FitFluential

BAMR Bands {Product Review and GIVEAWAY} CLOSED

by Lisa on April 30, 2013

Master of the selfie, I am not.

You know how there are those headbands that advertise as non-slip? They’ll stay put and never move, no matter how active you are? I’ve bought those and every.single.time. after a few wears, the band starts moving and I find myself constantly adjusting it. Drives me crazy.

I was excited when my friend Katie started up her new business BAMR {Bada** Mother Runner} Bands. As a runner, Katie knows how great it is when a headband can actually keep hair out of your face without being adjusted constantly. So when she offered to let fellow FitFluential Ambassadors try out her bands, I jumped at the chance.

I’ve worn my BAMR band during yoga, while running {yup, I ran! On the treadmill, just to see how it felt at 16 weeks pregnant. Not too bad and I’m planning to do it again.}, while lifting and also while running around doing errands. It’s comfortable, keeps my hair out of my face and, the best part, I never have to adjust it. Ever. Total win in my book.

Bottom line: I love my BAMR band and can’t wait to get my hands on a few more for my collection. Katie is even going to make one toddler-sized for Caroline! Girlfriend has a lot of hair that must be tamed in the summer.

Oh good, we can stop with the selfies now.

{GIVEAWAY}

Katie has generously offered to giveaway one BAMR band of your choice to a TWO Splattered Apron readers! To enter….

Leave a comment and tell me your favorite way to workout.

Entries will close at midnight on Friday, May 3. Good luck!

I received one BAMR Band to review and was not otherwise compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.

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{ 29 comments }

A Working Mama’s Breakfast : belVita

by Lisa on January 27, 2013

Every week I start with the intention of packing every breakfast and lunch to take to work with me and send with Jeromy. I can’t tell you how many days I end up apologizing to my husband that there is no lunch packed as I run out the door.

Starting this weekend, I’m making a big effort to change that. Not only did I meal plan for our dinners, I also meal planned for breakfasts and lunches too. It takes me about 15 minutes to pack up breakfast and lunch at night for the three of us and will save us a lot of money in the long run.

Of course, I’m not perfect and there have been many mornings in the past month where I have left packing my own breakfast to the last minute. I was so grateful that I had belVita breakfast biscuits on hand on those mornings!

{breakfast: Golden Oat belVita, banana and a skim latte}

I’m a big fan of breakfast, so I wasn’t sure that this package of biscuits would cut it for me, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that when paired with a serving of fruit and low-fat dairy, they kept me full and happy until lunch. belVita breakfast biscuits were created in France over a decade ago and have just now made their way over to the United States. About time! They are specially baked to continuously release energy after you’ve eaten them. With 4 grams of protein, 18-20 grams of whole grains and 3 grams of fiber, I think they’re doing the job well.

{Breakfast: non-fat Greek yogurt, frozen organic mixed berries and Apple Cinnamon belVita}

If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time, you know that processed foods really are not my thing. I would much rather make something from scratch than buy processed foods to have on hand. But, as a working mama, sometimes convenience wins over from scratch. In the case of breakfast, belVita gets the job done for me in a pinch. I also enjoy them as a car snack after yoga.

{Snack: belVita Apple Cinnamon after an hour and a half of yoga}

belVita breakfast biscuits come in five flavors: Golden Oat, Apple Cinnamon, Cinnamon Brown Sugar, Blueberry and Chocolate {listed in my order of preference}. You can find them at your local grocery store, I have been shocked to see them pop up in two of the large chains near me—Safeway and Giant as well as Kroger in Charlottesville.

If I’ve learned anything over the past year of being a working mama, it’s that it’s okay to take some help from the store sometimes, especially if it helps you get more sleep at night and keep your sanity.

FitFluential LLC compensated me for this campaign. All opinions are my own.

{ 9 comments }

Power Up with Kohler Generators

by Lisa on October 25, 2012

Losing power at your house is not fun. Especially when you have a freezer full of breast milk. A cat relying on an automatic feeder that’s plugged into the wall. And you’re out of town for a week. And the friends with the spare key to your house are also out of town. This perfect storm (ha!) of events happened to us in June when a severe storm called a derecho swept through the DC metro area. It didn’t stick around for much longer than an hour but the damage left in its path took weeks to clean up and our power was off for almost 4 days. Trust me when I tell you that throwing away 3.5 months of pumped breast milk is gut-wrenching.

With the progression of climate change, chaotic weather is on the rise and the need to be prepare for extreme weather events is a fact of life. Who knows how many more derechos or heavy winter snowstorms are headed our way?

After Jeromy and I cleared out the fridge and freezers we started talking about the need for a back up generator. Even though in this day and age we are constantly plugged in and using electronic devices, in the event of a power outage my concern won’t be to get on Facebook, but to keep our house warm {or cool, depending on the month}, especially since we have a little one running around. But honestly, the idea of being able to keep everything in our house working as normal is very appealing. Not having to take vacation days because of a power outage if you work from home? Sold.

There are two kinds of generators that would fit the bill, but one more so than the other. A portable generator, while compact and able to move from location to location, must be used outside of the home and have everything requiring power plugged into it with properly rated extension cords. Portable generators are powered by gasoline so having them outside of the house and well-ventilated it key to preventing carbon monoxide poisoning. The second is a standby generator, which is permanently connected to your home, just like a furnace or air conditioning system.

KohlerGenerator

Standby generators are hooked into a fuel line that already exists in your home and automatically turn on when power is lost. The key factor for me? You don’t have to be home for the system to function. If we had a standby generator in June, I wouldn’t have lost 3.5 months of breast milk!

A generator is one of those things that you don’t really think about until you need it. Hopefully, we’ll be prepared next time.

Want to learn more about the differences between portable and standby generators and which is best for you? Visit Kohler Generators for more information!

FitFluential LLC compensated me for this Campaign.
All opinions are my own.

{ 2 comments }

Army Ten Miler: Race Recap

by Lisa on October 23, 2012

This race recap is really short: I didn’t run the race. But I did get to meet Madeline and Emmie, Katie and Xander, Lani and Anne the day before the race!

These ladies rocked the race and I’m sad I didn’t get to participate. On a happy note, Madeline, Katie and I had a great time introducing our babies to each other! Note: it is really hard to get three babies looking in the same direction.

I’ve been dealing with knee issues for over a year. And when I say “dealing with” I mean “ignoring.” When I wrote this post, I was still thinking that I could pull off running the Army Ten Miler but after having knee pain and soreness following a three mile run, I had to be realistic. I couldn’t run the race and I really needed to see a doctor and start physical therapy to fix my knee.

PT started this morning and as it turns out, all of my problems are coming from my incredibly tight IT band. The physical therapist said that my IT band and quad are so tight that they have meddled together. So the goal is to loosen them up, strengthen the muscles and then maintain the conditioning. It’s going to involve a lot of stretching, foam rolling and strengthening exercises. I’m excited to have a plan and am looking forward to no knee pain!

With all of this is mind, I want another goal to work towards during therapy. I ran the Jingle All the Way 10K 6 years ago and it was a lot of fun! This year it’s been reduced to an 8K and I think that is a doable distance to aim for after therapy. So that’s my goal—Jingle All the Way 8K on December 9th.

Who wants to run with me??

(Katie, I’m looking at you!

Like what you just read? Subscribe to my feed! Or you can stay in touch on Twitter and Facebook. You can also find me on Pinterest and Instragram! Or you can e-mail me—I’d love to hear from you!

{ 9 comments }

What I Learned from #Fitblog

by Lisa on September 27, 2012

I’ve been kind of resistant to vlogging. I don’t particularly like my voice on camera and I really hate my lazy eye, which is kind of obvious on screen. I guess I’ll just have to give up my dream now of being a ~~reality~~ tv star .

I set aside my fears though and made a video. I was so excited to host #Fitblog this week and learned some great stuff so I just had to share with you.