Influenster Cosmo VoxBox!

I joined up with Influenster to share product reviews with fellow consumers on the Internet. Influenster occasionally will send out what they call VoxBoxes to their members. These boxes are filled with products designed to appeal to a certain group of consumers. Here's a pic of the goodies!

It included a Venus Embrace razor by Gillette, an extra Venus Olay Blade, and a $2 coupon off my next purchase! I don't know if you knew this or not, but Venus razors will fit any Venus blade! This is great news on the off chance that Venus comes out with a new product that you ant to try or if you weren't crazy about the blade you started out with. I'm incredibly happy with the Embrace. Not having to use shaving cream makes shaving fast in the mornings, which is important when you have three kids running around like crazy people.  The Olay blade just adds an extra touch of moisture to my already winter-dry skin.


I love Ghirardelli chocolate, so I was stoked when there was a full size bar inside the box! Unfortunately, Influenster failed to take into consideration the fact that not all places have winter so the chocolate melted. Luckily, it all stayed in the wrapper so I was still able to eat it! I don't need my chocolate to look pretty, I just need it to taste good! As always, Ghirardelli did not disappoint. Their new bar is the Sea Salt Escape and it's perfect. Chocolate, almonds, and salt? Magnifique! I plan to buy another one the next time I'm at the store!

I'm not really a perfume person. In fact, I don't think I've worn perfume since my oldest son was born almost 6 years ago. So, when I saw the Forever Red perfume from Bath & Body Works I was pretty apathetic. I don't hate perfume, I just don't buy it anymore. However, I love the scent. I've worn it daily since receiving it. It's the perfect choice to either wear to work, out running errands, or out on a date. And it's not so strong as to bother my husband's allergies! I'll definitely be buying more when my sample bottle runs out!

The last thing in the box were FriXion Erasable Gel Pens. Let's be honest, we all remember erasable pens from our childhood and they were awful! I didn't have high hopes for these. However, I was pleasantly surprised! In the snapshot below I wrote my name with both color pens I received. I decided to wait 24 hours before I tried to erase anything just to see if it still worked once the gel was dry. The outcome? It's amazing. You can still see a slight shadow of what was there before, but it's no worse than a pencil. The ink doesn't seem to smudge while being stored (like pencil or the old erasable pens) and the ink is much more consistent than the old ones. I will definitely buy them and I'm curious to try their erasable highlighters.

All in all, I was so happy to be chosen to do this! I can't wait for my next VoxBox!

WW: Week One, Day Three

So far, so good. I actually cheated this morning and weighed myself again. (WW frowns on that, you're only supposed to WI once a week.) I've actually lost .6 pounds already. Not bad for two days!

I've gone over my points a little everyday, but that's what they give you the weekly allowance for, right? :)

Weight Watchers: Week One

Pregnancy High: 234 pounds
Current Weight: 212 pounds
Goal Weight: 160 pounds

Lost So Far: 22 pounds

Weight To Lose: 52 pounds

Good News: I haven't gained any weight.
Bad News: I haven't lost any weight.

I don't really know what I expected since I haven't worked out since I abandoned the ab challenge last week. Apparently I thought the weight would just melt right off while I sat on my rear end watching Doctor Who on Netflix. Well, that didn't work. Hmph.

So, today I signed up for Weight Watchers again. I had a decent amount of success when I did it a few years ago. Because I'm nursing, WW only has me set to lose one pound per week. Any more than that can affect my milk supply.

I'm going to skip the regular exercising for now. I start back to work next week. I'm going to need to pack my lunch and snacks everyday because, since I'll be pumping, I won't have time to go to the cafeteria and eat. So, not only will this (hopefully) shave the pounds off fairly quickly, but it will help me save money, too.

I suppose, to look on the positive side, once I start eating right the weight should just fall off. I've been eating nothing but crap food for the last 6 weeks. Fast food, junk food, soda, etc. Even with all that crap, I've been maintaining my weight steadily for the last 3-4 weeks. I'll cut the crap out and lose some more weight.

The thing that made me get serious? Realizing that when I go back to work next week I'll be wearing maternity clothes. That's embarrassing. Mortifying, even. I have one pair of pants that were my pre-pregnancy "fat jeans." And now they don't even fit.

Today I found body measurements from March 2011. Compared to where I'm at now, they're not that much smaller. But a few inches here and there really add up. I figure this is a good place to chronicle the difference so I can come back and compare in a month and then again in 6 months.

Just a note: I remember that March very clearly. I was 16 pounds away from my goal weight and fighting with those last 16 pounds. I was feeling very dejected and angry with myself for not being able to lose the last 16 pounds. Now, if only I weighed 173. *sigh*

Anyway, here goes (all measurements are in inches, of course):

3/24/2011

Weight: 176
Neck: 13.3
Chest: 37
Upper Arm: 12
Fore Arm: 9.8
Waist: 30.5
Hip: 44
Thigh: 25
Calf: 14.8


7/16/2012

Weight: 212
Neck: 14
Chest: 42
Upper Arm: 12
Fore Arm: 10
Waist: 35
Hip: 48
Thigh: 27
Calf: 16


It's obvious that the biggest change has been in my chest, waist, and hips. My chest is probably related to the breastfeeding. My waist and hips were affected by the pregnancy and that takes time, I know. The rest is just weight. So, I'm carrying most of my weight around my middle. Once I get back into the swing of things at work I'm going to start some cardio. That should really help with the midsection.

As far as eating goes, I know I eat when I'm stressed or anxious or bored. I'm trying to stop that. The hard part is finding something else to do with my hands when I get the urge to snack. I need a rubberband or something. . . Also, I need to get more calcium in me. Especially with the breastfeeding. I didn't get ANY calcium today aside from the multivitamin I'm about to take. That's not good. Not good for my bones and not good for Alex's bones.

Wish me luck! Here goes nothing! Hopefully I'll have SOME kind of weight decrease to report next Monday.

This Isn't Working

OK, I can't do this ab challenge. Not yet anyway. I feel like a quitter, but I need to remind myself that I'm only 4 weeks postpartum. *sigh*

So, now I'm on the hunt to find a new (slightly less suicidal) 30 day challenge.

Day 1: 300/30 Ab Challenge

Pregnancy High: 234 pounds
Current Weight: 212 pounds
Goal Weight: 160 pounds

Lost So Far: 22 pounds

Weight To Lose: 52 pounds

Holy cow. I overestimated my abs. Big time.

I only got through 200 out of the 300 ab work outs. It wasn't for lack of trying. I tried to do the last 100 but I literally lack the muscles required. Pregnancy sure does a number on your abs, huh? I'm still calling it a successful day. Today is Alex's one month "birthday." The fact that I even had the energy to try and do some crunches at all is impressive, if you ask me.

So, here are my before pictures. In the interest of full disclosure, I did edit them a tad to bring down the exposure a little bit. Everything else you see is au naturale. Stretch marks included. Blah. And, yeah, I was standing on a chair. We don't have any full length mirrors in our house. . .

Happy Weight

I just used this calculator from Self.com to calculate my "happy weight." I wanted to make sure I was being realistic with my goal of 160. According to that website my happy weight is 163. I'm going to keep my goal number at 160, but if I can get to 163 I'll be satisfied.  :)

A Personal Ab Challenge: 300/30

Pregnancy High: 234 pounds
Current Weight: 212 pounds
Goal Weight: 160 pounds

Lost So Far: 22 pounds

Weight To Lose: 52 pounds

Through the wonders of Pinterest, I recently stumbled across this page with 300 ab work outs all in one spot. Starting Monday July 9, 2012 I'm going to challenge myself to do these ab workouts every day for 30 days. I need to start somewhere to get myself back down to my goal weight so I may as well start with my abs.

My ultimate goal is to start running and complete the C25K program, too. I want to run a 5K in 2013. Right now, though, it's hard because the baby is so little and I can't get away for much longer than an hour and a half without him needing to eat. Any time I'm away from him without leaving milk I start to worry. Hopefully that will get easier once I go back to work and start pumping more milk. Also, he should start stretching out his feedings soon, too. I know that sounds like a big excuse, but it's a real concern of mine.

So, for the time being, I'm going to focus on abs. I'll worry about the running soon afterwards.