Friday, April 27, 2012

Postcrossing

I discovered this pretty cool site the other day when I was browsing various blogs, unfortunately I can't remember who mentioned it (sorry).

Postcrossing is a site where you send and receive postcards from all over the world. I'm not sure if it is a British thing or not, but I love sending and especially receiving things in the mail (except bills!), of course I love emails too, but a letter, card, postcard etc is something extra special. Since moving to the US, I notice people here don't seem to be big card senders :(



It's free to register on the site, and you submit your details: name and address and a bit about yourself in a profile section. Then you request an address, I think to start with you can request up to 5 addresses. You can choose whether to include or exclude your country, I chose to exclude USA, but may consider re-adding it at a later date for some variety. So I requested 5 addresses, mine were in Finland, Netherlands, Russia, Germany and England. I went to the store and bought a bunch of San Francisco themed postcards and mailed them today with a few notes about living in SF. Each name and address I was given came with an ID # which I had to include on the card. Then when the recipient receives the card they go on to the site and input the ID and say they received it, that then makes my name and address available to the next person in the queue. So for every postcard you send you should get one back.

I personally think this is quite exciting and look forward to receiving my first postcard. They even have regular meetups too in different locations. I will be sure to update you when I receive my first postcard.
Anyone want to take a guess where it may come from?


Thursday, April 26, 2012

April BarkBox

Jess and Bluey and I all agree that April's BarkBox was the best box so far. All three of us loved it. I also want to say a special thank you to Carly for being so great and quick at responding to my emails :)

As usual both dogs were eager to check out the box as soon as it arrived, and Bluey was quick to try and take things out of the box this month too!
It turned out the reason for the extreme eagerness was this ring shaped bully stick from Barkworthies. Bluey quickly removed it and ran off, so I had to retrieve it quickly for this photo, then proceed to teach them sharing! Bluey was very good and after a short while he let Jess finish it off. This is definitely something I am going to be buying for them in the future, but maybe a bigger version as it didn't take them long to eat it.

The next item I also let them have straight away which they enjoyed was the cookies from Little Eatz, when I opened the packet I was 'wow these smell good enough to eat' and was tempted to try one, but thought no I'm not that hungry that I want to eat dog cookies. Then later on I was reading the information card in the box and it turns out the cookies are edible for humans and dogs - what an awesome idea, well I didn't need to be told twice! I was straight back to the pack trying them and I can say they are very yummy, but don't worry I'll let the pups keep their cookies.
The next product was some eco friendly doggy poop bags from Eco Dog Planet, and will of course come in very handy and some vitamins fro K-10+ that you dissolve in  your dogs water bowl. I received the calcium one, but they do a variety of ones. Not too sure if I will use this as I'm not too keen on adding things to my dog's water.


The last (but by no means least) item is my favorite. The Freezy Pups kit. My dogs love eating ice cubes and doggy frozen yogurt, so this is going to be used lots in the summer. It is basically an ice cube trade (bone shaped of course!) and comes with four organic flavors - white cheddar cheese, chicken soup, juicy apple and sweet potato n maple. Sounds good enough to eat. My two are going to love these as treats in the summer to help keep them cool.

I nearly forgot I received something for me too :) A very nice Barkbox tshirt, I haven't had a chance to wear it yet as it smells of bully sticks after being in the box, so is currently waiting to be washed, but I look forward to wearing it to the dog park and telling everyone about BarkBox.

For those of you who haven't signed up yet - WHY NOT?! 
If you use this the referral code SASCO020 when you sign up you will receive $5 off your first BarkBox - go on what's stopping you?






Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Week 15

It's Weigh in Wednesday again, I had another week where I haven't tracked, but I have hardly eaten again - I'm still really bloated since my epidural, and can't seem to eat much. I guess though technically this is a good thing, as I'm not starving I'm eating three meals a day and having the odd snack, most of which is healthy. One thing I did notice is I went to the movies today and normally I can eat a medium kettle corn on my own with no problem whatsoever (I've even been known to eat a large one on my own!!), today I got a small kettle corn and I was barely able to eat half of it before I was full, so maybe my stomach has shrunk. One of my issues is eating portions that are too big, so this could be the boost I need to get my portion sizes back under control.

Down to the nitty gritty, the number on the scales... I actually got on and off five times as I didn't believe the number it read 274lbs  (I haven't been this light in a long long time) - which was a loss of 5.8lbs this week. My weight watchers app did tell me off as it said over the last few weeks I have lost more than the recommended 2lbs a week, but over the whole 15 weeks my average loss is 1.2lbs.


My new graph is looking good, and my total weight loss since January is now at 18.2lbs.  I seem to be in very little pain the last few days, so am starting to exercise again. I think I may actually hit 10,000 steps on my fitbit today too.

Don't forget about my summer weight loss challenge starting in a few weeks.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

My first fitbloggin meet up

I've had my blog for quite a while now, and started it originally to share stories about my move across the pond. Then decided to blog about my weight loss journey when I rejoined Weight Watchers in January. This got me more active on twitter and I discovered loads of other people blogging about weight loss and healthy eating and keeping fit. 

Then recently I heard the term fitbloggin and discovered a whole community of fitbloggers :) and it turned out they were having a local meetup, so I thought hey why not, it's a great excuse to meet some new people, and also people who have some of the same interests as me :)

So yesterday I attend a Silk Marvelous Morning House Party at MarBaird's house. After a bit of an ordeal getting there - thanks for that BART, I was greeted with a class of champagne and pom juice. We all brought along something we had baked. I made a spinach and cheese quiche from the new weight watchers cookbook, missmarisol made some gorgeous potatoes, debroby made a meatza which tasted so good and I will definitely be making it in the near future, Deb's is also a certified personal trainer and did an excellent resistance band demo - I am so going to buy some when my back is better. asynja made some vegan dishes including yummy date brownie bites and some very yummy rhubarb squares - which I bought home for my husband and he loved it. The meetup was also sponsored by Silk so we got lots of silk items to try including the new silk fruit & protein, it was nice but a bit too sweet for me, there was also some pretty cool freebies and coupons too :) We also had some Chobani yogurt to try and I finally tried the blood orange flavor which was so good. Keep checking MarBaird's blog as she has a competition coming up soon to win a crate of Chobani, she also made some super cute mini pancakes with fresh fruit.





We had such a great time and it was so nice to meet everyone, I am looking forward to the next one and also hope to host one myself in the near future.

Thanks again to Marlene for hosting x

Everyone who attends has their own blog so please check them out

MarBaird - Nosh My Way


debroby -  DebRoby


8 week Summer Weight Loss Challenge

There is only three weeks until the start of my eight week Summer Weight Loss Challenge - so who is going to take part? You don't need to do anything just yet. As long as I get your first weigh in by midnight on Saturday May 12 then you are entered.

So far I have 12 people who have shown an interest in joining :)

I contacted PopChips and they have kindly sent me some coupons for some money off and some free bags of popchips - I must confess I am slightly addicted to the sweet potato ones! I've just checked the coupons and they are only valid until June 30th, which is before the end of the challenge, so I will send them to the person with the largest % loss after the 4 weigh in - so you have two chances to win something.
  • Challenge will start on Saturday May 12 2012, with the final weigh in being on Saturday July 7th.
  • The challenge is open to everyone regardless of what weight loss plan you are following.
  • Your first weigh in must be emailed to me (sarahlou.scott@gmail.com) or by DM on twitter (@SarahLou1976) by midnight on Saturday May 12 in order for you to take part in the challenge.
  • Photos of starting and ending weight (scale display or WW log would be great) must be submitted.
  • Each Sunday I will update my blog with details of the person with the biggest % loss, I won't post your weight or weight loss (it will remain private throughout the challenge) just the % loss.  There may be a delay with the first weeks update as I will be in Vegas, so may not get a chance to send an update out till the Tuesday night.
  • I would like to list the names of all the participants, using first name and initial of last name and twitter name, but if you prefer not to have this posted please let me know.
  • You must email me your weekly weigh in by midnight each Saturday night.
  • I will set challenges each week, which will range from food related to exercise related, which you can choose to participate in.
 THE WINNER
  • The winner will be the person with the highest % loss at the end of the 8 weeks and must have submitted proof of starting and ending weight.
  • There will be a prize for the winner, which I will choose nearer the time, but will probably consist of gift cards of some kind. So you will need to provide me with your actual address if you are the winner.
  • If any company is reading this and would like to donate a prize for the winner - please let me know :)
  • I will be taking part but won't be eligible for winning the prize.
It's going to be lots of fun, and hopefully a great motivation for some good weight losses. Feel free to share this blog post with your friends and family the more participants the better.



For those of you on twitter we are going to use #LoseW8in8


I look forward to lots of you joining the challenge.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Week 14

It's that time of the week again. Now I have a confession I did weigh in yesterday morning before I went to the hospital as I wasn't sure how well I would be today (more on that later). The scales showed a pleasing loss of 2lbs yesterday, so I thought, yeah I'll take that loss, then after the hospital we went to ihop for breakfast (the red velvet pancakes were so good!). As it turned out as the medication kicked in I became less hungry as the day went on, so this morning I decided to see what difference the scales said.


Let's just say I'm glad I never recorded my weight online yesterday or blogged about it as today I was 3.8lbs down :) So I took that as my official weight for the week - as today is my official weigh in day. So my total loss is back at 12.4lbs. still not back at my lowest weight since I restarted but I'm getting there. Must go and move some pebbles over in my glass jars :)

I haven't really done anything different this week, Ill be honest I haven't tracked, but I know I haven't eaten much as my medication has been making me nauseous so I haven't been eating (guess being sick has it's plus sides too!). For those of you not up to date with my ailments I have a herniated disc and a second partially herniated disc :( which has caused really really painful sciatica down my right leg. I've been living off vicodin, which I think my body is now immune too!! My doctor wanted me to have surgery on my back to relieve the pressure, but I wanted the non surgical option, so yesterday I received my first epidural injection. Came home with stronger painkillers and antibiotics. I last took a painkiller about 21 hours ago, and so far it's looking good, my pain has been a lot less. I am still taking it easy as I have been told not to do much this week, the epidural can take up to 3 weeks to have a full effect, so hopefully I will be improving day by day. Which is good as I'm going to Vegas in 3 weeks time :)

In other news we are looking to move house :) We have given our current landlady notice and submitted our application for the new place. Should hear back in the next few days, so keep your fingers crossed for us. Then it will be all the fun of packing and moving. Which for me is something I love, as I love organizing things, and making lists and planning.

Looking forward to this weekend as I'm going to my first ever fitblog meetup which is being hosted by Marlene , I'm looking forward to meeting her along with Marisol and the other fitbloggers who are attending. It should be a great get together, with lots of yummy healthy food :)

A big thank you to Dacia for hosting Monica's Birthday Challenge. I ended up with a loss of 0.43% over the challenge, which I guess is better than a gain. The winner will be announced on Saturday or Sunday, so good luck if you are in the challenge. Also don't forget to sign up to my Summer Challenge which starts on May 12.

Thanks for reading and hope you all have a great week.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Week 13

I was hoping to be able to report a good loss this week, and Sunday morning the scales were looking really good with a 3.8lb loss, but by the time weigh in day came this morning, that wasn't the case.
I did still have a loss this week of 1.6lbs, taking my total back to 8.6lbs, which really isn't that great in 13 weeks when you consider the huge amount of weight I have to lose!

Looking at the chart you can see I was doing well, nice and slow and steadily losing, then I got my holiday head on and had the three weeks of gains, and now its finally heading back down and hopefully it will be on a nice steady slope down again.

So, the big question is why am I not losing faster? I think the basic truthful answer is I'm not trying hard enough! I could reel off a whole bunch of excuses as to why but that won't change the fact I need to try harder. At the moment I'm stuck at home unable to exercise and get out as I'm in severe pain with my herniated disc, hopefully next week Ill get my epidural injection and the pain will ease and I'll slowly be able to get back on track. The problem is being stuck in the house makes me bored and bored = eating when I'm not hungry. My fridge is full of lots of healthy snacks but once I get super bored then I just want unhealthy snacky foods. I am really missing my water running classes, and looking forward to going back to them in the next few weeks.

I know I need to up my game, my sister will be here in less than 4 weeks and we have a 3 day trip to Vegas planned, and yes I plan to have a few drinks and hit the buffets, but I believe I can do that in moderation, and hope that I will be well enough to do lots of walking to counteract the extra calories. 

Part of the problem with my herniated disc is the fact I am so overweight, so I need to REALLY try hard and change my eating habits and whole lifestyle, or even once this problem is fixed its likely to return if I don't lose the weight. Each year I have my annual health check and it comes back good, my bloods etc are always normal, and the Dr says that eventually my weight will affect my health and I need to focus on losing weight before it becomes an issue, but I always just carry on as normal. Maybe this current issue with my back is the wake up call I need. As right now the pain is unbearable and I would give anything to have it fixed.

So time to put the past behind me and move on, I have everything I need to make this work, I have an online weight watchers membership including a cool app on my phone, I have a gym membership, I have an exercise bike and treadmill at home, and of course I have my gorgeous two westies who love going for walks, so I have no excuse not to exercise (except for the pain at the moment - which should be fixed soon).  I am the one who controls what I eat, I do the grocery shopping, so only have myself to blame when the unhealthy food makes it into my kitchen. I decided when I came back from England that we wouldn't order take out food between then and when my sister arrives (total of 4 weeks) so far one week in and I'm pleased to report no take out food ordered so far :) (its all about the baby steps!) I have also signed up for an organic fruit and veg delivery service called Albert & Eve, the first box arrives today, so I am looking forward to trying some new fruit and veg, as I do tend to buy the same fruit and veg each week!

I want to say a big thank you to all off my friends on twitter, you are a great support and I'm looking forward to meeting some of you at the fitblog meet up next weekend. I'll be bringing a nice healthy ww spinach and cheese quiche.

I set myself a first goal of getting to 275lbs, and my reward was going to be a fit bit or a Nike fuelband, I decided on the fit bit and have purchased this and it should arrive any day, but I am going to be good and not use it until I reach my goal, so 8.6lbs to go. I'm hoping that will be a great motivational tool to help me increase my exercise too, as I think when I use it I will be shocked to see how little I do actually walk!

I started these weight loss jars a few months back, as you can see only 8 pebbles have made it into the pounds lost jar :( They sit on the side in the kitchen as a constant reminder to me, I hope to be transferring a lot more pebbles very soon

As some of you may know I am going to be hosting a summer weight loss challenge starting next month. So far I have had 12 people sign up, hopefully we will have a lot more people sign up between now and then, and it will be a good motivational tool for everyone who takes part. There will even be prizes too :) I have contacted a few companies and so far Pop Chips have come forward and offered a prize to the winner. So if you like prizes make sure you sign up and tweet and post about it to your friends too so they can also sign up.

Thanks for reading my lengthy post :) Have a good week everyone xxx

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Sarah's 8 Week Summer Weight Loss Challenge

As some of you are aware I'm currently taking part in Monica's Birthday Challenge hosted by Dacia - although I personally am not doing that great so far!!

I have kindly volunteered to host the next 8 week challenge, so have started putting together some ideas.

  • Challenge will start on Saturday May 12 2012, with the final weigh in being on Saturday July 7th.
  • The challenge is open to everyone regardless of what weight loss plan you are following.
  • Your first weigh in must be emailed to me (sarahlou.scott@gmail.com) or by DM on twitter (@SarahLou1976) by midnight on Saturday May 12 in order for you to take part in the challenge.
  • Photos of starting and ending weight (scale display or WW log would be great) must be submitted.
  • Each Sunday I will update my blog with details of the person with the biggest % loss, I won't post your weight or weight loss (it will remain private throughout the challenge) just the % loss. 
  • I would like to list the names of all the participants, using first name and initial of last name and twitter name, but if you prefer not to have this posted please let me know.
  • You must email me your weekly weigh in by midnight each Saturday night.
  • I will set challenges each week, which will range from food related to exercise related, which you can choose to participate in.
 THE WINNER
  • The winner will be the person with the highest % loss at the end of the 8 weeks and must have submitted proof of starting and ending weight.
  • There will be a prize for the winner, which I will choose nearer the time, but will probably consist of gift cards of some kind. So you will need to provide me with your actual address if you are the winner.
  • If any company is reading this and would like to donate a prize for the winner - please let me know :)
  • I will be taking part but won't be eligible for winning the prize.

So what are you waiting for, send me a message if you are interested in taking part. Its going to be fun. Feel free to share this blog post with your friends and family the more participants the better.

We have two hashtags for the current challenge which are #MBChallenge and #LoseW8in8  If it's OK with Dacia I would like to also use #LoseW8in8 for this challenge but would love another tag if anyone can think of one.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Klout

I heard about Klout a while ago via friends on Twitter, and to be honest I still don't completely understand it!! Basically it looks at all your profiles that you link to it. I have Facebook, twitter, and my blog linked to it, and it gives you a score based on how influential it thinks you are (well I think that's how it works!). You then get given a score, mine is currently 56. You can then give Klout to your friends on subjects and vice versa.

One of the benefits of Klout is Klout perks, up until recently I hadn't received any and a certain person (yes Sarah I am talking about you!) seemed to be getting lots. Then my luck or something changed, and since then I've had a few. The first two were money of some websites, which as of yet I haven't yet used. Then the most recent two were pretty cool.


The first one was from Simple - now when I lived in the UK I used Simple products all the time, and would get friends and family who came to visit to bring me supplies, Simple then became available in the US but only on the East coast, then about two months ago I saw an ad on TV for it and found it in my local CVS :) So was super excited (although it is a lot more expensive to buy here than in the UK). So when I got invited to the Simple Klout perk, I signed up straight away and received a pack of cleansing wipes and some moisturizer. The other perk I got was from Purina, it was a voucher for a bag of Purina Dog Chow food (worth $16) and a copy of the recent movie TinTin on DVD, which is pretty cool as I haven't seen that movie yet. So I guess it's good to be a member of Klout :) I also signed up for another perk yesterday which as a result I am receiving a free t-shirt.

INFLUENCER DISCLOSURE:
I was given a free product or sample because I'm a Klout influencer. I am under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

March Bark Box

March's BarkBox arrived whilst I was on vacation - hence the delay in my review this month.

As usual the pups were eager to check out their box when it arrived.

The box this month contained a nice selection of items, including something edible which always seems to be the dogs favorite thing.
The first item was some pet wipes from Natures Miracle , they are wipes for using on your dog in between baths, they remove odor and dander. I actually have already used these, and have an amusing story as to why. I was out walking my two early, and Bluey found a dead mouse, Jess decided it would be nice to roll on the mouse at the same time Bluey decided it would be nice to pee on the dead mouse - result was he ended up peeing on Jess!! So i used the wipes on Jess and she smells all pretty again :)

The second item was a pink rubber ball from Pet Projekt it is a ball that is squidgy and you can put treats inside it or another ball, my two had a quick play with it, I think I may try putting treats in it when I give it to them next.

Cookies, Bing's Jumpin' Ginger snaps where in the box, and didn't last long, my two loved them and even gave the box a thorough examine to check for extra! They are all natural treats from Bing's Barkin Bakery

The final item was something that is a bit strange - Himalayan dog chews, chews made from yak and cows milk, its basically a type of cheese, but hard. You can also put them in the microwave to turn them into a softer treat if they get too small to chew. As you can see my two really like them.
Thanks BarkBox for another great box this month

Week 12

I'm back from my two week vacation to England, where I had lots and lots of fun, it was great to spend time with friends and family. It's strange as when I'm there it doesn't feel like I live so far away, but now I'm back home it does feel like a long way away :(

Well, I planned to try and be good and not eat loads, BUT.... once I was there, there were so many yummy English foods that I can't get here that I ended up eating pretty much everything and anything!! As a result I gained 4.2lbs, which to be honest is a lot less than I was expecting - I was expecting at least 7lbs gain. I did do a lot of walking and cycling so I guessed that helped, plus I didn't track at all, but did try and make some healthier choices and drink lots of water. This now brings my total loss to 7lbs, which I guess is still a loss.

I went shopping this morning and my fridge is full of lots of healthy fruit and veg, hubby will be shocked when he gets home and goes to find a snack! I have just finished the course of steroids for my slipped disc (not that they helped this time), so I'm hoping that will help with the cravings, as I seemed to be constantly hungry when I was taking them. I have physio tomorrow and will discuss the best exercises to do, but am hoping to go back to water running classes next week, or at least some swimming. 

Its just under 23 weeks until I take part in the Susan G Komen 3 day 60 mile walk. So far I have raised $1295 towards my $2300 target. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, and if you would like to donate here is the link to my fundraising page. 
http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/2012/General?px=6463345&pg=personal&fr_id=1768
I guess I should think about starting some training plan soon!!

I'm not sure if I mentioned it previously but I have signed up for The Color Run in San Francisco on July 14th at Candlestick Park. I am so looking forward to it, I'm taking part with a group of friends including Marisol There will be lots of photos taken at the event for sure.

I have decided I am going to buy the fitbit not the Nike Fuel Band, but I still need to hit that 275 goal first. 10.2lbs to go. I'm hoping that I can lose most of my vacation gain this week and get straight back on track. Watch this space ....