Weight Loss — Page 2

Simplify Your Weight Loss Plan – #SimpleStart

I was given a free one month subscription to Weight Watchers to try their new Simple Start plan and write about my experience. Though I was compensated for my time and commitment, all views, positive and negative, are my own.

Weight Watchers Simple Start Plan – Free App

“We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.” – Calvin Coolidge… This quote comes from the Weight Watchers Simple Start plan app, and I can’t agree more. It’s similar to one of my all-time favorite quotes, “How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can start now, start slowly changing the world.” And by changing the world, that doesn’t have to mean the whole big ol’ world – it can mean your world. I know that I have a bad habit of thinking I’ll make a change “tomorrow,” “next week,” or “next month,” – “when I have time.” But man, isn’t “tomorrow” the busiest darn day of any given month? Instead of thinking of something like getting in shape, eating healthier, and losing weight as a great big giant project – what if I told you I have a great way to just get started? Don’t worry about all of the details – joining a gym, overhauling your pantry, buying workout clothes, and counting calories. Just get started. Easy peasy. That’s where I’m at and I’d love to introduce you to what I’m up to. I think it’ll help some of you other busy ladies too. Check it…

Start Simple – Healthy Ingredients and Delicious Meal Ideas

If you’re reading this, I’m gonna guess that you’ve at least thought about losing weight a time or two. {But really, who hasn’t, right?} If you’ve followed this blog for awhile, you’d know that I’ve been struggling a bit with my weight for the past few years. I’d never ever given much thought to my weight until I got pregnant – and gained over 70 pounds. Woah. I’ve been making simple swaps {like adding an extra veggie to every meal}, and a having “slow and steady wins the race” type of attitude – Which is why I’m very excited about the new Simple Start plan from Weight Watchers. I’ve never tried Weight Watchers, but know friends who have. I like that it’s not a diet – it’s a lifestyle. It teaches you healthy eating habits – YOU choose your foods, and it helps you realize how eating better foods means getting to eat more food.

Well, the Simple Start app eases you in to the program, so that it doesn’t feel like a burden, sacrifice, or obstacle. It’s a free app that guides you along, and helps encourage you, as you switch from chips and cookies for snacks, to things like fruits and veggies. And trust me, it is so seriously easy. Even if you don’t plan right now to join Weight Watchers, I cannot recommend the app enough – you will LOVE the healthy recipes and helpful tips.

Download the Free Weight Watchers App Today – Simplify Weight Loss

To get started, just take a minute to download the free app. You’ll get a huge list of free foods you can eat, with no portion restrictions. {Why? Because they’re total rockstar foods. Filled with nutrition, filling, and yummy.} Then the app gives you great recipe ideas using those foods, like the uber yummy ones above. Breakfast pizza, grilled cheese and veggie soup, roasted turkey and potatoes – plus TWO snacks a day? Sounds do-able to me :) You can use the app to create your own meals, track what you eat, get recipes, and more. It gives you a list of foods to buy at the grocery store, and so many other totally free tools – to give you a two-week jump start towards your new weight loss goals, without a huge commitment or crazy sacrifice. It rocks my socks – and I know you’ll love it too!

Don’t take my word for it, check out what other awesome women have to say about the plan by following the #SimpleStart hashtag on all of your fave social media. And then be sure to follow Weight Watchers for new products, promotions, and cool ideas – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Posted by Meagan Paullin on January 6, 2014 Filed Under: Busy Mom Solution | 5 Comments

Weight Watchers “Gets” Busy Moms – Launches MomFeeds & it Rocks My Socks

Thank you to Weight Watchers and The Motherhood for sharing Weight Watcher’s new digital magazine – MomFeeds – with me, and allowing me to share it with you guys as part of this sponsored post. I received a 3-month trial subscription to Weight Watchers Online, love it, and know you will too.

You know what I need? A time out. A mommy time out. Where someone sends me to my room – and I have to sit, quietly, and no one can come and “play” with me. But, as a mom we don’t even get to pee alone, right? So I have to try and carve out little bits of me time during the day. And one of my favorite ways to kind of zone out and un-stress {is that even a word? Well, in my world it is..} is to sit down, grab my iPhone, and browse some cool stuff. I’m a total social media junkie, so I love catching up on news and gossip, picking up clever new tips and ideas that make my crazy mom-life more manageable, or finding new recipes for busy weeknights. Which is why I’m crazy excited about a new app that helps me do all of those things in one super cool place. The app is called Flipboard, and then you add MomFeeds to it for the total awesomeness. And it’s all going to rock your socks.

MomFeeds is a brand-new digital magazine from Weight Watchers that features content geared towards moms. It’s all displayed on Flipboard – an app I’ve been hearing about forever, but just haven’t made the time to check out until recently. For moms who don’t always have time to read their favorite magazines cover to cover, Momfeeds has recipes, tips, deals and news, all served up in bite-sized portions – or as I like to say, “mom-style.” Because everything we do all day is bite-sized, right? We cut meals we cook into bite-sized portions, we get to watch only bite-sized portions of our favorite shows as the kids interrupt us 237 times, we get bite-sized minutes to do housework. A mom’s life is hectic – no matter what type of mom she is. So, a bite-sized piece of entertainment is often all I can get :)

Love it, right? It’s like, everything we’re looking for, in one place. Because – you never know when your 5 minutes of peace will come. You don’t have time to run to grab your favorite magazines to browse – but you always have your smartphone at the ready, and can browse cool stuff on MomFeeds instead. In the carpool line, waiting at the doctor’s office, or during the kid’s naps. Cool stuff.

First of all – the techy in me is really in love with the way this app flips with the flick of a finger, almost like a real magazine. Very clever. Second, I love the topics covered. As I literally flipped through the app for the first time, I found SO much good stuff. This is one – Mom Makeover: Fab hair tricks that make a big difference. She has some amazing suggestions that are totally inspiring me for my next salon visit.

I also found really fun kid’s recipes – like this one for funny face burgers. Abby isn’t a picky eater – she loves almost everything. But she’s a stubborn eater – she gets bored having to sit still and finish a meal. So I’m always looking for fun ideas like this!

I also found “mom treat” recipes – just for me :) I love carbs. {You can tell when you see the size jeans I buy… Lol.} And there’s nothing you can do to a potato that I don’t love. {Ok, except scalloped potatoes. I don’t hate them, but I don’t love them. It’s the only potato-ness I don’t love.} Anyway – this delish recipe for Easy Oven Fries looks perfect. Thanks for the great find, MomFeeds!

Speaking of great finds – this is my fave that I came across on MomFeeds today – Make the most of your clothing budget by analyzing your colors. Such a smart idea! It links to an awesome site where you go through a mini-quiz, and it tells you what your “color season” is. Then, if you know that, it’s easy to only pick clothes in that range, which means everything in your closet co-ordinates. Plus, it means you’re only buying shades that are flattering on you too. I’m admit it – I’m now totally addicted to MomFeeds. And I’m not at all surprised that this super smart site comes from Weight Watchers. I’ve seen some fantastic results from friends who’ve followed the Weight Watchers program, I love their products, and I really love the way they’re not just a diet, they truly teach you better lifestyle habits. And they “get” the busy lifestyle that we have as moms, and create their products, programs, and cool features like MomFeeds to fit that lifestyle. LOVE.

And… It’s not just me with the love here, guys. Weight Watchers loves YOU too. They’re so excited to have you guys join us all on this sweet new app, that they want to give a big thank you by giving a couple of you ladies their {seriously amazing, by the way} their cookbook: Weight Watchers Ultimate Chicken Cookbook: More than 250 Fresh, Fabulous Recipes for Every Day. {Weight Watchers provided the prizes but did not design and is not administering the giveaway.} And – if you guys want to find a seriously H-U-G-E amount of rockin’ Weight Watchers recipes, I have a friend who has put a few really cool lists together. Why? Because moms stick together, right?

Use the easy peasy Rafflecopter form below to enter – have fun, and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Posted by Meagan Paullin on October 25, 2013 Filed Under: Giveaways, Busy Mom Solution |

Make Fitness a Lifestyle: Put This On, Set a Goal, & Go!

Learn How Busy Moms Make Fitness Part of their Everyday Routine… I’m a busy mom. Which is a silly phrase, really, isn’t it? I mean, have you ever met a mom who wasn’t busy? There are a lot of different things needing to be squeezed into my busy days – meal prep, housework, potty training, family time, blogging and business work… Plus errands to run, events to attend, and trips to plan for. And oh yeah – fitness. Having a mom means {for most of us} that our figures aren’t quite the same as they used to be. I called it “baby weight” for a long time. But she’s three now. I have to start calling it the “toddler tons” or something. So a few months ago I committed to a serious mission to get in better shape. It’s not all about appearance – it’s also for my health. I’m not severely overweight or anything, but I’m about 30 pounds more than I should be. And recently I found out that I have crazy-high blood pressure, as well as high cholesterol. This BLEW.ME.AWAY. since I’m a really healthy eater, and in decent shape. But, it made me realize that I really need to kick my activity level into high gear, and get more exercise into my life.

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on August 7, 2013 Filed Under: Busy Mom Solution, Tech Tips | 8 Comments

Hip Scarves Bring Fashion & Fun to Dance Workouts

This is not a sponsored post. No compensation was given. I just absolutely love these scarves and know you will too!

“I never regret it when I do it, but I always regret it when I don’t.” – Devin McDonald Vinson, 37, Portland, OR… I found this quote online recently, and LOVE it. And I love that it’s from another Pacific Northwest-er like me. {I’m right above Oregon, in Central Washington.} As many of you lovely ladies know – I had started on a major weight-loss mission a couple of months ago. And – one of the things that I’ve been doing a ton of lately is dancing. Whether it’s playing Just Dance on the Wii, going to classes at the gym, impromptu dance parties while my 3-year old and I make dinner, or trying out my Zumba and dance aerobics videos in the living room – dancing is an awesome to get rid of stress, get in shape, and have fun while doing it. And my little girl loves joining me!

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on August 6, 2013 Filed Under: Shopping, Busy Mom Solution | 5 Comments

Week 2 Weigh-In Results – Down 1.6 Pounds!

“Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford… Last week I kicked off my new weight loss goals here, sharing a photo of me. On a scale. Telling the big ol’ internets how much I weigh. It was pretty scary – but in a way, actually very liberating. I’ve been trying to ignore how much I weigh, trying to ignore the fact that very few of my pants fit well, trying to ignore that my double chin seems to have grown it’s own double chin. But by posting my weight here, finally taking steps to do something about it, and reading all of the supportive comments from you awesome ladies, I’m feeling pretty darn good. I wasn’t expecting to really lose much weight here at the beginning, I’m mostly just trying to make smarter choices… So when I weighed in this week on Wednesday morning, I was VERY pleasantly surprised to see that I’d lost 1.6 pounds! {Also, while I did post my weigh in photo on Instagram on Wednesday morning, I am late getting the post up because Wednesday was my birthday. After two days of celebrating I’m back to work again…}

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on May 24, 2013 Filed Under: Busy Mom Solution | 1 Comment

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 1 Weight Loss Kick Off!

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” – William James… This quote is SO true. And I’m trying to keep it mind as I write this post, since it’s a scary/terrifying/embarrassing one to write. I’m going to kick off my new weight loss adventure here today – and to keep it real, which is what we all want to see when it comes to weight loss stuff, I’m going to post a photo of me standing on the scale. Like, an un-photo shopped photo. Like, where you can see how much I actually weigh. And while I LOVE you ladies who read my posts here, and feel safe with you all… Posting it means not just you guys can see it. The whole big ol’ web can see it. The INTERNETS can read it. And that’s scary. I mean, if I get a ticket I lie about my weight. When the nurse weighs me at the doctor office I ask her to whisper the results so others don’t hear it. But here I am, getting brave, shouting {err, typing?} to the world about how big my ass is these days. So, why in the freakin’ heck would I do that?

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on May 15, 2013 Filed Under: Busy Mom Solution | 5 Comments

Simple Diet Swaps: Better Carbs Make Your Favorite Recipes Healthier!

“Life is not merely being alive, but being well.” – Marcus Valerius Martialis… Most of you know now about the weight loss mission that I’m on right now. If not – here’s a quick “catch up” for ya – I’ve always been a normal weight, and never gave it too much though, until I got pregnant – and gained over 70 pounds! Yikes. I struggled for a year to take it off, then lost over 20 pounds in 3 months, using the Nutrisystem diet. But then over the end of last year, I really slacked off again. My online businesses really took off, Abby started having her seizures {she’s doing GREAT now, if you’re wondering :)}, and, well, I love baking at the holidays. But, we have a big in-ground pool that we open up in late June, and I want to be ready to party this year without hiding under a tee shirt all summer! So, I’m working on making some smart changes – one small step at a time.

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