Exercising in comfort with Wilson

When I was younger, it took no special attention to stay fit and in shape. I didn't watch calories or count carbs. I made no particular effort to exercise any more than running around with my friends. We skateboarded. We took long walks together. We played ball and climbed trees. There was no way to be plugged into anything so my friends and I simply played outside when we were together.


Times have changed a little in the past 30 years and I spend much more time connected and plugged in than I did when I was younger. That means I'm not outside running around as much any more. When I am running around, I am generally connected to the Wii in some way shape or form whether it's Zumba or Wii Fit. Exercising inside is just easier for me now. I don't need to be concerned about the weather or who is doing what, where. One thing I do need to be concerned about now is comfort.

When I exercise, I wear clothes made for exercising. I want to be comfortable when I'm huffing and puffing and sweating to the oldies. No, I don't mean a pair of baggy warm up pants and my husband's 3x too large t-shirt. They don't offer any kind of support at all and honestly, they look awful on me. Since they don't fit correctly, they can chafe and tug and be irritating.

I recently received the Wilson La Divine Tennis Capri Pants to try out while I exercise. Wilson Tennis Apparel isn't just for wearing while you're playing tennis. It works just as well for any exercise or even for doing housework our lounging around in.  It has a compression fit for light support and the fabric is moisture wicking which means it's breathable and helps keep you cool and dry while you exercise.

I also like that the pants come in capri style.  In the warmer months, I tend to wear capris instead of long pants to exercise in.  They're cooler but still offer modesty and comfort which is important to me.  I also like that they're available in black which is very slimming and one of my favorite exercise colors. They're not totally black though. They have a little burst of bright blue color at the bottom of each leg band. They're really comfortable to exercise in because they're made of 92% poly and 8% spandex for a snug but comfy fit. If you're going to exercise, you might as well be comfortable while you're doing it!

My thanks to Wilson for allowing me to review this product.

As required by the FTC: I received a product sample in order to write my review. I received no monetary compensation.  All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

Carrots 'n' Cake by Tina Haupert

Book Title: Carrots 'N' Cake
Subtitle: Healthy Living One Carrot and Cupcake at a Time
Author: Tina Haupert
Genre: Cooking, Nutrition
ISBN: 978-1-4027-7824-7
Publisher: Sterling Epicure
Suggested Retail Price: $14.95

From the book:

Like most brides to be, Tina Haupert wanted to look her best on her wedding day.  After using an online calorie and exercise tracker and reading food blogs, Tina was inspired to start her own blog.   Shortly thereafter, Carrots 'N' Cake was born.  Then came the readers; Complete strangers starting posting comments and asking questions.  Tina was all too happy to help and loved sharing her experiences and advice with them.  What started out as a hobby soon became her passion.
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Most people who think of dieting think of a never ending meal pan containing grilled chicken, salad, fruit, cottage cheese and yogurt.  They think of saying good bye to pizza, carrot cake and donuts. They have visions of no more lunches with their friends or date nights out with the husband at a fancy restaurant.

That's the reason most diets fail.  People stay on them for a week or two, loose a pound or two, realize they cannot give up their favorite baked goods for the rest of their life and they give up.  Tina Haupert understands that leading a healthy balanced lifestyle doesn't mean having to give up all of those tasty treats for the rest of your life.  The author explains how you can still enjoy treats and drop pounds. Dieting doesn't need to mean constant calorie counting and being hungry all the time while you gnaw on a celery stick.

Carrots 'N' Cake is look at how the author managed to loose weight and keep it off.  It's a collection of her thoughts and ideas on a variety of topics including exercise, how to splurge, maintaining your weight, becoming accountable, cravings, traveling and more.  Each chapter focuses on a different topic and inside that chapter are recipes that deal with what you've just learned. She also shares a number of very in depth samples of her work out routines in strength training and treadmill workouts.

I really love the tone that this book is written in.  She doesn't come off preachy and she acknowledges a number of things that many women suffer from like cravings and binges.  For the most part, her recipes are simple and use ingredients that most people will have in their pantry already. She doesn't encourage the use of artificial sweeteners in her recipes and encourages whole grains and fresh produce.  All in all, this is a very doable program that won't leave you feeling exhausted, starving and ready to eat an entire cake in one sitting.  I'm really looking forward to trying these recipes.  They're healthy enough for me to feel good about making them and delicious looking enough for me to want to eat them.

My thanks to the sponsor for allowing me to review this book.

As required by the FTC: I received a product sample in order to write my review.  I received no monetary compensation.  All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

Article first published as Book Review: Carrots 'N' Cake by Tina Haupert on Blogcritics.

Feel like you need reinforcements in The Battle of the Bulge?

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#31Days to a New Me Update

I've had a really tough week. Sunday night we had 20 below zero temps and my car died. We didn't get it started again until Monday night. We also lost our hot water because our hot water pipes froze. I didn't get that back until Tuesday afternoon. Then we lost our phone and internet and didn't get that back until late Tuesday night.

With all the stress of everything going wrong, I didn't do the Wii Fit and we relied more on fast food than we should have to avoid dishes. All said when I got on the Wii Fit this morning, it said I gained a little more than two pounds this week :( Definitely not a happy camper. It still shows me in the "normal" range which is where I want to stay but I'm still not happy and will work harder this week to get back to where I want to be.

I found a few new Lean Cuisine flavors I hadn't seen before at Walmart. I tried the Chicken Parmesan and the Glazed Chicken.  They were both really good but the Chicken Parmesan was my favorite.  The taste was really close to the original non low calorie dish I remember eating in the past. The sauce was yummy and that topping of cheese just made the dish.  Back to the Wii Fit to get this under control!

I am a member of the Lean 11 and received compensation for sharing my story with you.