it would be different. But it’s a great goal (of course it is, I came up with it), and it works for anyone who makes it. Didn’t exercise at all last year? Well, if you go once you just achieved your goal. Eat crap everyday? Make one day a week a healthy day, and you met your goal! I’m not telling people to half-ass anything (unless you goal wight is to lose half your ass, then I guess goal met!), but starting with a little will push you to do a lot. Little steps can end with big changes!

2. Try new things. Do something new once a month: Try hiking (something flat). Tight rope walking (on the ground). Rock climbing (do they make flat rock walls?). I need to move out of my comfort zone. Changing things up will allow me to find new ways to get fit. And doing something new is often exciting, and that means I’ll be excited to do it. I might find my next big fitness adventure!

3. Be more optimistic. I’m a cynic. I’m good at seeing all the bad, and what I failed at (I know it seems like I have never, EVER failed- but it has happened). I need to be better at doing this blog. I need to be better at getting my fitness time in. BUT- I have done a lot over the year, and there are times where you just need to not beat yourself up. Seeing what you’ve done well, and giving yourself a big pat on the back, is what’s needed most of the time. Look at the bad, acknowledge you need to improve, and then look at what you’ve done well.

Now, a story: Each year, my parents give me an ornament for our Christmas tree. This year, they gave me a Slovak Spiral, and when you hang it you make a wish. The card says “whatever you wish for you’ll keep getting more and more of, but you can only wish for something that money cannot buy”. So what I wish for- for myself, and everyone I know (unless you’re terrible) is this “may your home be filled with laughter, your marriage (relationships) with love, your life with health, your spirit with beauty, and your mind with calm”. Happy New Year- make it the best 2015 you ever had!

Fatty’s Fitness Pal

Posted by Fatty Founder on August 25, 2014 with No Comments

I downloaded My Fitness Pal on my phone. It’s great because it’s free. I like free. Free and idiot proof is even better. Free, idiot proof, and helping me lose weight- well, that’s like getting free, awesome tasting ice cream that makes you lose weight. Or a unicorn. Or a castle with free weight loss ice cream AND a unicorn. Well, maybe not THAT awesome.

My Fitness pal is easy, and it tracks a massive amount of data on my phone (which I carry everywhere anyway). I can also link it up to my fitness tracker (I’ve linked it currently with my FitBit, and also with BodyMedia- the former tracker I used). It adds my steps to the daily totals and shows me how many calories that earned me. It also pushes me to work harder if I see that my calories are high and my step count is low.

It lets you set all the goals yourself- weight loss (how many pounds a week), calories per day, how active you are, how long you want to exercise per day, and any notes you want to add. When you enter the food you just type in the name, and if you’re eating out- the restaurant, and it pulls up a massive database of food. It also announces if you’re way over the calories you’ve given yourself. Which makes me lie the rest of the day so that I don’t go over WAY too much. Just kidding. I just all of a sudden make that my free day and give up on all semblance of trying.

I have put all kinds of pictures on this blog (I am getting super awesome at this picture thing, everyone needs to be impressed- look, the fat chick learned to use a computer, yeay). They show how easy this program is to use. If I can use it, ANYONE can use it. Trust me on this. I may not be good looking, but I write an anonymous blog on fitness that has no pictures of me! So suck it internet, look at pictures of My Fitness Pal. Here ya go:

photo

photo (2)

photo (3)

Fatty’s Fitbit

Posted by Fatty Founder on July 4, 2014 with No Comments

Look, this is my Fitbit on my adorable wrist!

Look, this is my Fitbit on my adorable wrist!

OK- I’m back! I have a new post for all of you! Are you excited? You should be! Some ass hat hacked my blog (who does that? It’s a blog written by a fat chick about DIET and EXERCISE- what could you possibly gain by hacking it? Experience on how NOT to hack things? A bad life decision? More self esteem issues from you being a crappy hacker?). So, anyway, I’m back to the blog. And my newest fitness fetish? I got a Fitbit (yeay!)

“What the heck is a Fitbit?” you might say. And I will answer that questions because you said “heck” and didn’t curse at me. Only I can use bad words on my blog. A Fitbit is an awesome little tracking device I use to force myself to lose weight. This thing on my wrist reminds me when I’m failing miserably at my goal of taking more steps. You see, it tracks your steps, and little dots light up as you get closer to your goal. There are 5 dots total. The wristband comes preset with a goal of 10,000 steps. For those of you who don’t know, 10,000 steps is what science tells us to walk to not die of fat and laziness (by the way, the average American gets 5,000 steps SO I guess that’s why, you know, obesity). I set mine to 15,000 steps because I want to lose weight. And also, I’m an overachiever at setting goals I don’t reach. Just kidding. I don’t set goals- that’s a lot of work to not complete. Anyway, back to the Fitbit.

The Fitbit is a full fitness tracker. It not only tracks my steps, it tracks sleep, and links with “My Fitness Pal” on my phone. My Fitness Pal tracks my nutrition each day. I put in everything I eat, and it calculates calories and measures it against my preset goal (how many calories I should eat in a day to lose weight). And it does the math for me, because, American (AKA- I’m bad at math). So it tells me how much I’m over or under my daily total, then links with my Fitbit to match my steps/activity to my calories consumed.

The Fitbit site also links to the My Fitness Pal, and puts everything on one site for me. Here’s the site should you want to take a look: http://www.fitbit.com/home. Then it sends me a weekly report to tell me how I did. And to spark friendly competition it allows you to track friends who also have a Fitbit and ranks you against their steps. I, however, am not friendly and prefer to mock everyone for not walking and me always coming in first (which I always do because I’m awesome, and also sometimes cheat and put it on my cat).

I have used other trackers (I’ll also review the BodyMedia armband), but the Fitbit is the one I’ve stuck with. The dots tell me how close I am to hitting my goal, and they blink faster as I get closer to completion. And then when I hit my goal, and all 5 dots are completed- the thing goes nuts and vibrates! And its like a big giant pat on the back for reaching your goal (or a pat on the wrist I guess). If it happens to be linked with your phone (there’s a Fitbit app) it congratulates you as well with a pop up. It’s nice to have a bracelet care about me so much.

I wear my Fitbit everyday, and it makes me move. And it looks dead sexy on my wrist (look- I added a picture. I’m awesome!). Just remember- every journey starts with a step. And if you’re not into sappy sayings that attempt to inspire just think of it this way: every step you take, ever move you make, every song I misquote: you should walk to not be fat.

Fatty’s Failing Phalanges

Posted by Fatty Founder on February 10, 2014 with No Comments

Yeay, another big word in the title. I know, I know- it starts with a “P” but it sounds like an “F” so it still counts. For those of you who don’t know “phalanges” are finger or toe bones. My title deals with my fingers, being that I screwed up my hands and wrists. It wasn’t horrible, I will get to keep my hands and all my fingers (and avoid surgery- for now). But I need to wear a brace and take a handful of crazy medications to keep the swelling down and pain at bay. And I’ve been banned from putting any weight on my wrists. I asked if I could lift weights and was given a VERY loud, VERY FIRM and serious NO. I’ve also been banned from push ups (yeay, I hate those!!), burpees (yeay, I really REALLY hate those!), or anything that puts pressure on my hands and wrists (yeay no uncoordinated balancing on the floor). So it seems that cardio, without any pressure on those hands, is my new past time. I can add these things back into my workouts, but I need to do so gradually.

I like cardio. Honestly, after a day of work I love going to the gym and hopping on the elliptical to quiet the day’s insanity. But outside of the gym, I also have a few options during “active recovery”. I have several videos I can do at home to keep my fitness going. I have Insanity and Turbo Kick, and I can does those for my cardio bursts. But I do have to watch those wrists. So when the video calls for crazy forms of torture (burpees), I do squats or improvise- Jumping jacks or other fun things that keep my heart rate elevated.

I’m healing, and my wrists are better. But I still have to be careful, because I get flair ups. I have started doing weights in short bursts. But the other thing I’ve learned through this- listen to your body. If it says stop- then stop! Don’t push yourself too hard when you know you’re body isn’t up to it. Sometimes you need a break. You’re body will let you know. But don’t slack off! It’s easy to sit on the couch watching Judge Judy and eating ice cream. But overcoming an injury, and working harder to get better, is what makes this fatty a fitness FORCE