Friday, March 30, 2012

Flashback Friday: My Quaker Surprise

Two weeks ago I wrote a blog post about the new Quaker Life Soft Baked Cereal Bars. That same day I tweeted a link to my blog post and tagged Quaker in it as well, so that they could see how much I've enjoyed their cereal bars. Later that evening I received a direct message from @Quaker letting me know how much they appreciated the review that I wrote about these bars. They also asked me for my address so that they could send me a box of baked cereal bars as a sign of their appreciation. This was so cool!

I had completely forgot about this until I came home from my doctor's appointment this past Monday and found a UPS box at my doorstep! Jon asked me what I had ordered and I told him nothing. I didn't remember that Quaker had promised to send me something until I opened the box. Inside was not one, but six boxes of Quaker Soft Baked Bars and a thank you note!! The people are Quaker thanked me for my review and told me to enjoy these bars with my family and friends.

Isn't that so cool!? I still cannot believe that they sent me more than one box. I eat Quaker oatmeal everyday and love their products. I am so thankful for the way that they showed their appreciation to me!

So if you have not tried them yet, get yourself some of these bars, because they are delicious!!


My Soft Baked Bars from Quaker

Banana Nut Bread

Cinnamon Roll


Visit Jen for more flashbacks.
Flashback Friday

Thursday, March 29, 2012

My Walking 5K

This past Saturday I walked in the 5K that I have been preparing for since January! The 5K started at the same time that my Weight Watchers meeting did. So, I got a sub for my Weight Watchers meeting, so that I would  have the entire morning off to get ready for my 5K.

I had such a great time at my 5K. I completed the race in about 46 minutes! I was so proud of my time. my goal was to try and keep my race time under 60 minutes. Of all the people who only walked, I came in first place. I did not get any kind of award for it, but I was proud of myself anyway.

Finishing this 5K only made me hungry to do more of them! I cannot wait until I have my baby and am able to run again, because I really miss it.

I tried to take a lot of pictures for you, so I hope you enjoy them!

This is me on my way to my 5K walk. It's kind of funny that I walked to my 5K walk.

I'm almost to the 5K!

I got my number and I am now ready to walk!

Before we started we took time to pray for everyone's safety throughout the race.

This is my boss, Brenda. She look great in all of her walking gear.

It's almost time for the race to begin. They let the runners go up front, so the rest of us would not get run over.

Here I am walking the 5K.

The trail was beautiful! I had so much fun listening to my music and walking!

I'm almost there! It took me about 46 minutes to walk the 5K, which I was so proud of my time!

I survived another 5K. It only sparked this desire in me to do more of them! I cannot wait until I can run again.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: It's a Girl

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

What Work and What Does Not

source

This morning, I want to give you the meeting summary from my Weight Watchers meeting on Saturday, March 24, 2012.

In the meeting room this week we talked about all of the things that we have learned about weight loss by coming to the meetings and by our own experiences. We talked about what works and what doesn’t work. Just for fun this is an A-Z guide to success.  

A is for attitude. A can-do attitude will help you get over the inevitable hurdles of weight loss. Anticipate slip ups as they happen. Accountability is what I need.  

B is for breakfast. Believe in yourself. Balance your life.  

C is for counting your pointsplus+. They do count.  

Diets don't work. Eating crazy food combinations or eliminating food groups is not the way to keep weight off. Instead, choose a nutritionally balanced plan with enough POWER FOODS to keep you from feeling famished. Don’t take away your favorite food. Ah — there’s something you want to hear, right? Undoubtedly, you have some type of favorite food that ends up being “forbidden” when you go on a diet. Because it’s your favorite, you end up craving it and eventually go back to your old ways.  

Eating regular meals is essential. Experts agree that you should go no longer than four to five hours between meals. Otherwise, intense hunger can trigger a binge. Eat Better (NOT Less)

Fiber. Both forms of fiber swell in the stomach and help to create a feeling of being full. Most high-fiber foods are also high in water and low in calories. Focus on one day at a time, one step at a time.  

Gum chewing may be just what the dentist ordered. Chewing on a piece of sugarless gum can help cleanse the mouth of bacteria, satisfy a sweet tooth, and reduce the urge to eat.

Heart-healthy foods should fill your cupboards, fridge, and freezer.  

Invest in a pedometer and track your steps each day. The goal is to walk at least 10,000 steps or the equivalent of five miles daily to thwart weight gain and promote weight loss. Challenge yourself to increase the number of steps each day, even if you can't get up to 10,000. Every step counts; remember that your goal is simply to improve your fitness level.  

Just do it! Get into a routine that includes regular physical activity. Not only does exercise energize you, it burns calories, improves balance and coordination, and relieves stress.  

Key to an effective exercise plan is variety. Try something new, maybe Pilates, yoga, or water aerobics. Having fun and trying new things will keep you interested and enhance your commitment to exercise. Another key is starting your day with activity as is one of the best ways to make sure it does not get squeezed out of your schedule.  

Load up on power foods. (Maybe even try out the simply filling technique for more info turn to pg. 54 of your Meet PointsPlus 2012 book)  

Mindful eating means taking time to savor every bite. Turn off the distractions, and concentrate on the aroma, texture, and flavor of food.

Nighttime snacking, for most of us, is a habit that can undermine weight loss success. Brushing your teeth after supper will help you make dinner the last meal of the day. If you need a little something at night, try to satisfy the urge with few calories like having a piece of chewing gum, fruit, or a cup of tea.  

One more scoop, one more cookie, one more glass of wine -- "just one more" can add lots of extra calories. Controlling portions is fundamental to weight loss success. You don't need to give up your favorite foods, but you do need to keep track of your portions.  

Protein is an important key to weight control. Include a source of protein found in lean meats, low-fat dairy, beans, or nuts, in all meals and snacks to help keep you feeling full for hours. Practice mindful eating  

Quit those old habits that caused you to gain weight, and replace them with healthier ones. Simple changes like using low-fat milk instead of full-fat milk in your coffee, switching to light mayonnaise, and avoiding fried foods can help create healthier eating patterns that foster long-term weight loss.  

Rely on friends, family, and meetings to help you in your weight loss efforts. Your motivation is at an all-time high when you start a weight loss program, but after a few weeks, it often starts to wane. Let your supporter’s help you get through the tough times.

Supplement your healthy eating plan with a once-daily multivitamin. Despite your best efforts, it can be hard to get all the nutrients you need every day. Taking a multivitamin will help fill in the gaps.

Track your eating patterns and physical activity every day. Research shows that people who successfully lose weight often kept a journal. Recording what you eat and your physical activity is a powerful motivator to help keep you working toward your goals. Understand that weight loss takes time. One step at a time…  

Variety. Change up what you eat so that boredom doesn’t set in.  

Water is your body's preferred form of fluid. It is thirst-quenching and naturally delicious without one single calorie. You need some six to eight glasses of water or fluids each day.

eXcuses should be banished. Do you really want to lose weight and improve your health once and for all? Then stop making excuses and just do it! Of course, that's easier said than done. However, you need to stop finding reasons why you can't start living a healthier lifestyle, and start listing all the reasons why you should. Don't put it off until tomorrow. Start today, by doing something positive, even if it’s just one small thing, toward your health and weight loss.  

Yogurt is a great source of dairy. It's portable, convenient, full of nutrients like calcium and protein, and it makes an excellent snack or mini-meal.  

Zip in your step is what you'll get once you start eating more healthily and getting regular exercise. Losing as little as 5% to 10% of your body weight can help you feel better and improve your health. Lightening your load a few pounds at a time can be invigorating and energizing.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Flashback Friday: My Birthday in Pictures

Last Thursday, March 15th, I celebrated my birthday!! I did my best to take a lot of pictures of this significant event in my life. After all, this was my last birthday before I become a Mommy. I have already told you about my Birthday Haircut, which was very exciting. However, I want to share the rest of my birthday pictures with you. I hope you enjoy them!

{Tuesday, March 13, 2012}
My Weight Watchers co-worker, Sherry, brought me these cupcakes on Tuesday evening for my birthday.


{Wednesday, March 14, 2012}
Wednesday night, I got a birthday package in the mail from my friend Michelle! She sent me all kinds of wonderful goodies!!


{Thursday, March 15, 2012}
My birthday was on Thursday which meant that I had to work that day. However, I did not let that kill my birthday joy!

The ladies that I work with took me out to Pizza King for my birthday lunch! I've been craving this for weeks and could not wait to eat some pizza!!

Me at Pizza King trying to decide on what kind of pizza I wanted to order.

I decided on Canadian Bacon and Pineapple...my favorite!!

My co-workers also bought my a Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich for my birthday. Yes, I ate it and it was amazing!!

After I got home from work Jon and I headed over to a friend's house to have birthday dinner and play games.

Our friends, Bryan, Tabitha, and their son Wyatt made me a birthday sign!! It's it awesome!?

Tabitha made me a birthday cake with my favorite color...PINK!!

Wyatt and I decided to practice our cheesy smiles for the camera.

Jon and Bryan enjoying the cake that Tabitha made for me.

Tabitha and I were ready for cake too!

This is my birthday present from Jon! He bought me a new board game: Ticket to Ride Europe!!

After Wyatt went to bed the four of us decided to try out my new game.

Bryan won the very first game we played!

{Saturday, March 17, 2012}
Jon decided to have a small party for me with a few close friends on Saturday. This is the birthday cake that Jon made for me!! It has Twizzlers and Starburst Jelly Beans on top.

It was so good!!

Me, sporting my new haircut, and showing off my birthday cake!

These are my board games! Last year, I got Shadows Over Camelot for my birthday.

For the party we have lots of good things to snack on!

I had to try everything out before the party started, because the baby and I were hungry!

Jon and I had some fun with the camera and took pictures before the party started.

Me on my birthday.

Me and our baby.

My bump is slowly getting bigger and bigger as the weeks go by!

I had such a wonderful time at my birthday! It was so good that I completely forgot to take pictures Saturday afternoon and evening. Oh well! Even though I don't have pictures I still had an awesome weekend.

Thank you everyone for all of the sweet birthday wishes!!


Visit Jen for more flashbacks.

Flashback Friday

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Preparing for My 5K

source

This Saturday, I am walking in a 5K!!

A few weeks ago, I told you about how I was planning to be walk in a 5K. To read that blog post, click here.

Thankfully, I was able to find someone to lead my Weight Watchers meeting this week for me in my absence. I hate that I have to miss my meeting! Each week, I enjoy being able to connect with my members as they share their victories and struggles with me. However, participating in this 5K is important to me and I feel like it is something that I need to do for myself.

I have been doing a lot of walking in preparation for this 5K. Since January I have been trying to walk for 30-40 minutes at least 4-5 days a week. I get a 1 hour lunch break at work. I have discovered that my lunch break is a great time for me to get up from my desk and go outside for a walk!

There are several reasons why participating in this 5K event is important to me.

First, I know that it is important for me to exercise during my pregnancy. I could not ignore the benefits of exercising during pregnancy. So, for the last 17 weeks I have made an effort to go walking as much as possible!

Second, I want to pass on a healthy lifestyle to my child and what better way to do that then to tell my son/daughter that I walked in a 5K while I was pregnant with them!

Third, as my pregnancy continues I want to be able to look back at this accomplishment with confidence! Knowing that I completed this 5K will help be a source of encouragement to me when I am down or discouraged.

Finally, I like 5K walks/runs! Yes, a huge part of why I am doing this is for my unborn child. However, this is something that I enjoy doing. I like walking/running and that is another reason why I am participating in this walk! I cannot wait until my baby is born and I can more up from 5K's to 10K's to Half-Marathons to one day finishing a Full-Marathons!

I will be sure to take pictures at my 5K and share them with you next week!

Are you planning on participating in any races this year? What are you training for now?

If you have never participated in a 5K maybe you should start thinking about taking the Weight Watchers Walk-!t Challenge which is coming up soon!!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Gaining Pregnancy Weight

source

As it turns out, I’ve got too much on my mind for this to be a wordless Wednesday. Sorry for the double blog post today, but I don’t know God’s timing and when He is going to speak to me.

I have a hard time verbalizing my feelings, which is why I prefer to write them down. Being pregnant has been hard, because my hormones seem to intensify my emotions. I feel my emotions much more strongly than ever before, which makes it challenging to control them and properly evaluate them. I have had a lot on my mind recently, but I have not felt comfortable talking about this with anyone, because I didn’t think that people would understand. As a result of bottling up my emotions, I’ve hurt those around me, because I have been unhappy and angry with myself. I'm sorry for my actions and am thankful that God's working on me!

Each woman faces her own unique challenges and struggles during pregnancy. The hardest part about pregnancy for me is gaining weight. I have worked so hard to get rid of the extra weight on my body. Not only have I made it to my goal weight, but I was able to maintain it for over 2 years.

Last week was my birthday week and it was so hard! I ate too many sweets and goodies, which caused me to gain over 5 pounds, which is more than what my baby needed in one week. As a result of my big gain, I have felt guilty and ashamed of the weight that I put on. If I had been able to gain a healthy amount of weight that would have been one thing, but in my mind gaining over 5 pounds in one week is not okay even if I am pregnant!

This week, my goal has been to reign myself in again. I want to choose healthy and nutritious foods that are good for both my baby and me. I want to say no to sweets and junk food, which is hard. Just because I am pregnant people think I should be able to eat whatever I want. I believed in this at first, especially for the two months that I was queasy and experiencing morning sickness. What baby wanted, baby got, mostly because nothing else sounded good to eat. However, now that I am feeling so great, I don’t think that means I should eat whatever I want just because I am pregnant.

As you can see, I’ve been so discouraged and frustrated with my weight and the choices this past week.

I receive a weekly email from Jennifer Polimino where she shares with me what I can pray for each week for my baby. This morning, I read her week 17 email which God used to speak to my discouraged heart! Here is the prayer I read:

Dear Lord, as my baby continues to grow, I pray that she will gain the right amount of weight, including the healthy amount of body fat. Help me to eat in a healthy way and exercise on a regular basis so I don't put my baby in jeopardy of having diabetes or other obesity-related health issues. Give me the strength to avoid junk foods and excessive sugar and fat.

Lord, help me to concentrate on good health and not become obsessed with body weight and body image. I know my self-worth comes from You, and not from the way I look. Please help me with that, and help me pass on to my child only good attitudes about her appearance and her weight. Protect my child from eating disorders and a poor self-image.

Empower us, as a family, to live a healthy lifestyle. Empower us to be good testimonies of Your love, forgiveness and life-changing power. I pray that we would shine from an inner glow of Your Holy Spirit, and that it would attract people to You.

Dear God, please continue to bless and guide my baby's development. I thank You for Your love and protection.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Wow! This is exactly what I’ve been struggling with all week long! It is important that I make healthy choices for myself and my child, however it is not worth it to beat myself up over gaining more weight than I wanted to. I had forgotten to remember that my identity is not found in my ability to maintain my goal weight. However, it is God alone defines who I am!

Thank you Lord for the truth of your word! Help me to dwell on that and not let myself be dragged down by my insecurities. Help me to be a good example to my son/daughter and teach them how to lead a healthy lifestyle. As I gain weight I pray that you would continue to work on my character and make me into the Godly Mom that you want me to be!

"How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!" - Psalm 84:1

Wordless Wednesday: Be Fearless

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Nix the Negative Talk and Be Positive

source

This morning, I want to give you the meeting summary from my Weight Watchers meeting on Saturday, March 17, 2012.

Think Yourself Thin: Weight-Loss Affirmations That Work
Find the motivation you need for the body you’ve always wanted. 
An excerpt from "Six Weeks to Skinny Jeans," by Amy Cotta

source

Wouldn’t it be great if all you had to do were snap your fingers and—poof!—you're a size 2? We all know weight loss isn’t nearly that easy, but there is some truth to thinking yourself thin. Your attitude and perspective are absolutely essential to dominating a weight-loss and/or shape-up plan (like the one in Six Weeks to Skinny Jeans). Your thoughts are what will guide you to success or to failure. If you’re in the wrong state of mind, you won’t stick it out through the exercises or follow the eating plan.

Garbage In Your Mind = Garbage In Your Mouth
Sometimes your biggest saboteur can be the enemy within. That’s right: we're talking about you! Power-thinkers from Jack Canfield to Deepak Chopra say that the average person has about sixty thousand thoughts per day (too bad negative thinking doesn’t burn calories, we'd all be a size 2) and that 80 percent of those thoughts are negative. Anthony Robbins' book Awaken the Giant Within tells us that there are over three thousand words in the American language that relate to human emotions, and of those words, 2,086 of them are negative!

So what does all of this tell us? That the average person thinks 80 percent negatively? That two times out of three, the average American chooses a negative word out of the hat? Yes, maybe. But you are not average! Average people have little willpower. Average people don’t stick to the plan. And average people can’t button up their skinny jeans.

The Only One Who Can Hold You Back is You
While we may feel that we live in a negative world, it's up to us to go against the grain. Taking personal responsibility for what you do, think, feel, say, and eat are all a part of inducing change.

What would you do if your computer got a virus? I’m assuming you’d clean the virus off your system so that your computer ran properly. Think about negative feelings and self-deprecation as a computer virus of the brain. You’ve got to clean out your hard drive and replace it with clean programming. No one can do it but you.

Here is a list of some positive affirmations. Take the time to write some of these down somewhere.

Positive Affirmations for Weight Loss
• I achieve my weight loss goals
• Losing weight comes naturally to me
• I choose nourishing, healthy foods
• I think before eating
• I drink lots of water
• Losing weight is fun
• Healthy foods taste better
• I am motivated by both successes and failures
• I accept and love my body as it is, and work to make it better
• I love challenges and embrace them
• I lose weight systematically and I keep it off permanently
• I am losing weight
• I exercise because it makes me feel good
• I respect my body and treat it with respect
• I do everything I need to do to achieve my healthy weight
• I am encouraged by every success
• I am motivated by every shortfall
• Losing weight and I are one
• I dissolve all blocks to reaching a healthy weight
• I forgive myself
• I learn from my mistakes
• I fill all physical appetites in physically healthy ways
• I am aware of my eating habits and how they affect my weight
• I am willing to change my eating habits and I do so easily
• I build lean muscle and I lose fat
• I enjoy the process of reaching a healthy weight
• I see myself at my healthy weight and I achieve it
• I have non-stop daily determination to reach my healthy weight
• I like long walks
• It is easy for me to stay on my plan to obtain my healthy weight
• I picture myself at my perfect weight
• I have a positive attitude about what I eat, how I eat, and when I eat
• My body burns fat like a furnace
• Developing healthy eating habits becomes easier each day
• I stay on a healthy eating plan and maintain my healthy weight easily
• Each day, I automatically and successfully get healthier and healthier

Monday, March 19, 2012

Birthday Haircut

I took a lot of pictures on my birthday and throughout my birthday weekend! I will try to post the pictures that I took throughout the week.

One of the things that I really wanted for my birthday was to go and get my haircut! I always have such a hard time trying to decide what I want to do with my hair. So, I left work a little bit early on Friday afternoon to go to my hair appointment.

Before

When I got there I explained to my stylist that I thought my hair was long and boring and just needed some help! She listened to my concerns and then went to work trying to give me the best haircut possible. As she finished styling my hair I was a little nervous, because I did not want my hair this short. However, now that I've had a few days with my new haircut, I think it is just the change I needed!

After

I think this is the perfect haircut for me as I head into the summer as a pregnant woman!!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...