Happy Friday

Happy Friday!  Hope everyone had a fabulous week.  Mine has been super duper busy but in a good way. I have a lot of new projects going on and some exciting stuff in the works.  I'm looking forward to going home this weekend to hang with the family. I love long weekends.  Next week is the last week of Warrior which is crazy.  The time really flew by.  I'm excited to be back at Aspen with Scott and Molly though.  I have missed them very much! I've had to try and be careful with my Pinterest Princess Experiment's as there are so many tempting and not healthy foods for me to try on there.  The recipes we've made so far I have tried to healthify in some manner or practice portion control.  I am loving the breakfast casserole and have been enjoying that every morning this week.  Breakfast has always been tough for me when it's so easy to go get a big, yummy and totally unhealthy bagel. And the fact that my tongue would often get bored with egg beaters and spinach.  So the casserole has been a great way to mix it up a little bit and still feel really satisfied throughout the morning.

What are you up to this weekend?  Any fun Labor Day plans?  Who is checking out the Hy-Vee triathlon?  Anyone competing?  Have a super weekend and safe travels!

LeMars Triathlon

I tried to make the tri work but due to circumstances beyond my control, I will not be able to participate in the LeMars triathlon this year.  No, I wasn’t ready physically and hadn’t been training like I should but I’m still sad because I will miss this opportunity to share this with Molly again this year.  Also because I wanted to meet Mom On The Rocks! I’m hoping next year I can compete again and really rock it out.  Sometimes life just pops up and gets in the way and we have to make choices.  The choice not to participate is what’s best for me and my family this year. 

I will still be doing the Principal 5K at the Des Moines marathon in October and hoping I can still get into the Color Run in early October.  Who knows what other cheaper, local races will pop up that I can be a part of.  I’m hoping there are plenty more.   

Too many choices?

Maybe I lived a sheltered childhood but when I was little I remember your potato chip options being very limited.  You had basics like Cheetos, Doritos, Fritos, tortilla, plain Ruffles or Lays, Pringles, sour cream & onion, barbeque and maybe a cheddar sour cream on a special occasion.  Now they have every flavor imaginable available on a potato chip.  BLT, dill pickle, loaded baked potato, sweet potato, cool ranch, salt & pepper, lime margarita, garden salsa, French onion, vinegar, pizza, cheeseburger, you name it and it’s on a chip.  And there’s no such thing as a standard type of chip anymore either.  Now you can have it fried, baked, pita, organic, pop chips, special K, sweet potato, vegan…and the list goes on and on.  Does this seem like chip overload to anyone else?  The chip aisle at my local grocery store is larger than the health section.  And we wonder why we’re obese?  Don’t even get me started on the cookie/snack aisle and at any given time you have six to eight varieties of Oreos on a shelf.  Even a classic candy bar like Snickers has had to add variations like almond, peanut butter, marathon protein bar and more to keep up with the consumers demand for more, more, more! And have you ever tried to make an informed decision in the ice cream aisle?  Regular, low fat, sugar free, fat free, yogurt, all natural, popsicles, drumsticks, sandwiches, cookies, bite size, pint size, quart size, gallon and every flavor imaginable. I don’t know about you but this causes serious shopper overload for me.  Sure, variety is the spice of life and companies today aim to please every person’s changing palate but sometimes I think, it’s just too much.  I don’t think that processed, twisted, flavored and altered should be standard fair in everything we eat.  Sometimes, I prefer not having a million choices.  Sometimes my mind is happy when I just have to figure out if I want vanilla or chocolate, white or wheat, plain or barbeque.  I have enough on my mind on a daily basis than to have grocery shopping be an adventure or treasure hunt.  Maybe I’m the minority here and that’s fine with me but I can’t help but think that sometimes too much is not a good thing.  I mean, really, do you need BLT chips?  Just go make a yummy BLT with fresh tomato and lettuce.  I bet it will be much more satisfying.   

I'm in!

It’s a great day here at The Principal.  As I’ve told you before, the company threw down the “I’m in!” race challenge encouraging all employees to participate in a road race this year.  You don’t have to run a marathon to be part of the challenge, just walk a 5K and you’re doing your part.  Everyone that signed up got one of these awesome t-shirts to wear.  Today is a company wide jeans day and you’re encouraged to wear your shirt.  I love jeans days about as much as I love chocolate chip cookies, possibly more, so I am proudly rocking my shirt.  I may have been a little ambitious when I ordered my shirt.  It’s a tad “snug” in all the wrong places but it’s bright blue, dri fit and I love the slogan:  Life isn't lived on the couch.  This is so very true.  You can sit on the couch watching TV and other people living their life or you can get up and get moving and experience your own.  Seems like a pretty easy choice to me!!

I have Warrior tonight for the 3^rd time this week.  It’s a make-up session from a night that we got rained out.  Hopefully I can still move all my appendages tomorrow.  My shoulders are a little tight today but I’m sure I can push through it.  We gotta keep moving because the weekend is just around the corner.  I can’t believe there are only a few sessions of Warrior left.  The 10 weeks flew by and it’s been an amazing experience.

What are your plans for the weekend? Anything fitness fun?  My "I'm in" challenge to you is to squeeze in some fitness fun and enjoy the beautiful weather.  Remember, life isn't lived on the couch so why are you wasting your time there?  Hmmmm?  That's what I thought.  Get moving!   

Are you ready for some fun?

Good morning!!  I’m in a great mood today.  I have a new project under way that I think will mix well with this blog every so often.  I’m a huge fan of Pinterest.  It’s a great tool for finding some really amazing things.  The problem is that I pin like a maniac but I never actually do the projects that I pin.  What sense does that make?  So I’ve decided to do a Pinterest experiment.  I’m actually going to follow through on some of these great ideas and then, lucky you readers, I’m going to create a cheat sheet if you will to let you know what I thought of the project to help you figure out if it is one you would like to try or not.  The blog will contain pictures, instructions, cost, time spent, practicality, alternatives and anything else I decide is relevant to the pin.  I will give it a recommendation whether I think it’s worth trying or not.  And once in a while, there may even be some fun how-to videos.  I’ve enlisted the help of two wonderful and creative ladies so that we can bring many great pins your way.  We’re super excited to start sharing these experiments with you!

The other day I shared a kale chips recipe on here that I wanted to try.  Well, I finally made it last night and it is the first entry on my http://pinterestprincessexperiment.blogspot.com/  Go check it out if you want to see if they turned out or not.  I also posted and rated a breakfast casserole that I tried this week!  There will be recipes, crafts, do it yourself projects and many random experiments posting out there so stay tuned and be sure to enter your email on the page so you can receive updates.  If there is a pin that you’ve been dying to try but haven’t gotten around to or maybe you’re nervous, send the link to the pinterestexperiment@gmail.com and we would be happy to try it out for you! 

This blog will stay dedicated to my fattofitinthe515 journey but if there is a great healthified recipe we find on Pinterest, I will definitely share the information.  

Fair 1, Lyndee 0

I made it out to the Iowa State Fair on the last day.  It was perfect weather and a good time with great friends.  We spent about 7 hours there walking around and enjoying a Boyz II Men concert.  Yes, Wanye Morris still makes me heart go pitter-patter.  I did partake in some bad fair food.  A tenderloin, my favorite fried cheese curds, a gyro and a rice krispy bar on a stick.  The good news is that I had over 19,400 steps and walked 8.3 miles.  I climbed approximately 15 flights of stairs or the equivalent of the statue of liberty.  When you put it like that, it sounds like I was way more productive than I thought.  It was probably not enough activity to work off all the bad food but definitely better than not moving around at all.  Next year I will skip the tenderloin and go with the gyro and cheese curds.  I will also skip the free sample of 5 hour energy and the endless diet mountain dews that kept me awake most of last night.  Props to our friend Sarah who was courageous enough to try the fried butter on a stick.  She said it was amazing and tasted kind of like a cinnamon roll.  I kept staring at it thinking fat and calorie content.  Sometimes my brain is no fun. 

I knew that we were going to get home from the fair late and that I would be tired so before we left I made sure to prepare healthy lunches, breakfast and snacks for the week.  I'm trying out a new breakfast bake this week and will let you know how that turns out. I knew taking the time to do that would ensure I could not be lazy and continue my crappy eating into this week.  It’s a new week and I feel like I need to recommit in a big way.  So hello Monday, let’s see if we can make this a stellar week food and activity wise.  I have been using my fitbit the last few days and so far, I’m loving it.  I think it’s helped me to feel a bit renewed on this journey and I’m enjoying earning badges and fun motivators online.  Sometimes it’s the little things that make my day.  It’s like having a victory journal that I don’t have to write in.  The program points out when I accomplish good things.  Thank you fitbit and loseit for the little pats on the back to keep me going.

I’m looking forward to getting my butt kicked at Warrior tonight.  I can’t believe there are only a few weeks of the program left.  I’m still waiting to hear when our segment will air on the Channel 13 news but promise to let everyone know when I find out.  Today, my challenge to you, is to get a little crazy and make one small change towards healthy living.  Just one.  I’m not asking that much. Log your food, plan your meals for the week, cut out a processed dinner, walk a few extra stairs or get away from your desk over lunch and get your blood pumping.  Anything that makes you happy.  We’re all in this together, right?  Motivate, dominate, destroy my friends.  What have we got to lose? 

Yesterday's fitbit stats

Sarah enjoying butter on a stick

Warriors Rule

Warriors rule

We all survived Warrior Wednesday night.  There was a few times when I was afraid that Sonya and Erin weren’t going to be my friend anymore, judging by the looks on their faces during some of the exercises.  Not only did they survive but I they totally kicked butt in our hour long craziness.  Todd pulled out some real doozies for the night. My least favorite by far was the Turkish getups with a heavy bag.  What is wrong with the Turks?  Just stand up, fools.  No need for all that nonsense and definitely not with a 40 pound bag of sand on your shoulder.  Come to think of it, I wasn’t a fan of the 2 minutes of moving planks using the heavy bag either.  Apparently, it was not my night for heavy bags.  There was kettlebells, Bulgarian bags, sand pit sprints, suicides, high knees, etc., tractor tires and resistance bands for the cherry on top.  It was a butt kicker and I think WHO got some really great footage of everyone.  Hopefully nothing too embarrassing though.  We shall see when it airs, along with the interviews with Todd and I.  It was a lot of fun having them out there so thank you again Sonya and Erin!  Great job to everyone that participated!!! 

This week has been pretty stressful in general and I’m trying to find my happy place that is non-food related.  Some days are better than others.  Lack of sleep and stress have been wreaking havoc on my scale and I’m not too happy about it.  Maybe I need some meditation…or medication.  Just kidding.  I’m hoping to catch up on sleep this weekend and release some worries.  Looking forward to a fun luau with friends and catching the last day of the Iowa State Fair.  No, I'm not attending for the food, Boyz II Men is on the free stage and I heart them. They were the first concert I ever went to. *sigh*  It looks to be a great weekend.  Have fun, shine and be brilliant, everyone.  

  

Life is a beach

Oh my goodness my calves are tight.  They hurt a little bit yesterday but today they are burning with every step I take.  No wonder the Olympic beach volleyball players have the best legs I have ever seen.  My Monday workout was only an hour of running and exercise in the sand pit and they practice and play in that stuff all day long.  I love the sand.  *Insert visions of my Biggest Loser Resort hikes along the beach in Malibu here* But that was a nice two hour hike, not suicides, sprints, jump squats, lunges and more.  I did a double workout last night trying to loosen them up a bit but apparently, I made it worse.  Total bummer. Might need to go scarf down a banana or something before Warrior tonight and hope that helps.  I certainly don’t want to be limping around when WHO-TV is filming us.  I gotta be tough! I have not felt very tough lately, mentally or physically so it’s time to get my game face on.  Where is that fire that raged so bright within me a few months ago?  I’m just looking to get a little spark back.  That’s all it would take to light the inferno again.  It’s amazing how long it takes to revamp your life to healthy living and how quickly one can backslide back into the abyss.  I feel it should definitely be the other way around, but alas, no one asked me for my opinion.  I’m breaking out some of my Biggest Loser Recipes tonight and hoping that will help get me back on track.  It may be time for a clean eating cleanse as well. 

If you haven’t seen any of the pieces WHO has done with Molly and I in the past, here are two links. I can’t find the original story they did on us (another total bummer) but here is a follow up and the story they did about my winning the Year of You contest.  As soon as I know when the new one will air, I will be sure to spread the word.  It will be a Tuesday night during the 5 pm news but sometimes it takes a few weeks to get it on the tube.  Have a wonderful hump day and remember to fan your fire!

/http://whotv.com/2011/04/12/weekly-workout-erin-sonya-check-in-with-lyndee-and-molly-about-their-successful-weight-loss-journeys/

http://whotv.com/2012/03/30/winners-and-losers-iowan-heads-to-the-biggest-loser-resort/

Triathlon terrors

I didn’t get a chance to try my kale chips or the chick peas snack this weekend, but I plan to soon.  It’s another busy week at the Hugen house.  One would think we would be used to this by now.  Had a great Warrior workout last night.  I was covered in sand from head to toe.  Even after two showers I’m still finding bits of sand all over the place.  I’m taking that as a sign of kicking some serious butt.  Tomorrow night WHO TV will be joining us for a workout of the week at Warrior.  I can’t wait to see Sonya and Erin again.  They are two terrific ladies and it’s been awhile since we’ve gotten to workout together.  I’m hoping they enjoy the sandpit torture just as much as I do.  I always feel great after Warrior.  Exhausted and depleted, but great, nonetheless. I’m excited that Todd is extending the program for an additional 8 weeks in September.  I probably won’t be able to do it since I go back to training with Scott and Molly in a month but I know that other people can transform their bodies through the program and get great results. 

I did some swimming this weekend.  This triathlon is going to be tough.  I am unprepared and off of my game.  Last year I trained for LeMars for six months.  I’m less than a month away and have yet to be on my bike for an outside ride.  Ugh.  Where did the summer go?  It felt like I had all the time in the world to get ready for this.  Now it’s knocking on my door and I’m terrified. 

I’ve decided to sell my bodybugg and switch to a fitbit.  I love bodybugg and it helped me lose 100 pounds but I’m tired of paying for the subscription. The database is ancient and hard to use.  I’ve been using the LoseIt! application and website on my iphone and loving it. It’s so easy!  There’s even a bar scan code reader so I don’t have to input a food if it’s not in the database. I just scan it in and it appears in my log.  How awesome is that?  Plus, the fitbit gives a lot more readouts like miles, flights climbed and tracks your sleep.  The best part?  The program is free to use online and on your phone.  It also sends you daily or weekly reports of your nutrition, activity, sleep, miles, flights, weight, etc.  And you can set reminders for logging your food, as well.  If you have a profile on LoseIt add me as a friend and we can do challenges and receive badges together.  Yes, I’m a big fan of badges.  Everyone needs little rewards and motivators and they make me feel like I am accomplishing something.  It’s been rough not having my bodybugg on for the last two weeks and not knowing my burn but I’m hoping I can get a fitbit this weekend.  

Salty crunchy cravings

I’ve been craving salt lately.  That’s weird for me.  Molly and Sissy are the chip lovers.  I’m more of a “drown in a vat of brownie batter” kind of over indulger.  If it’s sweet, I’m in.  But the last week or so I’ve been wanting salt and crunch.  Possibly because when I was home I had a lot more salty foods than I’m used to.  Maybe my body is going through Cresco withdrawal in the form of sodium or something.  I’ve been doing some research and I found two recipes for healthy, salty and crunchy snacks to try this weekend on snack-girl.com.  (She's got some really great stuff so check out her page!) Resist the ruffles, people, these two fun finds look to be awesome.  What are they?  Kale and chickpeas, aka garbanzo beans.  Don’t go gagging out just yet.  Let me explain.  Kale is a super food.  It has over 300% of your daily value of vitamin A.  It is loaded with other nutrients as well.  Two cups of kale only has 39 calories.  That’s a LOT of snacking and happy tongue time.  I’m going to try making kale chips.  It sounds simple enough.  And cheap!  Did I mention healthy? 

Kale Chips Recipe

(2 servings)

1 bunch fresh kale (or 1/2 pound)

2 teaspoons olive oil or non-stick cooking spray

salt to taste

Heat oven to 500 F. Line rimmed cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Tear the leaves off the thick stems into chip sized pieces. An easy way to do this is to fold the leaf in half and just rip toward the stem. Put in bowl and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt to taste.

Bake 5 minutes or until edges are brown and kale is crispy when moved in pan.

For one serving = 90 calories (if use olive oil), 5.2 g fat, 10.1 g carbohydrates, 3.3 g protein, 2.0 g fiber, 121 mg sodium, 1 PointsPlus

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas Recipe

(4 servings)

1-15.5 ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Heat oven to 450 F and line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Drain chickpeas, rinse, and put them in a bowl. Mix oil, salt, and pepper with chickpeas and spread them on baking sheet.

Put them in the oven. After 15 minutes shake the pan to ensure that the chickpeas brown evenly. Roast another 15 minutes until brown and crunchy. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

For one serving = 161 calories (again, cut down calories and fat by using spray instead of oil), 4.7 g fat, 25.0 g carbohydrates, 0 g sugar, 5.5 g protein, 4.9 g fiber, 329 mg sodium, 4 PointsPlus

If you don’t like spicy, leave off the cayenne pepper and use some garlic powder.  Or if you want sweet and crunchy, try a little sugar and cinnamon.  Does it get any easier than that to add some variety?  And again, cheap, easy and a much better alternative than chips. If you have any other ideas for salty substitutes or ways to spruce up kale or chickpeas, please share! I will definitely let you know how these turn out!  

Really?

Well that's an interesting advertisement at the top of the Biggest Loser Club Corner webpage.  I guess it's all about the bottom line and selling ads but seems a bit messed up to me.  Hello fat people seeking help and inspiration, check out our page...and don't forget to visit KFC for a bucket of fried chicken when you're done.  What the heck?! Does anyone else find this ridiculous?  *beating head against the wall*

Lose it

My bodybugg subscription expired while I was in Cresco last week and I won’t’ be able to get it renewed until this weekend.  It’s been very odd not having it on and knowing what I’m burning.  I’ve been wearing that thing for over two years.  Talk about feeling naked…and a little lost.  I hate not knowing what my calorie burn is so I just have to push a little harder each day and hope I’m getting close to 3000.  Word on the street is that Aspen will no longer be using the bodybugg service in the future, which means Scott won’t be able to log in and see my stats.  So I’m heehawing on whether or not to keep subscribing or find a different system. I have been using LoseIt this week and I love it.  It’s a website or an app for a smart or iphone.  It’s much easier than the bodybugg to use for logging food.  I can actually use my phone to scan in the foods bar code and it automatically inputs all the nutritional information.  How awesome is that?  Hooray for those that don’t like logging food.  That kind of takes away your excuse that it takes too much time.  You can get daily or weekly reports, breakdowns, have friends on the site, set motivators, etc.  And you can earn badges which are fun little rewards that can make you feel good.  It’s really a great application and did I mention it’s free?  So I’ve been debating getting a fitbit (works much like a bodybugg) because it’s about the same price as my bodybugg subscription and then I could use the better app on my phone.  And it syncs through wifi instead of plugging my bodybugg into the computer every morning and uploading the information.  The only thing I’m worried about is whether or not it’s as accurate as the bodybugg.  Has anyone used fitbit?  Bodybugg?  Both?  Another system? 

Decisions, decisions.  What’s a girl to do?  I’m going to try to find someone with a fitbit that would let me borrow it for a week so I can compare it to the bodybugg and see if it’s as accurate, talk to Scott and see exactly when their bodybugg access is going away and continue logging my food on loseit until I figure it out.  Another great website I’ve heard about from friends is myfitnesspal.com, livestrong.com and sparkpeople.com.  What are you guys using?  Do you log your food in journal by hand instead of an application or website?  Do you log your food at all?  If you are trying to lose weight and can’t figure out why you’re not after stepping up your activity, LOG YOUR FOOD!  You will be amazed the calories you’re not figuring in that end up in your mouth every day.  And they add up!

Processed bodies part 2

A few posts ago I showed a picture of what the average American family of four eats in a week.  It was disturbing to say the least.  My co-worker, Ahnalee found the Time Magazine photo gallery that this was taken from.  Take a minute to scroll through the pictures of “What the world eats” and compare the countries and what they consume, including price. I find it very sad to see what the gluttoness first world countries consume compared to third world.  Next time your $1.50 bottle of coke gets stuck in the vending machine and you want to pitch a fit, take a minute to remember the family in Chad that only has rice for the week and spends an equivalent of $1.63 in U.S. dollars.  It is easy to see why our nation has the world’s largest problem with obesity.  Again, check out all the processed crap on our dinner tables.  You can’t expect your body to run properly if that is what you’re feeding it.  It’s just impossible. This is part 1 but you can google part 2 and 3 as well for more pictures.  It’s really crazy to look at.  Tonight, when you are eating dinner with your family, count your blessings as they are bountiful compared to the rest of the world and think for a second about what you’re consuming.  Is it really what man was intended to eat?  Are there any fruits and veggies on your plate?  Unprocessed grains?  I’m not trying to make anyone feel guilty because I consume these things to but I’m trying to keep it honest and bring it to everyone’s attention.  Maybe it will cause a few of us to think twice before chugging down that cola or making dinner out of a box with fake cheese powder.        

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373664,00.html

Congratulations!

I’m back and successfully survived all the wedding celebration.  Congratulations to Rachael and Jason for a fabulous wedding weekend!!! It was an amazing few days with family and friends and watching my sister transform into the most beautiful bride in the world.  Almost 200 pictures were taken on my camera but don’t worry, I’m only going to post a couple below so you can see my dress.  I felt like a little princess on Saturday and the smaller Lyndee 2.0 kind of actually enjoys getting all dolled up and formal these days.  Weird, huh? 

Large groups of people and crazy schedules led to some poor food choices but I tried to keep it in check as best that I could.  There was a lot of pizza and we had to provide our friend Texas Jenny with the experience of cheese balls (fried cheese curds).  Yeah, she’s a big fan of them too.  According to her, we Iowans eat a lot of cheese.  There was cheese on everything!  Pizza, cheese balls, cheesy potatoes, sandwiches, cream cheese on bagels…you name it, it was cheesy.  I had never really thought about it before but she’s right.  It’s like my favorite food group!  Unfortunately, it is not a healthy one!

Now that the wedding is done, it will be nice to get back to the normal routine and less weekends on the road.  Oh and some serious triathlon training! I’m guessing my husband will want to stop out at the famous Iowa State Fair at some point this weekend. Every year I go, even though I’m not a big fan.  I know, that’s totally un-Iowan and probably un-American of me but it’s hot, crowded and expensive.  And all I want to do when I’m there is eat all the crappy food.  Some of it is delicious, don’t get me wrong but none of it is healthy. We have proven that we can fry anything on a stick.  Last year, it was butter.  Seriously?  Who was sitting around one day going ok, what could I put on a stick and deep fry that would really up everyone’s chances of instant heart attack?  Yes, I know, butter! As if Twinkies, Snickers, Oreos, corn dog, etc. weren’t enough.  Gag me out.  I’m sure we will visit the fair at least once so that Rob can get his bucket of cookies, grinders, tenderloins, sausage and whatever else he can get his hands on.  Oh, my husband never gains weight, just for the record.  He’s a calorie burning machine.  Lucky him.  Not so lucky for Lyndee.  When we go I will probably splurge on my cheese curds, in honor of Texas Jenny and then live vicariously through my husband and the food tasting extravaganza he and his tongue will be on.  The upside to going out there?  Well, I get to log a lot of steps on the body bugg and see some wonderful mullets while I do it.  A girl has got to entertain herself somehow.  

Color of the veggie rainbow

They say your plate should be an array of colors to get all your nutrients.  This article from livestrong actually suggests using the veggie rainbow.  While I didn’t have an entire rainbow, my lunch was only missing the blue/purple segment.  I had red, white, yellow and green with my zucchini, squash, tomatoes, onions, garlic and red and yellow peppers.  Yum!  Not a single preservative or drop of oil.  Fresh from the garden to a pan and into my tummy.  I paired it up with my favorite baked tilapia and I have a very happy tummy.  What fruit and veggie colors have you had today?  As skittles say, taste the rainbow!  I’m just suggesting you try it my way instead of their pure sugar variety. 

http://www.livestrong.com/article/262977-nutrition-fruit-and-vegetable-colors/