This week I have been so busy. My son's birthday party, work, pretty much life. I was proud at the party I did not have cake and eat the salad I had made. The party was really fun. My son was sick but he still enjoyed it. 
The cool thing about the party is that it was full of running and physical activity and not only the kids but the parents participating. Talk about changing our live style.

Happy to tell you that this week I lost 3.8 pounds for a total of 28.5 since starting the challenge.

I want to remind you about the twitter party where you can win the awesome tools that I got to help me with this challenge

Who: Omron Fitness & Mamavation
When: Wednesday, February 20th
Time: 8-10pm EST (5-7pm PST)
Hashtag: #iheartOmron
Theme: Workout SMARTER instead of longer

Giveaways during the party
HR-500U Heart rate monitor retails for $149.99 (2 winners)
HJ-323U Connected pedometer retails at $49.99 (2 winners)
510W scale retails for $79.99 (2 winners)

To RSVP for the party and more information visit Mamavation

I can believe we are starting our 3 week. This challenge has been so great and I am so proud of all the ladies that are doing it with me. I think most of us have been sick, so it has been hard, but we are still going strong and that makes me very happy.

I have been walking every day and I am reaching my goal of at least 10,000 steps a day. I am tracking my steps using my Omron Fitness Tri-Axis USB Pedometer (HJ-323U). I love this pedometer because it does so much more than tell me how many steps do I have each day. The Pedometer keeps track of aerobic steps, steps per minute, and even the calories burned. At the end of the day I connect the pedometer using the USB to my computer and it uploads all the information to Omronfitness.com and there in the dashboard you can see your daily and weekly progress and even challenge yourself to achieve a best personal step count. This pedometer is very accurate and counts strides, so you will not get false readings while riding in a bumpy car.

I am also very happy with my new Omron 510W Scale. I love that the scale can measure not only the BMI, but also the body fat percentage, the visceral fat and the skeletal muscle percentage. It’s not a perfect tool for everyone (eg, those with high levels of muscle) but I like to use a body mass index calculator to check where I need to be, and then use that to set my goals. From there I can see where I’m at using the scale. ​

As for my progress on the scale, I lost 5 pounds this week for a total of 20 pounds since starting this challenge

I can tell you it feels great to put on your clothes and they are loose on me. But the best part is when I see people and they tell me I look great and they can tell I am losing the weight and getting healthier.

For this week my goal is to continue walking and drink more water. I sometimes get really busy at work and forget to drink as much water as I want to. 

We are also going to be modifying our workouts and so you can follow along by downloading the PFD file.

I will be extra busy for the next couple of weeks, I am going to be preparing everything for my son’s birthday party, but I will find that time to work out, because I can see the results now.

How are you staying active?

Week 1 is done and I started very strong and ended slow because I got sick.  I am having a lot of fun with the challenge and besides the workouts I am still walking after work.

It takes lots of will power to complete a challenge like this one. I have to get up earlier than normal to complete the workouts designed by the awesome @mrbookieboo and then I go to work. Then I come home, revise my son's homework and out to the street I go again to walk. 

I have to thank my husband for his help with the chores in the house. I think that he is happy that I am losing the weight, so he has been helping with dishes, dinner and small things. That allows me more time to go out on my walks. 

Towards the end of the week I found myself feeling really weak and without energy. I got sick. I was diagnosed with pneumonia and it hurts when I breath. So I had to slow down and rest. I did modified versions of the workouts however I did not go for my walk. 

It is kind of funny because before I used to hate to workout and now I miss my walks, but I had to take some time to recover to finish this great opportunity strong. Today I can say I feel much better and I think I am ready to back to almost normal.

I am happy to report that I lost 5 pounds this week for a total of 15 pounds since applying to be an #IheartOmron ambassador.

For this week I want to get creative with my meals and I want to get back into the routine of walking and doing the workouts. I am also challenging myself to drink more water. 

How are you staying active this week?

This week is the official first week of the #IheartOmron #Mamavation challenge. Which means that all the 25 ambassadors (I am one of them) will start their healthy eating plan and exercise routine. 

I got the products from @OmronFitness and I can tell you so far I am really impressed with both the scale and the pedometer. Let me tell you a little bit about them:

Omron HBF-510W Full Body Composition Monitor with Scale
Since I opened the box I knew I was going to love the product. It comes with the batteries, so I do not have to start looking for them all over the house. The scales is very accurate and allows you to monitor the Body Fat Percentage and the Body Mass Index. It also keeps track of 4 profiles which is perfect for my family.

HJ-323U USB Pedometer
I am in love with the pedometer. It is so light that the first day I was checking that I had not lost it, which I think is perfect because it does not bother me on the waist. I also love that is a USB that connects with a dashboard to be able to keep track of the activity, calories burned and see the weight loss progress. And it comes with a screwdriver too.

 Waist: 41 1/2 inches                                Hips: 48 1/2 inches                                  Thighs: 27 1/2 inches

Last week I lost 5 pounds for a total of 10 pounds since I applied to be an #iheartOmron ambassador.

If you want to join my journey please follow me on twitter as @monicazyoung and instragram too, because I will be tweeting and posting pictures about my food and workouts.

I am also sharing the workouts designed by the awesome @mrbookieboo so you can complete them at home too. The workouts are on a PDF form for you to download and follow along. I am planning on continue walking my 5 miles a day as well

As for nutrition, I will be following the Low Glycemic Index plan. You can find more information about it on the link. Here is also my shopping list for you to follow along.

I want to invite you to watch this video about our challenge, a word of inspiration to keep us moving:

Well, I made it! I am now a #iheartOmron Fitness Ambassador.

What a huge responsibility, but I am so happy about it. I really needed something like this on my life. I have been trying to lose weight like for forever, so this is my chance of doing it and getting tools to do it the right way.

I have been yo-yo dieting for long time. I grew up overweight and I have lost the pounds and gained them back and more over and over, and over...

The main reason for my weight gain is that I am an emotional eater. I eat when I am sad, I eat when I am stressed out. The other reason is that I really never liked to exercise. However just recently I have decided that I needed a change. I was really close to a weight that was the weight limit for me. You know that number you say I will never let myself to weight that much. Well I almost got there. So I decided that day that I was going to start walking and changing my diet.

Here it is another chance to accomplish what I have tried for years. With this challenge I have the support of a great group: Mamavation and I have the tools that OmronFitness will be providing me and the other 24 bloggers chosen for this challenge.

We are going to be provided with HJ-323U connected pedometer and the new 510W scale for help us keep track our activity and weight. Also and the end of the challenge they are going to give us the new Strapless Heart Rate Monitor (HR-500U)

I want to invite your to follow my weight loss journey with this amazing tools and support system. I will be sharing my workouts and food plan, so maybe you want to join me and we can lose weight together. 

So far since my application date I have lost 5 pounds with walking  5 miles a day (and that was during the holidays). I cannot wait to see the results at the end of this challenge with all the accountability I am going to have.

Congratulations to all the other ambassadors!

Follow the #IheartOmron and #mamavation on twitter so you can see how we are doing!
Also please follow our sponsor at @OmronFitness and @Mamavation