Stephanie | goobermonkey.com

I’m Trying…. #MedifastBecomeYourself

Posted by Stephanie on May 14, 2013 in Medifast | 9 comments

Tomorrow, it will have been three months since I had surgery on my right foot.

It’s been three months of ups and downs, crying fits and set backs, determination and triumph.

As of today, I’m mostly still in my boot. I have worn other shoes a few times on the gimpy foot, and it feels glorious to let it breathe and hang out in the Florida sunshine. However, usually within an hour, my foot starts to hurt. Badly. My shoe of choice has always been flip flops, and it HURTS like heck to wear them on that foot after a bit…mainly because my toes can’t curl down now. Well, scratch that – they curl, but the big one and second one HARDLY curl down at all. It’s a bit comedic. The big toe will likely never curl again, due to the placement of the screw.

Only problem with that is, generally you need your toes to “grip” your flip flops, so it has kind of fallen off of my foot a few times.

I have been so antsy with getting out and getting active again. It’s been really hard on me mentally to see people running as I’m gimping along in my boot. I had to give up my Dumbo entry for early September because I knew in my heart that there was no way I’d be able to compete with that many miles. My physical therapist was trying to help get me to that goal, but even he knew deep down it wasn’t going to happen. So, instead of Dumbo, I’m going Dopey – which is probably worse on my foot in the long run (ha), but, it’s a huge goal.

My first OFFICIAL race is…well…see that fancy pants button on the right over there? Yes, I’m actually going to compete in an Iron Girl event. Nothing like having that as my first official thing once I get back out on the road. It’s minimal running for me, but mixing in swimming and biking, and I’m both nervous and excited all at the same time. My first “big” race after that is the Tower of Terror 10 Miler, then on to Wine and Dine in November.

I’m trying to keep myself upbeat about all of this.

But it’s still so hard.

I got some new kicks about a month ago, and I was SUPER stoked about them. Proceeds went to the One Fund for Boston, and these bad boys GLOW IN THE DARK – which is awesome for my night and early morning races, but not so awesome when you wake up at 2 a.m. to go to the bathroom, and then wonder what that weird glowing thing is on the ground. They perked me up for a few days, but as they sit there on the floor, unworn and unused, I get a little pang of guilt in my stomach for purchasing them so early on.

I’m trying to keep my eyes on the prize for Tower of Terror, Iron Girl, Wine and Dine, and Dopey. I’m participating in Bike to Work Day this Friday with my coworkers, and will wear sneakers to go the 7 miles from downtown to our offices.

But my brain keeps playing tricks on me. Tells me that I’ll never get back to the way I used to run, tells me that if I attempt to give it my all when I’m given the all clear, my foot will do something and I’ll have to take a backseat again.

I’m trying to keep a good humored mood about “das boot”, but it’s JUST. SO. HARD.

I think it’s hard for me to maintain a good attitude about it because whenever I look in the mirror, I see this person:

In Las Vegas in 2003, roughly 240 pounds.

I worry that if I don’t get back to my active lifestyle, I’m going to pile on the pounds. It’s a legitimate thought, one that weighs on me daily. No pun intended. However, I KNOW I don’t look like that. It’s just my silliness from sitting around that is making me feel like I do.

Luckily, Medifast keeps me mainly on my nutrition road. Most of my days look like this:

But once in awhile, I have a splurge, and it looks a little like this:

That’s a S’mores coffee from Hash House a Go Go. I’ll spare you what my lunch looked like. It was obviously NOT a healthy lunch, but I felt it was deserved that day. More often than not, I still reach for my Medifast goodies, and while at work, no one even blinks an eye when I’m standing there eating a Medifast brownie with some peanut butter, a cup of soup, a shake, or a bar. In fact, I have a desk drawer where I keep most of my stuff for snacky emergencies – and it happens to be the drawer that the office does into for keys to the closet, or items for traveling…so my coworkers see my meals all of the time.

Definitely helps to keep me in check!

But still, when I finish the day and go to bed, I still feel a little sad and wistful, and hope that the following day my foot will feel a little bit better. Recently, one of my coworkers started a blog, and at the end of her first post she had written this:

If you want it, do what it takes to get it. Don’t let anyone stand in your way, most importantly yourself. Surround yourself with positive influences and be strong in the times you have to stand alone.

While the past few weeks have been hard, reading that line helped me out quite a bit. Keep moving forward.

And that’s what I’m trying to remember.

(Oh, hey, complete side note – I’m playing with Keek. You can see me and my goofy children right here!)

If you’d like to join me on this weight loss journey, use my shopping code GOOBER56 for 56 free meals with your order of $250 when you enroll in Medifast Advantage. Not ready to enroll? Use the code GOOBER28 to receive 28 free meals with your purchase of over $250.

Disclosure: I receive free product in order to evaluate and comment on my experiences on the Medifast Program. Medifast products and the Medifast Program are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or illness. Any medical improvements noted while on the program are related to weight loss in general, and not to Medifast products or programs.

Need some more inspiration? Check out these fabulous ladies!

The Divine Miss Mommy

Mommy B Knows Best

Kelly with Makobi Scribe

Single Mom on a Budget

Gaithersburg-Rockville Macaroni Kid

Jenni from the Blog

Escape from Obesity

A Very Busy Mama (currently pregnant!)

The Turnip Farmer (maintaining)

Unemployed Mom (maintaining)

Mother’s Day Fun With Bigelow Tea #AmericasTea #CBias

Posted by Stephanie on May 13, 2013 in Cbias, Product Review | 3 comments

FTC Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study Collective Bias® and Bigelow Tea #cbias #SocialFabric. All opinions in this post are my own.

When I was little, I remember sitting at the dining room table as my Dad would drink a cup of tea in the evenings after a meal. He would put in a little bit of creamer into the steaming hot cup while letting the tea seep for several minutes, all the while chatting away about the day. I have fond memories of the smell of the tea, the sound of the spoon clinking against the side of the cup as he stirred the mixture of tea and creamer together, and the chatter we would share. I’ve grown up drinking tea the same way, and the smell of seeping tea immediately takes me back to my childhood.

One of my favorites parts (in one of my favorite childhood stories even) was the Mad Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland. Nothing excited me more than imagining what it was like to sit there with zany hats, loads of treats all over the table, all while sipping tea (much like I did when I was little). Whenever that scene would pop up in the movie, my son’s eyes would light up as he watched the tea pots dance and whistle, the cups of tea flying about the table. We recently read the story, and he loved hearing about the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Doormouse, and Alice taking part in this fantastic tea party.

I decided that for Mother’s Day, I’d have a little tea party of our own. And I knew exactly which type of tea I would get – Bigelow Tea. With the many different varieties available, I knew that the kids and myself would have plenty of choices to appease our palates, and we could have a fun little party while enjoying a comfort drink.

Yesterday morning, I took Zachary to Walmart to shop (you can see our full shopping experience here on my Google + album) for a “mysterious party” that we were going to have. He was definitely intrigued and asked a ton of questions, but I wasn’t letting him know what exactly we were up to.

I was happy to see the different choices available for Bigelow Tea. We ultimately chose Peppermint, English Tea, and Vanilla Chai to try out. I was pleased to see that it was a very decent price for the tea in comparison to other national brands.

I also added different treats to the cart (and he still didn’t know why!), and before long, we were ready to head home to get ready for the mysterious party.

I sent the kiddos away as I got the scene ready – in the story, Alice walks into a grand party with cookies, cakes, pies, and other miscellaneous treats nestled amongst the teacups. I decided to make it a little more low key, but had plenty of goodies. Fruit, cupcakes, marshmallows, cookies to decorate, a variety of tears to choose from – I was hoping for a hit.

And a hit it WAS. The kids came out and were so surprised – I explained that we were having a Mad Hatter party for Mother’s Day, and we’d decorate some cookies while drinking tea and chatting. They decided I didn’t need a hat since I already had a headband in; I was the honorary Alice. Maddy was the crazy March Hare and Zach was the Mad Hatter. Seemed fitting.

As the kids dove into the cookies for decoration, I asked which flavor of tea each one wanted. Zach chose Vanilla Chai, Maddy chose Peppermint. I felt that English Tea was fitting since Alice was an English story. As I poured the hot water into the teacups, the scent of seeping tea filled the air, I was immediately taken back to the times I sat at the table with my Dad as he made his tea.

We had a grand time. Each kiddo really enjoyed their chosen tea, and I loved the warmth from the time we spent together as a family. Couldn’t ask for a better Mother’s Day, and it’s yet another memory I can add to my list of growing ones – one that I know that I will think of fondly each time I catch the scent of Bigelow Tea in the air.

You can follow along with Bigelow Tea on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest – you can find some fantastic ideas for your own tea party, or learn about all of the different flavors that they offer!

Kick Those Allergies to the Curb With a #FresherCar! #CBias

Posted by Stephanie on May 1, 2013 in Cbias, Reviews | 5 comments

FTC Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study Collective Bias® and FRAM #cbias #SocialFabric. All opinions in this post are my own.

ALLERGIES.

I’ve been a life long Floridian, and usually around this time of the year I end up with a sore throat, runny nose, itchy eyes, and have always chalked it up to a cold. I never once thought about it possibly being allergies…I have two kids, and they tend to bring home all sorts of junk. But when I realized that my kids were starting to complain of the same symptoms, and cold medicine wasn’t cutting it, we talked to our family doctor and was told it was allergies.

Really, I was surprised. At least it explained why my son liked to sit like this while watching a movie. I think.

After taking allergy medication instead of cold medication, changing the air filters in the air conditioner unit and in the bedrooms, we were feeling better – but we were all noticing how we were still sneezing and watery eyed while going out and about. It felt like we couldn’t get relief unless we stayed in the house – why were we all having so many issues riding in the car?

After talking with one of my girlfriends, she asked me if I’d changed the air filter in my car in some time. I honestly had no idea there was even one IN there. I was pretty excited when I was asked to get a FRAM Fresh Breeze air filter and try it out. I had no idea that there were air filters with Arm & Hammer in it; I knew the little boxes in your fridge helped with odors. Could an air filter with Arm & Hammer in it really help out with allergy issues? I was anxious to see if it would help with our pesky allergies while driving around town.

I picked one up at Walmart while shopping (you can see my shopping experience through my Google + album here), and was a little overwhelmed with the many choices of filters. There was a reference guide hanging from the shelf to use – VERY simple. You simply look up your car make/model/year, and it tells you which filter to get.

In my case, it was filter # CF10381.

The instructions made it very simple to locate where the air filter was. Once I pulled it out, I dropped it on the ground in disgust. THIS was what has been riding around with me for years? GROSS, GROSS, GROSS! No wonder we all felt so disgusting during allergy season! If you think about it, you’re breathing in this stuff day in and day out – that’s worse than standing outside, since in the car your air just recirculates over and over.

I put the new filter side by side next to the old one, and was still completely grossed out at how much dirt, dust, leaves, and other little nasty things that there were in there. I was extremely happy to be ditching the old one and putting in the new one ASAP.

After installation, which took all of a whopping 5 minutes, we went out and about…and almost immediately, we noticed that the car smelled and felt fresher. It’s been five days since we installed the filter, and the car honestly has a wonderful smell to it – just cleaner all around. No more itchy, watery eyes or sneezing while riding anywhere!

I put a little note on my phone to change my filter twice a year, and will do it again in about 4 months. I also added a little written date on the oil change sticker on my car – if you’re changing your oil, why not go ahead and change your air filter as well?

FRAM is offering a wonderful deal at the moment – get $4 off by mail with a mail-in rebate. Buy any FRAM oil filer and FRAM Air Filter and receive $4 off! Their filters are already very inexpensive (I paid under $20 for mine), so this deal makes it even more affordable.

We highly recommend trying out the FRAM Arm & Hammer air filters for your car. I encourage you to check out their website and watch how easy it is to change the filter yourself!