Life Anew

So, I was about to call this whole blog thing a wash, but then I decided to give it another try. I am going to restart by mentioning this awesome giveaway one of my favorite blogs is sponsoring.

http://all-about-the-savings.blogspot.com/2010/07/i-need-your-help-win-wii-or-2-other.html


Vote for her to become the next Mamavation mama! She has been working hard to get fit, like I should be doing, and has been keeping us to date along the way. She is a great inspiration, so vote today!

Toodles

Here we go!

Getting ready to go for my first outside run. I am pretty excited. I have been doing pretty good on the elliptical, but I know there is a big difference, so my goal is to go 1 mile. I know that is a very low goal, but when I say I am extremely out of shape, I mean it. I used to get winded running out to the mailbox and back, and my driveway is only about 50 feet long.

I did a pretty bad job of eating this weekend, had fast food twice, and now I am really paying for it. I have to get serious about the diet part of my life if I ever want the exercise part to mean something. I have been working so hard, by my standards, and I don't want that to go to waste.


I applied to go back to school to get my early education degree. I am pretty excited and also terrified about how to pay for it. I want do great; I just hope I can!

Haven't done much deal hunting lately; I think I am suffering from deal burnout. I spent the majority of the 8 weeks of maternity leave I had, scouring the internet in search of the best deals I could find, and now the thought of putting a lot of time into it upsets me. I think the fact that Max is getting older and beginning to seem like a really human is starting to affect me as well.

Life Ventures Forward

So, it's been a while. I have starting making an effort to go to the gym at least 3 times a week and I have been trying to keep track of everything I eat. I have seen a little bit of progress, and that is really encouraging. I have just been doing between 20 and 30 min on the elliptical so far, but I think in the next week or so I will dropping one day of elliptical and adding a day of stretching, or I might just add in the stretching at home, but it will depend on how much time I have.

I have been a bit lethargic on my deals, but I really have most of what we need for the next few months, so right now I am just maintaining and watching what is going on. I will get in on any I see as being really good, but whatever.

Starting next Sunday, I am going to start doing a Sunday morning run. I figure the first day I will just go until I can't go anymore, and then go just a bit more. My goal from week to week will to get a bit further until I can go 3 miles without stopping.

I hope to keep working on this, and we will see how things go!

Giveaway!

Here is another giveaway. It's for a 10 dollar Overstock.com giftcard. The blog that is hosting it is also a great resource for the beginning bargain hunter. She has some really nice beginner articles.

Check out the blog and giveaway at
http://pennypinchingpenguin.blogspot.com/

Another one is down.

I have lost another pound! I know I probably gained it back yesterday with my chocolate cake and Amaretto sour, but overall it shows that I am on the losing side! I have never been so happy to be a loser.
It is getting so much easier. Going to the gym is just becoming part of my day, and the eating is really not too bad. I did have a piece of delicious chocolate cake yesterday, but it was for a good cause! Also, I am allowing myself to have something like that once a week; if I don't, I will burn out fast. I have been finding some awesome shopping deals lately which is making eating at home and eating better cheap as well. I just need to keep this up.
We are planning on starting the Couch to 5k program as soon as Brent gets a new pair of shoes. He went to the gym Thursday and his shoes about fell apart, so we decided it was good idea to start shopping around.

Great week!

So, this was my second week of going to the gym. My schedule right now is 3 days for 30 minutes. It usually is broken into 2 30 minute elliptical session and 1 day that is split between the elliptical and various machines. I have really been enjoying it.
I have also done a great job on food. I have been eating a lot more veggies and I have avoided fried and grease drenched. I have been logging everything I eat and it is great to see that calorie counter been in the green!
I have been using a variety of different calorie and exercise tracker apps on my iPhone. It is great. I love technology!!
Down 4 lbs, 61 more to go!!!

Another awesome giveaway.

So, lately I have been obsessed with blog giveaways. They are a great way for a small blog to get some attention and I get chance to win and try new products. It's total win situation.

The latest one that has peaked my interest is
http://melziemomsbargains.blogspot.com/2010/03/giveaway-2-free-bags-of-mahatma-rice.html

It looks an awesome giveaway and the blog itself is full of tons incredibly useful information about the world of bargain hunting including: weekly coupon match-up deals, general alerts on current sexy sales, and amazing affordable recipes.

Hitting the Gym

This is week 2 of my gym sessions. My weekly goals are to go at least 3 times and spend 30 minutes each time. I have been mostly using the elliptical. I am averaging a 15 minute mile, which I know is pitiful to most people, but I am pretty pleased with it. I want to get it down to a 10 minute mile by the end of August. I don't know if that is possible but I am trying.
Brent and I have decided that we are going to start the Couch to 5k program.
www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml
It will take us a lot longer because we are so out of shape, but I am pretty excited. I am hoping to be able run a whole 5k by next summer, which I know is a seems like I am already procrastinating, but it takes time for a 44DDD sized lady to get herself into something resembling pseudo-shape.
I have really been enjoying the gym a lot. I hate running; I really do, but I really love the feeling of working towards a goal that I feel like I can accomplish. I know I will never be stick thin, but I can definitely be healthy, and that is what the long-term goal is.
I am so happy Brent has decided to join me. Adventures are always more fun with a partner.

Walgreens Awesomeness

So, since I found out I was pregnant I have been lurking in several deal hunting/couponing forum, but I have been weary of doing things because I am nervous about making people angry. I have decided I wanted to start doing some. So, Friday and Saturday I went out for a little trip. I went to CVS, but most of me stuff came from Walgreens. I am still not very good at this, I forgot to give them some, and I did not paying attention to the right size for another deal, but overall I am so impressed.
I spent about 45 dollars total and got:

2 Men's Degree Deoderant
1 Baby Vitamin
12 Revlon Eyeshadows
3 Revlon Nailclippers
1 Revlon Eyelash Curler
1 Revlon Age Defying Liquid Foundation
1 Revlon Eyeline
1 Revlon Fabulash Mascara
12 Bottles of various vitamins
6 boxes of various children's benadryl
5 boxes of band aids
2 Tylenol cold medicine
3 tubes of neosporin
5 Boxes of Colgate toothpaste
12 Red Baron Pizza Pockets
4 12 packs of coca cola
1 Jug of motts apple juice
2 boxes of special k cereal
6 cadbury eggs

I think I did pretty good, but there is a lot of room for improvement, so I shall continue to practice and update.

So...

So, I have decided to expand the premise of this. This blog will the landing spot for all of my wacky ideas and general thoughts on life. I will post reviews(media and product), great deals I find, and just general thoughts on life. I am still new at this whole thing, but this just seems a lot more interesting to me.

Money Savings!

I know that one of the worst things in the world for weight loss is stress and something that creates more stress than anything is finances. There are several resources for watching where your money is going. One great place to look is the blogosphere and today I am going to highlight one I found a while ago when searching the answer behind what Swagbucks is.

http://melziemomsbargains.blogspot.com/
There are a lot of great money saving tips including groceries, couponing, and online opinion polls. Right now she is also running a giveaway for a $35 Jiffy Lube gift card and a Jiffy Lube Maintenance Partners for Life savings book. There are 3 prizes total; all you have to do to win is follow this link http://melziemomsbargains.blogspot.com/2010/02/jiffy-lube-gift-card-giveaway.html and follow the simple instructions! Good Luck!

A New Outlook on Life

My name is Heather, I am 22 years old, and I am about 65 pounds overweight. I have always been heavy due to poor diet, lack of exercise, and overall genetics, but the in the past 5 years I have gained almost 50 pounds.
I have tried several different fad diets and glanced at exercise videos here and there, and even once in a while I visit the gym available to me at work, but nothing has lasted. On top of being physically unfit, I am also a very lazy person. It takes a lot to motivate me to do something I am not really interested in, and while I talked about wanting to be healthier, there was no motivating factor beyond vanity to get my ass into gear.
That changed on January 8, 2010. I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Never in my life have wanted something more than I now want. I want to see him grow up and I want to enjoy my life with him without worrying about how much it hurts to bend over or how I can't breathe when I run for more than 30 seconds at a time.
I know this is going to be very difficult, and I know there are no shortcuts, but I am ready because I love my son more than I love cake.