Together Counts Twitter Party

Together Counts: Across the country, families and their children are pledging to become more active and healthy together. They’re eating meals with each other; they’re being physically active together. We’re helping them track their progress.

I was delighted to be asked by Leah Segedie, the woman behind Mamavation, to become a panelist on the Together Counts Twitter Party tomorrow. I’ve participated in a few twitter parties before, and for those of you who haven’t they move fast! I mean so fast! But it’s a fantastic way to connect with tweppole and there are often prizes to those who participate!

I’m really excited to be a panelist, because Together Counts is pretty awesome. They are a nationwide program inspiring active and healthy living. The principle behind their program is Energy Balance, which means balancing the calories we consume with the calories we burn. Calories in, calories out. It’s that simple. Together Counts was started by The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, a CEO–led organization, that is a national, multi-year effort designed to help reduce obesity–especially childhood obesity–by 2015.

Join us Tuesday, June 14th from 8-10pm EST as we celebrate Together Counts, a fantastic program that encourages families to get more activity and eat meals together as a commitment to a healthy lifestyle. The key is doing it together!! I made the pledge and you should too! 

To participate in the twitter party be sure to use the #togethercounts hastag! To find out more about the twitter party (and awesome prizes you can win like a $200 gift certificate to Sports Authority) click HERE!

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Mamavation Monday

What’s new? After gaining weight 2 weeks ago, I’m happy to report that I lost last week. Seems like I gain a little, and then lose a little, still not making significant process, which is annoying, but I understand why. School has been brutal and I’ve been an emotional eater, and I also haven’t been on my workout game so much. I’m still walking as much as I can, but not carving out time to workout at home as often as I’d like. Boo.

Big News: I think I’m going to sign up for my first 5 mile race in April. I reached out to my friends, but none of them want to run with me, so I’m going solo. Which makes me sad, but completing a 5k is a personal goal of mine for this year, so if I have to run by myself, then so be it. I’m worried that I won’t have enough time to train for it, considering March is tomorrow! But I talked with a coworker who gave me some tips about building up endurance, and I hope to be able to kick serious ass in April. This means I have to start running like yesterday. I’m thinking I’ll start training during my lunch break at work weather permitting. It’ll be tough to squeeze in time to run, but I want to do well in my first 5 mile race! And hope that registering will give me the extra umph I need to lose more weight by then.

I’m down to 166.2 and I am really tired of being in the 60s. I hope to be in the 50s by the time I complete the race. 

Mamavation Monday

Another super crazy busy week.My classes are really hard and this has increased my stress level and I've been an emotional eater. I am trying to only reach for healthy snacks, but its very very hard with all the juggling that I do. But I am trying. Managed to continue walking everyday and incorporated turbo jam a few times this week.

Scale shows I lost 0.8lbs last week which is progress.

Going to continue walking this week, and will try to do turbo jam as much as I can, but will be hard with 2 final exams, 1 quiz, 1 paper, work, and a child to take care of.

Mamavation Monday

Last Weeks Goals:

-Walk 15 miles

-Continue Shred

-Turbo Jam 2x this week

-Add brown rice/whole grain pasta

-STRETCH after every workout!

Mon: 4.21mi -Shred
Tues: 4.08mi
Wed: 0mi - Turbo Jam
Thurs: 5.28mi
Fri: 4.36mi - Shred
Sat: 0mi
Sun: 1.91mi


Total Miles = 19.84miles

Jan 17th                     Feb 7th

Weight: 168.4             Weight: 167.4

Chest: 39                    Chest: 38

Waist: 39                    Waist: 39

Hips: 42                      Hips: 40

If you recall, last week I lost 1lb and I wasn't that excited about it, but happy to see the scale decrease. Well this week I gained back the 1 lb, which is frustrating. I'm honestly running out of workout/fitness steam, and not sure what it will take to get back on track.
I don't handle stress well, and I'm stretched so thin raising my daughter, working, Senior year in College, volunteering, blogging, dealing with absent parent, and trying to figure out life after school. When I stress, I don't think yah I should work out. I think, I need to go lay down. 

It is encouraging to see that my measurements have gone down a tad, minus that damn stubborn waist. Ugh.

I've been wanting to lose 2lbs a week since like forever, so this week, I will continue the walking and do a workout DVD everynight...which will most likely mean I'll be headed to bed an hour later everynight. Which will mean a crankier mommy. There honestly doesn't seem like there is any damn balance!

This week's goals:

-Lose 1-2lbs

-Walk 15 miles

-Workout DVD everyday!!

-Increase water intake

BLOGGING CARNIVAL: This week’s blogging carnival is sponsored by Chef’s Requested.

Question: What are you doing to keep your heart healthy? I have honestly never considered making sure my heart was healthy, and don't know how to ensure that my heart is staying healthy.

Mamavation Monday

Last Week’s Goals:

-Walk 15 miles

-Lose 2lbs

-Low-No Carbs

-Continue eating hearty breakfast

-Stretch/Heal traps

Last Week’s Totals:

Monday: 4.2mi

Tuesday: 2.84mi

Wednesday: 5.33mi

Thursday: 0.13mi

Friday: 4.34 mi

Saturday: 3.39mi

Sunday: 1.05mi

Total = 21.28miles

I overall had a not so great week and my pulled trap muscle had me not engaging in Shred or rigorous workouts. Instead I did alot of stretching. I tried Yoga, but only lasted 15 minutes. I’ve tried Yoga in the past. Really tried to love it…but I don’t. Yoga is just not for me lol.

So I surpassed my goal of walking 15 miles so that is awesome, oh and I lost 1lb! I measly pound, I know, I know I should be happy, and given I had a hard week I didn’t think I was going to lose. And I did! It’s just frustrating. I’m making all these changes in my life, and I just lost 1lb?! At this rate it’s going to take forever to reach my goals. I walk an average of 20 miles a week, so I know I’ve gained some muscle. And muscle builds fat. Soooo burn baby burn lol!

Speaking of goals, I have quite a few. The biggest is I want to lose 30 pounds by June!! One of my closest friends is getting married in Canada in June, and I’m using her wedding as a goal to lose 30! Somehow, someway I WILL be down 30 pounds by June! Ahhhh!! But it feels really good to have a goal to be working for. I added a “Get it right – Get it tight” widget over on the right column to track my progress.

Last week I also decided to go low-carb and man was it hard! I’m so used to incorporating pasta and rice into my meals! But I didn’t have any! It was super difficult, and this week I’m going to integrate brown rice and whole grain pasta [which I love] but of course only in moderation. Going to continue a diet high in fruit and veggies!

This Week’s Goals:

-Walk 15 miles

-Continue Shred

-Turbo Jam 2x this week

-Add brown rice/whole grain pasta

-STRETCH after every workout!

BLOGGING CARNIVAL: This week’s blogging carnival is sponsored by Earth Footwear.

Question: What does “wellness” mean to you? Hmm, what does wellness mean to me? Not a very easy question to answer. Wellness means that my body is in harmony and fluid. Wellness means that I am engaging in activities and eating foods in which provides positive fuel to my body to be the best it can be. Wellness means making healthy choices for myself and my daughter.

Mamavation Monday

Goals for last week:

-Walk 20 miles

-Keep track of water

-Continue Shred

-Watch serving size

Last Week’s Totals:

Monday: 2.5mi [5,662 steps] - Shred

Tuesday: 5.23mi [11,848 steps] – 1hr Zumba

Wednesday: 3.01mi [6,828 steps] - Shred

Thursday: 5.73mi [12,967 steps] - Shred

Friday: 0.74mi [1693 steps] – Turbo-Jam

Saturday: 2.71mi [6149 steps] - Stretch

Sunday: Stretch

Walking Totals: 19.92miles

I continued the 30 Day Shred this week and as of today have 7 days left. I’m really excited to be on the last week because Jillian Michaels is really getting on my nerves!

I’ve had upper trapezoid pain for awhile now. Seems like whenever I get into a workout routine my traps get super tension. And it has happened again. I pulled my trapezius muscle. They hate life. They are super super tense and ache! Which means I haven’t been doing Shred for the past couple days. I’ve instead been switching hold and cold ice packs, stretching, and popping advil. Eck. I tried Yoga tonight, but it just reaffirmed how much I hate Yoga. This pain is ridiculous and I want it to go away ASAP! I'm going to try to swap out both my chairs at work and home with stability balls with hopes that it helps me with my occasional lazy posture. If you have any tips/suggestions please send them my way!!!

In happier news on my weekly weigh-in on Sunday I managed to lose 0.8lbs. Again. What is up with this not-even-1-pound-business? I’m getting really annoyed!!! I know I should be happy the number on the scale is going down, but I’m getting bummed the number isn’t decreasing faster considering all the darn walking I do! I mean I WALK giiiirl! Sigh.

My daughter and I were FINALLY able to make it to Zumba on Tuesday! Getting there and getting home was a disaster, but the actual class was fun and there were only a few people due to the crazy weather, so we really got to enjoy ourselves. She was a little shy at first and by the end of the class she was running around and dancing around. Too friggen cute!!

I really really really want to lose 2lbs this week!!! So I’m going to try to go low-no carb. No potatoes no bread. I’ll have to grow to love brown rice and if I need to I’ll add in whole wheat pasta. This will be a challenge. Also, once traps are feeling better going to increase my 30min workouts to 45minutes by adding in TurboJam as cardio.

This Week’s Goals:

-Walk 15 miles

-Lose 2lbs

-Low-No Carbs

-Continue eating hearty breakfast

-Stretch/Heal traps

How are you getting more fiber in your diet this New Year? I've started using flaxseed in smoothies and dishes as well as FiberOne bars.

BLOGGING CARNIVAL: This week’s blogging carnival is sponsored by Fiber Plus

(2) $25 Sephora OR Amazon Giveaways!!

I’m a Mamavation Mom FINALIST!!

I’m happy to announce that 3 weeks of gaining support I have been selected as a finalist! Now we were told there would be 5 finalists, but in a surprise twist 12 finalists were chosen. That means 12 mom are fighting for 2 Mamavation Mom spots. AKA: More competition. I’ve been reminded that this is not about the competition and more about changing your lifestyle and connecting with like minded people. Totally get that, and I have had a blast connecting and making positive steps in my life. BUT only 2 women will be chosen. This is a competition.

And I need YOUR help and votes!!! The 12 finalists are open for the public to vote. The 2 Moms with the most votes on Monday January 17^th by 6pm PST will be the next Mamavation Moms.  

So…. My fantastic blogger friends. I’m setting up a little competition here to gain more votes.

Prize: (2) $25 Amazon OR Sephora gift cards

Guidelines: I’m asking that you do a blogger spotlight on...me!! Outlining a little about me and my quest to become the next Mamavation Mom. I already have text if you don’t want to write something. Include a picture of me, and ask that your followers/friends VOTE for me: @YoungFabMama.

The 2 bloggers who get the most of their followers/friends for me WIN the giftcard.

Comment below to let me know if you are interested in writing a post on your site. Leave an email so I can email text and photo for the post. If you want to write your own text then check out my previous posts for more information on the campaign and me:

http://mommyglow.blogspot.com/2010/12/help-me-become-mamavation-mom.html

http://mommyglow.blogspot.com/2010/12/i-want-to-be-next-mamavation-mom.html

You’ll have from now until Sunday January 16^th at midnight to get as many votes. At the close please come back here and let me know how many votes you were able to get and the top 2 bloggers with the most votes will get their choice of a $25 Amazon or $25 Sephora gift card.

You can use whatever means you want to get votes. Use the contact form on the menu bar to email me with questions/concerns!

Voting is super easy takes under 1 minute requires no login or registration. Only 1 vote per person-per computer!

Here is the link to vote: http://www.mamavation.com/2011/01/vote-for-mamavation-mom-2.html

Ready. Set. Go!!

Mamavation Monday

What a week!

Last Week’s Goals:

-Walk 18 miles

-Continue with The Shred

-Continue eating healthy snacks

-Increase water intake

-Become a Mamavation Mom finalist

This Week Walking/Exercise Totals:

Monday: 3.4mi [2^nd day Shred, Lv1]
Tuesday: 3mi Shred, 45 sec plank, [3^rd day Shred, Lv1]
Wednesday: 4.1mi [4^th day Shred, Lv1]
Thursday: 4.2mi [5^th day Shred, Lv1]
Friday: 4.3mi [6^th day Shred, Lv1]
Saturday: .5mi, 3-30sec plank, 50 jumping jacks [7^th day Shred, Lv1]
Sunday: 1mi, 4-30sec planks, 15 push-ups [8^th day Shred, Lv2]

Total Miles = 20.5

Another week in a row that I surpassed my walking totals! I walked an extra 2.5 miles beyond my goal, and it feels great! I’m really getting used to walking now; it’s become something I have to do. I don’t even get mad anymore when I see the bus go by. Walking has given me a time to clear my head and get my thoughts together and catch-up on my music!! I’m pretty obsessed with Kanye West – My Dark Sick Twisted Fantasy oh and N.E.R.D! Definitely have to have something upbeat for my walk to work in the morning. And I feel like my legs jiggle less and that they’ve possibly firmed up! Wouldn’t that be awesome! With all the walking I’m doing, my legs HAVE to be toning up!

I have continued with Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred. Somehow. You’re supposed to do Level 1 for 10 days than switch to Level 2, but I along with Tara at The Young Mommy Life have been doing The Shred together and she progressed to Level 2, so I HAD to switch. When she told me she sat on the floor for 20 minutes after, I was a little scared, but I went ahead and did Level 2. And…..it kicked my butt, big time!! Attempting to do Level 2 really showed how out of shape I am! I had to stop multiple times even though I followed the modified version of the exercise. Jillian Michael is serious! Its 20 minutes of pure butt-kicking. Instead of motivating me, it’s making me want to run away! But I know that I HAVE to press on. That I have to force my body to work hard. It’s just really discouraging when I cannot keep up with the pace or exercises! But into week 2 we go, and I’m determined to by the end of the week do Level 2 without stopping! Go hard or Go home I say.

I think I did pretty good eating healthy snacks last week. I tend to snack on the same things and immediately go for almonds or tangerines or my dried fruit/nut mix, so overall I have been doing ok. I didn’t buy many new snacks for this week because I still have a lot of snacks from last week.

Breakfast. UGH. So I have to admit, I don’t love breakfast. I would much rather skip to lunch. Most days my body isn’t hungry until 11am, but I know waiting that long to eat is not healthy for my body SO I’m going to be making smoothies or oatmeal in the morning. There is a great smoothie recipe featured in this month’s Health magazine that I’m going to adapt for me. The ingredients include baby spinach, ground flaxseed, frozen fruit, and milk. I’m excited and nervous about the spinach, but hoping its packed with good for you stuff, so hoping my body likes it…and my tastebuds!

I went grocery shopping today and these are some of the foods I picked up:

Oatmeal, flaxseed, whole grain pasta & egg noodles, mushrooms, strawberries, and baby spinach.

Been doing a lot better with water this week, and I hardly had any juice which is great. But I realized that I probably should try to pay attention to how much water I’m drinking. So the plan is to go buy a small water bottle and keep on filling it up. If you remember in a previous post I said a bigger bottle intimidates me and I like my water really cold, so I think a small one would work out great for me.

I packed my lunch everyday but Tuesday, when I was craving sushi!! So I headed over to Whole Foods and got some veggie sushi and inari and it was just delish!!! Mmm, totally worth the money!

I was supposed to go to Zumba with my daughter on Tuesday, but she was sick so we’re pushing Zumba class to this coming Tuesday. Now that I’m really thinking about it, I’m nervous about how she is going to do for an entire 60 minutes of dancing. Yes she loves to dance and is a ball of energy, but ya 60 minutes, I don’t know. But I’m still going to try and will bring a bag full of goodies to entertain her if she doesn’t want to dance anymore.

Mamavation finalists get chosen tonight at midnight, I’m going to try to stay up as late as I can, but I start getting cranky at 10 so we’ll see. Big thanks to all those that have supported me in my quest for wellness, it has meant so much to me!! I’ll keep you updated to let you know if I am a finalist!

Oh and I lost .2 lbs lol. Its not much, BUT its a start. And I am very very happy that the scale did not INCREASE!!

This Week’s Goals:

-Walk 20 miles

-Continue The Shred – Level 2

-3-30sec planks everyday

-10 pushups everyday

-Zumba class Tuesday

-Buy water bottle & record water intake

-Lose 2lbs

I also want to start meal planning to try to make my life easier, and I’d love if you could share your favorite healthy dinner recipes!!

This week’s blogging carnival is sponsored by SalonPas.

Have you ever been injured starting a new exercise routine? Tell us about it…If not, do you get any aches and pains? Where?

I have not been seriously injured as a result of starting a new workout routine, but while doing the workout program Chalene Extreme last year I experience severe discomfort in my neck. The Chalene Extreme program utilizes weights and focuses a lot on the upper body. For some reason 3 weeks into the program my trapezoid became extremely tense and seemingly flared up. Nothing I would do with ease the discomfort and world stretch and stretch, but nothing. Finally after consulting my Doctor she told me to stop the program and prescribed a muscle relaxer and weeks later the extreme tenseness of my trapezoids went away. But they are still generally tense and I know I can attribute that to the fact that I’m on the computer 40 hours a week at work and then when I’m home on the computer. Boo!

Mamavation Monday

Last Week’s Goals:

-Walk 10 miles [there is about a foot and a half of snow so hoping to get as much walking as I can]

-Pack lunch the 3 days I’m in the office

-Eat healthy snacks

-Do a workout DVD one time this week

-Limit alcohol intake on New Years

This week walking totals:

Monday: 1 mile
Tuesday: 2.8 miles
Wednesday: 2.8 miles
Thursday: 2.7 miles
Friday: 2.5 miles
Saturday: 3 miles
Sunday: 1.9 miles

TOTAL: 16.7 miles

Woo-Hoo, I surpassed my walking total by 6.7 miles which is great! Luckily we didn’t have any more snow, pair that with warmer temperatures and walking wasn’t too difficult this week. This weekend my daughter and I walked a total of 4.9 miles together! That is a lot for her little legs!! This is her today on our walk:

And today I did Day 1 of Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. If you are unfamiliar with Jillian Michaels, she does not play around. She can be very intimidating. She means business. There are 3 levels and workouts are only 20 minutes, which is great for my schedule. But, you do not stop moving the entire 20 minutes. I literally laid on the floor for 10 minutes after I completed today’s workout. I was beat. I used 5lb weights for the arm workouts and figured that would be too heavy, but it proved to be quite hard and I know my arms are going to burn tomorrow. But no pain, no gain. I am doing the Shred with Tara over at The Young Mommy Life so we are going to keep each other motivated and accountable. I am hoping Ro over at RandomRoRo will join in as well! Let me know if you want to join in The Shred-Get it right, get it tight team! Lol

My daughter wanted to work out as well and she was sooo ready for 20 minutes with Jillian:

I did a good job at bringing lunch last week and am going to do better this week!! I made a big pot of yummy Lentil soup for lunch and look at all the yummy snacks I have for the week:

I've got: almonds, cucumbers, apples, celery, carrots, tangerines, almond butter, wheat thins, and a couple of mixes from Target

To help me with water intake I’m going to be using some Crystal Light packets [thanks ThrBabyMamaChronicles], but not the entire packet in my water bottle. Using the entire packet makes the water way too sweet for my taste.

I did great with my alcohol intake on New Years, because what I got to drink at home [Skinny Girl Margarita] was absolutely disgusting!!

So all in all I think I did pretty damn good with my goals for this week!

-Ordered a great Eat Smart Precision Scale from Amazon, so now I can get accurate readings of my weight! My scale now is old and never accurate.

-Finally went out an bought a foam roller to relieve the tension in my muscles, I’m very excited about finally using it!

-Won a Kymaro Door Trainer from Mamavation [thank you!] so excited to do some pushups, situps, and dips!

This weeks goals:

-Walk 18 miles

-Continue with The Shred

-Continue eating healthy snacks

-Increase water intake

-Become a Mamavation Mom finalist

Ok Glowicious readers, if you don’t know, I’m applying to be the next Mamavation Mom and there are just 3 more days to voice your support for me to be a Mamavation Mom. I’ve had such tremendous support and I thank you all for believing in me and voicing your opinion. Finalists are chosen on January 5^th so I am asking you to please continue the support by doing the following:

Please head over to Mamavation and tell bookieboo that you believe I would be a great Mamavation mom. Please use my twitter handle @YoungFabMama

And please keep the support going on Twitter by tweeting:

“Hey @bookieboo! I want (@YoungFabMama) to be the next #Mamavation Mom. She has my support! http://bit.ly/zqUxa”

What are ways you can work out without having to leave the house?

Now that the weather is cold, exercising inside is ideal for many people. While I dont have one [yet] I hear systems like Wii & Xbox Kinect are great interactive ways to exercise and have fun within the comfort of your own home.

I have purchased a few dvds that vary in style, and I'm able to choose which one fits my mood and workout style.

MAMAVATION TV: Join us Monday night at 7pm PST/10pm EST on Mingle Media TV. The Mamavation Mom applicants [including myself] will be special guests!!

BLOGGING CARNIVAL: This week’s blogging carnival is sponsored by GameStop.

Play Your Way-Personal Fitness Twitter Party with GameStop

Join the community at Mamavation for a special Twitter party Wednesday, January 5th from 8-10pm EST with Gamestop. Also enter for your chance to win the following:

1. GRAND PRIZE: Wii Bundle in black, white or red. The bundle comes with:

·         Black Wii System

·         Wii MotionPlus Remote

·         Wii Nunchuk Controller Black

·         Wii Sports

·         Wii Sports Resort

2. Biggest Loser Challenge
3. Biggest Loser Ultimate
4. EA Sports Active 2.0
5. Jillian Michaels FItness Ultimatum 2011 (2 winners)
6. Kinect Sports
7. Sony Move SPorts Champions Bundle
8. Your Shape Fitness Evolved
9. Wii Sports Resort

I’m gunning for the Wii! I’ve wanted one for forever to help me exercise, but haven’t been able to afford it! I hope I win, I hope I win!

See you there!!!