Giveaways for Week 2/25/10

• Tech Savvy Mama is wrapping up her Valentine's Day giveway this weekend. Ends 2/28
• Mom Start is doing a giveaway all of her own. Ends 4/1
• Mama's Money Savers is giving away Seagate FreeAgent Go Portable Hard Drive and Dockstar. Ends 3.16

Speaking of Mama's Money Savers, I won her Walmart $50 gift card giveaway! Thanks!

Gym!

While switching out phones over the weekend, I finally downloaded pictures from my camera. And I found two pics worth posting here...

 

  

My time on the elliptical, I try to spend keeping my target heart rate, which is currently 154. But over the past week, I've wanted to push it to see what I could do... but not get my heart rate above 170. The first picture was my very first attempt. Which averages out to a 14.52 minute mile. And then the second picture was taken Monday night at the gym.... to be honest, it was actually closer to 12.15 for the mile, but its hard to get the camera to not jump around while still moving on the elliptical.... so it took a few attempts. But still very pleased with the results. 

I know its not much, but I am 291 pounds and NEVER considered being a runner, but seeing numbers like this makes me want to improve. But I first must get my cardio and my heart right. Got to condition, I can't just go from couch to 5K overnight... it takes time. I think I will do one of these 'timed runs' only once a week. I could never be a runner, I have bad ankles and shin splints like no ones business.  

Any advice about how to ease into something like this? Not looking to become a runner, but it may be nice to shake things up a bit. 

Making Money on the Web....

I can generally be found sitting in front of a computer, its pretty much a fact of life. I've found a few programs that I use to generate income. Mostly its my opinion on things. One site that I LOVE is SurveySavvy.com, pretty easy to get set up, fill out a profile, then just wait. When a survey comes into Survey Savvy, they look at their database and can hopefully match you with surveys.

Companies will pay you for your time and input....

Just something to think about for anyone trying to stretch a budget and save a few dollars. It's not a ton of money (I've been signed on for about 2 months and have done about 3 surveys for 5 bucks) But every little bit helps.

WW Weigh-In

So I was really shocked by the results, but I am down 2 whole pounds! I am at 291 even. Total weight loss since starting, 22.8.

There was a noticeable difference in the meeting though. 2 weeks ago the room was full, maybe 2 or 3 empty seats, tonight, there were 6 people in the room... I am hoping that its an off-week for some, but I am sure its more the New Year's resolution drop off, which is a shame if so, its so early in the new year.

Last week they talked about making time for yourself. Which if anyone knows me - is a struggle. Really enjoying myself this weekend was my time. I really am trying to be more conscious and make more time for me.   

I hope the Loser Moms weigh-in is just as fruitful!

Got my iPhone!

Yesterday Ben and I went to the At&t store and picked up my new iPhone - the first of (hopefully) many 'rewards' to keep me motivated to continue to loose this weight.

And the first thing I did (well ok, second thing) was download the Weight Watchers app (the first being facebook, duh!). I've been playing so much with my iPhone today that I drained the battery! Thankfully this girl was smart and bought the car charger as well, so I can plug it in to charge. The WW app is really an extension of e-tools, but its great to be able to log and track everything right at your finger tips. There really isn't any excuse now...

My next goal is my 10% goal, or 31 pounds. My weigh-in is tonight, so I will be posting the results afterwards hopefully! If not here then on my twitter page. Once I achieve my 10% goal, I will treat myself to a massage, and a nice long one to boot! My usual suspects are all abandoning me tonight for the meeting, but I am still determined to go. It looks like we will all hopefully be together next week! Finally, seems like the last month we haven't all been able to connect.

In other news, this past weekend was Valentine's Day, me not being once to celebrate the holiday, I requested that Ben and I don't exchange gifts. I don't want a holiday to define when one should show love, I do believe that its a special day you can set aside to be with the ones you love, but I don't need, gifts, flowers or especially chocolate to define "loved one". Ben and I went bowling on Saturday, we hadn't been in so long! It was a hoot.... more so for the fact that I pulled or did something to the muscle underneath my left ass cheek, so it STILL hurts today! We then went and had dinner. Sunday we went to the movies, we saw Valentine's Day (how appropriate, right?) It was great.... I usually don't go to the movies for RomCom's (movies are so expensive!) but it was date night, and we went to the matinee. And then we went to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner (YUM). Both nights out I had steak.

The first night, was one pound of steak tips (good LORD!) so I took over half of those home, the second night was a 6 ounce cut which I ate. I love that about the Roadhouse, that they will do smaller cuts of beef.

All in all, it was great to get to spend some time with Ben, especially since I have been working so much, we really haven't seen a lot of one another.

Getting ready to head to my weigh-in and then off to the gym!

FiberOne Lowfat Milkshake Review

As I was picking up a few things at the store so I could make dinner for the boys at work, this lowfat milkshake caught my eye...

I picked it up and rolled my eyes at it. Pssht! Lowfat and Milkshake just DO NOT go together, it's going to taste like chalk! However, I've had good success with Fiber One products before, so I thought I would take a chance. Sorry for the bad picture, I used my cell phone camera to take the picture, which is why also I don't have a picture of the nutritional facts... I guess this is a new product since I can't find it listed on WW online or the Daily Plate. However, here it is from the Fiber One website:

The taste is amazing, no chalky taste at all! It’s got a wonderful taste! When one says milkshake, I think thick and creamy; this isn't that, it’s more like chocolate milk. However, still very delicious! Not only does it have 8 grams of fiber, but its only 140 calories, making it a 2 point snack! I think if you are craving chocolate, this is a great way to go. It has 13 grams of sugar which is a bit high, but its chocolate...

From Fiber One, "Indulge your chocolate craving any time of day. Rich and cream Fiber One Chocolate Lowfat Milkshake satisfies your sweet tooth and provides 30% of the daily value of fiber. With calcium and vitamin D too, being healthy has never tasted so good!"

This is a convenient snack as well, just grab and go. The 2 points gets you the entire bottle. Fiber is a huge part of creating that full feeling between meals and I for one am impressed with this product.

They also have a vanilla one that I purchased as well, that I am anxious to try.

I found these both in the yogurt/pudding section of my local Shaw's.
 
 

** This is a non-sponsored review; I saw this product, purchased it and enjoyed it.

I thought I would share with you. **

Refocus!

Lately I've been so focused on giveaways, that I haven't really been focused on my weight loss. Now granted, this is only in terms of my blogging. I am still actively doing WW and working out.

At my weigh in this week (I had to weigh-in on Tuesday rather than Monday, since I was at work for 24 hours) I maintained. So I am still at 293.0 - Which means that so long as I at least maintain this week I get my iPhone! Obviously, I'd rather keep loosing. But my concerns are that any time I have a 'big' loss (usually greater than 3 pounds) that I have a bounce back gain the next week or two. So that is my fear currently.

However, when I weighed in Wednesday afternoon for the Loser Moms contest, I was down to 291.6. Now granted, I weigh in on my home scale, so there is a difference between the WW scale and my home scale.

I am working on a few tasks from my day zero list - obviously the easy ones are the losing weight (easy for me right now, since I am very weight loss motivated), the working out 3 times a week for 2 months straight, the other one I am focused on right now is the trying a new recipe each week for 1 month. 2 weeks ago we had rib night, last week we had the WW lasgana and I don't know what I am going to try this week. With it being Valentine's day this weekend and since I've been working so much - I thought about possibly doing a twist on bread pudding - and making it like french toast style for breakfast one morning... I saw a great recipe in Cosmo a few months ago by Katie Lee, that I would love to try! It requires some planning and prep on my part. Should be interesting.

I'm still in a great mood. Things have been going really wonderful for me, personally. I am happy about the changes that I am making in my life, all positive. I feel like I am moving in a great direction. I hope I can keep this feeling and motivation for awhile!

Giveaways week of 2/8/10

• A Giveaway Daily (Real Moms Real Views) is giving away a GC to 1-800-Flowers. (Ends 2/15)
• Frugal Plus is giving away a coupon organizer (Ends 3/2)
• Simply Being Mommy teamed up with Seagate for a giveaway (Ends 2/26)
• The Divine Miss Mommy is going Red with Macy's! (Ends 2/15)
• All Because Two People Fell in Love is also going Red with Macy's (Ends 2/20)
• Sage and Savvy is doing a Game Time giveaway with Walmart (Ends 2/12)
• All Because Two People Fell in Love and Poppin Prints giveaway (Ends 2/21)
• Let's Just Give it Away and Bare Escentuals giveaway (Ends 2/12)
• Last Night's Leftovers is giving away Quicken Cash Manager! (Ends 2/12)

Flip Ultra HD **giveaway**

I just entered a contest to win a free Flip Ultra HD from NateHines.net (worth $199!) and I wanted you to have a chance to win one too!


All you need to do to enter is to click the link below or copy and paste it into your favorite Internet browser:

http://natehines.net/win-a-flip?ref=30828247

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SwagCode! Hurry!

Visit EADFL for more information about SwagBucks!

The SwagHunt is on! Find it in the Shop and Earn section - get it before 9:30 PST tonight!

Do NOT post the code anywhere, or else they deactivate your account.

Thinnerware

I am super excited to try this stuff out. I first heard about Thinnerware from my Weight Watchers meeting leader, and I went to their website to gather more information.

One thing that I am NOT good about is portion control / portion size... and I think that is what helped me become the large person that I am today. If the plate looked full then I would assume that it would make me full. Now plate, cup and bowl sizes aren't the same as they were in the 50's. They've only gotten larger!


Sarah Morris, the 'inventor' of Thinnerware, had a novel idea, why can't a bowl or cup act as a measuring cup without looking like one... and Thinnerware is the end result.

There are lines painted along the bowls and cups to indicate amounts of food/liquid. The plate is really cool. The large flower indicates 1/2 cup of food, the smaller flower 1/4 cup and the two small flowers that together resemble a rectangle represent your 3 oz protein/meat portion. Really it helps you to measure your food without having to get out measuring cups and still being stylish. Even when you have company over, they would hardly be able to tell what the lines mean or the arrangement of the flowers, unless you told them.

For Christmas, I asked Ben to get me the Dianne Set in Caribbean Blue (plate seen below in picture). I love this set and I love that its hand-painted. No two items alike! They offer multiple types of styles as well as a wide variety of colors. You can also create a custom order with colors or variety that you desire.

I am really looking forward to using this in part of my ongoing war against my waistline.

*images used with permission from Sarah from Thinnerware, LLC

Weight Watchers: Weigh-In

After being up last week, I was really hoping for a change in attitude this week. I really wanted to at least recoup and lose the 1.6 pounds I gained last week. I was really careful about being concious about what I ate and made sure that I went to the gym at least 3 times this week (working on my 101 things in a 1001 days list).

I also brought a complete setting of my Thinnerware. So that the WW leader could show the group. Since she was the one who suggested it, I only thought it fitting to bring it in. She was really excited to actually see what it looks like. I let her keep it for the rest of her meetings, I'll pick it up another time.

Obviously I had success at the scale, or else I would have made this post short and sweet. Well I am down 3.4 pounds (holy moly!) My weight stands at 293 even. And I've lost 20.8 pounds since 10/12/09 (start date of WW). Which means, I've hit another mini-goal. I told myself when I lost 20 pounds, I would buy myself an iPhone. So long as I don't gain for the next 2 weeks, I will be able to start using my iPhone. I am really excited about this.

My next mini-goal is 10% of my starting weight - which would be 31 pounds.

My doctor wanted me to do some follow up lab work to see if my numbers were any better. That would be in May. I am hoping to be way beyond my 10% in May, but we shall see.

I believe for me, the small goals are helping me to stay focused. Yes, I have my ultimate goal - but really, I can't focus on that number, instead the small, mini goals are what is working for me. I'll get there someday, there is a light at the end of my tunnel.

Cool Concept?

So I was listening to Cosmo Radio (obviously) and I heard the hosts talking about a website about weddings and paying for a wedding by collecting soda cans... Wedding Cans

Its a pretty neat concept. I like the idea of it. And obviously it seems to be catching on, they are well on to their way to reaching their goal.

I'm not an earthy-crunchy type girl, but I can appriecate a great concept. I am glad that it's working out for them.